Eurail in Italy

Eric, I assume you're referring to a Railpass rather than a "Eurail ticket"? Using a Railpass in Italy is rarely a cost effective method, as tickets are fairly cheap (especially on the Regionale trains). Keep in mind also that Railpasses do NOT include the reservation fees that are compulsory on the high speed trains, so you'd need to pay separately for those. DON'T be caught without a valid reservation or you'll be fined on the spot and it won't be cheap! I rarely ever buy 1st Class tickets, as I don't feel the extra cost is worth it. I've met some "colourful characters" in 2nd Class (which I'd rather have avoided), but even so I don't plan on changing my travel methods anytime soon. YES, using a travel day for the Leonardo Express from FCO to Termini would be a waste of a train day (IMO). While you can pre-purchase tickets and reservations on the Trenitalia website, it's also very easy to buy them when you arrive in Italy. Use either the staffed ticket windows or the automated Kiosks. You might find it helpful to have a look at the excellent Ron In Rome website. Those purchasing tickets at least 48-hours prior to travel can qualify for the discounted "Mini" fares, however those often sell out well in advance. Regarding your trips.... > Rome to Pompeii will be via fast train to Naples and then Cirumvesuviana to Pompeii (the latter doesn't accept Railpasses). > Rome to Florence will be via high speed "Freccia" (reservations required) > Florence to Pisa will likely be Regionale and the tickets are usually cheap. DON'T FORGET to validate prior to boarding the train (same with Leonardo Express)!!! > Florence to Venice by high speed "Freccia" trains. Happy travels!

Thanks Ken for the helpful information.... I was looking at the raileurope.com Eurail Italy Pass which looks like the same thing sold on this site. 4 days of 2nd class travel for 2 people (no reservations included) is 420$ - I havent thoroughly priced out each individual trip yet, but thought the pass would be easier than buying lots of individual tickets and probably around the same price. I roughly recall a few of the tickets I was thinking of were 60-80 pp so it seemed to make sense to get the pass... will have to check it out in more detail. Any other advice on using the trains would be great! - its 20 years since I was last in Italy, so I'm trying to educate myself before we leave.

I would (and have) traveled Rome - Pisa - Florence. Just allow yourself several hours at Pisa before your next train to Florence (you'd buy 2 separate tickets). You can store your luggage at the Pisa Centrale train station, per the Trenitalia train website. I'd do this whether or not I was using a rail pass...There are several high-speed options to get you from Rome to Pisa, if time is worth the extra money. For all sorts of useful, thorough info on trains - and many, many other subjects - in Rome and Italy, I heartily recommend the website RonInRome Click on "Postings" to see the major categories of articles (Transportation, etc.). (EDIT: should really wear my glasses - of course, Ken has already recommended Ron In Rome; great minds and all...LOL!)

I can see from your itinerary that you will have very few train journeys where your pass will work without a separate supplemental fee. Your run to and from Florence to Pisa will most likely be on a Regionale train. You pass will cover the full cost of the run without difficulty on this type of train. For the high-speeds that you will take on the other runs, you will pay a 10E supplemental fee for each high-speed you will be on. The 10E supplemental fee will include the seat reservation. Also, the private train from Naples to Pompei will not accept your pass. Also, the new Italo high-speed train in Italy will not accept your pass. If you select 1st class for your ticket, you will most likely find after one trip that 2nd class is just fine.

Thanks for all the input... couple of questions: Ken - when I look for a train on the raileurope.com site on the Frecca trains from Rome-Florence/Naples or Florence-Venice, it says that it includes a "reserved seat" - is this not the reservation? Eileen - I couldnt find on those site where the Pisa Centrale station had lockers. Could you point me to where you saw this? Your idea of just going straight to Pisa makes a lot of sense. Do you know if the Lucca station also has lockers? Larry - As far as I can tell, the Regionale trains are covered by railpass, correct? So in addition to the ticket, an additional supplement/incl reservation needed? So a $9 ticket really doesnt get you what you need?

Hi Eric. - trust us - don't buy a railpass for Italy. it's a hassle and way more expensive.
- any Italy rail ticket you buy from any source - if the train requires a seat reservation, it will be included in the price. the only time you have to worry about buying a separate seat reservation is if you are using a railpass. Enjoy your trip!

Eric, I wouldn't recommend using the Rail Europe website to research ANY rail trips in Italy or anywhere else. They often only list routes that they sell tickets for. If you want concise and accurate information on trains in Italy, use the Trenitalia website. You can also use the German Rail website. For the trip from Naples to Pompeii, use the Circumvesuviana website. One "caveat" to mention though - the cars may appear to be old graffiti-laden "clunkers", but they will get you to the destination. BE SURE to watch your wallet and belongings carefully on the trains, as pickpockets will likely be "working". Cheers!

Eric, If you want to pre-book tickets on the Trenitalia website, you might find it very helpful to read the tutorial on the excellent Ron In Rome website. Note that tickets with reservations will "lock you" into that particular train and departure time. If you miss the train, you'll likely have to buy new tickets at full fare. No reservations are possible on the Circumvesuviana (AFAIK) so you can buy them when you arrive at the station in Naples. Cheers!

Trenitalia offers Mini fares as low as €9.00 on high-speed trains. When the allotted number of tickets at that price are sold, the price goes up to €19.00, etc. Book today to get the lowest fare still available. FCO-Termini: The Leonardo Express is a Regionale train, but all seats are considered to be 1st class. The fare is €14.00. You can take a Terravision shuttle bus for €4.00 or a SIT Bus shuttle for €8.00. Rome-Naples: The standard 2nd class fare is €45.00. Mini fares start at €9.00. Naples-Pompei: Tickets on the Circumvesuviana are around €4.00. Trains depart from the lower level of Napoli Centrale. Rome-Florence: The standard 2nd class fare is €45.00. Mini fares start at €9.00. Florence-Pisa: You will be on a Regionale train. The fare is €7.10 and your ticket will be good on any train. Buy your tickets in either Rome or Florence. Florence-Venice: The standard 2nd class fare is €43.00. Mini fares start at €9.00.

Hi Eric I'll concur with the others but would like to throw in my 2 cents. You said your can pay $420 which would get you 4 days of train travel for 2 people. That's $52.50 per person per day the way I figure it. That is €41.27 in round figures per person per day. I haven't looked on line to see what MINI fares are available for your dates but if there are some you will pay €9, €19, €29 or perhaps €39 for each segment. Those are second class. Does your $420 include First Class? So, for example, if you do a Florence to Venice journey one day, that's €41.27 for the pass day plus €10 for the reservation (but not available on the new company - TrenoItalia). If you get a MINI fare that's all you will pay that day. Makes a €41.27 pass day look expensive doesn't it? If you were to do it as a day trip it gets better for the pass. It will be €41.27 plus €10 plus €10 for the pass (€61.27) and perhaps a pair of later MINI fares at €29x2= €58. Of course if you were able to get €9 or €19 MINI fares the pass wouldn't have a chance, even on a day trip. If you did 3 segments each day the pass would start to pay. But you have to do that each day. On Regional trains like Florence to Pisa you can just pop on and need no reservations (unless an InterCity provides a service in which case you are back to reservations with the pass). But Regional tickets are so cheap that you still lose with the pass, again unless you are really cranking out the trains each day. I hope that helps...

Thanks for all the great advice. Looking like the pass will definitely not be worth it. Have a couple of questions about Trentalia: - It said the MINIs can only be booked 48 hrs in advance? I am able to pull up schedules/ fares and *looks like) potentially book for the MINI price even now. Is this correct, am I able to do this far in advance? I dont want to take a chance I will not get the trains. - Are the reservations definitely included when buying the tickets from Trentalia? - Are these e-tickets to be printed out? If so and the MINIs can only be booked 48 hrs in advance, that might present an issue when Im actually in Italy. Sorry for any redundancy - Im still a newbie at this and just want to be prepared so I dont run into any issues while over there!

Eric, if you are succesful in navigating the Trentialia and are able to purchase tickets, they will be emailed to you right away. Just be sure to register first. Trenitalia gives you the choice of not registering to buy tickets but we've been seeing posts where people are not receiving their emails and have to go through a recovery process to get their tickets. They further explain that they didn't register first. It seems to work well when you register first. Yes, all seat reservations come with the ticket purchase. The system assigns the seats for you. You can buy the mini-fares as soon as you see them. In fact, the sooner the better. The 9E fares are limited. As soon as they are gone, the mini-fares rises to 19E and when they are gone, it's 29E and so on. Don't worry about full trains. Not going to happen on the high-speed runs you describe above. There are 55 high-speed trains a day just from Rome to Florence. Each train holds 400+ passengers. 30+ trains from Florence to Venice and 30+ trains from Rome to Naples.

I just have one comment on 1st vs 2nd class. First class usually makes for a more relaxing trip, and often the cars are uncrowded enough to keep luggage at your seat (a big plus for me, since I can't reach the overhead racks). I usually travel 2nd class, but will spring for 1st class if I have a trip that's likely to be tiring (eg, lots of transfers, end of a few long days, after a long flight, etc).

Booking on high-speed trains opens 120 days in advance. Booking ASAP gives you the best chance of getting the lowest Mini fare. Booking Mini fare tickets closes 48 hours in advance. However, by that time those tickets will be long gone. For any train that requires a reservation, the reservation comes with the ticket and is included in the price of the ticket.