Hi all, I'm finding this Italy rail thing confusing. We will be in Italy for 2 weeks so is it worth getting the Italy rail pass? we would be considered youth for ticket purposes and we are moving cities 3 times and planning on doing day trips via train on a few days while we are there. Or are we better off buying tickets as we go?
thanks in advance!
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
It depends on where you're going. You can use the trenitalia site to compare prices. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD just enter a date for next week to see the fares. Keep in mind that most rail passes charge a suppliment for seat reservations. This is usually 10 euros per seat. Buying tickets at the station or from the trenitalia site will include the reservation fee so take this into account when comparing prices. Usually a rail pass is never cheaper than PTP tickets. Donna
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
This recent discussion may be of interest, some of the posts discuss whether railpasses make sense in Italy: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/58398/eurail-pass.html
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Be sure you know that there are many regional trains that you may not see on railpass sites...
Posted by
Eugene, Oregon, USA
975 posts
When you buy a rail pass, you are very much locked into the full amount that you paid. And its up to you to fill all the available days of travel that the pass is giving you. If your plans change, there isn't a refund or anything on the unused days: Its a use it or lose it proposition. The only way that a Rail Pass starts to make sense is if you are making very distant connections and those fit nicely with in the 24 hour windows of travel. . Then there are some savings, but not much even if you manage to max out the use of the Pass.. Point to Point almost aways works out to be the better deal. And don't forget that some legs, your day trips, may well be best served by a bus and not a train at all. We bought Passes on our first trip in 2004, and I can't see any reason to buy a Pass again. Getting tickets are very easy at the stations either from a ticket window or from one of the vending machines. These tickets require that you have them time stamped at one of the yellow boxes near the platform before you get on the train.
Posted by
OP
Australia
18 posts
Thanks everyone! That has been very, very helpful.
Thanks for forwarding the link for that other conversation thread as well, that really opened my eyes to it.