Eurail Passes and Trenord Trains

I'd like to add I've read that routes formerly operated by Trenitalia may accept the Eurail passes. I don't know if the Varenna route is one of these, or if this is even true.

Cindy,

This is what I read on the Eurail website:

"It's not possible to make reservations for regional trains."

The train from Milano Centrale to Varenna is a Regionale (Regional) train and you do not need reservations for it.

You only need to make reservations for freccia (high-speed) & Intercity trains.

The train from Milan to Florence is a freccia train & you do need reservations for it.

I just checked the trenitalia web-site & it only costs 6.5 € to take train from Milano to Varenna.

Safe travels!

Right, so is the Eurail Global Pass a valid ticket on this route?

The Varenna station doesn't even come up on the Eurail timetable:

http://www.eurail.com/plan-your-trip/eurail-timetable

Cindy,

You're right!

Varenna-Esino station is very small ( they don't even sell train tickets there ) & we just need to figure out the next major station on that route.

Let me see if I can figure it out.

cindy,

My information is the same as that provided on the RS website. Rail passes do not cover the TreNord or Italo trains. The standard fare from Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino is only €6.50 PP so using a Rail pass for that would probably not be cost effective. If you're using P-P tickets on that route, BE SURE to validate prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or you may face hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!

Cindy,

Ken is correct.

The good news is that it only costs 6.5€ per person.

My mom & I were just in Varenna a couple of months ago & we had a great time!

Make sure you take the ferry & cruise the middle of the lake or you can go all the way down to the city of Como if you wish!

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks all! It looks like I'll have to shell out the €6,5 for the trip each way.

Hi Cindy,

Make sure you buy your return ticket before you leave Milan since the Varenna train station does not sell tickets.

Have a wonderful trip!

cindy,

A bit of information regarding buying rail tickets in Varenna....

Most stations have an automated Kiosk for buying tickets but if this isn't working and you need tickets in Varenna, you can always visit the helpful Tivano Tours office. They're just down the hill from the train station. I've used them in the past and found them to be efficient and helpful.

For quite a while since the time that Trenitalia subcontracted that route to TreNord, we received varying responses on the issue. The latest was that the train is covered, although our web site has not been updated to reflect that. If you have an activated, continuous period Global pass, or are using a flexipass to travel further in one day than just this leg, it should be covered. Given the €6.50 ticket price, it would not be a good value to use a rail pass in other circumstances.

Instead of the Eurail timetables see the Eurail map to determine covered routes (in this case, on the blown-up section for Switzerland).

As already mentioned, the Global Pass price on Trenitalia is the seat reservation fee, required for faster trains, but not regional trains.

From Trenord's email to me:

"Dear Customer,
we will inform you that Eurorail Global Pass is only valid on the trains of the company Trenitalia. It is not valid on regional trains and suburban Trenord.
Best Regards."