Euro pass and tickets for train travel

Hi Anthony. Rail passes are generally a hassle and not a good value in Italy. For short journeys, always better to wait and buy tix when there. For major high speed runs (e.g. Roma to Florence (Firenze)), you can also just wait and buy when there (base fare), or you can buy online up to 90 days in advance for a discount if willing to lock in exact date and time. See trenitalia.com. Use a date within 7 days to get the info for local trains, within 90 days to get the info for fast trains. Enjoy your trip!

Hi Bob, Thanks for the information. We didn't realize about the reservation for tickets. So when you buy an individual ticket you obviously get a reserved spot on that train. You just have to know you are going at that particular time and day? My wife actually already purchased a rail pass and looks like that was a bad move. Thanks for your help!

Anthony, As the first reply mentioned, Railpasses are often not a good value for travel in Italy. As you found, these do not include the reservation fees that are compulsory on the "premium" trains such as the Freccia (high speed) trains. Be absolutely sure that you have reservations for a train where these are compulsory, or you may be fined on the spot, and it's not cheap (about €50 PP, which doubles if not paid at the time)! The same fines apply for those who fail to validate tickets on Regionale trains. If you buy P-P tickets, these will include reservations, which are specific to a particular train and departure time. Passengers are assigned a Car. No. and Seat No. It is possible to purchase tickets on-line, at considerable savings if you can get the "Super Economy" tickets. Those usually sell out quickly though. Some posters here have reported a few "issues" when trying to buy tickets on the Trenitalia website. You might find if helpful to have a look at the excellent Ron In Rome website, as there's a step-by-step tutorial there covering ticket purchases. Keep in mind that those tickets will "lock you into" a specific train and departure time. If you miss that train, you'll have to purchase new tickets at full price. One other point to mention is that you could also consider travelling on the new Italo trains, which operate on some routes. However, these use different stations in some cases (ie: depart from Roma Tiburtina rather than Roma Termini). I don't believe they accept Railpasses, so you'd have to buy P-P tickets. I haven't used it but their website is apparently a bit more "user friendly". Happy travels!

First, rail passes in Italy are rarely cost-effective because individual tickets are cheaper than most places in Europe. There are fast trains for which you must have a reservation/seat number, which you will receive when you buy the ticket (you can save money by purchasing online at trenitalia.com if you know the exact date and time you want to travel; if you change your plans you will have to buy a new ticket at full price). With this ticket, you just get on the train, find your carriage number and seat number, and show the ticket to the conductor. The slower trains ("regionale") do not require a reservation, you can buy tickets at the train station from the ticket window or from a kiosk. These trains are about half the price but can be oversold, with people standing on the most popular routes at certain times of the year. With this ticket, you must validate the ticket at a small machine near the track (machines are yellow or blue/grey). Heavy fines for traveling without a validated ticket. Look at the Ron in Rome website, Ron will walk you through the whole process.

A Eurail pass in Italy won't do you much good - especially for the journeys you describe above. For your roundtrip to Florence, you will pay 10E for each high speed you will be on. That's 20E for the R/T. Same for Roma/Napoli. Now you are up to 40E. Your trip to Alfendena will be on Regionale trains and a bus. The fare shows to be 12.50E one-way. Hardly worth a pass. For your trip from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, your pass will not work on anything. This includes the Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Sorrento (4E), the SITA bus up and down the coast or any of the ferries. These transportation services don't accept the Eurail pass.

Another vote for point-to-point tickets. Go to RailSaver.com and enter your trip. It will tell you if a pass is more economic - it rarely is worth the money to purchase a pass.

Thanks so much everyone for your help! Very much appreciated. We are booking the Florence Trip ahead of time. Then I think we are going to figure out the rest so we have some options and enjoy Rome! Thanks again. Anthony

One more question: We are staying in Positano and then have a flight out of Rome airport Fiumincino at 12:00pm. Any ideas on the best/cheapest way to get back to the airport. Looks like it's going to be a longer trip then we thought and maybe tough to get there on time for the flight? Thanks.

Anthony, I very much doubt that you'd be able to get from Positano to FCO in time for a noon flight (keeping in mind that you would have to check-in at least two hours prior to the flight). My suggestion would be to stay in Rome the night prior to your flight. Cheers!

As Ken said, it's difficult to make the trip from Positano to FCO for a noon flight. If you need to be there two hours ahead (international recommendations are three hours, I think), you've got to take an early Napoli-Roma Termini train (6:50am arrives Termini 8:00am, some trains even earlier), then take the Leonardo Express to the airport. The LE leaves every half hour, but then it's a shuttle and a walk to the international departures gate. But you've also got to factor in the time it will take you to get from Positano to Napoli. If you're taking the Circumvesuviana from Sorrento to Napoli, that's at least an hour but you need to find out how early it starts running, and if you're taking the bus from Positano to Sorrento, the buses don't start early enough for you to make that 6:50am (or earlier) train from Napoli. Best idea is to stay the night in Rome prior to your flight, have a nice evening in Rome, and take the Leonardo Express the morning of your flight (leaves from Track #24 at Termini, costs about 14 euro). There's also a shuttle bus from Rome to FCO but the train won't run into traffic issues.

Thanks guys for your continued help! What about renting a car and driving straight through that morning? Also does anyone know about best car rental places. I'm looking at globalcarrent.com and it said I could rent from Dec. 11th - 15th for $86? I feel like that is way to low and has to have some catch? Others I've looked at are around $255 or so. I know most don't recommend driving, but I was thinking if it was just from Positano to the Rome FMC airport it wouldn't be too bad. We also have booked a hotel already in Positano. Thanks.

Anthony, the airport code for Fiumicino is FCO (your post says FMC). If you decide to rent a car, you still have to factor in the time to turn it in and then get to the airport terminal, and depending on what day you drive the Amalfi Coast, traffic can be heavy. If possible, I suggest you cancel the last night of your hotel and book that night in Rome.

Anthony, by public transportation, Positano to Rome-FCO is a 4.0hr-4.5hr journey. Plus, the public transportation doesn't start until about 5:00am. If you are departing FCO on a U.S. carrier, you will be departing from Terminal 5. You need up to 3hrs to clear all of the security in that terminal. Sometimes, its 2hrs or slightly less. Often, it's 3hrs. If you will be on a EU airline flying to another EU airport to catch your flight home, the security lines could be an hour less as you most likely won't fly out of Terminal 5. You could rent a car and start out early from Positano. The big issue here is parking. Wait until you see how jam-packed Positano is. Make sure that your hotel has parking for your car. If all looks OK, I would leave the hotel at 4:00am for your trip to FCO. It's still risky.