Ferries and buses that are part of the Eurail pass

Many years ago I used to purchase Eurail passes in Italy. The prices became prohibitive, however, and I think that the general view is that point to point tickets are much more economical. As far as I am aware, using the pass to travel the distance from Leonardo da Vinci to anyplace in Venice wouldn't be feasible. I don't believe the Vaporetti (canal buses) honor Eurail passes. I could be wrong.

Have you checked with the company selling you the Eurail passes about what ferries/buses are included?

Neither of those. Conventional wisdom is the railpass in Italy is very poor value. If you want to go on any fast train you have to pay a large fee for every single leg of the train in addition to presenting your pass.

Where do you intend to use the train?

Using the rail pass was a decision we made after looking on Rick Steve's website and reading how to determine which method is more beneficial. The cost of all of the p2p trips we want to take came to a tiny bit less than the pass. We will be going into Venice to Verona, around Lake Garda, then from Verona to Cinque Terra, onto Pisa then Florence. Out to Arezzo and end in Rome. Also we may use the train some while in Cinque Terra for a couple of days. We may get a car to travel around the Lake once we get to Verona. Still planning it out.

A Eurail pass will not cover either of these.

Here is a link to the Eurail Pass website for information on ferries.

https://www.eurail.com/en/europe-by-train/ferries

Thanks for the link, very helpful!

Rail passes, especially in Italy, are not the no-brainer good deal that they were 20 years ago. All trains in Italy except the Regionale trains require a seat reservation prior to boarding. Board without one and it is huge fine payable on the spot - and it is not a scam. And Regionale trains are so cheap you don't want to waste a day of a train pass on a Regionale train. And - again - rail passes rarely cover local transportation. I would say never but I am sure there is an exception somewhere. The only advantage to a rail pass is the flexibility it provides but you still need the seat reservation.

It would help to know your tentative rail schedule.

Eurail are very good at extolling the virtues of the pass, but not very good at telling you what is not included.
Some info is here: https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/pass-benefits/benefits-italy

• It only includes Trenitalia (Italian National Railway) trains, NOT local railway companies like Trenord around Milan or the line to Vesuvius.
• No city transport (buses, metro, Venice boats etc.)
• No ferries except the ones to Greece (see page linked to above).
• For High Speed trains, you still need to pay extra for a reservation, which you need to buy ahead of time.
• The biggest problem of all. Italian fares are CHEAP, especially if bought in advance. It is for most people lot cheaper to buy tickets in advance than to buy a pass.

Look up times and buy tickets at the Trenitalia website: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en

I am willing to make the reservation, I understand that process. I have listed the cities above in another comment but not specifics on which day of the trip. Still in planning stages.

P.S. The fares shown on the maps on The Rick Steves website are what you pay if you buy on the day. For many countries including Italy, if you buy long distance tickets in advance on the railway company website you pay ½ to ¼. For example: Venice to Florence tomorrow, full fare = €50, fare for a random date in May, from €19.90, fare on Rick Steve's map = US$ 70 (= €56.74).

You need to look at real rail fares before making a decision. You can't see data for September yet; there's a schedule change in early June, so it may be quite some time before the September information is available. However, you can go to the Trenitalia website now and look at fares for the first week of June. That will give you an idea of how much you may pay for tickets if you purchase them well in advance of your trip. The timing only matters for the fast trains, like the Freccia and the Intercity trains. For the regionale, you can buy on the day you travel and not pay one penny extra.

On the Trenitalia website you need to use the Italian spelling of the city names: Venezia, Firenze, Roma, Napoli, Genova (Genoa).

It might also be worth considering Italo trains when you're traveling between major cities. They are not covered by rail passes. You can check their fares as well as those for Trenitalia on the trainline.eu website.

You'll quickly see how much extra you'll be spending if you opt for a rail pass. Having to pay for seat reservations on the fast trains will only magnify the difference.

Traveling to small towns sometimes involves buses. They, too, will not be covered by a rail pass.

The list of what's covered or not is pretty extensive on our Italy rail page, but with a focus on routes we think will interest our readers. Ferry discounts or coverage are mostly on international routes.

Finding costs for buses and ferries in advance is time-consuming, since they're operated by many different companies. Buses are normally cheaper than trains. Rick's Italy guidebook lists some of the web addresses but not always the prices. For ferries around the lakes and Cinque Terre, see:

• www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/g_orari.asp

• www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it

I appreciate that you were trying to use our online tools, but using them myself, I don't come to the conclusion of choosing a rail pass for your route. Using the current Italy price map, I'd estimate about $150 per person for full-fare, 2nd class tickets: Venice-Verona $25, to Garda maybe $5, to Vernazza via Milan $60, short trains there $10, to Pisa $15, to Florence $10, to Arezzo maybe $15 like Assisi, and to Rome $10. Most of these happen to be on unreserved regional trains but those to/from Milan would be reserved.

FYI, if you were looking for a ticket price from Venice to Florence, as in Chris' example, you could switch to our longer-distance Cost and Time Map because longer trips can be cheaper on a single ticket than with stopovers. That currently says $50 for full fare on the fast train from Venice to Florence but updates coming soon will say $60 (€50 x $1.15 exchange rate last month = $57.50, rounded to $60; at today's exchange rate, it would come closer to $63; and for September, we have to wait and see).

To use the map on this website for pricing info is a huge error, as noted above. That map is borderline criminal as it tricks person after person into thinking a pass is good value. No surprise as passes are sold on this website. Use a neutral site like Man in Seat 61 for better and up to date info. In your situation, particularly as you are using regional trains in Italy, a pass would be absurd.