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Italy - Switzerland passes

Posted by on

Hi,
I plan to be in Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa) and maybe Pompeii, Sorrento for 11 days. I plan to be in Switzerland Interlaken (Schithorn) and Lucerne area for 3 days. We are travelling with 3 children (12 years, 9 years and 6 years old). We also want to be budget conscious as much as possible with taking into account.

Would you recommend,

  1. Hop on Hop off bus in Rome, Florence and Venice (Boat tour).
  2. Would you buy eurail pass to travel in Italy and half fare card for Switzerland. There are many rail companies and would like to know if eurail pass will cover all such as railitalia and others. What is most economical.

Also, what would you purchase that is economical to skip the lines at various point such as Vatican, etc. We don't want to spend hours in line in August with 3 kids when we have a full packed itinerary.

Thanks.

Posted by
8228 posts

Is this for next year 2019 August? No need to buy a Eurail pass for italy. It is more economical to buy train tickets Rome to Florence to Venice in advance. (You said maybe but with 11 days I do not see how you can fit in comfortably to Pompeii or Sorrento on this trip).
I would buy a Half Fare pass for Switzerland.

Buy your tickets with a time to enter the Vatican Museums and others in advance.

Posted by
11676 posts

Hop on Hop buses can not get near the antiquities so they are a waste of
time and money.
Get tickets online from the actual sites, not third party, for all historic sites, museums that you want to visit. It will save you standing in line. I assume Rick Steves’ guidebooks have the websites to use for these sites’ ticket purchases.

Posted by
16895 posts

You cannot determine the total cheapest package for your trip without a very involved spread sheet. You probably don't want to do that much mathematics. You certainly cannot go wrong with a Swiss Half-Fare Card plus free Swiss Family Card to cover all three kids.

Italian train tickets are pretty affordable to buy as you go but usually cheaper if booked in advance, especially to take advantage of any free-kid or travel-together offers at www.trenitalia.com.

Eurail passes do cover all the trains you're likely to take in Italy, except the cheap commuter train from Naples to Pompeii and Sorrento. (Passes also don't cover Italo-brand trains but you can easily do without those.) However, the pass is not likely to save money for the distances you're covering. The two younger kids are free on these passes but still pay seat reservation fees of €10 on most legs, same as the older travelers.

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