Gentle greetings, good travelers. I'm looking at taking the train from Venice to Florence, then from Florence to Rome, and from Rome to Naples, then a local on to Sorrento. Has any one had any experience with the Le Frecce Intercity train?I'm especially interested in: Can our two bags of luggage be accommodated in the same car near where we sit, and will we be bothered by the gypsies as we board or exit (I have heard cautionary tales). Has any one purchased tickets online and can recommend a site with Rail Europe or another site? Any experience with a Eurail Italy Pass -- we'll be looking for 4 intercity trips in the month. A thousand thanks for any advice you can give. Wishing you the best that travel can offer,
Catherine
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Ron in Rome has excellent resources on train travel here. The very first section on that page links to all his extremely informative postings on train travel in Italy. As for the pass versus point-to-point ticket question, it's almost always less expensive to buy PTP in Italy. And the whole gypsy thing has been WAAAAY overblown, imho. Just use good common sense and you'll be fine.
Posted by
Dallas, Texas, USA
501 posts
Couldn't help myself...............Cher said ...just watch out for the tramps and thieves!! OK!OK! all you posters take a deep breath.
Posted by
Minneapolis
1269 posts
Hi Catherine. The trains on these routes are fast and comfortable. No worry about gypsies. :) if you have carryon size bags you can likely store them under / next to your seat. Suggest you use trenitalia.com site; It is the official site; easy to use and buy online. For these, trains, click the 'Le Frecce' option at top of page. Enjoy your trip!
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
Catherine, don't get a rail pass. They usually won't save you money in Italy. Go to the trenitalia website for train schedules and fares. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD Inner city trains are slower trains. It will take at least an extra hour to get from Venice to Florence on an IC train. If you book the high speed trains in advance you qualify for the mini fares. These can save you up to 60%. On the high speed trains there is overhead, behind the seat and end of coach storage for baggage. It really depends on how big your bags are as to where you can leave them. Just a reminder when comparing prices, you'll have to add the seat reservation fees to the cost of a rail pass if you buy one. This can be as high as 10 euros per trip so be sure to add that cost in when doing the price comparison between a rail pass and point to point tickets. Donna
Posted by
OP
Mattituck, NY, USA
14 posts
Thank you one and all for your great advice! I really appreciate your interest in my little train dilemma and am grateful for the help you gave. Enjoy your own tracel adventures! Catherine