I will be traveling with 2 others for 12 days. Our travels will be Milan to Venice to Florence (stop off possible in Pisa) and will conclude in Rome. Should we get railpasses, book specific trains in advance or get tickets the day of travel? We will be traveling at the end of March/beginning of April. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
One little thing that is on the Eurail website but most travelers do not see. Italy charges a 10E ($13.70) supplemental fee to ride the ES-AV and EScity high-speeds. You will most likely be on these trains on your trips from Milan/Venice and Venice/Florence although you can ride a cheaper class of trains that take longer. If you go to www.trenitalia.com and English, you can clearly see the Italian fares for these runs. Your train from Florence to Pisa can either be a Regionale, IC or EScity train. Supplemental fees are Regionale (Zero), IC (3E), EScity (10E). You need to compare the cost of the pass plus the supplemental fees against the cost of the runs without the pass. It does take a little homework.
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
Compare the cost per day of using a railpass with the point to point costs of your travel legs. The only time I've seen a pass make sense is for very long legs (which also means you're killing too much time in transportation). I like to keep my travel days manageable and haven't used a pass in a long time.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23268 posts
For your limited travels mostly likely the rail pass will not save money but only you can determine that by doing your homework by comparing the price between the pass and p2p. If you book specific trains in advance you are locked into a certain schedule BUT you will catch some discounts on the faster trains. Some advance discount tickets are no refund no exchange. It is easy to get ticket the day of travel or a little better the day before travel.