train travel

Lois, To begin with, I would not suggest using Rail Europe for information on the costs of trains, as their prices tend to be somewhat higher cost than just purchasing tickets in Italy. Regarding your question on rail travel from Naples to Rome, the current schedules at show a fare of €45 PP for travel on the EuroStar Italia / Alta Velocita trains, and a travel time of ~1H:10M. The ticket price will include the fees for reservations, which are compulsory. You may find it helpful to have a look at This excellent website, especially the part concerning fares in Italy. If you scroll down to the part concerning the new Mini Fares, it appears that a discount of ~57% is possible if the ticket is purchased the day prior to travel. Therefore the cost would be €19 for the trip from Naples to Rome. However, it's important to note that as indicated on the website, these discounted fares are limited. I haven't use the Mini Fares yet, but am looking forward to trying these on my trip this year. Happy travels!

Yes, but you can also find this information quickly on www.raileurope.com just by putting in the two cities and clicking "check fares". Although you can only purchase tickets a maximum of 60 days prior to travel, you can look at "current" train fares between cities and get real-time pricing for 1st or 2nd class, as well as how many trains/day and timetables so you can plan better. Even if you can't know exact price in February for June travel, it will still be VERY close. Buying via RailEurope before you leave might cost slightly more than buying walk-up tickets when you are actually in Italy. BUT vacation time is money, too, and the time I waste getting myself to/from the train station and then in a line (or American express office) waiting for them to help me buy a ticket for the next day or two (when seat reservations may no longer be available at such short notice so you end up sitting on your luggage for 3 hours.....) is time (and money) I could have been enjoying myself by having tickets in hand before I ever leave the USA. Just a thought.

Thank you for the information very helpful. Thanks
T & L

Loretta paints a pictures that we have never encountered in our nearly year travels in Europe. It may happen sometime but it is rare. Ticket machines work fine. Some of the newer ones will only take European credit cards but plenty of old machines are still around. Rail Europe is not a good source for anything other than the convenience of having an over priced ticket in your hand when you land. R Europe does not show all of the train schedules. Only the schedules that they sell ticket for. For good and easy scheduling use bahn.de. It is the German rail site but they show all of the European trains schedules but no pricing or purchase of tickets other than in Germany. But still a good planning site.