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Trains in Italy - rail pass or point-to-point tickets

Posted by (Denver, CO, US) on

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this...but we are going to Italy in June to Milan-Florence-Rome-Vernazza and back to Milan. I have the Rick Steves Italy guidebook and it tells how to compare prices on the Trenitalia website. I have some questions:

-If I get the Eurail pass, will I still be able to travel on all the fast trains, or would we be limited to only certain trains?
-Do you have to pay extra for train reservations if you buy a pass, or can you get a seat by showing up?
-The Trenitalia shows like a dozen different pricing schemes and I can't figure out what the actual price is. Does anyone know what discounts you qualify for when you are not an Italian / EU resident?

-Does anyone have advice about which is better: buying the pass or buying tickets when you are there? I.e. I've read some things that say the machines in the stations don't always take American credit cards, etc.

Also, if it matters, we will be there at the very tail end of May and first week of June.

So confused, any help is appreciated. Thanks much!

Posted by
1201 posts

Point to point, buy when you are there. Machines will take you cards. You can also buy at the window. Point to point will come with seat reservations if needed. Passes will be more expensive and not usually a good deal.

No need to worry. I beleive there is a tutorial on using the system on the site here or you can google for several good step by step instructions.

Posted by
8700 posts

With a Eurail pass you can travel on all Trenitalia trains. You will need to buy seat reservations for all trains that require them (like high-speed trains). If seats are still available, you can buy reservations at the last minute. For detailed information about passes and reservations, click on the Railpasses tab at the top of the page you're reading now.

At some stations you may find two kinds of ticket machines, those that take only Italian credit cards and those that take international cards.

The Amica fare has been replaced by the meno 30 fare (30% discount for tickets bought at least 15 days in advance) and the meno 15 fare (15% discount for tickets bought at least 7 days in advance). Regional trains are excluded. (No reservations are possible on regional trains.) See here.

Fares for point-to-point tickets vary according to the type of train. Seat reservations, if required, are included in the price of the ticket. For example, the standard 2nd class fare for a EuroStar AltaVelocita train from Milan to Florence is €52.00. For an IC train it is €27.50. For an Espresso train it is €18.00.

Passholder reservation fees also vary according to the type of train. For EuroStar trains it is €10.00. For IC and Espresso trains it is €3.00.

Posted by
306 posts

Point to point is cheaper. To get an idea how much cheaper go to trenitalia's website and check the ticket price for each trip trip.

Posted by
67 posts

we went in May and because we weren't sure of how these things operated we got the Eurail pass, first class. We still needed to make reservations for trains where we needed seat assignments. I didn't really compare costs, just wanted the assurance of having tickets in hand. Having been there however and seeing how easy it is to purchase tickets on the spot I wouldn't hesitate to get them from the ticket windows because most of the clerks spoke enough English to understand where I wanted to go. If you do that though have it written out for them so you can show them dates, times, and places you want to go. Made things much quicker at the counter and the clerks really appreciated it. When we got to Rome we booked for our next destination before going to our hotel so we were assured of seats.

Posted by
111 posts

Thanks everyone. I will forego the passes and buy the point-to-point tickets. Oh how I wish it was time to go now!

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