I travelled Italy more than 25 yrs ago. Eurail pass was wonderful...hop on and off trains all day long travelling.
I am resuming my travels (children grown and gone) and will tour Italy late October for two weeks. #1. Buy another train pass for Italy? or buy as we go? #2. Do trains and car? #3. Are reservations needed in October? (I like the freedom of hopping on and off.) Thanks for your help.
Posted by
Newburyport, MA
683 posts
We have never had a problem with access altho we have always bought point to point tix. often from machines at the stations. On popular routes- such as to Roma and Venezia and Firenze- it is wise to buy a day in advance. In October there are many fewer tourists, so trains should not be as crowded. Our trips in Italy were during 2004 and 2006.
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
The problem with hop-on-hop-off is that now so many of the trains require reservations -- Eurostar (ES) especially. Trains to smaller towns often don't require reservations. I did the original Eurail Pass deal in 1969 and travelled all over Europe without making one reservation. Now, I usually make one.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
32 posts
I have found that when traveling within a single country, I save money by using point-to-point rather than buying a railpass, but of course it depends on how you travel. Most railpasses only have about 3 days' coverage, and I usually travel by train at least 6 times on a 3 week trip.
You can get prices as well as schedule info from http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
(they have an English language option)