travel from Florence to Venice then to Rome

When you refer to Euro Railways I am assuming that you are talking about buying your tickets in advance through RailEurope.com before leaving home. This is not the name of a train. You will pay lots more doing this and there is no need. Trenitalia is the Italian Railway system and you can easily buy tkts. once in Italy. I took a Eurostar Italia from Venice to Florence in mid-July and easily purchased tickets in Venice. We bought 2nd class tickets, which always includes the reservation, and paid 35-37 Euros/tkt. I just checked Trenitalia's website for a journey from Florence to Venice on a Eurostar and the price for 1st class was 53.20 Euros and 2nd class was 35.20 Euros. There are lots of daily train from Florence to Venice and Venice to Rome. I was wondering why you are traveling from Florence to Venice and then from Venice to Rome. Maybe you could start in Rome and end in Venice or vice versa?

www.roninrome.com has excellent information re. train travel in Italy.

We had already purchased our airline tickets (arrive Florence, depart Rome) then we decided we couldn't skip Venice, hence the backtracking.

If you know what train trips you’ll take, you can buy those tickets online ahead of time and get discounted prices but sometimes the site (www.trenitalia.com) has difficulty taking US credit cards. I think American Express never works and sometimes Mastercard does. Otherwise, don’t worry about it and you can buy tickets once you are in Italy. I’m a planner and it made me nervous not to have tickets already but there are thousands of trains daily going between the major stops – Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome, etc. so there is a train probably every 30 minutes on average to where you want to go. Regional trains are cheaper than the Eurostar trains. However, some don’t have air conditioning so they’re best for short trips and are usually a fraction of the cost (40-60% less).

Jamie have you checked into possibly changing your tickets to fly open jaw-- into Venice and out of Rome or vice versa. Typically there is a change fee from the airline but you would save some on the train cost and valuable vacation time on not backtracking. It will cost more but you could at least consider what your time is worth in consideration of the net cost of changing the airline tkts.

Janet, I have been considering that and I guess I should see how much it would be to fly into Florence rather than Venice. But I have read that the train ride from Venice to Rome is very pretty...any experience with that?

We did the Marco Polo night train from Venice to Rome, was quite nice in a 4 person sleeper. $75USD each, purchased 3 days before at the station.

I mention this, as it might save some time, since you have to backtrack to get to your flights.

I believe Ryanair also offers an 8AM ish flight from Venice to Rome Ciampino, if you can meet their bag restrictions, etc it might save some money.

thanks Chris...I looked at those ticket prices on Ryanair...unbelievably low prices!

Jamie,

There's absolutely no reason to use budget airlines for the trips you'll be taking. This is not that difficult.

To begin with, don't bother ordering tickets from RailEurope, as you'll undoubtedly pay more and there's no need. Buying your tickets in Italy is the best and least expensive solution.

For the routes you mentioned:

- Florence to Venice: Travel via EuroStar Italia from Firenze SMN to Venezia Santa Lucia is only 2H:40M. The second class fare quoted on the Trentitalia site is €35.20 per person. If using a "slower" train, the fare is as cheap as €21.50.

- Venice to Rome: Again, travel via the EuroStar Italia is the best option. The trip is about 4H:27M (depending on which train you choose) and the second class fare is €61.80 per person.

AFAIK the fares I've quoted will include the compulsory reservation fees, which apply on the EuroStar Italia. Hopefully Tim, Norm or one of the other rail experts here can confirm that.

These are not difficult trips at all. YES, the train ride from Venice to Rome IS VERY BEAUTIFUL. The trip through the Veneto and then Tuscany is outstanding! DON'T take a night train on that route!

Buona Fortuna e Buon Viaggio!

thanks Ken.

Just to add to Ken's post....don't forget to add the fact you'll have to be at those airports at least 90 minutes before flight time if you want to get aboard (Ryanair closes the desk 40 minutes before flight time, and if you're not checked in....tough). There's also the time and extra expense of getting to/from the airports. Ryanair flies into/out of Venice "Treviso," which isn't in Venice, but in the city of Treviso, about 20 miles north of Venice. The ATVO Eurobus service makes the run between the two, at a cost of about 10 Euro return, travel time, 1'10". It'll land at Ciampino airport south of Rome, and Terravision will bus you into Termini station for about 4 Euro, in 40 minutes. Trains, of course, go from city center to city center.