Traveling by Train from Rome

I just booked Eurail for a 4 day pass. (Paid $566 Canadian, approx 500 US for 2 people) I also had to book reservations for Rome-Milan, Milan-Venice, Venice-Florence and Pisa-Rome at about $12 USD per trip, per person. I am assured that this covers the 'fast' trains. I went online to book and the tickets were couriered to me. They have free delivery for over $500.00 so book them all at the same time (I have to pay an additional $30 US to have the reserved tickets sent. You can pick different trains depending on your schedule. I found it interesting that First and Second class tickets were the same price.

dcm

Do we need to book in advance?

You can't book in advance, not for Italian trains with a US credit card. Period. You buy point to point tickets when you get in country.

Cait,

Regarding your statement that tickets are expensive" are you using the Rail Europe web site to obtain ticket prices? Ticket prices in Italy are among the most reasonable in Europe, and you'll probably find that buying tickets in Italy is not only easier but also cheaper.

If you're using a Rail Pass, you'll need to pay reservation fees separately. For those few trips, my preference would be to just use P-P tickets (which will include the reservation fees where these are required).

To answer your question, IMHO "booking via the Internet while still at home" is NOT the best way. Buying P-P tickets a few days before you'll be travelling is the method I normally use.

Good luck and happy travels!

Last October I traveled those routes and had no trouble getting "on the spot" tickets. Most of the time I bought my tickets the day before travelling, just to avoid potential lines at the counter. I admit to not even trying to use the machines. I found the ticket agents to be mostly patient and polite with good English. It did help that I had planned ahead, using the Trenitalia site, and knew the train schedules for my itinerary. If you are traveling during a busier season, you may want to buy all your tickets when you first get to Florence.

Cait....don't bother with a railpass...far too expensive in Italy. Walkup tickets for your journeys on the fast trains are 40 Euro for Rome-Florence, 35 Euro for Florence-Venice, and 45 Euro for Venice-La Spezia....second class. That's a total of 120 Euro, or $175 pp, including all reservations. If you are sure of all your travel dates/times, you may get some of the runs for 30% off if you book them all when you arrive in Rome. Personally, first class isn't worth the price.

First of all, Interrail passes are only for residents of Europe.

Second, as Ken and Norm have said, for your three days of travel point-to-point tickets will be cheaper than a Eurail Italy pass. The cheapest pass (3-day, 2nd class saver for two or more people traveling together) will cost more than p2p tickets. Then you have to add the mandatory reservation fees (15-20 euros) for each leg you take on high-speed trains.

Thanks for your help everyone. I actually just booked trains on Trenitalia and paid with a US card. Rome-florence-Certaldo 45 euro. ea. Next to book Florence-Venice then Venice-CT. Thanks again

Cait, first time travelers to Europe are easy prey for the Eurail pass in Italy. On the RailEurope website, it says "unlimited travel on the national rail network of Italy". This is true if 1)you ride only the Regionale trains which are the slowest in Italy (stops at every stop) and, 2)you don't ride any of the several private train systems (i.e. Naples to Sorrento) that don't accept the pass at all. It is misleading to let you believe that this unlimited travel includes the faster train classes (ICPlus and Eurostars). It doesn't. Italy charges a seat reservation fee to ride these faster trains. CLICK HERE to see their own webpage telling you about the supplemental fees.

It seems so convenient to get on any train by flashing your pass. This will work for the Regionale trains but unfortunately, it doesn't work that way for the fast trains in Italy. Yes the pass does cover the base fare of the fast Eurostar trains. However, Italy charges an extra 10E ($14.50) for seat reservations to ride the Eurostars. You just can't hop on a Eurostar train without paying for the seat reservation fee first. That means that you will be in the ticket lines buying your seat reservation fee. It's not as convenient as you were led to believe. Yes, you can do this seat reservation fee thing in advance on www.raileurope.com but 1) you will need to know your exact date and time of travel and, 2)you will pay a higher cost).

Cait, for the journeys you have described above and on the trains you have requested, your point-to-point fares will total $173. Plus, you will pay $14 to ride the train from Rome-FCO and probably another $20 to get to your departure airport. That's $207. However, if you choose your trains carefully, you can ride the ICPlus trains instead of the Eurostars and lower the costs above by 25%. If you ride all Regionale trains, you can lower the costs above by 50%. But, your travel times increase with these other train classes as they make more stops. The Regionale trains are also slower. They will often hold them in the smaller train stations as the Eurostars come whizzing through.

Your select Eurail pass for Italy will cost you close to $300 when you add in the seat reservation fees you will need as well as the delivery fees.