We will be traveling to Italy Mar 2025 thru March 24th will start in Rome and head to Tuscany over to Florence. Our plan is to fly into Rome and fly out of Florence back to the States. Any suggestions for train travel and excursions would be much appreciated.
1st trip.
Hi Monica - welcome to the forum!
First thing, can you share some additional Information??
What is your departure date? You didn't include that in your post.
Have you already booked your flights?
Who is "we"? A couple? Approx. ages? Any mobility challenges we need to be aware of?
Have you ever traveled to Europe before?
What sorts of things do you want to see and do when you're there?
Florence is in Tuscany so what other location in the region are you considering?
Sorry for all the questions but the more we know about you, the better we can help! :O)
How many nights will you sleep in IT?
From Rome you can take a direct bus to Siena (3h). Siena is a good place to rent a car and explore the Tuscan countryside. There are also direct buses from Siena to Florence (1h 15m).
If you have time, consider stopping in Orvieto for a few hours or overnight en route to Tuscany from Rome.
We are here now. Train is easy, affordable from Rome to Firenze and from Firenze regionally to other Tuscan areas (consider Lucca and Altopascio, and if you haven't been there, Pisa to confirm the tower is still leaning). Italiarail I found is best web interface for tickets on their trains and on Trentalia.
Be aware Italian banks will not exchange $ for € and money change stores are all in collusion on their rates with VERY high costs. Their exchange rates are reasonable with a 2 to 3 % markup over market, BUT they then impose a €10 fixed cost and 19.9% of transaction commission. So over $200 cost to exchange $1000. Despite Mr. Steve's advice, I would check at yout bank at home to see if you do better. Credit cards are widely accepted even in small shops.
Don’t use a money exchange!
Go to a bank ATM and use your debit card to get euros
Italiarail is a reseller -not a train company-and does not have any trains of their own
Buy your train tix from the actual train company
Trenitalia-fast trains and regional
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html
Or
ItaloTreno-fast trains only
https://www.italotreno.com/en
Both have easy to use apps
If local currency is needed, I believe Rick Steves advises getting it by using bank ATMs. We have done that on most trips and fees were not high. One can usually find a bank ATM at an airport on arrival or in most cities.
