I'm planning to purchase a Eurail pass for Italy (One Country). I read online that it is a good idea to reserve seats beforehand, otherwise I'm not guaranteed a seat on the train. However, I'm a bit confused by the Trenitalia website - by following the reservation system, I'm asked to pay for the ticket, which is not what I want.
So, the question is, with Trenitalia, what do I do if I only want to make a reservation and use my Eurail pass?
Thanks!
If you buy them at a station, seat reservations on EuroStar Italia trains cost €10 and seat reservations on IC trains cost €3. There is open seating on Regionale trains and no reservations are possible.
However, point-to-point tickets in Italy can be cheaper than a railpass, particularly if you avoid high speed trains. Give us your itinerary and we'll help you do a cost comparison.
Thanks Tim - here's what I'm planning.
I'm landing in Genoa for a workshop and will be in Sestri Levante for a week, during which I will visit Milan for one day (and return to SL the same day). I've
already gotten a reservation for the Last Supper!
Afterwards, I'm planning to visit:
Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Castelfranco Veneto, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Sansepolcro, Rome, and Naples.
I'm flying back to the US from Rome. The whole trip will be around 3 weeks.
I've also considered what you mentioned, that a train pass is not the most cost-effective for all travels. I'm planning to purchase the Eurail Italy pass for 5 days, then purchase individually all the short-distance trains. The 5 days will mostly consists of long distance (Venice-Florence, Florence-Rome, etc), or on day trips where train use is heavy (over three cities).
For the Youth 2nd class, each day is about $30. I checked that the long distance trips is worth at least $40 each way, the heavy day trips add up to $30 (and a lot less hassle with a pass).
Does that sound like a plan?
I was just there with an Italy pass. No reservation is required for IC trains. For IC trains reservations are possible, but not required and not likely to be necessary. Judge for yourself depending on location and time (rush hour or not, big city or boondocks, etc).
Seat tickets (i.e. reservations) can be bought at automatic machines. Practise using the Trenetalia site: it's the same series of questions and selections (secret: your discount's name is "global pass"). You will be amazed how easy it is even if all you have available is an Italian-language machine. The larger train stations will have English (multi-language) automatic ticket issue machines. If you need to go through the line and talk to a real person always always always allow LOTS of time for the line. Preferably do it the day before. Better yet don't: learn to use the machines.
