Two Train Travel Questions

I'll answer the second question first, I would give at least a half hour to get to the station and to the correct platform. Add more time if you are not comfortable with just a half hour.

For the first question....hmmm....you can buy the base fare ticket at any time. This is the regular fare and the reservation can be changed at the train station if you need a different train. For the discounted trains, some are not changeable at all and others have very strict change policies. i would not book either of these fares if you don't know what your travel plans are. You can always just show up at the station and book the base fares. You can buy the discounted tickets once you get to Italy if there are any left. They are capacity controlled so once they sell out they are gone.

Are you using the official trenitalia website?

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD

just be sure to enter the Italian names of the cities; roma termini, venezia s.l. and so on. There shouldn't be any price difference other than the conversion rate.

Donna

First part I am not to sure I understand. The prices at www.trenitalia.com should always be displayed in euros. You pay in euros and your credit card co does the conversion automatically so you pay your credit card bill in the currency of your home bank. If you are at www.italiarail.com, there is a bar on top where you can get the prices displayed in USD, CAD, GBP, AUD, and Euro. I use the euro tab regardless as they are slightly cheaper in the national currency of Italy.
Garibaldi station requires a bit of a walk inside the station to get to Napoli Centrale. Also Circumvesuviana's on-time performance can be unreliable. I'd add about an hour between trains. Time for a relaxing espresso if everything is on schedule.

If you are using italiarail then you are doing something wrong when you are trying to convert currencies. GBP prices are not nearly double USD prices. They are virtually identical.

Yes, you are right. I was on another site that had the Trenitalia logo showing which train company provided the service. I reached that site through an internet search and should have known better and gone directly to Trenitalia (where I have already booked other fares).
Checking there just now, I find the rate (in Euro) lower than the other "online rate," so my lesson is learned: stick with the site for the company providing the transport.

I appreciate the input to set me straight.

Meanwhile, minus the stop for a relaxing espresso (I don't drink coffee drinks, so I will miss out on that particular Italian pleasure), is 3/4 hour enough time to change from the train arriving Pompeii (Napoli Garibaldi) to the one departing for Florence (Napoli Centrale)?

Yes, it should be.

Donna

rib,

"is 3/4 hour enough time to change from the train arriving Pompeii (Napoli Garibaldi) to the one departing for Florence (Napoli Centrale)"

It should be enough time if everything goes according to plan, but as mentioned above if there are any delays on the Circumvesuviana that cause you to miss your pre-booked train, that will be a problem. The ticket for the Freccia train from Naples to Florence has compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time so will only be valid for the ONE train listed on the ticket. If you try to use them on a different train, you'll be deemed travelling without reservations and therefore subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!

If you purchase Base fare tickets, these have some provisions for changes, but that means standing in the queue at the ticket office (which could be long) and possibly paying a surcharge to get replacement tickets. Base fare is the same price you'd pay for buying the tickets on the day of travel, so not sure if its worthwhile to pre-book those, given the circumstances.

The term "relaxing Espresso" is somewhat of a contradiction, as it tends to have the opposite effect for me.

Not only do the Circumvesuviana trains sometimes run late, but when I made that same connection in Naples last May, the very long up escalator from the Circumvesuiana was not operating, meaning a long climb up it, with baggage. I was pleased that I had extra time to make my connection.

I have never seen the escalator working, so plan on stairs. Have your wits about you, the Circumvesuviana (train and station) has what Ken calls "a bit of a reputation" for pick pocketing. The Napoli Centrale station upstairs is much better patrolled by police.

Faster trains offer three levels of price, with limited seats for sale at the cheaper rates, and these will sell out. For the remaining seats and price levels, tickets purchased in train stations won't cost any more than online. Rail Europe's US web site adds the notation that prices are "online only" because they charge more for orders by phone.