We're planning to travel by train from Rome to Venice one-way via ES, Venice to Florence one-way via IC, Florence to La Spezia (round trip) and Florence to Bologna (round trip). We've figured it out and it'll be about 400+ EUROS (a lot).
Is this the cheapest way to travel within Italy??
Does anyone know about any airlines where I could find one-way inexpensive airfares from Rome to Venice??
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Margie....is that 400 Euro for 2,3, 4 passengers? You don't say which. Checking the Trenitalia site, I get walk-up second class fares totalling about 135 Euro per person, or about $175 total, second class, for your journeys....not bad, considering the ground you'll be covering. From Rome-Venice, the most expensive trip, you'lll be paying about 62 Euro pp on the ES (about $80). With the extra rides to and from the airports, the time involved in getting to and from those airports, luggage charges, and the like, you won't find discount air fares cheaper than that. You'll save about 20 Euro pp, but at the cost of an extra 90 minutes, by moving down a step to the IC Plus train from Rome-Venice.
Where are you getting your fares, RailEurope?
RailEurope charges a lot for tickets purchased over here. Purchasing tickets over there would cost less.
Margie, I've done the lookups on www.trenitalia.com and taking the most expensive trains on all legs of your journey above, I come up with 137.80Euro. It could be less if you don't ride the ES trains but I'm betting you will as they are much faster. I am curious to see where you are coming up with the 400+Euros.
Rome/Venice on the ES is 61.80Euro. You can take one of the few IC trains at 10.44 for 41.50Euro but the trip will take 90 minutes longer (many more stops). Or, the ICPlus train departing at 14.44 for 40.50Euro. This train also takes 90 minutes longer. Venice/Florence on the ES is 35.20 and 21.50Euro on the 9:20 ICPlus train. This train takes 25 minutes longer.
Round trip from Florence to the CT is 22.70Euro. Finally, Florence/Bologna on the ES is 18.10Euro. The ICPlus train is 9.50Euro and the Regionale train (the local), costs 5.40Euro but it takes an hour longer.
Please don't consider buying a Eurail pass. It will be much more expensive than P2P to begin with plus, Italy charges a supplemental fee of 15E-20E for each Eurostar run you have and you could have 3.
Thanks so much for your replies. I appreciated it.
The cost of about 400 EUROS that I initially referred to is for two. Rome-Venice 61.80E o/w for ES, Venice-Florence 35.20E o/w for ES, Florence-La Spezie 30E r/t for IC, Florence-Bologna 20E r/t for IC, perhaps Florence-Rome 40E o/w for IC. Our final destination is Florence but we have a lay-over in Rome so we'll ask if we can stay in Rome instead. Anyhow, this comes up to 374E, which I found expensive but the other alternative (driving) would be more expensive.
We'll be 4 days in Rome, 2 in Venice and 4 in Florence (will take a one-day trip to Cinque Terre and one-day trip to Bologna).
We're all into walking so we're planning to walk as much as we can. Any suggestions/tips???
Thanks.
If there a reason you are going from Venice to Florence one day and then a round trip from Florence back to Bologna? Trains from Venice to Florence go through Bologna.
Lee,
Thanks for the feedback. It hadn't dawned on me that we could do that instead.
So now the plan is to take the train from Venice early in the AM, get off in Bologna and spend the day and the re-board the train to Florence in the evening. I take that would be enough to tour the town.
Sorry for asking but how do we about re-boarding the train to head to Florence. Do we have to pay again or the same ticke that we used in the morning would do.
Any tips/suggestions for the one-day trip to Cinque Terre???
I've been there before so I figured that one day will be enough to hike the five villages and perhaps stop in one or two villages to mingle. We're avid hikers so we're excited about the hike.
Thanks.
Margie
Margie, expecting that you will be on a Eurostar or other train that requires seat reservations, if you buy a ticket from Venice to Florence and get off at Bologna, the remainder of your ticket is toast when the train departs and you are not on it. Your Eurostar ticket does not permit hop off/hop on priveleges. What you will need to do is buy two sets of tickets; one from Venice to Bologna and a second set from Bologna to Florence.
For the first set from Venice to Bologna, you will most likely be on the Eurostar. For the second set from Bologna to Florence, the Eurostar is also great but you also have the choice of a lesser-class Reginale train. Here's the difference. For the Eurostar, you must have a definite date, time and seat number on the ticket. If you buy in advance (i.e. Venice), you will have to be back at the train station to meet that specific train. Or, if you are adventureous, just return to the station when you are ready, buy your Eurostar ticket for 18.10Euro and jump on the next train. Don't fret, there are 35-40 trains a day going from Bologna to Florence.
Finally, you can ride the Regionale train for 5.40Euro. No seat reservations permitted. It's the local. It takes about 30 minutes longer but you don't have the strain of having to meet a specific train. Just show up when you are ready to leave Bologna and hop on the next R train.
Margie, just for fun, here's my suggested one-day visit to the CT. It only calls for walking two of the four trails. But, as avid hikers, you could squeeze in one of the other two trails and skip a train ride.
Larry's Suggested One-Day Visit to the CT Take the train from Florence to Riomaggiore. I suggest the 7:51am train that gets you to Riomaggiore at 10:08 with a train change in La Spezia Centrale. There is an earlier train to La Spezia but you will wait an hour for the next train to Riomaggiore. Leisurely stroll down the main street to the water. It's only about 500 feet or so. Try to find a TI to purchase a 1-day Cinque Terre Treno pass. This provides unlimited train and trail travel in the CT.
Walk the famous first trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola (30 minutes). It's beautiful). Note that there are ticket booths on the trail. Your CT Treno card will cover the fare. Tour Manarola (20 min). Pick up the 2nd trail in Manarola and hike to the Cornigla train station (45 min). Skip Corniglia which is high up on the bluff. Instead take the train to Monterosso. It's about 12:30 now. Tour Monterosso (about 1hr.). Have lunch there or take the train to Vernazza and have lunch there. Doesn't matter. Both great. Tour Vernazza. It's about 3:00pm-4:00pm now. You can extend your town visits and stay later. Finally, take the train from Vernazza to Florence (about 3.0hrs). Or, if you are really adventureous, take the ferry from Vernazza to Portovenere and then take the short bus ride to La Spezia Centrale and pick up the train from there. There's your long day.
Larry,
When you're good, you're good (like my hubby would say)!!
Thanks so much for your feedback/tips on the trains and one-day trip to CT. We'll print it out and take it w/ us.
Cheers!
Margie
Margie,
All great advise here! My son and I just did a similar trip in January. We purchased all our tickets at the train station from the machines available. They are very easy to use with a credit card and had no language barriers!! Be sure to validate your ticket before you get on the train in the litle yellow validating box on the platforms. The conductor tends to get upset if you don't!
Carol
More than upset. He'll fine you about 50Euro on the spot.
