A month from now we should be boarding a train in Florence bound for Rome. We already have our railpass. Checking DB.Bahn for connections (and trenitalia) There appears to be only a high speed train connection available and a reservation is required. Can I reserve this at the last minute (say when I arrive in Florence on the 27th) Will I have to pay an upcharge? This is among the last little details of a long anticipated first trip, so your advice is greatly appreciated.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Yes and Yes. There are approximately 55 trains a day from Florence to Rome. Most are high-speed, non-stop Eurostars. Expect to pay seat reservation fee of about 18Euro. The trip will take 1hr.40min.
If upcharges are a pain, there is another way to make this trip. Take 1 or more local trains for this journey. This method will take about 4hrs but there are no upcharges or seat reservations to ride a local R train. I do see one run with no train changes leaving Florence at 9:09am. Or, jump on a local train from Florence to Chiusi. Then jump on another R train from Chiusi to Rome.
Several R trains are available on these runs. The trip takes longer and you have to change trains. Many more stops. But, if you want to save 18Euro per person, it can be done quite easily.
You can easily wait until you get there to make any train reservations. With 55 trains a day, you will easily get on a train to Rome.
Posted by
OP
Orlando
191 posts
Thanks Larry, I'll wait to decide whether to go the local route or take the high speed trains... I might need to hoard every euro and an opportunity to save a few might just be what is needed at that point in the trip.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
What is DB.Bahn? Do you mean German Rail's website at www.bahn.de?
If you leave "Means of Transport" on the defaults of "Standard Search" and "Prefer fast connections", then all you will get are ES* (Italian EuroStar) trains, which are like ICEs. You can get mandatory reservations for these trains in Florence, right up to train time, preferrably earlier. You will pay almost as much for passholder "reservations" (includes premium train surcharge) on an ES* as you would for a P2P ticket. If you change "Standard search" to "without ICE" you will see a few slower IC and regional connections. With a railpass, you can just get on these train without reservations. You can't reserve regional trains; a seat reservation on an IC costs about €3.
Posted by
OP
Orlando
191 posts
Thanks Lee, that is helpful information... please note fyi that the logo that the german train system uses, is DB, which I assume means Deutsche Bahn.