How do I get from rome to athens via rail

If you will look at the top of the Transportation Page you will find a link to the Rail Desk where you can get an answer. But since the Eurail pass does not cover all of the countries between Italy and Greece it might be better to consider an alternative. Europe by Air- www.europebyair.com
has a $129 flight that might, considering the cost of meals and non-covered fares, be cheaper than going by rail.

But it is possible to get a Eurail pass that includes just Italy and Greece, with coverage for the boat trip from Brindisi (Italy) to Greece.

Does anyone know anything about that trip? Maybe it spins out the Roma-Athens journey to over 24 hours, and the boat part may not be so comfortable?

I took the ferry to Brindisi from Greece many, many years ago. The trip we took left Patras in early evening arrived at Corfu the next morning. It went on to Brindisi. We stopped off in Corfu and split the trip. We picked up the ferry at 9 in the morning and I know it was that evening before we got to Rome. It may have changed. The boat was big and we booked berths. There was a bus that was part of the fare that took us from Athens to Patras. Google Brindisi--Patras ferry and you'll get info.

We were 19 when we did this trip. We had all sorts of adventures on Corfu that involved mopeds, hospitals, taxis, impatient ferry captains, insistent Corfu locals, porters, and a lot of hopping on the part of one of my friends. It was perfect fodder for an expository writing assignment a year later. The Greeks are wonderful and people from Corfu amazing.

Pam

As mentioned, since several countries along the way are not included in the Rail pass, the classic route is the included Brindisi/Patras or Bari/Patras Ferry. Keep in mind though that the Railpass gets you only deck passage on the ferry, if you want/need sleep, you would have to upgrade to an inside "airline" seat, dorm bed, or private cabin. The rail pass is also good for the train in greece to get you to Athens. Both the ferry and Greek rail are not worth paying for extra days on a pass or for use if you have a select pass, if you have a omnibus global pass, you might as well use it though. If my choice were to add days to a pass or something else, I would first consider just paying the cost of the ferry and a bus or train in Greece, otherwise, since the ferry, with travel, takes up most of two days, I would consider a cheap flight from Rome to Athens.

You might want to think about a short flight - Athens to Rome is just 2 hours and we got our flight for about $200. There are also a bunch of ferries that go from Greece to Italy. It all depends on how much your time is worth.