I am so confused about rail passes. I don't know whether it is better to buy a railpass ahead of time (4 day saver) costs $218 for 1st or $177 for 2nd class. I know that I am going to have to pay for reservations on top of these prices. Is it difficult to get reservations? We are going in mid to late Oct. Or is it better to just buy the tickets at the train station in Italy as we go. Our plan is to take the train from Rome to Florence, Florence to Pisa, Pisa to La Spezia,La Spezia to Riomaiggare, La Speza to Venice and then Venice to Rome. Thanks!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
You have to do your homework - WHICH IS ??? - Use the Italia web site and price out each leg of your trips. ADD IT UP. Compare to price of rail pass. Also know that there will be reservation charge if you use the pass on a train requiring a reservation.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Fares on Italian trains vary widely. High speed EuroStar Italia trains cost the most, next are IC trains, and cheapest are regionale trains. For example, Rome-Florence on EuroStar Italia trains takes 1hr35min and the 2nd class fare is 44.00 EUR. IC trains take 3hr15min and the fare is 28.00 EUR. Regionale trains take 4hr4min and the fare is 16.95 EUR. Some routes have mostly high speed trains. Some routes have only regionale trains. Go to www.trenitalia.com/trenitalia.html for complete timetables and fares. The site is available in English. Fares for regionale trains only appear up to seven days in advance so enter a date within the next few days. If you have a railpass, you will pay 10.00 EUR for a seat reservation on EuroStar Italia trains and 3.00 EUR for a seat reservation on IC trains. No reservations are possible on regionale trains.
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
Melissa, read the above discussion, "Rethinking Railpasses," in the Transportation section of the Helpline. You may find some answers there. You have a couple of long trips and a few short trips. Cost it out on the Trenitalia.com website. Reservations should be easy this time of year. Just write down what you want and present that note at the ticket booth at the train station. They can all issue reservations; you can get reservations before the day of travel. So, you can buy several reservations at once when you know you will be traveling....The saver pass may be the best deal for people traveling together......Railpasses arrive with lots of info for their use, a list of reservation fees, and a handy little book of train schedules.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8059 posts
Take the advice above and price out each leg on Trenitalia (use a date a week or so out from today to get a price, not the day of your trip, but close to the day of week you are travelling on for schedule) and add them up.......To address your itinerary specifically, I usually start by considering a day of travel on a pass cost (in this case, 2nd class) about $44 or just under 32 euro...... Rome to Florence is about the same cost either way when you take into account reservations....if Florence to the CT is all one day, then a pass might be handy, but the cost of buying there is about 20 Euro at the most.....CT to Venice: A pass is just cheaper, by a few euro to 10 euro depending on the train.....Venice to Rome, a pass is cheaper, from 8 euro to 30 euro depending on the train..........As was mentioned, if you took regional trains all the way, buying there is much cheaper, but on these main routes, you will find the premium trains rule, and are probably worth the cost........When I sum it up, your travel is a wash either way, not saving a lot, but not costing you a lot if you had a pass. To get a reservation may require going to a ticket window...not sure if you can get just a resservation from the machines, maybe someone else knows.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Yes, it is possible to buy passholder seat reservations from station ticket machines.