My husband and I are travelling to Italy for the month of September. We already know we will be mostly using the train to move from region to region and will have seven travel days in the month. Does it make more sense to buy a rail pass or to buy tickets point-to-point as we need them?
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
805 posts
Point to point. Passes rarely make sense in Italy especially since so many trains require reservations, which are an additional fee over a pass.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
I agree with David. Plus a lot depends on where you are going. Many places like Siena, the CT, Tuscany, (region-to-region) are reached by very cheap local trains (10Euro or less). For the Amalfi Coast, your pass is no good on the private Circumvesuviana railway from Naples to Sorrento or the buses from Sorrento along the coast. For the major routes between Rome, Florence and Venice, if you have a pass and, you ride the Eurostars, you will pay a seat reservation fee of 15Euro which is almost half the regular P2P train fare which includes the seat reservation.
So many travelers on this site simply want the easy way out with a railpass thinking that they will avoid time and confusion in the train stations. Surprise!!. If you ride the Eurostars or the night trains, you will be visiting the train stations. For the local Regionale trains, you can just hop on and find a seat providing that your ticket is properly validated. Your choice but you don't need a railpass in Italy.
Which brings up my final question. Where are you going in Italy? We could provide better information.
Posted by
OP
Vancouver, BC, Canada
2 posts
I am landing in Rome and travelling to Pisa where I start a 6-day walking tour that takes me to Sienna. I then need to travel from Sienna to Florence for a few days, then from Florence to Naples where I join a six day Mediterranean cruise. After the cruise I am travelling from Naples to Rome for a week, then from Rome to Lecce (in the south). After a week in and around Ugento I travel from Lecce back to Rome to fly home.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
First, you will need the Leonard express from FCO to Rome Termini (11Euro). From Rome Termini, you have two choices. Some runs are Eurostars to Florence and then a Reginale (R) train to Pisa (42Euro). The other choice is to take the ICPlus train from Rome to Pisa. ICPlus trains are less expensive than the Eurostars. This particular run goes out to Civitavecchia (West Coast) and then north to Pisa. About the same travel time but the fare is only 27.50Euro. No train changes either on this run.
CLICK HERE to see the schedule. You can press NEXT to see later trains.
From Siena to Florence, the best method of transit is the SITA Rapido express bus. It runs frequently during the day from the city wall i Siena. Just over an hour on the bus.
Florence to Naples takes 3.5hrs on the Eurostar. Cost is 58Euro. If you carefully look for the ICPlus trains, it takes an hour longer but the fare is only 39Euro. CLICK HERE to see this schedule.
Rome to Lecce will take 6.0hrs-8.0hrs depending on the train run. Cost on the Eurostar is 51.30Euro each way. There is a Mazorri Rome-Lecce bus run that takes 7.0hrs but costs 60Euro roundtrip. The bus runs from the Rome-Tiburtina train station. The website is http://www.marozzivt.it/ but it's in Italian and very difficult to navigate.