We purchased our Italian first class rail pass and understand we need to reserve our seat. We are flying into Venice for a few days, taking the train to Florence for a few days then ending our trip in Rome. How soon when we are in Venice should we reserve our seats, and can we do all seat reservations at once? Thanks much!
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
With a rail pass, it will not just be a matter of reserving seats. For express trains the pass does not completely cover the cost of the train and you have to pay a supplement to ride it. But the good news is, all of those trains have only reserved seats, so along with the supplement you get a seat reservation. You should be able to make all of your "reservations" at any station, so as soon as you can commit, make them.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33851 posts
Did I read correctly that you have bought passes so that you can ride 2 trains? Oh well. The quota for railpass reservations on some trains can quite small so it is prudent not to leave it to the last minute. Even when there are seats available on the train for general purchase the railpass seat quota may fill.
Posted by
OP
DES Moines, Ia, Usa
3 posts
We purchased one ticket for each of us ...a 3 day flexipass. Thanks for the responses
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
Though it is reported that there are sometimes limited availability of seats for pass holders, I've never had an issue even with extensive use of passes throughout Europe. The main reason to get all your reservations at once is to avoid standing in multiple lines at train stations and eating up precious vacation time. The attendent can also validate your pass at that time too. FYI - If you have a 1st class pass you can reserve seats in 2nd class if you wish. It is less expensive and on the high speed Italian trains there is little difference in comfort.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17440 posts
You can make your reservations for the fast ES trains now, on the Trenitalia site. The reservation fee for pass holders is 10 euro. For Venice to Florence, for example, put in your starting and ending points , the date of travel, and a time. Make sure you choose a time or it will default to the local time, which may be in the middle of the night with no trains. Also enter the number of people. The next page will show several trains with departures close to the time you chose. Pick one and hit "continue.". The next page will show several fare options for ticket purchasers. Look on the left side, below the red and blue boxes designation fare type, for the " more fares" arrow. This will produce a drop-down menu which includes "global pass". Click that and it will show the ten euro fee, with a green button on the right to indicate if there are seats available for pass holders. There generally are; I checked for 2 days from now and found seats on all trains I checked. Below that you will see your options for seat type. If you have started by indication two people, it will automatically give you seats together.