Smart Price in Italy - need answer ASAP

If you can handle enough Italian--with or without the help of an online translation site like freetranslation.com--you could go to www.tgv-europe.com (operated by SNCF, French national rail) and choose to retrieve your ticket in Italy. The site will change to Italian and you will have to enter an Italian address (like that of your hotel) to which the ticket can be mailed. The site should accept US credit cards. The best fare I found for a bunk in a four-person couchette was €70 (not as good as the Smart price on the Trenitalia site but better than the standard fare).

I'll venture a guess--and it's only a guess--that if any of the allotted seats are still available, you can get the Smart fare at the station. However, popular night trains often sell out weeks in advance. If you want to be sure to get a ticket, particularly at a discount price, phone the call center.

Unless I had a lot of time and wanted to relax-read-write-look out the window at the scenery, I'd choose the night train. It would save me a night in a hotel and give me more daylight hours for sightseeing. And I'd pick a four-person couchette over a six-person couchette for the extra space and comfort.

i phoned the call center and they told me they could not take my american credit card over the phone - that it wouldn't work.

maybe i should try again

Smart fares are limited discounts on trains between Italy and other countries. Within Italy itself, the AMICA fare would be similar. They are limited by date, train category and train run. As limited discounts, they do get snapped up early. We North Americans are at a disadvantage these days in getting these fares early on the Trenitalia website because Trenitalia no longer accepts American credit cards. By the time you get to Italy to buy your tickets, most of these limited discount tickets are gone. The one exception seems to be buying tickets upon arrival for travel a week or more ahead. Sometimes, some of these discounts are still hanging around.

I don't get why people don't think American CCs can work for Tren Italia. I just helped a few friends a couple days back buy them using American CCs. Weird...

David....probably because we've had about eight billion complaints over the last 9 or 10 months that Trenitalia's site was rejecting American credit cards, and those who had called the Trenitalia helpline were being told that American credit cards weren't being accepted because of fraud issues. Perhaps they have that all ironed out now. Previously, I don't believe they were using the CVC or CVVC numbers as part of their website,....perhaps they are now, making transactions more secure. It would be interesting to hear from more people who may be making CC purchases on Trenitalia.

to answer question (A), if the couchette is on a direct train (eg. you don't have to change cars in the middle of the nite somewhere) then I'd MUCH prefer that option. Also you don't say if you're traveling alone or with a group, but if you can fill the couchette with your friends it takes away any worry about your luggage disappearing or being rifled thru if you leave the compartment.

With the first option, you get on a train at around 1pm in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day on the train, wasting your valuable travel time (but enjoying the view out the window). You'll arrive kinda tired, and won't be in bed until midnite or later by the time you find the hotel, rouse the clerk who's sleeping in a room off the lobby, etc. With the nite train, you'd be boarding at around 6pm somewhere. You can bring food and drink on the train, or go to the dining car and buy something. Around 10pm go to sleep (for me, I'd need a sleeping pill), then in the morning you wake up and you're in Paris!

I took a nite train from Italy to Munich this summer and it worked out great. I bought well in advance, though, and got a good enough rate to get my own room (I was traveling alone).