Taking the train from city to city and within cities -- looking for best options!

No, there is no one pass that works for Intercity and urban transport.

"and then buy a separate city rail card once you're in that city for a few days?" - Yes. Each city has it's own system, and you will have to research that. Most cities have some form of one-day or longer pass which covers trains, métro, trams buses and anything else, and is usually good value.

You don't say what method of transport you will be using for your intercity trips. In general, passes are not the cheapest option, especially in Italy. It is usually cheaper to buy normal tickets, and to buy these 2-3 months in advance to get the lowest fares. But, when you buy a cheap ticket, it is for usually one particular train, you cannot later decide to get a different train.

You need to list all the intercity train journeys, get prices for all of them (using railway company websites) and add them up. Then compare them to the cost of passes. 90% certain individual tickets will be cheaper.

Thanks, Chris. I guess by intercity, I meant taking the metro here and there to different sites that are not within walking distance. When you say to buy normal tickets in advance (which I can do right now), what company do you recommend?

Christa,
Intercity is a generic term for mainline trains from city to city, for example Barcelona to Paris or Florence to Rome. The individual train operators have their own brand names (TGV, Thalys, Eurostar, Frecciarossa, ICE etc.). These trains usually have airline type pricing where you buy a ticket for a specific train, and the earlier you book the cheaper the tickets are.

The best place to buy tickets is direct from the company running the trains. This would be:

• Spain: RENFE (Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles) www.renfe.com
• France: SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français) www.voyages-sncf.com or www.capitainetrain.com Capitaine Train is a French based agent which is easier to use than the SNCF website.
• Italy: Trenitalia: www.trenitalia.com

You went to college in Italy, you should know all this :-)

You're totally right, Chris! I don't know what I was thinking saying that. Thank you!

Same situation here. Going through my desk drawer I find a NYC transit card, a Chicago Ventra card,a Seattle Orca card, and a Paris Navigo card.

Yes, Sam!! I have a Ventra and a Metra card in my wallet to travel around Chicago and to the suburbs. I have a subway card for NYC (love that city!!) and an old Oyster card from London too. Hope you're getting ready to cheer for Wisconsin tonight!!

Changing into my Badger Gear now. MSU better step it up if they want a Big Ten do-over.
www.seat61.com gives a good primer on European train travel with all the individual rail sites.
www.parisbytrain.com is good primer for Paris.

Haha. ON Wisconsin!

Christa,

A few thoughts on your rail trips.....

• Barcelona to Paris - are you planning to travel by train or take a flight?
• Paris to Bayeux and return - I'd probably just buy tickets when in Paris, probably from an SNCF Boutique (numerous locations around the city). If you want to travel at a specific time, you can pre-purchase tickets at www.capitainetrain.com (the website is very easy to use). You'll first need to take the Metro or RER from the area of your hotel to Gare St. Lazare, which is where the Normandy trains depart from.
• Paris to Milan - whether to use a flight on that route or travel by train is a bit of a "toss up". One of the shortest rail trips on that route is a departure from Gare de Lyon at 10:41, arriving Milano Porta Garibaldi at 17:09 (time 6H:28M, one change at Torino Porta Susa). Both trains on that route have compulsory reservations, so you could pre-book those and probably save some money (you might have to book each segment on a different website - info on that below). I doubt that a flight on that route would be much (if any) quicker.
• Travel to Monterosso, Florence and Rome - this is where it gets a bit complicated. You'll be using a variety of types of trains on those routes. Some types (ie: Freccia, InterCity) require compulsory reservations that are specific to train, date and departure time. Other trains (ie: Regionale) have tickets which must be validated prior to use on the day of travel. Those who don't have valid reservations for the train they're riding on OR who forget to validate their tickets will be subject to hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! Railpasses are generally not good value for Italy for a variety of reasons, with one example being that these do NOT include the compulsory reservations. Those must be purchased separately at extra cost.

For travel in Italy, you can use either the Trenitalia or bahn.de websites to determine the composition of trains, departure times and other details. If you're willing to commit to a specific departure, you can save money by purchasing tickets for the fast trains up to 120 days in advance. However, note that the cheapest tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable and come with other restrictions, so choose carefully.

If you decide to travel by train from Paris to Milan, you might have to book the Paris - Torino portion on the Capitainetrain website, and the Torino-Milan portion on either the Trenitalia website or at www.italiarail.com (easier to use than the Trenitalia site). You may also be able to book the entire trip at an SNCF Boutique (not sure?) but it will be more expensive that way.

The Barcelona-Paris train is your most expensive leg, so do lock in that reserved ticket soon, to get a better price. Flight prices are often comparable, or even cheaper; www.skyscanner.com. Train tickets within Italy are relatively affordable, even at full fare on the day of travel, and your routes are shorter.