My fiancé and I are planning our honeymoon in Europe at the beginning of Oct. We have booked the train tickets from Rome to Florence, Florence to Zurich and Zurich to Paris through www.RailEurope.ca. We've booked the cheapest fare (economy 2nd class) but we have just receive an email saying that 'the requested fare from Florence to Zurich is no longer available' and suggested the $150 per person freedom 2nd class fare instead of the $49 pp economy 2nd class fare. The $101 'upgrade' only gives the option of exchangeable tickets, which we don't need. We feel like RailEurope is forcing us to pay the higher price because our plan would be messed up without this middle leg of the trip. Also, if the fare is unavailable, why is it still on their web site??
My question is: are there other ways to book tickets on this train and have them shipped to us in Canada? I've checked the schedules and there's only 1 direct train from Firenze SMN to Zuerich HB that day.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
It's actually quicker to take the trains with a connection: 6.5 hours....the direct train is seven hours. Rail Europe is a ripoff.. for this journey I would wait to purchase ticket when you arrive in Florence, there are 15 different departures including a direct night train.
Thanks Michael! I noticed that the connection train is quicker but when I tried to change my order through RailEurope, the price went up AGAIN! I agree its a total ripoff! Can you let me know where you can find information on the 15 departures from Florence to Zuirch? I only found 4 on the day that I want (Oct 10). We've already booked our hotels so the preference is not to change the dates.
Thanks so much for your help!
You're welcome. You can look up schedules at the Swiss Rail site: www.rail.ch