We are trvling to italy in a couple of weeks, we are staying in rome for 3 day, going to florence, venice and milan, then maybe to lake como. I do not have rail passes because from reading peoples comments it is best buy p2p tickets. We do not have a specific itinerary, is this the best way to go? also what is a domestic flight service to fly from milan to rome before we leave. Any help is greatly appreciated. Sandy
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
That is the way we do it. Trains are very frequent and almost never full. I say almost because I don't know for sure. During four weeks of travel in Italy over the past few years we have never encountered a full train. I suppose it can happen but believe the probability is very low. I would take the train back to Rome. Our bench mark is about six to eight hours of train travel before a flight would save time.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
Sandy, if you buy an Italian Rail 4 day 2nd cl saver pass, it is $199 per person and allows you use of the InterCity train with no surcharge. The full IC fare from Rome to Florence to Venice to Milan and back to Rome, per Trenitalia.com, is $168 (@$1.40/€). If you purchase all of you tickets the night before travel, or when you get to Rome, or even online before you go, you could get Amica fares for $121 for all for legs. So you would be saving $78-$31 over the pass.
If you wanted to ride on the faster Italian EuroStar (ES) trains, they have a surcharge of about $25 per leg for passholders. Therefore, including the cost of the pass, it would cost you about $300. Full fare ES tickets would cost about $210 at the time of travel or $168 using the Amica fare, so you would save $132-$90 on ES*.
This is why people say to use point-point.