I will be traveling through France, Switzerland, and departing from Italy. If I purchase a railpass good for three countries will the pass work in Italy or do I have to purchase a special pass for Italy therefore only needing a pass for two countries plus purchase a separate pass for Italy? THANKS!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23270 posts
The pass will work in Italy. But it is NOT a no brainer that a rail pass saves money. In Italy all trains exceept for Regional will required a seat reservation for each leg from 3 to 10E depending on the train. France and Switzerland vary somewhat but addition fees are required and in France the number of seats available for a pass holder is limited.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32212 posts
Natalie, The countries covered by the Pass will depend on exactly which Railpass you buy. I assume you're considering a Flex-Pass (ie: 3-countries in xx days)? As the previous reply mentioned, Railpasses DO NOT include the reservation fees which are compulsory on the "premium" trains such as the TGV in France or EuroStar Italia in Italy. You'll have to pay separately for those. Especially in Italy it's VERY IMPORTANT to have a reservation on a train where this is required, as if you're caught without it you'll be fined on the spot and it won't be cheap (€40-50). You may find it very helpful to download the free PDF Rail Guide (look in the lower right corner for the link). That contains lots of good information on selecting and using Railpasses. Happy travels!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16293 posts
In addition to the drawbacks mentioned above, a 3-country pass does not work as well in Switzerland as a "pure" Swiss pass of some type. Depending on how long you will be in Switzerland and what you plan to do there, your best option may be a pass for Switzerland and point to point tickets in France and Italy. You can get good discounts on those by buying them in advance on the websites TGV and Trenitalia.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32776 posts
and if you use it on high speed trains in France (TGV) you will need a mandatory passholder reservation for each segment that you ride. In other words, if you take a TGV from Paris to Lyon, then later a TGV from Lyon to Avignon, or even just change trains for some reason, then later a TGV via Lyon to Geneva, that's 4 segments requiring 4 separate passholder reservations which will add around €40 to your costs. The problem is that passholder reservations are severely rationed on TGV trains and often not available for the train you may want. They can be as little as €3 or as high as €10 per segment. If you want to travel on Thalys (you haven't said anything about BeNeLux so I'm guessing not) they are very expensive and rare. I don't understand the premise behind the question. What caused you to think you needed a special pass for Italy? You say you are traveling through France and Switzerland. Does that mean just one trip, or are you also traveling around in each country? I can't believe that a pass would ever pay off on just one trip.