Train/Subway Questions

Old Aug 17th, 2015, 03:17 AM
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Train/Subway Questions

I have a few train/subway questions.

In London and Paris, will there be a pass or something that I can purchase that I can use for unlimited rides for like three days or so?

And in Italy, if I'm wanting to travel from Venice to Rome to Florence (not necessarily in that order) is there some sort of pass I can buy for that?

In all situations above, is there a way to order the tickets beforehand (cheaper or to save money) or is it something I can do while I'm there? Thanks for everyone's help.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 03:45 AM
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OK - you need to differentiate between inter city travel (trains) and intracity travel (tube in London, Metro in Paris, and in Rome, buses - or foot or cabs - although there is limited underground/Metro). Do not use "subway" which has a different meaning in UK (an underground pedestrian passage at a major intersection - not transportation).

And yes, you can buy different types of passes for both - but if they make sense or not depends on your specific itinerary.

For Italy you are better off buying individual tickets for intercity train travel if those are you only stops - a pass would cost much more.

In Paris we just use a carnet (book of 10 tickets with slight discount) which can be used by multiple people. Usually for 3 days a weekly pass will not make sense.

In London choices depend on where you will be staying and going - and what activities you will do since some have discounts for activities. Do a search for London transit here and look for info on Oyster.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 03:51 AM
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A pass is rarely cost effective for Italy. For traveling between Venice/Rome/Florence (is that really your order?) you can book tickets in advance on Trenitalia (the Italian rail company) as much as 120 days in advance (current schedules run through second weekend in Dec.). There are advance purchase discounts.

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...005817f90aRCRD

Whether you need a local pass for each city in Italy or not depends on how much time you are staying and where (doubtful you will need a transport pass in any of them).
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 06:42 AM
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Thanks for the help thus far...not the order I was planning on Italy, I just typed them randomly ;-).

I'm not planning on a pass around the cities in Italy, I don't think, mainly just trying to plan from city to city once there, because air tickets seem a bit pricier between locations in Italy.

Is the Oyster Pass and the carnet in Paris something I need to purchase in advance online or can I purchase those there? Is there a price difference?

I haven't written out my planned itinerary in each city, just trying to work out days for tickets and passes so I can get my airfare booked soon.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 06:54 AM
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Re Paris: you purchase the carnet of ten tickets while in the subway. You can pay with euros (cash) or some machines (not all) have English language and accept credit/debit cards. No purchase ahead necessary.

Florence is between Venice and Rome, so would probably make sense to be in the middle of your Italy portion.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 07:02 AM
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Depending on how long you will stay in Venice, a vaporetto (water bus) pass can make sense.

Are you traveling by yourself? That affects London transport passes. You can get 2-for-1 entrance discounts to main sights with a Travelcard.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 07:09 AM
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>>Is the Oyster Pass and the carnet in Paris something I need to purchase in advance online or can I purchase those there? Is there a price difference?
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 08:22 AM
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It's almost impossible to get any use out of a transport pass in Florence, where almost anywhere you want to visit is in easy walking distance of any city-centre hotel.

Personally, I can't imagine being in Venice for more than a day without a vaporetto pass. Unless you're sure your visits are going to be very close to your hotel, the effort of endless bridge crossings and the complexity of navigation around the city's back lanes almost always make it easier to include a vaporetto in any journey to most places more than a few hundred yards away.

To my mind, public transport in Rome is so mediocre, decrepit and thin on the ground, and its pass system so convoluted, it's generally easier to buy a few metro/bus tickets from a tabacchaio or newspaper stand, and mostly rely on taxis or walking.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 08:45 AM
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Venice/Florence by train takes 2 hours. Florence/Rome by train is only 90 minutes. You can snag early purchase discounts for about 19€ on Trenitalia for the fast trains. Walk up price would be around 45€. Both of those purchased from Trenitalia would include your reserved seats (mandatory in Italy on all of the faster trains). A rail pass doesn't include the seats so you would have to pay an additional 10€ (each seat) in addition to the cost of the pass.

Your itinerary should be London/Paris by train (purchase on the train website Eurostar). Paris/Venice by plane (book Easy Jet from Paris Orly airport to Venice on Easy Jet website). Venice/Florence and Florence/Rome train (Trenitalia).

If you stay in the historic center of Rome, it's unlikely you will use much public transport or at least not enough to make a Roma Pass pay off (36€). The 3 day Roma Pass includes 2 free entries to sites (not the Vatican Museums) and a 3 day transport pass (good for the metro, trams, buses and a few local trains within the city of Rome) and then discounts for other entrances after the 2 free visits. If you are visiting the more expensive museums (the first two visited are the free deductions) on the pass, you might get the value. The Colosseum/Forum/Palantine count as one visit even though it's two different areas. The Borghese Galleria (timed reservations mandatory) and Museo Capitolini are some of the more expensive museums.

http://www.romapass.it/p.aspx?l=en&tid=2

http://www.romapass.it/doc/sitiAdere...lietti_eng.pdf
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 08:53 AM
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Much like flanner, except in Rome we walked a lot and used the urban train system, in the past I've used the buses a lot but it depends a bit on where your hotel is and where you want to go. Certainly Rome is small enough not to need more than shank's pony.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 09:07 AM
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YOu can't buy Paris metro tickets online, anyway. And there is no reason to buy them in advance even if you could, when there are many machines right in the metro stations to buy them. Paris public transport doesn't give people discounts for buying tickets in advance. Only trains do that (and not suburban commuter trains) for trips outside Paris.

There is, in fact, a one-day metro ticket in Paris you can buy for unlimited travel all day, it's called the Mobilis. It varies by person as to how much they use the system as to whether they is better or the carnets. The Mobilis costs about 7 euro a day, I believe, for zones 1-2 (central Paris). There are some tourist passes for longer days, but they aren't worth it usually (Paris Visite). The Paris Visite for 3 days costs 27 euro, for example, more than buying 3 Mobilis.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 10:26 AM
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To learn how to get around Paris (and the Île-de-France region) by métro/bus/RER use www.ratp.fr. Here is a link to a route planner:

http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ra...herche-avancee

Here is an interactive map of the system:

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

Since parts of this website are only in French you can also use www.transilien.com or www.vianavigo.com. Via Navigo probably has the most complete English website. Keep in mind that all these sites are time and date sensitive and they will use Paris time, not your local time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that they all default to the next available departure. So you may get one route that looks very complicated (multiple métro/bus connections) but scroll forward through the next few departures and you'll often find the simplest connections for your journey.

To learn about the various types of tickets, transport passes and fares look here:

http://vianavigo.com/en/tickets-and-fares/

A good website to learn how to use public transport in Paris is www.parisbytrain.com. It will likely answer any of your questions about what is the métro, what is the RER, what kinds of tickets you need, how to buy tickets, what kinds of passes are available etc.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 12:13 PM
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And in Italy, if I'm wanting to travel from Venice to Rome to Florence (not necessarily in that order) is there some sort of pass I can buy for that?>

As other have said I'll join the chorus - no pass would be cost-effective for your limited rail plans - go to the sites mentioned above for discounted tickets and keep in mind that at times first class tickets can cost a little more on a discounted basis than the cheapest then available 2nd class ticket and IME 1st class is muchmore relaxed - lots more room for luggage - wider seats and those nifty solo seats with both an aisle and a window seat - two can face each other for couple - no bothering others to get up and out or vice versa so check both classes and if not much more go first class - someone recentlhy posted they took 2nd class from Venice to Florence and said "never again" - well that may have been an exceptionally crowded train but on the trip of a lifetime cheapest is not always the best - others however say they were perfectly happy with 2nd class _ IME first class is well worth the extra money, based on taking an observing hundreds of Italian trains. (I'm a rail spotter!).
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 01:57 PM
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Paris, London and especially Venice are ultimately walkable - the city centres where all the main sights are are in a compact area - if you map it out your transport trips will be very few and walking is so so neat - especially Venice - getting off the beaten path is fun and so so neat to come across places with few tourists but still exude whatever Venice exudes. Though folks like flanner may easily get lost and thus avoid walking more than 100 metres getting lost in Venice is part of the fun - anywhere in Venice is so so dreamy - especially without the hoard of tourists who stick to the main gauntlet between parking lots, bus drop-off and train station to San Marco - often elbow to elbow.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 03:08 PM
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Thanks again for everyone's advice.

I am traveling solo, and while I did want to take the Eurostar from London to Paris, I plan on flying from London into Italy (either Venice or Rome), simply because the flight back home is cheaper from Paris than Italy.

I've read some things on line that seem to indicate that some things in Italy are closed on Sundays and Mondays? I'm guessing that would be less so in Rome? Would Venice be better for me to try to hit on other days of the week?

Another question on the train tickets in Italy, if I purchase them online, do I just pick them up at the station once I'm in Italy?
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 03:15 PM
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Another question on the train tickets in Italy, if I purchase them online, do I just pick them up at the station once I'm in Italy?>

Sometimes yes sometimes no - you may have to retrieve them from machines or at ticket windows or you may just have to show a code to the conductor. Hopefully one of Fodor's train ticekting gurus will tell more.
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 05:38 PM
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Closing days vary by specific sights - not only in Italy but also in London and Paris - as do days with evening hours. You should get the details from the web site of each sight you intend to visit. (Yes, some are open 7 days a week, but by no means all.)
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Old Aug 17th, 2015, 08:21 PM
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>>>Another question on the train tickets in Italy, if I purchase them online, do I just pick them up at the station once I'm in Italy?
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Old Aug 18th, 2015, 06:50 AM
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I was also wanting to do a day trip to Pisa...would that would just be a train from Florence, and I can buy the ticket at the station that morning?
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Old Aug 18th, 2015, 09:06 AM
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Florence/Pisa is a regional train (under 10€ one way with travel time about 1 hour) so just buy at the station or at any store you see with the Trenitalia logo. If you fly into Rome and use the train from the airport (Leonardo Express), you can buy your Florence/Pisa tickets while buying the Leonardo ticket.

On Trenitalia, you must use the Italian spellings for cities.
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