Confused about trains in Italy
 

We will be travelling by train between cities. Here is our duration itinerary:

July 27-August 9

Venice 3 days
Florence 3 days
Siena 2 days
Rome 4 days

Which trains should I be taking, TrenItalia or Eurostar, or some other.

If I book these in advance, can I reserve seats in advance? I really don't want to stand!

My travel agent told us the Siena to Rome trip would be two local trains with no reserved seats??? That doesn't make sense to me. The longest trip and no luxury?

I come to you for help.
Sandra

Some Answers:

1. Eurostar is part of the Italian Railroad called Trenitalia.

2. Eurostar trains have seat reservations, but most if not all local trains do not.

3. Seats on Eurostar can be reserved in advance.

You can find out yourself by either going to DB site for good schedule listing:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/que...quest=yes&

or to Trenitalia site for actual booking:

www.trenitalia.com

Your travel agent is PARTIALLY correct. For Siena-Roma, the fastest way (on the book) is to use Regional trains connecting at Chiusi. You can back track to Firenze and take the ES, but that actually takes longer over all. Now, however, my experience is that the Eurostar "tend" to run more on time while local trains often late. So for a difference like this on the book, I consider them to be not so different in reality.

Eurostar is one type of train offered by Trenitalia. Other type of trains offered by Trenitalia are Intercity, Regionale, etc.

Sandra, why don't you go on the website and see what you can come up with..the website is www.tranitalia.it

It doesn't seem like you have confidence or are happy with your TA.
I am certainly not trying to take business away from your TA but many travellers just make their own trip plans..consequently they end up with a vacation the way they want it.

And of course the other side of the coin is that a TA cannot come up with reservations for something that doesn't exsist.

Anyway..go onto the website and see what you can find. Best wishes.

And obviously I mistyped the name of the website..sorry!!

www.trenitalia.com is the website for the Italian train system.

Here is a link for the different types of trains on the Italian rail system.
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/area_cl...iaggio1.html#3

Es trains are fast and make few stops and seat reservations are included in the ticket price.

IC and ICplus are a bit slower, have a few more stops and seats are not included in the ticket price. If you want reserved seats, it will cost about 3E extra.

R and D trains are slower and make many more stops (but cheaper) and you can't reserve seats on these trains at all. Think of them as a commuter train/subway system where you buy a ticket and get on and hope you find a seat.

Thanks for the clarification everyone.

Hi JS,

I thik that you will find it easier to take the bus from Siena to Rome Tiburtina station.

See http://www.senabus.it/

((I))

Ira,

I had planned to go from Rome to Siena, via train (Chiusi). I am intrigued by your comment that the bus is easier. Would you please elaborate, and also tell me (since I have already bought my train tickets) whether the train tickets are refundable?

Ronnie56 - The bus picks up in Siena at 5 different locations and drops at Tibutina station in Rome. The trip takes about 2 1/2-3 hours and cost is 5E. The Tiburtina station is a major bus/train hub and is somewhat seedy. It can be reached by metro or you can catch other Rome city buses from there.