Do we really need reservations for Italian trains?
 

Later this month, our family of five will be taking the train from Rome to Florence, and a few days later from Florence to Venice. Do we really need reservations? Is there any difference between first and second class to justify the additional cost for such short trips? <BR> <BR>Thanks in advance for your experience and advice. <BR> <BR>Scott and Family

If you're traveling on a holiday, Friday or Sunday afternoon, I'd recommend reservations. I'd get reservations anyway, just because standing up that long is no fun and you may have a hard time finding 5 seats together and places to put your luggage.

It's like Murphy's Law: If you make a reservation, you'll be on a train with all the empty seats you'd ever want; and if you don't make a reservation, there won't be a single seat left and you'll all have to stand up the entire way. Be on the safe side and make the reservations. In my experience Italian trains were pretty crowded during the month of August.

I agree with Paige. I would make reservations at least a day in advance especially since they are major routes. On other shorter rides (Florence to Siena) you probably don't need to. However I had to stand on the hour train ride from Florence to Siena.

must join in the reservations chorus. if you don't make them you'll wish you had and vice versa. however i've had good luck just making them the day or two before, not bothering with it while still over here. also, i've never taken first-class trains (i'm too cheap) but in my experience the second class was fine, perfectly comfortable, especially on that short of a trip.

As suggested, make reservations there a day or so before the trip, but don't bother making them from here. Take the Eurostar (Pendolino), the fast train. 2nd class is fine, you won't need 1st class. If you take any other train, you may want first class; but between the routes you are taking, you can easily get the Eurostar. I believe it's worth it to make the effort to make sure to get that particular kind of train. It's identified on the schedule, so you'll know which one it is when you're making the reservation.

I agree about making reservations but 1) make them over in Italy (we made them here and the reservations were all screwed up) and 2) go second-class on a Pendolino train. Our group of 8 got split half in 1st class and half in 2nd class. The only difference I could see was that 1st class had carpet on the floor.

I hate to beat a dead horse but I agree, <BR>we were on a train and had to stand. <BR>We also made reservations ahead of time and it was great. Don't take chances, it's not that difficult to accomplish. <BR>

Thanks for the great advice. Something I still don't quite understand, and I can't find it on the "Ferrovie dello Stato" site, is whether or not you can make reservations for second class or do you have to go first class to make reservations? Something else...are all ES trains by reservation only? <BR> <BR>Thanks again! <BR> <BR>Scott and Family

Scott, There is something special to consider for this year:Jubilee 2000! With this celebration, Italy is a madhouse this year. It is also the most popular destination for Americans. What am I saying? For any trips over two hours, have your reservations in hand when you leave the U.S. For anything shorter, you can get by doing it locally. Also, you must have reservations on the Eurostar/Pendolino. This is due to the fact that they are high speed trains. Reservations are taken for both 1st and 2nd class seating on these and most other trains, except for local services. <BR>Hope this helps!

Dear Scott, <BR>yes, you can reserve second class too. <BR>when in Italy just go to any travel agency which sell train tickets and buy your eurostar ticket asking for the reservations. First of all it's all free of charge (both the travel agency serveice and the reservation on the Eurostar trains); second until the end of the summer is compulsory to have reservations for the Es trains!

The info about the Eurostar trains has always confused me, not hard to do:). I have bought tickets twice in Feb and once in Nov and was given seat reservations on ES trains (mon-thur travel days) in 1st & 2nd. The trains were more empty than full. Including a ES 2nd class ticket I bought in Naples minutes before the train left. Many people have stated that seat reservations are mandatory on ES trains and the FS website shows only prices for "With" no option for "Without" seat res. on the ES trains, the schedule only goes to Sept23 though. <BR> I have *heard* that there are usually 2 cars on the ES trains for people with unreserved seats, a unused *ES* ticket that had seat reservations on an earlier (hrs, days, weeks before) train that wasn't taken and the ticket was just validated and used on *any* train going to the same A to B location? Now I know that a seat reservation on an IC train only costs 5,800L (under $2US), so if you're buying your tickets in Italy for certain train at a certain time and it's peak season, I think the extra money would be worth it:). 1st class (ES trains) has 3 seats across vs. 4 across 2nd, a larger overhead bin and w.c., and the usually a 1 or 2 time soda/snack cart is free (I love the vinegar pretzels, can't find them in the US:). Definitely not worth the extra cost esp multiplied by 5:). You can always upgrade thru the conductor with a penalty plus the price difference, if you had too. HTH Regards, Walter <BR>

The seat reservation fee is Lit 5,800/seat independently for 2nd or 1st class. Like Anna points out, on the ES trains reservation is mandatory and included in the ticket price. On other trains you'll have to add this to the ticket price that you may get from the FS site. <BR> <BR>From Rome to Florence on a ES train, you'll pay Lit 51,500/person in 2nd class. Children between 4 and 12 pay 1/2 and children under 4 travel free. From Florence to Venice you'll pay Lit 46,700 for a 2nd class seat on an ES train. <BR> <BR>From Rome to Florence there are several ES trains each day to choose from. From Florence to Venice the choice is much more limited (departures at 8:42am, 12:42pm, 2:42pm, 6:42pm and 8:42pm). In case you want to travel mid morning you'd have to take an IC or EC train with a slightly longer travel journey (departures at 9:05am and 11:23am). 2nd class ticket with seat reservation would add up to Lit 40,900. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

Anna & Paulo: 1st off Welcome back Paulo:) and Hello Anna:). Now this is what confuses me. <BR>I have read many conflicting/confusing posts on this and other Forums/NG's about Eurostar trains ONLY. Either *all* seats are mandatory (1st & 2nd) *all* the time, or *only* in the summer peak season, or *only* on Fri-Sun travel year round or *only* peak-season? Now *my* off-season ES experiences have been "mandatory" included in the price of the ticket with suppliments, *one price*{period}. But I have read other posts of people who have stood in peak season on ES trains because of no seat reservations? Now the FS website seems to back-up (no choice) the mandatory seat reservations at least until the new timetables come out in Sept. <BR>So you can see where some of my confusion comes from. Regards, Walter <BR>p.s. opps:) 5,800L is under $3USD.

I think you run a risk of not finding a seat on Italian trains, particularly on weekends and holidays. Not only that, if you have the money, and want a comfortable trip, I suggest first class. <BR>A few years ago I arrived in Verona to change trains for Venice. There was a mob on the platform that surged onto the cars before the people inside could get out. <BR>The entrances/exists became the site of a massive shoving contest with various Italian men swatting others with rolled up newspapers while exchanging various terms of endearment and affection. I saw no real blows exchanged, but because of the scuffle, I had to escape the train car by means of the window. While I was making my somewhat unorthodox exit, the train for Venice left the station! <BR> <BR>To add insult to injury, a vendor pushing a cart came along the platform. <BR>I asked him in German for a Coke. <BR>He looked at my shoes, said "Americano", and inflated the price about 30%. <BR>I guess I should have stuck to English. <BR> <BR>Later that same trip, I left Milano Central for Paris via the Simplon Tunnel and Lausanne. I never found a seat, so after sitting on my suitcase in the corridors for several hours, I got off at Lausanne for a visit. (Should have gotten off at Brig and gone to Zermatt!!)

To add to the confusion: the EuroStar has one or two second class cars at the very end of the train for people without seat reservations. This past weekend I was in one of those nearly empty cars, so I promise you that they do exist. Having said that, I took that train only because I had missed my first train, with reserved seats, because all the trains were late up and and down the line. From May through October, in my experience, it is always better to have reservations, especially if you want non-smoking. Having said that, be warned that even Italians who smoke often reserve for nonsmoking and then go out in the space between the trains to smoke because the smoking cars are so nasty smelling. So, those seats are the first to go. More reason to reserve. I believe all EuroStar cars, however, are nonsmoking but I may be wrong on that. <BR> <BR>I had to sit on my luggage between the Bologna to Florence run too many times last fall. Sometimes it is was so crowded that people stood in the aisles as well as in the space between cars. <BR> <BR>If there are seats in first class, supposedly you can move up if all the seats are taken. My Italian certainly isn't good enough at this stage to negotiate that manuever. <BR> <BR>And finally, if you get on the train in some small town with limited ticket service, you are allowed to buy your ticket on the train without a penalty. <BR> <BR>Good luck, and get those reservations.

ciao scott! <BR> <BR>it's not even the jubelee or saturday/sunday why you need reservations for the eurostar train. it's (how other told you) the fastest train and very comfy, but it's a rule that without reservation for the seats, special ticket for eurostar AND tax for using the eurostar you will not be alloud to be in this train. first class is for our italian standard very luxury but the second class is practic as well and for the short trip from rome to florence it could be o.k. <BR> <BR>naturally you can choose even one of the "normal" trains, there you need for sure first class, it will dure a bit longer and there you need the trainticket, the seatreservation only if you want to search a seat and maybe will not find one. you don't pay a particular tax for this train. <BR>important is, that you make clear from the beginning on, which train you want to take, because the time difference from rome to florence could be between 2 to 4 hours choosing the wrong one. <BR> <BR>but anyway, i know that here in italy the trainsystem is better than in the states but it's even chaos to find the way in the amounts of different possibilitys. <BR> <BR>comunque, scott! ti auguro un buon viaggio e che tu e la tua famiglia siete sotisfatti. <BR> <BR>christina

In my "book", Walter, the issue regarding seat reservations on Eurostar trains is academic once there's a single ticket price (no options) for both, 1st and 2nd class, whith all "services" included. The tickets may be issued up to 1 minute before train departure and they necessarily bear a seat number. Prices may change during the year but the "scheme" is the same throughout. <BR> <BR>Now, when trying to help people out in the recent past, I've found a couple of Eurostar trains in the FS site that were not marked with compulsory reservation symbol but this could be an error in designing the page. <BR> <BR>In principle, if there aren't any "standard" seats available on a specific train, the FS shouldn't sell a ticket ... but my mother once managed to buy a ticket with no seat specified and had to travel in one of those "extra" cars. As she remembers, it wasn't a big deal. She just asked if she could travel standing and the FS clerk sold her the ticket and instructed her how to proceed once in the train. This may or not be a standard procedure. She had to pay the current fare, that is, there was no discount because she didn't have a specific seat. BTW, she travelled seated in an almost empty car :-) <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

Although rail europe charges extortionate prices for reservations (think it was $15 a trip), it was worth it to not have to think about it over there. Was in first class on a morning train from naples to rome a couple of weeks ago, and 2nd class was packed - many people had to stand or sit on the floor for the entire trip. First class in italy is cheap and worth it.