Eurail pass: France and Italy
 

My friends and I will be in Italy, France and UK in a span of 9 days.

We're in Italy from March 31 (we arrive there at 6pm) and we will be taking an overnight train to Paris from Rome on April 5.

Is it worth getting this France and Italy Eurail pass? I read that there's still a reservation fee besides the eurail pass cost. Is this true? How does that work?

Also, while we're in Italy, can we use the pass to get on the subways or metros?

Please help..... Thank you!

Hi b,

Enter your itinerary for 2 people at www.railsaver.com and click "only if it saves money".

((I))

I believe the overnight train from Roma to Paris has only sleepers and couchettes, but no ordinary seats. If you have a rail pass, you have to pay extra for sleeping accommodation.
If you're making only a one-way journey from Italy to France, it's extremely unlikely that a pass will be cheaper than buying normal tickets. Within Italy, train fares are relatively cheap so a rail pass is rarely worthwhile unless you're touring all over the country.
Rail passes only cover trains run by national rail operators. Most metro systems are run by separate local operators, though one exception is Napoli where the Metropolitana is part of the main state system. In any case, fares on local public transport in Italy are very cheap.

An important aspect of the France-Italy railpass is that it gives you a passholder fare on the Eurostar trains London-Paris - $75, good on any train, any day - you could pay up to $150 one way for a unchangeable ticket - passholder fare can be changed without penlaty up until the time of the train.

Seat reservations aren't covered by passes so you have to buy them separately. Some trains, such as the Italian Eurostar services, are all-reserved and when a person buys a ticket for one of those trains the seat reservation is "built into" the ticket price. Since a pass would cover the basic railfare only that is why you have to pay extra for seat reservations.

On some trains, seat reservations are not required at all although to absolutely ensure you have a space to sit then a seat reservation will do that.

You'll find a lot of "regional" train services aren't reservable at all; you just get on and look for unoccupied seats.

Seat reservations are always cheaper if you buy them in Europe vs. through an agency such as RailEurope.

I appreciate all your comments. You guys are awesome. Thank you!