we've been to the www.trenitalia.com website, but still are having difficulty pricing out how much the trains will cost -- can someone help?

we'd like to take the higherspeed trains first class from:
1. Milan to Venice
2. Venice to Florence
3. Florence to Naples
4. Naples to Rome

anyone know how to figure out prices? or at least have a good estimate?

also, anyone have an approximation of how much it would cost to hire a car to take us from malpensa airport in milan to bellagio and from the naples train station to positano?

thanks in advance!!

NB,

Besides going to the Italian Railway Website I usually get pretty good Pt-to-Pt information from "http://www.bootsnall.com/eurail/passes/p2p.shtml". Have a good trip

Go to www.railsaver.com and you will get a good idea of point to point ticket prices. This site will also figure out if a fail pass will be a better deal.

I had trouble with this one too, until I came across a post that explained how to get the prices. Can't remember what thread it was, so here's how:

On the trenitalia website, select date and place, ie, Milan to Venice. This will bring up the next screen, which is the timetable. Under "Select" you will see a red square button. Click on that, and the fares will come up. Voila!

We took a 2nd class train from Naples to Rome and for 2 persons it was about 45 Euro's. I am assuming first class must be double or so. Hope that helps, good luck with the rest of your searching.

We took a somewhat similar trip 2 years ago and bought a "Tariffa Mini-Group" ticket that gave us a 20% discount on all trains, including supplements for high-speed. We went to a travel agency in Varenna, our first stop, and bought tickets for the whole trip, with reservations where necessary. If I remember correctly, there must be at least 2 persons travelling together on the same route. We went from Varenna to Milan-Florence-Rome-Venice-Milan for $179 a couple! We went 2nd-class Eurostar on all trips except between Venice-Milan, which was 1st class InterCity.
We also flew into Malpensa, and walked right outside the airport and took a small, shuttle-type bus to Como, then ferried up to Varenna. Let me know if you'd like that information. Hope this helps.

I found how to do it by trial and error. When you have your point to point listing of the train times, click on the train number. This will show you the stops if any, just under the schedule there will be prices in bold face. They give both 1st and 2nd class fares. Suggestion - on Florence to Naples and Naples to Rome you can take IC trains as well. They are not very much slower and 1st class is about half the fare of the ES.

Sorry, I should have said to click on the red arrow, which then shows the train number and car make-up. That page has the prices in bold face. See if your hotel can arrange a pickup in Naples to go to Positano. You might also consider going to Salerno and hiring a driver to take you along the beautiful coast. It's a ride you won't forget.

Just one general thought. Unles you are extremely tall, when travelling on Eurostar Italia the second class is more than adecuate even for those who wish to travel with a high level of comfort. IMHO opn ES trains there is no point in travelling first class, since the difference is only in a little more leg space, so, as I said, unles your legs are really long, go for second class.

Beware! When we were in Italy last month we found that the Trenitalia website was less than accurate. On our way to Piombino we were able to take a train that didn't appear on the website, and on our way back, the train that DID appear on the website, didn't at the station!

HI,

For a driver from Naples to Positano we hired Cuomo Renato for about 80E.
www.cuomonet.it

There are others if you do a text search.

Ter2000:
The site is not inaccurate, more simply when you cheched out you read the winter timetable, than the timetable changed to summer. Since the timetable gets complied each year depending on the expected trourist and other traveller's tendencies, it gets written down at the last moment, so that if you check on early may for a taking a train in late may, you may find an inaccurate schedule. When using the site (or the printed timetable you can buy) always make sure that it will not turn to summer (or back to winter) before you decide on what train to take.