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Old Jun 1st, 2008, 07:09 PM
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Help Italy trains railpass question

I'm trying to book a train from La Spezia to Florence using a railpass On jUly 1. In the choices of trains there are no ic trains going the entire route. The regular trains don't allow reserving seats, may I use my railpass for entry on the train?
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 01:01 AM
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Of course you can use your rail pass on ordinary trains - that's what rail passes are for.
The standard second-class fare from La Spezia to Firenze seems to be 8.90 euros. Italian fares are cheap by European standards, and a rail pass is rarely worth getting for travel in Italy.
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 05:44 AM
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My daughter already has the pass and has been traveling in other countries. Do I need to purchase a regular ticket for her to ensure that she can board or will showing her railpass be enough to validate the ticket?
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 05:45 AM
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By the way geoff you have been so helpful that I can't express enough appreciation for your advice.
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 05:56 AM
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You do not need to show any ticket to board these trains: you just wander onto the station platform and hop on a train. A ticket inspector may come along during the journey and check tickets, in which case you show him or her your ticket or pass.
If you have a standard ticket, it is valid for two months. Before boarding the train, you must validate the ticket in a yellow machine which stamps the date, time and station name on the ticket. This is to stop regular travellers from buying a ticket and using it for repeated journeys.
You obviously don't need to put a railpass in the yellow machine because the pass allows unlimited travel.
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 05:56 AM
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Why would you buy a ticket for her if she's already there and has a pass? If she doesn't want to use a pass day for this portion of her travel, then she can just buy the ticket in a machine at the station. She does need to stamp it before she boards.
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 06:07 AM
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I went to La Spezia and back with a railpass recently from Florence and just hopped on the trains like usual as most are regional and IC trains which do not require reservations; regional ones don't even take reservations. I found plenty of empty seats. There are occasional ICp trains on the route that would require reservations but you need not take these. there are loads of trains on this route - a few go LaSpezia to Florence and v.v. direct otherwise you may have to change in Pisa
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Old Jun 2nd, 2008, 06:47 AM
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Thank you so much for your reply, Fodorites are the absolute best!
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