HELP! Point-to-point rail tickets
 

How do point-to-point rail tickets work?

We're planning to travel from Florence to Rome and return on the same day (not staying overnight). Do we get one point-to-point ticket or two separate ones? How far in advance should we get these? We'll be in Italy in September.

Same question for overnight train from Italy to France. How far in advance should we purchase? We'll be travelling on a weekday.

Also, we'll be travelling from Paris to Amsterdam. We might stop in Bruges along the way for a few hours only (not staying overnight) then continue onwards to Amsterdam.

Do we get one point-to-point from Paris to Bruges and then another ticket from Bruges to Amsterdam?

Thanks for the help!

Re: tickets Italy-France. Somebody is bound to ask you if you'd rather fly which is probably cheaper.
If you are reserving sleeping car space you can do so up to 60 days in advance.

Florence to Rome I assume you can buy roundtrip tickets on the Eurostar service which includes a seat reservation. I'd wait and buy them as soon as you get to Italy either at a rail station or a local travel agency.

Hi would,

PTP tickets are very easy. Walk up to the ticket counter (wait on line is more likely) or use the automatic ticket machine (they have a menu in English)and buy a round trip ticket (Ritorno) Rome/Florence.

If you know which day you will be going you can purchase your ticket(s) in Italy at www.trenitalia.com/en.

You will have to register, but it's free.

Select the ticketless option. You will be given a confirmation number. If you are booking the ES*, that is all you need as the seat is reserved and the confirmation number is good only for that trip.

If you are booking on an IC train, bring the confirmation number and the CC that you used to the train station and get your ticket.

For trains from Italy to France, go to http://www.voyages-sncf.com/. You can't buy international tickets from Trenitalia online.

Choose France as the country for ticket delivery, and choose ticketless option. For some trains you will be able to print your ticket at home.

For Paris/bruges/Amsterdam, I suggest that you buy a ticket Paris/Bruges and another ticket Bruges/Amsterdam. That way you can stay in Bruges as long as you want, since the train is not reserved seats only and the tickets are good for a long time.

<<Re: tickets Italy-France. Somebody is bound to ask you if you'd rather fly which is probably cheaper.>>

I see on another post that you are already familiar with airlines like easyjet and meridiana - - just in case you don't know - - the carrier of choice for italy-france is volareweb.com but it's worth your while to keep uo to date with whichbudget.com for what carriers serve what routes.

Best wishes,

Rex

topping