Hello all,

I am a wee bit confused on how the train works in Europe. Basically, I will be travelling within Italy this summer.

Here are the trips I will take:
1. Rome--> Naples (round trip)
2. Rome--> Lucca
3. Lucca--> Florence
4. Florence--> Siena (round trip)
5. Florence--> Verona
6. Verona--> Venice
7. Venice--> Rome

Can I get the 1 country pass for my plan? Thank you. For whatever ridiculous reason, I find both the online Italian rail and European rail completely impossible to figure out.

Thanks for any help. My plan was to buy the Italian pass for like 210 Eu. However, I will not do this if I have to pay for extra tickets anyway.

Basically, I read somewhere that tickets that required reservations were extra. So, my next question would be which of these tickets require reservations? Thanks.

>I am a wee bit confused on how the train works in Europe. Basically, I will be travelling within Italy this summer.

>Here are the trips I will take:
1. Rome--> Naples (round trip)
2. Rome--> Lucca
3. Lucca--> Florence
4. Florence--> Siena (round trip)
5. Florence--> Verona
6. Verona--> Venice
7. Venice--> Rome

Just enter the trips you are doing on www.trenitalia.it (english site). Sum up the ticket prices and look whether the pass can compare. My guess would be that individual tickets will be cheaper.

>Can I get the 1 country pass for my plan? Thank you.

You surely can, but I think you will overpay.

>For whatever ridiculous reason, I find both the online Italian rail and European rail completely impossible to figure out.

No wonder, since there is no such thing as "European Rail".

>Thanks for any help. My plan was to buy the Italian pass for like 210 Eu. However, I will not do this if I have to pay for extra tickets anyway.

On ES trains you will have to pay a hefty supplement - often 10-20 Euro. On ICPlus trains you will have to pay for reservation only - I think 3 Euro. For IC, IR and regional trains you don't ned "extra tickets" or reservations and can just jump on them with a valid point-to-point ticket or a pass.

>So, my next question would be which of these tickets require reservations?

Not the tickets require reservations but certain classes of train: EuroStar Italia (ES) and InterCityPlus (ICPlus). In InterCity trains, a seat can be reserved but isn't required. In other, slower trains there is no possibility to reserve anyway.

Many will tell you that because of the "low" cost of Italian rail trips overall that a pass isn't worth it.

You can do a cost comparison if you go to the site www.railsaver.com and enter the proposed itinerary.

Don't forget that passes do save a certain amount of TIME.

As to using rail from Florence to Siena...there are a LOT of people here who insist that taking the bus from Florence to Siena is a better way. I don't necessarily agree but here are some things to consider...

Not all the trains from Flornce to Siena are direct; some journeys require a change in Empoli which is a small station and the change is easy to make.

The train station in Siena is at the bottom of the hill below the main part of the town itself. This requires you to walk up the hill, or take a short taxi ride, or take the public bus.

The bus station, OTOH, is in the town itself.

The train takes you through the countryside and might be slightly more scenic than the bus; you'd have more room to stretch out and walk around on the train and you can also hang your head out the window (we KNOW it's 'illegal' but we do it anyway!).

The bus trip may be a bit faster.

Have a great trip.

Hi t,

Italian trains are the
ES* - fastest, most comfortable, best on-time record. These are reserved seat only.
IC+ - almost as good
IC - not so good
R & D - so,so

You can easily get prices for these trips at www.trenitalia.com.

Look for 29E fares on the ES* trains.

You can buy your tickets in advance online.

I would take the bus from Florence to Siena - 1:30 hr, 13E RT.

I would go to Lucca as a daytrip from Florence.

Unless you are overnighting in Verona, I would do that as a daytrip from Venice.

Have you looked into flying into Venice and out of Rome (or VV)? It is usually about the same price and avoids backtracking.

You might find this useful:
Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

How long do you have for this trip?

<< Unless you are overnighting in Verona, I would do that as a daytrip from Venice. >>

Why, ira? We cannot tell if lines 5 and 6 of the itinerary are a "day trip" (in transit) or an overnight stay; it could be either.

But why is "a day trip from Venice" superior?

Doesn't it involve more train travel?

i.e., a) Florence-Venice, b) Venice-Verona, c) Verona-Venice?

The plan, as currently shown, is 60-70% fewer travel hours/miles.

I think that an overnight in Verona is implied by the way it's listed, which eliminates the need to store luggage during an "in-transit day trip". But even if not, the (modest hassle of) storing luggage is a minimal tradeoff to avoid the unnecessary
Venice-Verona round trip.

I guess, in gneral, I do not understand the appeal of "day trips _from_ Venice" (meaning... sleep in Venice, trek off to somewhere else for the day, return to sleep in Venice) - - Venice accommodations are sufficiently higher priced than other nearby places that I would only recommend sleeping in Venice... to _see_ Venice. And it takes almost an hour to get from your hotel in Venice to your true jumping off point (i.e., Mestre, for example). To see somewhere else, sleep somewhere else!

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi Rex,

As it turns out, the OP is overnighting in Verona.