Italy Rail Tickets
 

I have purchased Eurail Italy Pass Savers for my wife and myself. Now I want to reserve tickets and/or seats on the various trains we plan to take. Can I do this online? What site should I use? If I have to pay a supplement, how do I go about it; online or at the station before departure? Anything else we should know??

The online booking systems generally don't allow you to reserve a seat without buying a ticket as well. The only way to do it with a rail pass is through the agency which sold you the rail pass or at the station where you can show your rail pass.
Rail passes are rarely a good deal for Italy because basic train fares are cheap. Services on most lines are frequent (often hourly) so it's rarely necessary to reserve seats far in advance.

Hi J,

What's your itinerary?

You can still return your railpasses, if necessary.

((I))

We leave September 15th.

We go from Montecatini to Florence, to Milan to Como. Then from Como to Milan to Florence. Then from Florence to Pisa and back, Florence to Rome and back, Florence to Prato and back. Finally, Florence to Bologna.

<only way to do it with a rail pass is through the agency which sold you the rail pass or at the station where you can show your rail pass.>

i agree - but many agents simply refuse to make reservations even though the sell the pass. RickSteves.com is one that refuses.

You can make reservations at www.raileurope.com but then with the handling and mailing fees you're paying tons more than necessary. Rick Steves sells you the pass and then tells you to go to raileurope.com for reservations. In fact you'd be much better ordering the pass from raileurope.com and reservations at same time to have only one mailing fee (or none if over $399 order) and save quite a bit of money.

Folks like ricksteves.com don't make reservations because they are so time consuming and pay nearly no commission - agents who do do it do so i think as a service for clients, not to make money as many, like Steves, would rather not have the hassle.

We have the Eurail Italy (6-day)Pass Saver. It looks like I must arrange seats on the various trains, once we get to Italy. Can I do that all at one station? For example, we have a free day in Montecatini. Can I use the Pass and arrange tickets and/or reservations for travel from Florence to Milan and from Milan to Como two days later, or from Milan to Florence five days later, etc.?

Hi J,

A. Look up the prices for each leg at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

B. If the railpass is cheaper, you can buy all of your reservations at the same station, at the same time.

C. Some of your legs, eg, Montecatini to Florence, might be on R trains which do not have reserved seats.

You can turn in your railpass for about 80% refund within 6 mos of purchase, I think.

((I))

Thanks, Ira. That's what I wanted to know. I had already checked the fares for the 12 trains for the two of us over the six days and the pass was, indeed less expensive. Now, I just have to bide my time till we get to Italy.

Enjoy your visit, J.

((I))

With the pass to ride the fast Eurostar and InterCityplus trains you need to pay a reservation-supplement fee, which often makes the pass less viable than you may think.

In January i was paying 15 euros for Eurostar - trains most take on the Rome-Florence-Milan or Rome-florence-Venice routes. 15 euros= $21 p.p. each ride - a flat fee regardless of distance.

ICplus trains cost 5 euros - all these trains require reservations but should be easy to book in Italy but you do have to often wait in long lines at the ticket window so do all at once. (Automatic ticket machines cannot make railpass reservations - you must go to the window it seems)

But pass can be used without formality on IC trains and all regional trains so you can just hop on these and on some routes they don't take much longer than faster trains requiring supplements.

Just a note to Palenq's advice...it is spot on...once you get to Italy and compare routes, you will find that the combo of your railpass and the local routes will probably work out just as efficiently as the Eurostar-supplement required trains. And travel on these routes may give you a chance to meet and greet Italians who are pleased to practice their English: we often ended up with dinner invites as a result of "taking the road less travelled".