Italy Train- Rail pass VS Individual tickets?
 

We will be traveling from Innsbruck to Venice on April 23rd-is it true that you can pay 3 euros in Innsbruck and then use an Italy railpass once you cross the border? If we have a railpass can we just show up and get on the train in Innbruck and stay on till we get to Verona and then switch trains to Venice? I see there are additional fees for reservations for railpass users-is there a reservation fee if I just buy indivudual tickets? Any help would be appreciated! Do you recommend the pass( we are traveling 5days in Italy from Innsbruck to Venice to Florence to LaSpezia and back to Innsbruck) Thanks!

You would have to state your actual itinerary before anyone could tell you if a railpass would be cost effective. Often for Italy it isn't as you can buy cheap tickets online in advance.

Seat reservations are madatory on most trains in Italy (all, but the slow R trains). The seats on the faster trains will be 10€ with a railpass. Tickets bought in Italy or online in advance from Trenitalia include your seat. Sometimes you can find a supereconomy ticket for 9€ (cheaper than the railpass supplement).

>>>If we have a railpass can we just show up and get on the train in Innbruck and stay on till we get to Verona and then switch trains to Venice?<<<

You would have to pay seat supplements.

Part of your route might only be serviced by R trains which are very cheap.

There should be discounts on Trenitalia for international tickets between Italy/Austria.

You would have to crunch the ticket prices on Trenitalia against the cost of the pass and add on the seats to compare.

Hi kk,

Good advice from kyb.

A railpass is usually more expensive than point-to-point tickets in Italy.

((I))

No.

The (Munich-) Innsbruck-Verona EuroCity trains are run by DB and OBB into Italy on an open-access basis with no Trenitalia involvement. I'm not sure Italy rail passes are valid on them.

Just forget passes, go to www.oebb.at and buy a cheap advance-purchase ticket from Innsbruck to Verona from €39, then use www.trenitalia.com to buy an onward ticket from €19.

A railpass is usually more expensive than point-to-point tickets in Italy.>

well such blanket statements can and should not be made without qualifying whether or not you:

want flexibility to chose which trains to take once there

and whether or not you want first class, which like in any country has significant benefits, especially IME for those traveling with lots of luggage.

Fully flexible first-class tickets can cost a ton and a railpass can be cheaper if doing some long train rides - but if you want to plug yourself into some non-refundable hard to change ticket months in advance (to guarantee availability as they are sold in limited numbers) then that often will be cheaper.

Even in 2nd class if wishing flexibility and taking four or more longer trips a railpass could be a good deal.

For lots of good stuff on Italian trains I always spotlight these fantastic IMO sites - www.seat61.com - Man in Seat 61 who posts above his commercial site - click on his link to Rail Europe to get ciurrent prices for the Italian Railpass; and check out www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

>>>The (Munich-) Innsbruck-Verona EuroCity trains are run by DB and OBB into Italy on an open-access basis with no Trenitalia involvement. I'm not sure Italy rail passes are valid on them.<<<

You can buy the return on Trenitalia.

>>>I'm not sure Italy rail passes are valid on them.<<<

Like other one country railpass, they are only good to the border of that country. If you had a pass that included both countries (not saying you should bet a pass, but don't know if you are covering more places than you listed), you can select global pass on Trenitalia for the return and the supplement is 7€.

Regular walk up price Verona/Innsburck is showing as 41€ on Trenitalia. Not sure why oebb would have a different price (they list standard price as 37€ and a discount price of 39€ - doesn't make sense).

I see fares as cheap as 9€ on Trenitalia for your date from Verona to Venice. You would need to book Innsbruck/Verona first before booking the 2nd part. A poster the other day made the mistake of booking the 2nd leg of a one day trip and then couldn't get the 1st leg needed. There are a lot of trains Verona/Venice so you wouldn't get stuck, but you might not get the cheapest ticket (lots of tickets that day for 19€ on Trenitalia).

ttt

Regular walk up price Verona/Innsburck is showing as 41€ on Trenitalia. Not sure why oebb would have a different price (they list standard price as 37€ and a discount price of 39€ - doesn't make sense).>

Well if run by German and Austrian railways then perhaps those two entities are charging trenitalia.com a surcharge for booking tickets - or they are selling seats to trenitalia.com at a surcharge.

Anyway having a German and Austrian train combo running trains into Italy bakes little sense either - so much for European unity!

Hey PQ,

>A railpass is usually more expensive than point-to-point tickets in Italy.>

well such blanket statements can and should not be made without qualifying .... <

Although what you wrote can be applicable at various times and places to various people, which part of my statement needs qualification?

((I))

Although what you wrote can be applicable at various times and places to various people, which part of my statement needs qualification?>

how many train tips you will make - of course for only a few trips a railpass would more expensive than a railpass of course.

but if traveling several days it may not be - depending on lengths of trips and whether you want flexibility to hop on trains as you go along - vs full fare tickets. But yes for most folks doing at most Venice-Florence-Rome they would not be - depends on how much you are riding the rails - if someone is going from Milan to Venice to Florence to Rome to Naples and back to Milan then a railpass would be cheaper I believe over full fare tickets - again flexibility is a factor and passes are a bit better deal in 1st class than 2nd class.

I guess your point is that few people would benefit from a pass money-wise and that is true but to say that 'a railpass is usually more expensive than solo tickets has to be qualified as to how many train trips you are doing - the more the more a pass becomes viable.

Although what you wrote can be applicable at various times and places to various people, which part of my statement needs qualification?>

what kind of point to point tickets you are talking about - full fare or discounted ones like the 9 euro ticket - now even someone traveling from Milan to Bari and back every day would always find a railpass to be more expensive than getting 9 euro tickets on every segment.

So you talking about full fare tickets, discounted ones or the deep discount 9 euro falt fare tickets? That is a qualifying difference.

Now again I would agree 'for what the average person does a railpass is usually - actually almost always in a recent check - more expensive than even buying regular full fare tickets on a walk up basis.