italy - train reservations needed with eurail pass?
 

Hi,
I would like to confirm if train reservations are needed with eurail passes on italian trains?
I would be taking trains from milan --> rome
rome --> florence
florence --> venice
venice -->cremoma
cremona --> milan

Are reservations needed for ALL these trains, or just some? Also, is it better to reserve it from overseas before flying off to italy, or in italy itself? Sorry if these questions have been asked before as I've never travelled with eurail passes in italy!

Also if anyone has any advice/ experience on travelling with eurail passes, it would be extremely useful. I have already purchased the eurail passes.
Thanks so much!

All the routes except Cremona to Milan require seat reservations. The cost per reservation for pass holders is 10 euro for the fast ES or AV trains.

There is no direct train Venice to Cremona, so you need to change in Brescia. The Venice to Brescia portion requires a reservation. Brescia to Cremona does not.

There is no need to reserve seats beforehand. You can do that as late as right before you board the train, or any time in advance.

Thanks so much for the reply,
I was wondering if the 10 euro reservation fee is a flat fee? So if you reserve 5 trips all at once, it would be 50 euros? Would it be cheaper to reserve all at once (due to admin fees) or is it fine to reserve seats separately.

Thanks!

also, does anyone know if the malpensa shuttle return ticket is open return? how long does the validity of the open return last - is around 10 days fine?

You don't save anything by booking them all at once. There is no need to pay a booking fee. Book your seats when you get there or on Trenitalia (select your train and under fares, select global pass). AV/ES/ESCity trains are 10€. IC trains are 3€. R trains don't have any reserved seats.

Hi ET,

Are you sure that it wouldn't be cheaper, sometimes much cheaper, to purchase point-to-point tickets in Italy instead of a railpass?

Prices and schedules are at www.trenitalia.com

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

I hope you didn't pay a rail pass day for Cremona/Milan as that train ticket is only 6€.

As to the malpensa shuttle - I believe it is open. However, upon arrival at Malpensa, after coming out of customs, the bus ticket office is almost directly in front of you, staffed by folks who speak good English, so they'll give you the straight answer.

Thanks to everyone for the help! We would probably take trips to lake como etc to make the cremona --> milan day more cost effective then. But overall we're still saving money with the rail pass (partly due to having bought the saver pass).