Italy trains - what is best for my plan?
 

We have 10 nights (really 8 solid days) in Italy and the train options are confusing me greatly!
What trains /tickets do you think are best for our plan? Any and all help welcomed!
Oct 21 - fly into Venice (about 7pm at night) then spend 2 days seeing Venice before heading to Florence for the night and spend the next day there. Head to Naples/Pompeii (that night or next day?) for 2 nights, then back to Rome for 3 nights before we fly out.
Pls help - should we look into a trainpass, do we have to get it before we enter europe, should we just do city to city, is driving cheaper?

You do want trains for that itinerary but you do not need pass. Just buy all of your tickets in Venice and ask for the 20% Amica discount fares. See the preferred schedules at www.trenitalia.com and take that with you when you buy them. You want ES trains but 2nd class is adequate.

Hi M,

Good advice from Bob.

May I suggest that you have too much on your plate for only 8 nights?

Just getting from Florence to Naples to Rome will take almost one full day away from your visit.

I suggest that you skip Naples/Pompei this visit and add 1 more day to Florence and one to Rome.

Ostia Antica would be an interesting place to see old ruins, and can be easily done from Rome.

((I))

What is the Amica discount?

I agree with Ira. Too much time on trains. Not enough time seeing what you came to see.

The Amica discount is 20% off the regular price. If you book online, the Amica fare is one of the ones you can choose on the dropdown menu. You *might* also be able to get it if you buy your train tickets after arriving in Italy.

Thanks Zerlina - can anyone use the Amica rate? Also, under info, it says tickets can only be bought in Italy, is this true? Thanks!

Anyone can use the Amica fare. I don't see anything that says it can only be bought in Italy. You can buy it online - if you can cope with all the Trenitalia booking problems mentioned in hundreds of threads here.

Agree with Ira that you are cramming too much travel into a short period.

You can wait til you arrive in Italy to buy tickets (travel agency or station) but Trenitalia now offers ticketless options for advance purchase. If you prefer to plan, check it out.

Thanks again Zerlina! If you select a certain train, and then click on details, under accomdations, put your curser over the "R", that is where it says you can only purchase in Italy. Does anyone know about this?

The problem is with the R train, not with the Amica fare, which is not available on R trains to start with.
You can't reserve on line for an R train.

Where are you traveling from and to that you want to take an R train?

Whether it's too much or not is an opinion and personally i would be very comfortable with that itinerary if i were a first-time visitor.

For most novice tourists i think 2 days in Venice is enough

one day in Florence lets you see enough in this compact city - actualy 1.5 days

Naples - 2 days ditto

Rome - 3 days

The other opinion says you are on trains too much - well you do see Italy from the comfortable trains you'll be taking.

Well's that my opinion is that it's fine.