Hi there

Does anyone know the cost of an overnight train from Venice to Naples either April/May next year or mid August (in case this makes a difference. Am planning a trip to Italy next year and am trying to work out a budget. Have budgeted 26euro per person per day for food - is this enough? Not looking for anything fancy just local fare.

From Anna

You can usually fly cheaper than an overnight train. For cheap flights check out www.whichbudget.com

I would check out trenitalia.com I'm not sure there is a train to do an overnight, but there may be a local train that would go slowly enough. If you look at most of the Eurostar trains their routes only take between 6 1/2 and 7 hours to do this route.

Also, I'm unsure of how cheaply one can eat in the countryside, but $26 Euros per person per day seem ridiculously low to me for either Naples or Venice. The joke in Italy is that Venitians charge for air---they certainly charge a lot for food!

Hi miller,

For train fares see www.trenitalia.com/en.

I also suggest flying.
See www.volareweb.com.

26E pp is OK for budget dining. Figure bkfst (cornetto and coffee) 2.5E

Lunch (panino and 1/2 btl wine) 7E.

You can do appetizer and main course or main course and dessert for about 16E.

The fares are on www.trenitalia.com. A second-class seat is 38.37 euros per person. In a two-berth sleeping compartment, the fare is 83.57 euros per person. A first-class seat or a berth in a six-berth couchette compartment will be somewhere in between. A single-berth sleeping compartment is obviously more expensive. These are standard fares and will be the same whenever you book, though may have been increased slightly next year, depending on inflation.
I can't comment on your food budget as I don't know what you eat, but 26 euros won't go far if you're eating meals with wine in restaurants.

We have taken the overnight train from Venice to Naples this past May. The first class tickets for both of us were about 160 Euro. We generally travel second class but for an overnight train wanted to make sure that we have a compartment to ourselves. It was a fairly comfortable trip, and I would not hesitate to do it again. Still, flying on a discount intra-European carrier like Volare may be cheaper.

Thanks so much all of you for the input!

Be cautious on the trains. A few weeks ago a co-worker was befriended on the train and accepted orange juice from an Italian man. After checking to see that it was still sealed, he drank it and woke later, having been drugged and robbed.

Just be careful.


Mary in Naples

Hi Mary,

Are you in Naples, Italy or Naples, FL?

Your story sounds like an urban myth.

Are you sure it happened to your co-worker, or to someone who told the story to her/him?