Rail Europe - seat reservations required?
 

We are travelling in about a month over Europe, we are training it for some of the journey but just wondering if we need to spend the money on seat reservations or not?

Travelling from Geneva to Interlaken (via Bern)
Rome to Florence
Florence to Cinque Terre (and return)
Florence to Venice


Any thoughts?i

In Italy seat reservation are required on all trains except regional trains. That includes all ES, AV, & IC trains.

Rome to Florence - yes.
Florence to Cinque Terre (and return) - no, if it's just a regional train
Florence to Venice - yes

I'm not sure why you reference Rail Europe. For tickets in Italy you can just buy point to point tickets through the Italian national RR at www.trenitalia.com.

If you purchase in advance there are discounts available, and these point to point tickets include the mandatory seat reservation.

Yes, you need reservations. No, in this case you don't need Rail Europe (unless you want to throw money away for no reason).

It sounds like you may already have or are planning to purchase a rail pass. Seat reservations in Italy are 10 euro per person - this is on top of any price you paid for the pass.

If you haven't already purchase a pass, stop now and just get point to point tickets. If you have, then RailEurope CFO thanks you.

Very good advice from J.

If you've already purchased the pass, you don't have to get your seat reservations from RailEurope. Just buy them when you get to Italy. AV,ES trains are 10€. IC trains are 3€. R trains don't have reserved seats.

You can make seat reservations and pay the 10 euros passholder fee for long-distance journeys in Italy at www.trenitalia.com.

Act as if you were buying a normal ticket, select a train and 'continue', then look for the drop down box marked 'more fares' and select 'Global pass'.

And yes, you may well see 'Mini' and 'Meno 30' fares such as Florence-Rome for 19 euros that make you wonder why you bought a $000 pass and are now paying 10 euro surcharges!

But I should add, this is only for journeys you know you want to pre-book for a definite time, there's always places available even on the day of travel, if you want to stay flexible.

Thanks for the replies. Info is fantastic - thank you. I have been on Transitalia site to check out prices - how do I know if it includes seat reservations in it?? it is not exactly clear about it, or do all tickets have it include when you buy it point to point??

Point to point tickets include the mandatory seat reservation.

AV, ES, ESCity and IC tickets will include your seat when you purchase p-t-p tickets from Trenitalia. R or Reg Veloc tickets don't have reserved seats.

For lots of great info regarding this topic check out not only Man in Seat 61's commercial site www.seat61.com but also these two gems IMO - www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - all three sites loaded with great train tips and not just crass commercialism.

<i>not just crass commercialism.</i>
Crass?

Geneva to Interlaken does not require reservations and nearly no one in Switzerland IME makes them though possible. Always seats and trains about every hour or so.

In many railpass trips on Italian trains I have never ever had any problem getting the mandated seat reservations as I went along - right before the train often. No need to book far in advance but some folks want to have everything in hand and to them the extra price RailEurope charges can be priceless - Man in Seat 61's commercial site www.seat61.com has a link on his home page (last I looked) to RailEurope so book thru that link and Man in Seat 61 may get a few bucks!

I guess you didn't bother to read this thread.

>>>Man_in_seat_61 on Apr 25, 11 at 2:41am
You can make seat reservations and pay the 10 euros passholder fee for long-distance journeys in Italy at www.trenitalia.com.<<

Just a heads up - while you do need seat reservations if someone is in your seat most of the time its hell to remove them especially in Italy.
I ran into this a couple of times before I got smart and stopped using RE and just booked at local agent or station. Conductors just shrug and show you to another seat. Just my experiences.

kybourbon - you well no the huge frustrations many folks not familiar with www.trenitalia.com have getting it to work so as a back up for Nervous Nellies Raileurope via Man in Seat 61's link to it is a backup.

Please try to fathom that not everyone is as savvy as you in using trenitalia.com - there have been literally dozens of posts complaining about it - like a transaction seems to go thru and boom - nothing for a time or never and on and on and on. Things that may be easy to you may not be for the novice user. and I believe Raileurope charges about 10 euros as well so it may be a convenient way to avoid the immense frustrations many find in dealing with trenitalia.com.

In any case IME with using railpasses for years in Italy is that you can always make any daytime train mandated reservation easily upon arrival - at any train station in Italy, including the one at Rome's airport. i see no reason to book in advance though as said some folks do not feel comfy without everything in hand and just have to show up at the station and hop on their train.