Rail Passes
Jan 20th, 2003, 05:26 AM
#1
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Rail Passes
Which pass should we use (6 adults, 3 over 60) we are flying into Milan, then 3 nights Stresa, 2 Milan, 2 Varenna, 2 Venice, 3 Florence, 1 Cinque Terre, 1 Siena, 2 Orvieto,3 Rome. We all have been to Italy several times, but a little confused on which pass is best. Cost is not the object, conveniece is, thanks
Jan 20th, 2003, 07:10 AM
#2
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Probably no pass whatsoever. Just buy the tickets, point-to-point once you get there. But you can check out the comparative costs on www.railsaver.com if you want confirmation of my hunch.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex Bickers<BR>Westerville, Ohio<BR>
Jan 20th, 2003, 09:59 AM
#4
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With 6 travellers, instead of a pass you should check out the "comitiva" tickets, collective point-to-point tickets that allow you a 20% discount (for groups of 6-20 people). These tickets are only sold in Italy, AFAIK, but require no particular documentation, yo may be asked to write down all the names of the people who will be travelling toghether. One last thing, I would leave out of the travel itinerary Cinque terre, which will force you to a long detour towards the Liguria coast. Spend one day more in Firenze or daytrip to Lucca while leeping in Firenze and leave the next day to Siena, or, finally, add one day in Siena. As a last thing, the best option for travelling from Firenze to Siena is bus and not train.
Jan 20th, 2003, 11:11 AM
#5
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I don't feel entirely comfortable challenging what Alice is saying (she does live there after all), but I thought that the mini-group discounts were for 3, 4 or 5 people. I personally as a group of 6 in May 2001, and as a group of 7 in Sep 2001, and they had me split us up into "subgroups of 3, 4 or 5 people.<BR><BR>In any case, the advice is sound. I don't think you can buy these outside Italy. They will volunteer to you that your tickets should be bought this way when you go up to the counter.<BR>
Jan 20th, 2003, 11:17 AM
#6
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Not very familiar with what type of railpasses are offered in Italy.<BR><BR>I do see that Mike is more concerned with convenience than cost. Right?<BR><BR>Point to Point tickets might be an excellent choice and solution to their needs, but why not offer some input about railpasses for these people.<BR><BR>How about it there, what is available for his group and group rail passes.<BR><BR>Bill
Jan 20th, 2003, 02:14 PM
#7
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The website www.railsaver.com will analyze the itinerary and tell you the best pass, if you ask it to do that - - even if it does not save money.<BR><BR>Though I have never understood how is it inconvenient to buy tickets when you go to the train station.<BR><BR>I never really consider it inconvenient to buy a ticket when I go to a movie.<BR>
Jan 21st, 2003, 04:21 AM
#9
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Rex:<BR><BR>The minigroups offer (which was actually more convenient, since it allowed a 30% discount) is no more, but the old group tickets are still working as they always had since I was born (http://www.trenitalia.com/v&v/famiglie_gruppi.html). In this case groups of people travelling together (from 6 people up to infinite) can access 20% discounts on every train except Eurostars (10% discount on these trains) and free seat booking. You can request for this group ticket ine very station. The reason Trenitalia stopped the minigroups thing is that when large groups of people travelled toghether, well it just split up in 3-5 people minigroups in order to have the highier discount ^_^
