we plan on taking a train from rome to florence, florence/pisa/florence (day trip)
florence to venice, and venice to rome. would a pass really save money? am I correct that the pass does not include the fees for reservations? what about 1st class vs 2nd class? anyone have any experiance with raileurope.com?

Enter your itinerary at railsaver.com and tick the box that says "Only if passes will save me money."

Hi daisy,

That's www.railsaver.com.

It is unlikely that you need a railpass.

You can buy all of your tickets online at www.trenitalia.com

or

at the train station at FCO when you buy your FCO to Rome tickets

or

just show up at the train station an hour ahead of time.

>what about 1st class vs 2nd class?<

My rule of thumb is 2cl for trips under 4 hrs if you are over 45.

If you are under 45, you should go 2 cl.

hi and thanks for your replies. I went on railsaver.com, and it does recommend individual tickets vs passes.
the prices do not include reservations
and the fees involved. Is it better to just show up and buy the tickets as needed, or are reservations advised? how do I make/pay for the reservations
assuming I already have the tickets?

I also noticed that neither raileurope.com or railsaver.com let you take a round trip in the same day,
florence/pisa/florence for instance.
any thoughts?

My only experience with raileurope had them booking me on a non-existent train.

In my experience it has been cheaper to get tickets on arrival in Rome. When you buy a ticket it comes with a seat number on the Rome-Florence trip and Florence-Venice trip.

I am well over 45 and 2nd class is very comfortable. Both classes arrive at the same time.

You can do any of the things Ira said and keep an eye on this website:
http://www.whatsoninrome.com/strikes.php
We found that there was going to be a train strike the day after we went from Assisi to Naples. I figured the trains the day before would be packed and they were. We bought our tickets on trenitalia before we left the US so there was no problem getting on the train we wanted.

Rail Europe is too expensive.

Short of a train strike, is there an advantage to buying online before your trip instead of at the train station(s) after you arrive?

I've always waited until I was in Europe, but maybe I'm missing some benefit?

One disadvantage of buying at a train station is that it is often VERY busy to buy "future" train tickets (not for same day of travel) at stations in places like Venice or Rome. We took a number and waited over an hour before leaving seeing that our number was less than halfway there in Rome! We saw similar problems at the station in Venice and talked to someone in line who had been waiting nearly two hours to buy tickets and still had a long wait ahead of them. I've found that it makes more sense to go to a local travel agent with a trenitalia sticker on the window if you don't buy them in advance online. There is no charge, they'll offer you any specials if you ask, and there is no waiting and losing valuable sightseeing time.

Don't forget that if you take Eurostar services between these points the seat reservation is automatically incorporated into the ticket.

Non-Eurostar train seat reservations will always be cheaper to buy in Europe than ahead through an overseas agency as a rule.

You can buy your tickets through a local travel agent as Patrick has suggested and you can also use machines in the train station.

I'm not even going to go to the 1st vs. 2nd Class conversation quagmire but don't forget there is a reason they call it "second"...the question is: is that good enough for you, regardless of your age IMO.

Thanks for clarification Patrick and Voyager especially the tip of how to buy after arrival but not at the train station.

Does anyone know how far ahead you need to make seat reservations? Can you do it the day of travel? Also, are reservations necessary on the busy routes in June? Thanks!

I've been to Italy many times since 1979 and travelled all over the country by train, but have never booked train seats more than a couple of hours in advance. It is no more necessary to book train seats weeks in advance than it would be to book cups of coffee in advance. On most lines in Italy, trains are frequent (at least hourly) so you really do not need to lose any sleep worrying about booking.
Trains will be busiest around weekends and in the peak holiday season which in Italy starts in mid July. At any other time, there really is no problem getting a train when you want to travel.

Thanks Geoff! You've relieved my mind.