DH & I are planning on taking a train from Rome to Venice in September. Any advice?

What advice are you hoping for?

You can take a fast EuroStar (ES) train; it will take about 4.5 hours.

If you're in Rome for a few days, you can buy your ticket (which includes a reserved seat) at any travel agency a few days in advance.

Some people prefer first class; personally, I don't feel the little bit of additional space - and newspaper? coffee? - warrants the difference in cost.

The only advice is to make sure that you can lift your suitcase up into the train; there are no porters.

We thought 1st class was worth it for Rome - Venice. The aisles are wider, easier to maneuver suitcase(s). And there was room to store them with no hassles.

From Florence to Venice we stayed in the dining car almost the entire time. We gazed out the huge windows while sipping our coffees and the time just zipped by. Now, don't start imagining the dining cars in old Cary Grant movies. This was very basic. Certainly no white tablecloths! Rolls were pre-packaged, but the coffee was good.

If you want a train with a dining car, make sure you ask the travel agency to find it for you; most Rome-Venice ES trains do *not* have them.

Dining cars on the ES trains have 2 parts. One for sit down dining - you can get a lunch for about 25Euro per person, and the other end is basically a snack bar - selling sandwiches, chips, soda, etc. Expect a crowd in the snack bar - there are tables at which you can stand and eat or sip, but most people return to their seats with food, or pick up a panino before the trip.

As to the point above that "MOST" Rome-Venice ES trains don't have dining cars, I believe that to be false information.

Maybe my experience with food in the dining car is different than others, but I wouldn't wast my money on it again. Overpriced and not very good. It is slightly exciting to do it, like in the movies but not worth it, IMO.

ShariSue,

My wife and I took the ES from Rome to Venice in September 2004. Very nice train, no hassles. We enjoyed first class and I think it is worth the money.

I never went to the dining car, but did have coffee from the cart which came through the cars and it tasted good. But all coffee tastes good to me when we are on vacation, especially in a beautiful place like Italy.

No problem with the train trip at all. The view as you step out of the Venice train station is awesome. You will love both Rome and Venice.

You can contact me at dwzemens AT comcast DOT net if you have any other questions I can answer. We loved Italy!

I stand corrected. I just checked: Of the 10 day ES trains from Rome to Venice, five have dining cars, five do not.

But I think it's worse misinformation to imply that "you can sit in the dining car" when not all trains have them.

Otherwise, I agree that the food is abominable; I also found the coffee worse than awful.

Advice? Enjoy the view, especially from Bologna on! We did the reverse route in two stages and I thought we were bombing along nicely at 150km/hr Venice-Florence. Florence Rome peaked-out at 260. And smooth? Lovely ride! Eurostar BTW. As Zerlina pointed, there isn't a huge difference betwixt first and second class. Our seats were in the 50's which put us middle-carriage, the smoothest place to be. Enjoy your vacation

I believe ES trains on the Trenitalia web site that have a dining car will be listed as ES*. Any other ES trains will just have coffee bars that serve sandwiches, drinks, etc. A search of a random day next month showed all to be ES*.

All Eurostar Italia trains are labelled "ES*". That's their symbol. There's no just "ES" symbol on Trenitalia, or at least I've never seen one.

Anyways, if you go to www.bahn.de and search, you'll see that the 6:52 ES9462 Rome-Venice has only a "Bar Coach", while most of the late trains have "Bordrestaurant" (German for "on-board restaurant&quot.

Anyways, that's just a theory. Because if you go click on "Details" on Trenitalia.com in the train listing, some will show a symbol with a crossed knife/fork. Like the 12:52 ES9472, but not on the other trains. So, I don't really know.

Actually, I got my info from Trenitalia which said ES trains labeled with the * had dining cars unless I totally misunderstood.

CATERING
The pleasure of dining while travelling. In all of Eurostar Italia's trains you will find a coffee bar service complete with fresh sandwiches, snacks, drinks, desserts and hot and cold drinks. The Eurostar trains indicated in the Official Timetable* also offer a sit-down restaurant service with full menu. The meal assortment is changed often and in keeping with the seasons.
The restaurant areas are modern, elegant and clean, with large windows for enjoying the scenery. To book lunch or dinner, simply ask the on board personnel who will ask passengers in the first-class carriage shortly before the service commences.
you can book directly when buying your ticket, in which case you will be granted a discount on your meal.
*The trains provide on board catering services, which can be recognised by the symbols beside the train number and specified in the Official Timetable.

kybourbon -

The first * you quoted instructs one to read the sentence in the bottom.

The actual symbol which that whole paragraph describes is a box with a knife and fork crossed in it. Search for a train and then click on "Details" to look for them.

I find that the early morning trains from Rome going north don't have them. Mid-morning on, especially the Naples-Rome-Florence-Milan Alta Velocita or other Rome-Florence-Milan trains tend to have that symbol. Less frequently seen on the Rome-Florence-Venice trains.

I can tell you from recent experience that the 3 ES* trains I traveled on the Rome-Venice route all had dining cars, and none showed a fork/knife on the logo.

In that case, the information on www.bahn.de is probably more accurate than trenitalia's.