Train Ticket Purchases?
 

Hello :
Can somebody verify that it is possible to purchase Eurorail tickets in Italy at the train stations? We are debating whether to rent a car to drive from Rome to Budapest or take the Eurorail? Buying Eurail tickets in Canada are around $430 per person for a 5 day pass. Travel agents push you to buy the train tickets in Canada. I think it's best to rent a car from Canada and have the contract in hand before going to say "Hertz". I was just worried we'd have trouble buying train tickets in Italy at the stations or wherever. We leave in June for 5 days in Rome and then we are movin'on to Budapest. Thanks for the help & advice ..Ilonka

Hi llonka,

Eurorail is not a railroad. There are no eurorail tickets.

RailEurope sells rail passes. You purchase them before you leave N.America.

There are railpasses for two or more people traveling together. You do not need 2 passes.

In order to see if a railpass will save you money, go to www.railsaver.com and enter your itinerary.

Be sure to click on "only if it saves money".

I thought you were going to fly to Budapest.

Thank you for the quick response. Yes we will most probably fly from Budapest back to Rome in order to catch our flight home to Canada. We would like to see the country side and some towns alon

I must have pressed the send button ..sorry. We would like to see some of Italy as we travel up to Budapest as well as Austria.This is why we need to decide to drive a car or go via Train.Fliying back from Budapest to rome is a super idea, Ira .
Thanks >>.much appreciated > Do you know if you can purchase train tickets
directly from the stations in Italy ?
Ilonka

Yes, at train stations in Italy you can purchase tickets to any destination in Europe. When I was last in the main Termini Station in Rome there was a room off the mail ticket lobby where you took a number and when it was your turn, sat down with an agent to book your tickets.

I advise writing out your itenerary in advance.

If you mean Eurail, not EurOrail, there are indeed Eurail tickets and I think you have to buy them in your home country. The original Eurail used to include about 17 countries but now there are variations that include, say 5 of the most popular countries, or 3 that border each other. Try doing a Google search on Eurail.
Kay

A Eurail ticket is a pass allowing unlimited travel in specified countries. For a one-way journey, it will never be worthwhile getting a pass. You can buy a one-way ticket from Roma to Budapest at the station in Roma or at a travel agency. An international rail ticket is valid two months and allows you to break your journey anywhere along the specified route. If you are not sure of your route, then book separate tickets as you go along, perhaps Roma-Venezia, Venezia-Wien, Wien-Budapest. Check schedules on www.bahn.de to see what is possible, but remember that it is a computer programme and may suggest schedules that are inconvenient or uncomfortable - it will not realise that you will want to sleep at night, or stop in the day for meals.