Brea

My fiance and I are planning a trip to Italy in September, and have been looking at taking a train from Rome to Florence, Pisa, Pompeii and Venice (not in that order), but I see that to purchase these tickets seperately would be very costly, but a 4 day pass (usable any time within a month) is only 139 Euro. Does that seem right?? The website I found this on is :
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html#

Has anyone ever done this????

smartcookie

how much did the separate tickets come to when you checked? this is the Italian train ticket website where you can buy the tickets as well. Are you starting in Rome and have to end up back in Rome or you're flying out from one of the cities farther north?

tuscanlifeedit

I didn't see this promotion on the page you provided, but maybe there is a link?

I don't know about this pass, but there are promotions often, so it is probably valid.

A few questions I would ask: are all trains available? Some passes do not include the fastest trains. Another question: are reservations extra? That is sometimes a condition of certain train passes.

You may want reservations, as September is a very busy month, and some of your routes may also be very busy.

If you price out the tickets, and the point to point is more than the pass, and you can use the pass without supplements for fast trains and reservations, then I would say go for it.

If fast trains (such as ES or Eurostar) and reservations require supplements, I would then have to reconsider. You will have to add supplemental costs into your comparison between the pass and point to point tickets.

rkkwan

The issue is that to get on the Eurostar and Eurostar Alta Velocita trains, you need to pay a premium and seat reservatios on top of the cost of the pass.

I assume you'll want to go to Pompeii as a day trip from Rome. And then use Rome-Florence for another day, Florence-Venice for one and finally Venice-Rome for the 4th.

If you buy those tickets separately, cost will be (2nd class, Amica fares):

Rome - Naples roundtrip: €52.8
Rome - Florence: €26.4
Florence - Venice €24
Venice - €40.8

Total is only 144€. Which will be cheaper than buying your pass and the additional reservations and surcharges.

I didn't include Naples to Pompeii on the Circumvesuviana as that's not included in the Trenitalia pass, and I also didn't include Florence - Pisa as that's cheap and you may not use your pass to "waste" a day of travel.

SusanP

You do need to check on reservations. I can't say positively, but I think the passes do not include the cost of reservations, which are mandatory if you're taking the Eurostar (preferable if it's available for your route, and it should be for the places you've listed). You want to check this carefully, since usually it is cheaper to buy point-to-point tickets rather than a pass in Italy. Unless this is some sort of limited-time special deal.

ira

Hi B,

Are you flying into Venice and out of Rome (or vv)? This will save you a travel day.

As noted, you will have to buy seat reservations for ES* trains - about 9E - with a railpass.

Steve_James

Ira - about € 9 for a seat reservation??

Is that a guess, or have you read it somewhere?

Last time I checked on Trenitalia, seat reservations were € 3

Steve

Brea

Thank you for the responses. I had no idea that there were surcharges on top of the pass fee.We are flying in and out of Rome, but are spending a week in Florence before we leave. The web address had a tiny link for the pass fares, but no mention of the surcharges. It also was EXTREMELY confusing to comprehend. How would I go about reserving seats, rkkwan??

rkkwan

You'll have to buy your reservations at a train station or an agent in Italy.

As I've pointed out the cost of the individual tickets, the pass is not worth it.

Brea

Thanks RK. We are trying to do as much as possible before we get there, so we aren't running around buying train tickets, but instead are enjoying Rome!!

SusanP

Brea, you can buy your tickets ahead of time at trenitalia 60 days out, so if your trip is in September, you should be able to do it now. Choose the ticketless option. Then you print out the email they send you and just get on the train (no need to validate it first). The conductor will come around, and you just show him the email confirmation. I, too, like to have my tickets bought ahead of time, especially if I want a particular train. If you buy a ticket on the Eurostar, since reservations are mandatory, it automatically assigns you seats. You can request window or aisle, but you can't request specific seats. The computer will assign them to you.

ira

Hi SJ,

>about € 9 for a seat reservation??

I believe so for an ES* ticket with a pass - 3E for an IC or IC+.