Trains in Italy
 

Hello,
I will be in Italy next week 10/11 - 10/19 and I am hoping I can get some input on the best way to go about planning to move between cities for as cheaply and quickly as possible on the train system. Our plan is to

Fly into Venice --> Rome ---> Florence --->Fly out of Milan

I have looked at Italo, and trenitalia.com and italiarail.com, but when I search specific dates, the prices are significantly higher than what people claim they have paid (80-90 vs 30-40 euros). My question is what would be the best option to move between these cities? Are the passes an option I should use? If so, how? Can I take a bullet train to cut down on travel time - where do I search for those?

Any information you can give about how is best to go about planning, I would really appreciate. I feel a little overwhelmed.

Thank you!
Stephanie

I doubt you'll save any money on a pass if all you are doing is taking trains between those four cities; you'll LOSE money.

The train is still the best option but you have to remember that tickets usually go on sale 90 days or so out and as soon as they do, people like ME buy them at the cheapest rates; as time passes the prices rise.

Now, if you really wanted to save a lot of money and travel at the speed of tomato sauce you could go on regional trains only and in 2nd class seats. But realistically, are you really going to break the bank if you shell out some money for fast reliable transportation?

If you want to get the price down at this late date (it is definitely MUCH cheaper 4 months out) you need to look for regional and Intercity trains (as opposed to fast trains). This may mean cobbling together schedules that take longer than the fast Frecce trains.

It is also a bit trickier to find. For one thing, the Trenitalia booking engine tends to default to high priced (e.g., Frecce) trains. There is a little box you can click after you start your search, that specifies "All Trains" instead of just Frecce. You might not get that option when you first start the search, but may see that little box after you get the first results. Then, for a route like Venice-Rome, you may need to pull up Venice-Florence and Florence-Rome separately, then find the Intercity or Regionale trains that are cheaper, and put together an itinerary that might eat up the whole day, but which will be cheaper than an 80 Euro ticket.

As others indicated, the difference between the 30-40EU tickets and the 80-90EU tickets is that they got hold of the advance purchase discount tickets while you only have access to the last minutes tickets for those who waited until just before the departure dates.

The "best" option for moving between the city is individualistic. If you can benefit by taking frequent fast trains, then added expense might make sense.

In the market economy, the supplier is unlikely to give you a cheap, fast, and flexible travel at the same time. For each leg, you have to weigh which is more important. You can get a cheap or a fast trip, but not both at the last minutes. The advance fare would have given you cheap and fast, but not flexibility.

No to a railpass for those three trips - unfortunately you did not buy early enough to nab discounted tickets, sold in limited numbers and often sell out far in advance of the train.

If you really want to economize you can take IC or Regional trains like between Rome and Florence for a pittance but they take about twice as long or longer.

for lots of great info on Italian trains check these IMO superb sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - the latter has lots of advice on discounted tickets.

Italiarail is the overseas agent of Trenitalia, and has more or less the same prices, taking the exchange rate into account. Italo is a different company.

Tickets for the high-speed trains go on sale 120 days (not 90 days) in advance, and the best discounts are snapped up quickly. If you're traveling next week, you won't find many discounts. Try looking for trains at odd hours of the day, such as very early trains, or evening trains, where there may still be a few bargains.

I don't think clicking on "All solutions" will get you any more options on these routes. The few cheaper (and slower) trains are shown even when you don't select this. On the route between Rome and Florence Trenitalia has a few slow regional trains, whose tickets are very cheap, and from Florence to Milan, there is at least one Trenitalia Intercity train, with fairly cheap tickets.

The regional train tickets should be bought from a station in Italy, as the online version of these tickets are more restricted than the normal paper tickets. Regional trains never sell out, and never have discounts, so there's no advantage to buying their tickets in advance. The other trains still have a few discounts available, and these would be best bought now before they disappear. Remember that discounted tickets are not exchangeable or refundable if you change your mind. If the discount is small, it may be better to buy a full price ticket, which is more flexible.

And also check firstclas discounted tickets - some have reported that when 2nd class discounts were sold out first class discounts may still be available and all in all only a tad more than full-fare 2nd class tickets. And IME at least (not everyone) there are significant benefits to first class besides the free beverage and snack (and Italian newspaper) - especially for those typically carrying too much luggage - seats are bigger and fewer riders in each car means more place to stow bulky luggage - I often find an empty seat near me - 2nd clas is typically quite full - fending for space in already crowded perhaps overhead luggage racks is harder, especially for those way too heavy and bulky suitcases.

>>>I don't think clicking on "All solutions" will get you any more options on these routes. The few cheaper (and slower) trains are shown even when you don't select this.<<<

That's true for the English version of Trenitalia, but not for the Italian version.

>>>Fly into Venice --> Rome ---> Florence --->Fly out of Milan<<<

I imagine you've been comparing apples to oranges. Shorter routes such as your Rome/Florence leg are cheaper (regular price around 45€ fast train). Longer routes (Venice/Rome & Florence/Milan) are higher (80€ or so regular price). If you've seen a lot of people talking about 40€ prices (regular, not advance purchase discount), they are mostly the short routes (Rome/Naples,Rome/Florence, etc.). If you can travel in the mid afternoons, you often find more discounts than early morning.

Hang on. Has anyone checked the OP's initial statement?

If I go to www.trenitalia.com and pick, say, 13 October, I still see fares or 36 or 45 euros from Venice to Florence on most Frecciargento departures.

A few days later on 16 Oct I'm seeing trains for 22.50 or 29 euros.

I'm seeing similar prices for Florence to Rome on high-speed Frecciarossas.

Salvarado08, are you seeing the total price for two people and assuming that's per person? This week's deliberate mistake?

Seat_61, For Venice to Florence, €45 is full base price in 2nd class. The only €36 prices I see are for various CartaFreccia discounts, which are available only to loyalty cardholders, either Young or Senior. These cards are not free, and are poor value unless you travel a LOT. Anyway, the last time I checked, only Italians could get them.

Palenq, Sometimes there's a discounted price in 1st class that's even cheaper than the base (full) price in 2nd class. This is the only time I ever ride in 1st class, and it's how I'm able to make a comparison between the two classes. Of course, 1st class is an outmoded term on the Frecciarossa trains, which now have five price categories.

>>>Hang on. Has anyone checked the OP's initial statement?

If I go to www.trenitalia.com and pick, say, 13 October, I still see fares or 36 or 45 euros from Venice to Florence on most Frecciargento departures.<<<

I assume the OP is traveling in the order stated (Venice/Rome not Venice/Florence). Without the exact itinerary and dates, there's really no point in checking for discounts.

They leave in TWO DAYS and I think we have ANSWERED the ONLY QUESTION the OP even had.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond - I really appreciate it! I wasn't anticipating such comprehensive responses.

This brings a lot of clarity to the pricing I am seeing and how to proceed to booking.

Also, I work for an airline and fly standby, so can't plan trips too far in advance hence me booking so late in the game.

Again thanks for all the info! :)

Even at the station in Italy ask if any discounted tickets remain - at times some folks say they do - try anyway.