Trains in Italy
 

Good Day!

I am a new poster to this site, although I read it often before I leave for a vacation. The advice I have seen here is just invaluable!
Anyway, heading to Italy at the end of September for 15 days. (Rome, Florence/Tuscany and venice). One of the friends I am traveling with wants to splurge on first class train tickets (Trenitalia) I assume.
I want to compromise as we are 3 traveling and all have different travel styles, but before I do, I want to make sure that 1st class is truly worth the money. How much more expensive are they? To be honest I'd rather slurge on amazing meals and wine than 1st class trains. Plus the trains from city to city are so short (2 hours or so) it just seems like an unecessary splurge.

Any help would be appreciated.

In my opinion, first class on Eurostar (ES) trains, which you will probably be taking, is not worth the extra cost.

I think you get a newspaper and a "snack" and there are three seats across instead of the four in second class.

Florence to Venice with ES is 26.60 Euro in second class and 39.25 in first, or roughly 50% more.

You can check it out at
www.trenitalia.com

The ES train time from Rome to Florence is only 1 1/2 hours so I really don't see the point of 1st class. If you plan to book in advance online though, you can probably get one of the 1st cl (regular price 42E) specials for 29E so then the price would be the same as a regular ES 2nd cl ticket(also 29E). Check www.trenitalia.com but you might not be able to price all your tavel dates yet as you can only book within 60 days.

TB - I never travel 1st.Cl in Italy.

I find 2nd.Cl much more interesting - mainly because I enjoy people-watching and/or meeting the locals.

Somehow in 1st.Cl all you get is business people or wealthy tourists. Not half so much fun believe me ...

I'd rather go 2nd Cl ... and increase the gelato budget ;)

Steve

This comes up all the time; if you feel having more space is a splurge then go in Second.

Please don't think that you cannot meet the locals in 1st...you can..but the only ones you'll meet are the ones willing to pay more to ride there.

I recently booked 1st class from Florence to Rome because I was told by friends that had gone to Italy that if you don't you might end up standing up the whole trip. (You can only get seat reservations by booking 1st class). And I personally don't want to stand for and hour or two.... Is this information incorrect?

The information you were given was incorrect. Any booking on a Eurostar (ES) train, whether in first or second class, includes a seat reservation. The same applies for the ICPlus trains.

I'm in total agreement of increasing my gelato budget:-)
Thanks for your help.

Hi TB,

Look for 29E 1cl fares 60 days in advance at www.trenitalia.com.

((I))

As of about a year ago (very roughly) the ticket and the seat reservation are no longer sold separately when it's a train that requires seat reservation, they issue just one ticket that includes the seat, it's called "global" ticket, or "pauschal" on the Swiss and German sites.

Yes, both classes on EuroStars require that seat reservation, so bblount had been given wrong info.

If you take the ICPlus that costs a bit less and takes a bit longer, you can choose to reserve or not, which is great for people with a flexible travel style. It's rare that you have to stand - in rush hour and on Friday nights before a public holiday weekend and such maybe, of course, but rarely at other times - keep walking along the insides of the train and you will find a seat, even if it's a jump seat between carriages.

2nd class is awfully nice on the modern trains, unless you have a huge butt or money to burn, save the extra for more gelato (then you *will* end up with a huge butt, of course).

WK

My two cents: Just use the E* when available. 2nd class is great, not enough difference for the money to upgrade. You can always stand up in the club car and drink beer or caffe' and forget the seats. 1 1/2 hours Roma to Firenze.....go for it.

would you book your trains ahread of time - or - book at the station the day your are leaving?

Hi beph03
>would you book your trains ahread of time - or - book at the station the day your are leaving?


That depends on when and where.

((I))

beph03- I'm no train expert but have always bought my tickets a few days ahead of time, at the local train station, using a ticket window (with a live person to assist me rather than trying to use a machine). Or day of travel if it was just a simple route (not an overnight where I was reserving a cabin).

We booked our tickets on the day of travel. Only once did this give us a problem where they were sold out for 2nd class. We could have waited another 2 hours for the next train but opted to get 1st class tickets. It was definitely not worth the extra money to get into 1st class.

We returned recently from a trip to Italy and used trains many times in the 3 weeks we were there, as we had done on a previous trip. We would never go 1st cl. on any trip of less than 5 hrs. You can find many great ways to spend the savings in Italy! Enjoy 2nd cl. travel!!!