Does anyone know much about taking trains in Italy? We are flying into Rome, then would like to take the FS to Florence, then onto Venice.<BR><BR>Should we pay for each trip as we go along? Or is there some sort of pass we should purchase?<BR><BR>Thank you!

Hi Dazhraii,<BR><BR>It sounds like you are on a relatively short trip, so probably just point to point tickets will be least expensive. Depending on when you are traveling, (peak season?) advance reservations might be good for these major cities, especially Florence to Venice.<BR><BR>Eurail and other passes just save you $ if you are doing a long trip with many destinations.<BR><BR>Buon viaggio!

<BR>At the airport railway station you can ask for the cost of a standard point to point fare, and for the cost of a kilometric ticket. I do not know which will be the cheaper.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

I too am curious about trains in Italy. Someone recommended buying tickets before we go to Europe to save money. Is this true?

Ben:<BR><BR>In the case of the trip planned by Dazhraii poiunt to point tickets will surely be less expensive than a kilometric pass (which gives free access only to SOME trains, while on most long-travelling trains you must still pay a suplement and booking fee).<BR><BR>JB:<BR><BR>Italian train sistem granst the cheapest prices to those who buy their tickets directly at the station, on the day of departure or no more than two monhts in advance. If you are travelling on week-ends or in peak periods (summer, Christmas, Easter, April 25th, May 1st) it is far better to book in advance (a couple of days in advance).

Hi<BR> Try www.railsaver.com to compare PtP with different types of passes.

Dazhraii, As others have already explained, your best price will be purchasing tickets once you get to Italy on a point-to-point basis. To review schedules (but not to purchase), check website:<BR>www.trenitalia.com

Reserve seats!<BR><BR>We just returned and had one annoying train trip when we purchased tickets at one of the machines. It wouldn't let us reserve seats, so we just thought, &quot;Oh well, it must be an unreserved train.&quot; Nope- we just didn't have seats; it was sold out. We had to sit on our bags in the corridor, smooshed against the wall. Not a comfy way to travel with jet lag.<BR><BR>We then bought point-to-point tickets at one of the machines for the rest of our trip so we could be sure to have reserved seats. The machines have an English version and were easy to use with a credit card. We looked into the one-country Eurail pass, but our trip was too short to make it worthwhile.

I read somewhere that in order to take the train from Milan(Malpensa) airport to Venice. You first must travel by train (1hr) back into downtown Milan's main train station then catch a train to Venice.<BR>Does anyone know if that's true?<BR>Can I catch a train to Venice straight from Malpensa airport?<BR>Christine

The Malpensa express train is run by Ferrovie Nord Milano, while the train to Venice is run by Trenitalia. The two companies' railway networks do not have any connection. If you take Malpensa Express to get toMilano you will not only have to change train, you will also have to move from FNM Cadorna Station to Trenitalia Centrale Station. In any case, since from Varese (where the airport is) is on the western side of Lombardy while Venice is east of Lomardy, you would still have to reach milano first even if the Malpensa Express service had been a Trenitalia one. A better route, in your case, is to take the Malpensa Shuttle from the airport that will drop you at Centrale Station. Do not forget to book the train seats as you arrive in Malpensa.

Thank Alice for your help.