trenitalia or raileurope website
 

My husband and I are traveling from Verona to Florence, then Florence to Rome sometime at the end of June 2009. I've looked at both the trenitalia website and the rail europe website in order to purchase 1st class tickets for our trip. What is the main difference between these two sites. It seems much easier to go through the rail europe website. Also, when I punched in my destinations, why does the rail europe website post more train times than the trenitalia website. I thought trenitalia website was the official website, so, shouldn't it have more train travel times?

You don't understand what you are dealing with. RailEurope is a travel agency and not a railroad company. RailEurope only lists a few trains and none of the discount programs. RE marks up the ticket rather substantially and charges high fees for their service. Check bahn.de for an easier to use schedule info. Not sure what you are doing with Trenitalia because it is generally the other way around with RE. There is absolutely no advantage or reason to purchase tickets in advance for Italy rail. There are 53 trains day between Florence and Rome. And, IMO, no reason for first class except that some people just prefer first class.

The summer schedule begins on June 15 and it isn't posted yet at Trenitalia. I agree--there's little reason to reserve these tickets before you arrive in Italy.

If you'd like to check schedules at Trenitalia, just use dates next week, using the same day of the week you plan to travel. The schedule shouldn't change that much.

Good advice above.

Thank you to everybody that responded. I will take your advice and not buy the tickets yet. I was thinking of riding first class because we have 2 big luggage with us and I heard that with first class we can store it close to our seats. I'm getting a little paranoid about thieves and the pick pocket stories in Italy.

Trains from Verona to Florence make a single stop in Bologna
Trains from Florence to Rome make no stops.

IMO you are being overly paranoid about your luggage on these trains. There are luggage racks at the end of each coach. 1st class and 2nd class passengers all store their luggage on these racks. If you are that concerned simply have one of you hang out near the rack until the train is underway, & also when the train is stopped in Bologna.

Some people insist on using a cable lock on their luggage. To me that's also being overly paranoid. I don't recall hearing here on Fodors of a single incidence of stolen luggage (esp "Big Luggage") from an Italian train, especially one of the high speed ES trains you'll be taking.

You are correct that you should be an alert traveler, but IMO if you're spending that much effort to worry about big suitcases on these trains then you're spending too little of your vacation enjoying yourself.

With big cases I'd be more concerned about getting them on and off the train than someone stealing them!

We need a 4 day pass in Italy and when we checked ER and Trenitalia pricing we found we were much cheaper buying the ER Pass at home.

There is a big difference between a pass and individual tickets. Passes have to be bought at home before you travel. Whether a pass is a better deal than individual tickets depends on what travel you are doing in which countries. It usually cheaper to buy individual tickets for travel in Italy. See railsaver.com/default.asp.

What pass were you pricing on Trenitalia? And by ER did you mean RailEurope or something else?

I have been on trains where luggage racks at end of the cars were totally taken up. I would recommend reducing the size of the luggage as a primary strategy in dealing with different circumstances. The first class cars do help in this respect.

Senga, Did ER tell you about the reservation fees for trains in Italy:

Eurostar Italia, EurostarCity Italia, CIS trains: 15 Eur


Eurostar Italia AV: 20 Euro


TBiz: 25 Euro


EC Riviera & Cisalpino, InterCity Plus, Artesia de Jour: 5 Euro


These are the fees per seat, and seat reservations are compulsory on all these trains.

Senga - A railpass is almost never (if ever) cost effective for Italy. If you haven't bought your passes yet, don't. The Trenitalia prices included your required seat reservations. A pass does not.

Unfortunately I bought the passes today. A friend checked the trains we need and they say reservations recommended (not compulsory) so hopefully that will work out. Yes, EuropeRail did mention this but they didn't provide any reservation costs.

I didn't price any passes on Trenitalia as I don't believe we qualified for them, I just priced individual tickets for the four journeys.

Live and learn (but check Fodors first!!!!).

You can refund the passes minus 15 or 20% and no doubt come out dollars ahead for the typical tourist itinerary

some Italian railpasses can indeed be worth it - but these are only the longer ones - say 10 days - since the first 3 or 4 days are much more expensive than putting on additional days

thus a wide-ranging Italian tour, esp if not taking the high-speed trains (i went from Florence to Venice recently on an IC train with a pass and i just hopped on - no fee and it only took about 40 mins longer)

Senga - plus, if you buy your Italian train tickets a few days ahead, you should qualify for the 20% Amica discount. What is your itinerary?

Senga -
>>>A friend checked the trains we need and they say reservations recommended (not compulsory) so hopefully that will work out.<<<

No offense, buy I bet your friend is wrong and am wondering where he "checked". If you ride any of the faster trains you will have to pay for seats. They are required - no way around it. All seats are reserved. If you get on the train without them, you will get hit with a fine (50€) when the conductor comes around to check tickets.

As for riding slow trains to avoid supplements, I wouldn't. For example, the fast train between Florence/Rome takes 1hr 35minutes (you will have to pay 15-20€ for each seat with the pass) and the slow train takes 3hr 40minutes (no fee for seats on this train with a pass because there is no reserved seating). Most people don't want to waste their vacation time on slow trains.

kybourbon - you can at times ride trains that do not require reservations that are not so slow compared to the ES trains - like on the florence-venice link - as i said above i took an ICZ train and just hopped on without a reservation (railpass) and got to Venice maybe 45 minutes later than the ES train - so at times you can avoid the 15-20 euro reservation fees with a pass or if buying tickets not have to make a reservation at all.

Rome-florence yes the time difference is substantial because of the lack of IC trains generally.

Good point Palenque, but for Senga's four-day itinerary, I doubt a pass is cheaper. In my experience, one must be traveling from one end of italy to another a number of times to make a pass worthwhile.

PQ - While that is possible, those trains are generally few and far between on the main routes which is what most tourists are using. If I wanted to go to Rome from Florence in the morning (which is where the OP wanted to go), darn if I would want to waste my valuable vacation time waiting on a slow train that doesn't leave until three hours later, takes twice as long to get there when there are fast trains every 30 minutes. Especially if I can book that train cheaper than a pass. After looking at Venice/Florence there are 8 fast train between 6:30am and 12:30 pm and no slow trains that wouldn't have a supplement until 1pm.

Rail Europe is based in the US and as such, the tickets are paid in dollares and sent to your home..very handy if you feel you want to have the rail part of your trip all confirmed..or you can wait and buy overseas. All train prices are based on avialability and the lower priced tickets may be sold out if you buy close to the train date. Enjoy your trip!