Trenitalia vs. Raileurope Passes
May 12th, 2004, 06:22 AM
#1
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Trenitalia vs. Raileurope Passes
Raileurope offers a Trenitalia PassSaver (for those traveling in Italy with 2 or more people) for 4 days of train travel at $173 per person.
I've heard that Raileurope is more expensive than Trenitalia and the prices that I will see posted in Italy. If it's an actual Pass, though, not point-to-point, does this hold true? Or if it's a Trenitalia Pass through Raileurope, does this hold true?
I've tried figuring out the price of the same pass on the actual Trenitalia website but can't find it. The Italian version of this website provides more info, but I don't know enough Italian to figure it out.
If anyone can help me sort this out, I'd be quite grateful!
I've heard that Raileurope is more expensive than Trenitalia and the prices that I will see posted in Italy. If it's an actual Pass, though, not point-to-point, does this hold true? Or if it's a Trenitalia Pass through Raileurope, does this hold true?
I've tried figuring out the price of the same pass on the actual Trenitalia website but can't find it. The Italian version of this website provides more info, but I don't know enough Italian to figure it out.
If anyone can help me sort this out, I'd be quite grateful!
May 12th, 2004, 06:43 AM
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Hi newman,
Enter your itinerary at www.railsaver.com for two people. Be sure to click "only if it saves me money".
It is unlikely that you will save money with a railpass.
You also have to pay a supplement for ES* trains if you have a pass.
Enter your itinerary at www.railsaver.com for two people. Be sure to click "only if it saves me money".
It is unlikely that you will save money with a railpass.
You also have to pay a supplement for ES* trains if you have a pass.
May 12th, 2004, 06:45 AM
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Railpasses are usually not sold within that country, so you need to buy them through an agent, like Raileurope.com.
If you figure out that a pass is better than point-to-point tickets on your trip, then buy them from Raileurope, or other U.S. websites/agents.
If you figure out that a pass is better than point-to-point tickets on your trip, then buy them from Raileurope, or other U.S. websites/agents.
May 12th, 2004, 07:23 AM
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First of all, that "supplement" Ira is talking about for Italian Eurostar trains is basically a fee for the seat reservation and for someone to make a blanket statement that it is "unlikely you will save money with a railpass" without knowing anything about how you plan to use it is, to be charitable, absurd.
You may very well BE able to buy an Italian Railpass in Italy..check with Trenitalia if you can..what you genarally cannot buy is a multi-country Eurail pass in Europe
So, that leaves you with the possibility of buying a pass through an agency such as RailPass or RailEurope for the convenience of having it before you arrive.
Be aware that the pass prices are set by the indivdiual railroads and there is no mark-up on the price of the pass. What IS marked up would be the shipping anf processing fees that agencies such as RailEurope will charge you for the "convenience" of getting the pass before you leave.
I do second Ira's idea of entering your itinerary on railpass.com or railsaver.com. If point to point tickets would be a lot cheaper then you might wait and do that. But also remember that passes are more economical the more you use them and they also eliminate the need for buying tickets if that is a "big issue" for you.
Some folks are willing to pay extra to avoid the ticket buying and feel that the extra is worth it..others don't.
You may very well BE able to buy an Italian Railpass in Italy..check with Trenitalia if you can..what you genarally cannot buy is a multi-country Eurail pass in Europe
So, that leaves you with the possibility of buying a pass through an agency such as RailPass or RailEurope for the convenience of having it before you arrive.
Be aware that the pass prices are set by the indivdiual railroads and there is no mark-up on the price of the pass. What IS marked up would be the shipping anf processing fees that agencies such as RailEurope will charge you for the "convenience" of getting the pass before you leave.
I do second Ira's idea of entering your itinerary on railpass.com or railsaver.com. If point to point tickets would be a lot cheaper then you might wait and do that. But also remember that passes are more economical the more you use them and they also eliminate the need for buying tickets if that is a "big issue" for you.
Some folks are willing to pay extra to avoid the ticket buying and feel that the extra is worth it..others don't.
May 12th, 2004, 05:00 PM
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I have looked at the TrenItalia site too and was confused by the prices. What you can do is pull up the train schedule you want just to get the routing they are using. Then, you can pull up each section of the trip separately and you may get a price for that part of the journey. Then pull up the second part (connecting part) of the trip and you should get a price. I just added the fares together....I don't know any other way of figuring it out. I also noticed that some smaller cities were not listed on the site.
One recommendation...we did this last year. We found that the routes we wanted to go on were cheaper if purchasing on Trenitalia than the Saverpass. We just printed several train schedules before we went(so we could get an idea of potential options and amount of travel time needed). We took the print outs with us. When we were ready to make our first train trip, we arrived at the train station early and purchased all of the tickets at that time. They were able to reserve everything for us. We saved over 50% off of what we would have spent on Rail Europe prices/passes. We had no trouble getting trains at the times we wanted, and we got our reservations but saved some of the extra fees rail europe was charging.
I hope this helps....good luck!
One recommendation...we did this last year. We found that the routes we wanted to go on were cheaper if purchasing on Trenitalia than the Saverpass. We just printed several train schedules before we went(so we could get an idea of potential options and amount of travel time needed). We took the print outs with us. When we were ready to make our first train trip, we arrived at the train station early and purchased all of the tickets at that time. They were able to reserve everything for us. We saved over 50% off of what we would have spent on Rail Europe prices/passes. We had no trouble getting trains at the times we wanted, and we got our reservations but saved some of the extra fees rail europe was charging.
I hope this helps....good luck!
May 12th, 2004, 05:59 PM
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See my dialogue with "vids" on this thread - - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34484236 - - where I got educated on how this very pass CAN save a few dollars over point-to-point tickets when purchasing for TWO.
Best wishes,
Rex
Best wishes,
Rex
