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What is the best way to book train travel in Spain, France and Italy?

What is the best way to book train travel in Spain, France and Italy?

Old Apr 29th, 2015, 05:09 PM
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What is the best way to book train travel in Spain, France and Italy?

Hi all,

I'm just finalising my plans for my Europe trip in July and August, from Australia. I will be catching a couple of flights but using trains for most of the trip and I am just wondering who has views on the best way to book. i.e is it better to buy tickets when we are there and for individual trips, or should we get a Eurail pass?

For the first train trip, from Barcelona to San Sebastian, I will be with two friends. For the rest of the journey, until Rome, I will be with one friend. Train trips will include:

- Barcelona to San Sebastian
- Antibes to Monterosso
- Monterosso to Padua
- Padua to Venice return (not sure I would need to count this as a day for a Eurail pass as I expect the trip will be quite cheap and easy enough to book on the morning we visit Venice?)
- Verona to Rome (this one isn't certain and we plan to get a car for a few days after Padua and head into the Dolomites and then either go to Florence or Verona for a couple of days. But if driving is hectic in these towns we will probably leave the car somewhere before either Verona or Florence and then get the train up the rest of the journey)

So that adds up to between four and six days of train travel.

After Rome I fly to Paris and may take a day trip somewhere but I will decide that when I am there. And then I go to London and have already booked the Eurostar for that trip.

Thanks in advance!
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 06:35 PM
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It's unlikely the Antibies/Monterosso, Monterosso/Padua, Padua/Venice would be worth using a pass. The tickets will likely cost less than a day of a pass if you just buy them. Even Verona/Rome you can buy in advance on Trenitalia and snag discounts. A pass is rarely cost effective for Italy. Any of the faster trains in Italy also require seat reservations (mandatory) which aren't included in your pass (10€ each). Buying point-to-point tickets on Trenialia will include the seats.

Thello has been running a special from Nice (Antibes is right there) to Genoa for 15€. Genoa on to Monterosso on Trenitalia wouldn't cost much.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 06:41 PM
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Thanks kybourbon. For some reason I can't see the timetable on Ternitalia and the capitaine train site also won't let me see the trips from Antibes to Monterosso. And SNFC redirects me to Rail Europe. It says the fare is €96 and the only options are second class.

Next question is is it best to book in advance for all tickets I know the dates for?

Thanks again,
RT
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 06:51 PM
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Sorry - the correct price is AU$48 per ticket. I had entered two travellers and didn't look properly to see it wasn't in Euros.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 06:57 PM
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For Spain, you can use: www.Renfe.com
For France it's: www.voyages-sncf.com
For Italy, try: www.trenitalia.com

For the SNCF website, do it in French and it will allow you to print off your tickets. No problem with the Italian site. For Renfe, you may have to purchase your tickets through www.petrabax.com. They will email you your tickets.

Avoid Europe Rail at all cost.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:16 PM
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Thanks Robert.

Can you book your seats through these sites at the time of booking?
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:18 PM
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Also, it appears I cannot get first class fares for the date/time I want to travel. Is second class ok?
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:22 PM
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If you want to take the Thello train from Antibes to Genoa, look at the Thello website.

https://www.thello.com/?iLangID=3

If you don't want the Thello train, you will need to buy a ticket Antibes/Ventimiglia on the French rail site SNCF. You can buy the Ventimiglia/Monterosso on Trenitalia. Most of these trains are local regional trains and won't cost much. Regional trains in Italy have no reserved seating (not possible). The fast trains serve larger cities and the slower regional trains serve the smaller cities/towns.

Cross border tickets purchased on Trenitalia require you pick up at a kiosk in Italy so you wouldn't be able to buy Anitbes/Monterosso on their website. There is no advantage to buying regional tickets in advance as there are no discounts for those trains and no reserved seating. The faster trains (IC, AV) you can sometimes book 45€ for as little as 17-19€.

>>>But if driving is hectic in these towns
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:25 PM
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>>>Also, it appears I cannot get first class fares for the date/time I want to travel. Is second class ok?
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:30 PM
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It's too early to book the Spanish trains. The summer schedule is not normally released until early June. It's the same on more French trains. Italy I'm not too sure of at this time.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:42 PM
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Thanks guys.

It is becoming more complicated in my mind the more that I look! I need to know the exact stations in cities but if it's not cheaper to book in advance for most of my trips then I may just wait until I am there, although then I risk not being able to get a seat ...

I am a little overwhelmed over here in Australia ... it's my first trip to Europe.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 07:48 PM
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Also, I am not sure how to know whether I will have available a fast train or if they are all regional trains. Can you tell from the cities I have listed?

Barcelona to San Sebastian (July 8 - so will wait til June to book)
- Antibes to Monterosso (July 16)
- Monterosso to Padua (July 19)
- Padua to Venice return (July 20)
- Verona to Rome (approx July 28 but this may be from Florence instead)
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 08:00 PM
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Verona/Rome or Florence/Rome will have fast trains. Padua will have both. Monterosso is mostly only regional trains and to get from there to Padua will require several train changes so on part of your route you might get a fast train.

I would think most of Anitbes to Monterosso is regional trains.

>>>although then I risk not being able to get a seat
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 08:18 PM
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Thanks kybourbon. Thello is only running a train in the evening at this stage so I will go with Trenitalia as it's a long trip and still need to get to Monterosso that day. It seems as though I can book Trenitalia now for the trip to Monterosso and to Padua.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 10:14 PM
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Thello is a subsidiary of Trenitalia, and runs three trains a day Milan-Genoa-Nice, only one of which goes beyond Nice to Antibes, Cannes & Marseille.

So that's why you think Thello is only running one train a day, because the other two terminate at Nice, a stone's throw before Antibes.

So feel free to book Italy to Nice on one of the other two daily trains (if you book at www.trenitalia.com you can book from anywhere in Italy to Nice) and simply buy a ticket at Nice for a few euros for the last short hop by frequent local train Nice to Antibes, they leave every 30 minutes.
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Old Apr 29th, 2015, 10:32 PM
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Thanks. Just did another search. I found that I can indeed go from Nice to Monterosso, by changing at Genoa and it gets me there the same time as going via Ventimiglia. However it is a little more expensive (around €48 vs around €36) and I have to get from Antibes in time to leave Nice at 8am, while the SNCF/trenitalia options mean I don't have to leave Antibes til 9.
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Old Apr 30th, 2015, 04:45 AM
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>>>However it is a little more expensive (around €48 vs around €36)>So that's why you think Thello is only running one train a day, because the other two terminate at Nice, a stone's throw before Antibes.
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Old Apr 30th, 2015, 12:54 PM
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Hi kybourbon,
The cheaper one was sncf/trenitalia and the more expensive was thello/trenitalia. But that included a first class seat on Thello.
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