sandi_travelnut

What was the website that you enter your itinerary and it told you if buying point to point tickets was cheaper than buying a railpass?

jamikins

I thkn it was www.railsaver.com

PalenQ

If you're talking about Italian railpasses they are hard to make pay off - either cost-wise or ease of use - you must reserve most faster trains before boarding and with a pass this can mean an EXTRA 15-25 euros per ride - making the pass a lot more expensive than it would appear.

So unless zigzagging all over the place or going from Venice to Tripani and back to Milan forget even checking.

If you want to just give your expected trains i am sure many will confirm that regular tickets is the best bet.

But if taking many trains the extra days on the Italian pass are very cheap so i will never say never.

Sites with lots on Italian trains and railpasses - lots of objective info as well as the usual pass prices: www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com

Making train reservations and buying tickets in Italy usually presents no real problems - so many trains going everywhere - at least two an hour between Rome and Florence.

sandi_travelnut

I agree. Since I am planning this trip for my sister I wanted to be sure. They will only take a few trains (ven-florence, fl-roma) and maybe 1 or 2 other short trips. Thanks for the website info jamikins, that's the one I was looking for.

sandi_travelnut

the other Fodor's thread I was looking for was the one that explained the various types of tickets; Flexi, Standard, Amica and Familia etc to ensure I tell her correctly.

ira

Hi St,

Amica is the 20% discount fare

Familia is for two adulta and a child btwn 5 and 11.

ellenem

Sandi--

No way so few trips will need a pass, never mind they would need to pay supplements for any ES trains.

On a recent trip I finally thought I might benefit from a pass. . . Pisa to Florence to Bologna to Pesaro to Bari (local trips nearby) to Florence (backtracked the same way via Bologna) . . . pretty extensive. Yet point-to-point tickets were still cheaper. I did manage to get an Amica fare for one of the long trips.

Steve007NY

I'm looking at the following:
Venice-Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia-Rome
Rome RT Florence
Florence RT Pisa
1 adult
1 17 yo.

It does indeed look like individ tix are cheaper...IF (I'm assuming) the fees shown on Trenitalia are inclusive of the reservation surcharge??

anyone know?

thanks

Zerlina

The fares on Trenitalia include reserved seats on trains for which reserved seats are mandatory.