I'm traveling from Italy to France in September and I'm not sure if I should purchase a two country pass or just go point to point. My travel goes from Rome to Venice, from Venice to Pisa, from Pisa to Nice, and Nice to Paris. I believe the Two country pass is cheaper, but I'm a little confused if I have to still purchase reservation tickets as well. Please help, thanks.

You can check point to point prices in Italy at www.trenitalia.com. If you purchase in advance you may find discounted fares called "mini" fares.

You will need seat reservations for trains in Italy at 10 euros a pop for a pass holder. The seat reservation is included in the price of point to point tickets.

For me pass is always a rip off in Italy

If you do regional trains you will pay 1-2 euro per

hour of training... france bout double that still a deal

over pass where you pay a fixed cost per day even

if you do not train then surcharges there are lots.

I always pass on the pass always a rip train like a local

do not book abroad just hop on you will be fine.

In May trained Rome to Florence for 5 euro on to Venice 5 euro

on regional trains www.seat61.com.

Unless u train relentlessly daily 5 hours or more

you never make any money on Pass.

You can get a mini fare as cheap as 41€ on the fast AV train from Rome to Venice which includes your seat. Seats in Italy are mandatory on all, but the slow R trains. Passes don't include seats (10€ for fast trains), but Trenitalia prices do. Use this Trenitalia link for your search between major cities as it shows the sale fares and lets you compare easier. Often you can take an hour later train and save 10-20€. You must use the Italian spelling (it will start to autofill - click the autofill).
http://www.fsitaliane.it/cms/v/index...003f16f90aRCRD

You can't search Pisa trains on that link as it is mostly slow R trains on part of the travel (Florence/Pisa). Sale fares don't always show if you combine a fast AV train and a slow R train so you may want to book just the fast part Venezia/Firenze) to get the discount on the link above. There are no reserved seats on R trains or discounts so there is no need to purchase in advance and you can just hop on the next R train from Florence to Pisa when you arrive Florence. Trenitalia will not show the prices for the R trains unless you enter a date within 7 days. To search the Florence/Pisa connection (cost is less than 6€):
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

For Nice/Paris, you will need to use the French rail site for advance purchase discounts. If you select USA as your country, it will rollover to RailEurope. You don't want that as RailEurope doesn't offer any sale tickets and doesn't list all trains.

In Italy, tickets for the fast trains (AV/ES/ESCity/IC) include your seat so you don't need to validate trackside. R tickets must be validated before boarding (look for yellow machine to stamp your ticket) of you can be fined.

For Nice to Paris you will need to purchase a reservation if you are travelling using a pass. If you book in advance (from 4-6 months) you can sometimes find tickets that cost little more than what the reservation fee might cost you. PREM fares start at 25€ (available 3 months in advance), iDTGV fares start at 16€ for night trains, 19€ for day trains.

Another consideration is that in France, seats available to pass holders are very limited and early September is still a busy travel month.

www.voyages-sncf.com (in French only)
www.tgv-europe.com
www.idtgv.com (tickets are available 4-6 months before travel, prices only increase as travel date approaches)

Pisa to Nice requires connecting in Genova and Ventimiglia. You can get Mini fares for Pisa-Genova and Genova-Ventimiglia on trenitalia.com. There are no discount fares for Ventimiglia-Nice.

If you book Nice-Paris on tgv-europe.com, choose Great Britain as your ticket collection country to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site. You still will be able to either print the ticket yourself or pick it up at the station in Nice.

All of the advice given was incredible. I will no longer purchase a pass, and will continue to research into our point to point train travel. Thanks again.