Originally Posted by
McScruffy
I had a question about using the trains in Italy that I hope someone can answer.
My wife and I are going to Italy next month and are debating if we should get a Eurail pass and book reservations for the trains or simply purchase the individual tickets? I'm trying to cost it out and it looks like the Eurail pass might be the way to go. Plus Eurail is offering 20% off on the Italy passes right now.
Here are the places we would use the trains:
Rome to Naples (Going to Sorrento) o/w
Naples to Florence o/w
Florence to Pisa r/t
Florence to Siena r/t
Florence to Venice o/w
I would greatly appreciate any input.
Thanks!
Those look like short trips and it is rare to have a pass in Italy be worth it as you have to pay for seat reservations and train supplements. Florence to Pisa and Siena are short trips and cost about 6 Euros and can be done on a Regionale with no reservation - just buy the tickets at the machine or ticket booth and stamp them. Look at Trenitalia.com. The others are intermediate. You can use IC or Eurostar Rome/Naples/Florence and book at the stations a day ahead and look for discounts. Florence-Venice ranges from 19 to 35 Euros. Naples/Florence is the most expensive, from 39 to 76 Euros, but none is worth the price of a rail pass. I notice the lowest prices were not showing up on the English version of trenitalia.com but they were on the version in Italian. Just use Roma, Napoli, Firenze, Venezia in the Italian version.