I will arrive Milan on Decebmer 26 afternoon, and plan to take night train to Rome.

How can I make a reversation for sleeper or couchette on Night Train from Milan to Rome.

Tried Trenitalia web site, really confuse and could not let me log in, even could not find the price of sleeper or couchette. Also the English version of Trenitalia is not working.

How can I call Trenitalia from outside Italy. I could not dial their gingle national number 89.20.21 from North American.

Have you tried sites like RailEurope.com? They serve Canadian residents as well.

Note: raileurope.com is not the same and do chrage more than Trenitalia. When me and Ms. Chobby100 went over in August/September we just bought them at the Train Station. Yes, it was the high tourist time and yes a bit of a gamble - but it worked out fine everytime (venice to florence & florence to Rome & Rome to Venice)

The self service machines are great and in english

Get your reservation some time in advance of your train's departure. They close the reservations an hour or so before departure so people can board the train and know what's reserved and what's not.

For a night train on the day of your arrival in Italy, I'd recommend going ahead and paying RailEurope's reservation fee. For other reservations once you're there I'd say to wait until you're in Italy and go to the train station a day or so before your trip.

PS: Pay the extra for a sleeper. It's a nicer experience than a couchette IMO. But don't expect to sleep much either way.


[This message has been edited by pdhenry (edited Dec 19, 2003).]

Thanks for all the responses

I actually spoke to a lady who taking care of Trenitalia online issues. A very friendly operator. She told me the English version of Trenitalia is not working properly. She worked with me on the phone to go through the Italian version of Trenitalia. But it was still failed by possible technical issue - could not log in.

She told me that the national single Trenitalia ticketing number is only worked in Italia, and could not call from outside. She will call the number for me and ask the ticketing person to call me back to Canada, or I will call back on Sunday when she works again.

Also she could not find any Couchette or Sleeper train from Milano to Roma, she sugguest me to directly ask the ticketing person.

[This message has been edited by flytor (edited Dec 19, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by flytor (edited Dec 19, 2003).]

Having looked at some online pan-Europe timetable, there is actually no direct "Euro-Night" train between Milan and Rome. The trip is probably too short for those.

The last direct train runs 20:00 - 00:30; first direct train runs the next morning 5:30 - 10:30.

The only sleeper that shows up on the timetable is a 2-stopper, and you only get sleeper between Genova and Grosseto, for 3.5 hours, and you have to wait for another slow train for 2 hours, etc...

So, no sleeper between Milan and Rome.

BTW, the best online timetable for all of Europe is the Swiss Federal Railway's website: http://www.sbb.ch/index_e.htm

Check for Milano to Roma.

[This message has been edited by rkkwan (edited Dec 19, 2003).]

Hello,



I checked all possiblities for you on December 26th. There are no trains with sleeping cars available (Xmas). The only way would be a night train from Switzerland, but there are no available beds.

Your only chance is the ES, at 8 PM arriving at 00�30 AM. The best is to make a reservation as soon as you are at the airport in Milano but don�t count on getting a seat. Very crowded this time of year.

I am in Switzerland and can enquire for you if you wish.



Have a nice holiday.

You might try:

http://www.ricksteves.com/home.htm

This is the website run by Rick Steeves who does the European travel shows on PBS. I haven't used him lately but a few years ago I called and they were very helpful on booking a complex train trip for me. At that time, I think they sold more Europasses than anyone else, and they had people who really knew the Euro train set-up.

I'm pretty sure the Rcik Steves site is associated with raileurope.com. They are always sponsering his shows and advertise on his web site. They are more expensive than buying directly, but then again, there is that peace of mind.

All of these postings are wild guessing. In fact there are sleepers between Milan and Rome every night (it's not too short a distance for sleepers). The 22:35 and 23:20 trains from Milan offer sleepers to southern Italy, stopping in Rome at 6:10 and 7:15, respectively. According to "Cook's European Timetables" these trains should run on Dec. 26, but according to the German railway website, there are no sleepers between Milan and Rome on Dec. 26. This is strange, but it may be because of the Christmas holiday (Dec. 26 is generally a holiday in Europe).

That's correct. There are indeed sleepers. It's just that they don't show up when I punch in 12/24.

Turns out these do not run 12/24-26; 12/31, 1/1.

On what facts do you base you're being pretty certain that buying through Rick Steeves is more expensive? I ask because many trains in Europe cost the same whether you buy through a travel agency or directly from the railroad. You seem to have better information-please share.



[This message has been edited by Mountain Trader (edited Dec 21, 2003).]

Also a good all-Europe site is the German site, www.diebahn.de

There is English functionality there; the site isn't terribly user friendly, but one can manage through it.

I base this on:
1) my August to September 2003 trip to Itlay that I took when I compared raileurope's prices
2) A cursory look at Rick Steves site when ordering rail passes says powered by raileurope and they have a sponsership spot at the end of his shows
3) I learned from other flyertalkers before going there - see: http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/000327.html