Hi everyone. I will be traveling to Rome, Florence, and Venice in Sept. '08 and am trying to decide the cheapest way to use the trains.

I have already looked at the saver/flexi passes that are available and figured out since I will only be using the trains 3 times, it would be cheaper not to use the pass. However, I heard from someone that is cheaper to buy train tickets in Italy rather than buying them ahead of time from their website. Has anyone found this to be true? If so are there ticket machines or do I have to go to a ticket counter? I am trying to learn some Italian, however, it will be limited... has anyone ever had difficulty trying to find someone at the train station that can speak english? Thanks!

Hi Shel,

Welcome to Slow Travel Talk! Have you checked out, Train Travel in Italy in our Frequently Asked Questions forum?

From there, you'll find a link to an article written by Alice Twain on traveling by trains in Italy along with a bunch of other previous discussions that should answer your questions.

Enjoy your travels.

I second the motion that the it's easy to buy tickets here, and the exact answers to your specific questions can be found in the sections Kim points out.

Buon viaggio!

I am confused. seems the best idea is Eurailpass and then by eurostar seats if you want the high speed trains reserved seats. That way you are set for specific trains and can use pass for regional trains otherwise. i just bought these and they were cheaper than buying in florence. there are people in the Trentalia office who speak engligh and rarely the conductor will. if you buy eurail you only need to validate it the first day of travel. if you decide to choose specific travel times later (when you arrive) then you purchase the seat any time before at the station (about 8 or 10EU i think right now) and you can get that at a kiosk at the station but leave enough time before the train to stand in line to get the seat and remember the Eurostar seats can and DO sell out and make that timed train unavailable for you.

You can search Slow travel previous threads for more data about Eurail passes. What I remember is that most people felt that it was cheaper to buy point to point tickets once you got to Italy once you got there.

There have also been previous discussions about the train selling out. While this does happen on holiday weekends, this doesn't happen too often.

Personally I have never spoken to the conductor. I bought my ticket at a self-serve kiok/machine. it has an Englsih setting and takes credit cards. I just handed my ticket to the conducter when he came by.

Don't use your Eurail passes in Italy. It works out more expensive.

We bought point to point in Italy and saved our passes for other European countries.

Elly

I'll have to remember to post here when I get back from my trip at the end of the month. We're going Venice to Verona to Bologna, then car to Tuscany, return in Orvieto, and train to Rome. We're planning on getting train tickets as we need them, and these trips aren't that far, so we're not as concerned about the type of seat we get.

Go to the rail website: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

It isn't too hard to use. Put in your to and from and see what the fares come out to. Then check that against the eurail pass cost. I think you'll find Italy fares are pretty low.

If the fares are close, then you might want to get the pass. The big benefit of a eurail pass is the convenience of getting on any train when you want, and then you can get on and off whenever you like. That convenience is worth something.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Gros:
The big benefit of a eurail pass is the convenience of getting on any train when you want, and then you can get on and off whenever you like. That convenience is worth something.

Many trains will require reservations, so that negates the ease of use. The ones that don't will cost a fraction of a train pass day.

Within Italy, passes rarely, if ever, save you time or money.