Italy Trains...

Ziggy_Stardust

Hi guys, i've been doing a bit of research into the trains in italy at the moment and there is a lot of very confusing / contradicting stuff on the web so i'm hoping you boardsies might be able to help me out.

Basically i'm off to Italy with the missus in june for 2 weeks. We managed to get a cheap return flight with ryanair to rome. We want to spend a few days in rome then head to florence then venice and then spend a few days down south near lamezia as a friend has an apartment down there.

We're going to get trains everywhere but i'm not sure what kind of ticket to buy, Would an interrail ticket be the best option or would it be cheaper to get single tickets as we need them? Would it be better to buy a ticket online direct or use a company like usit for an iterrail ticket?
It seems there are so many different types of train in italy and you need a different ticket for each type that i'm wondering would an interrail ticket work on all trains?

I'm pretty confused at the min and it would be helpful to talk to someone who as traveled Italy before.

Also and tips or recommendations anyone has on what to see and where to go would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

babaduck

Visit www.seat61.com - a brilliant site for rail travel

pancakes101

hiya im just back from italy, dont know much about the inter rail tickets etc, but i do know that the prices vary depending on the time of day and the type of train you're getting, the fast speed trains tend to be more expensive but much quicker, for example our tickets to venice cost about 60e return for a 1 hr 20 min journey but we could have gotten tickets for abt 18e return for abt an 1 hr longer on the train but they were onlly running once or twice a day, check out trenitalia.com its the official train website and you can check out timetables and prices and book tickets, btw highly recommend a visit to venice beautiful city

kaki

Hi, living in Italy (Turin) and have travelled a lot with Trenitalia.

The interrail ticket covers all of the noraml trains - the exception is the FrecciaRossa (the superfast train) where you have to pay a 10euro (per person) supplement for each reservation. Also, if you travel by night sometimes you must book either a seat or a couchette (sleeping compartment), so this isn't covered by the interrail card either.

In general, the train system is great here - mostly on time, regular, fairly reasonably priced. I'd advise though that if you're travelling during the height of the holiday period to book in advance, as a few months ago Trenitalia made heavy cuts to their timetables, and any of the interregional trains I've been on have been packed to the point of being overbooked (especially the North-South line e.g. Bari-Bolgona, Roma-Milano). Booked in advance can get you the "Meno 30" and "Meno15" offers that take 30%/15% off the price of the ticket.

Re: interrail pass Versus Individual tickets, I dunno which would be cheaper - the price of trains varies wildly depending on the time of day, how busy it is, whether you take the Frecciarossa or not, how far in advance you book. I imagine buying individual tickets though, looking at the prices of the interrail passes.

I'd try and book direct through Trenitalia as well (even though they have possibly the stupidest website in existence) - Italians have (stupid generalisation borne of my own experience) a propensity for trying to wriggle out of responsibilty, so at least if there was any screwup with tickets, they are directly accountable, rather than the agency you booked with. :pac:

Ziggy_Stardust

Thanks for the replys guys, very helpfull. That site is very helpful thanks babaduck.

pancakes101 wrote: »

hiya im just back from italy, dont know much about the inter rail tickets etc, but i do know that the prices vary depending on the time of day and the type of train you're getting, the fast speed trains tend to be more expensive but much quicker, for example our tickets to venice cost about 60e return for a 1 hr 20 min journey but we could have gotten tickets for abt 18e return for abt an 1 hr longer on the train but they were onlly running once or twice a day, check out trenitalia.com its the official train website and you can check out timetables and prices and book tickets, btw highly recommend a visit to venice beautiful city

How was your trip? Venice is definetly on the list have always wanted to see it, and recommendations on where to stay?


Great advice Kaki thanks, I think i have this worked out now. The way i see it at the min is that we'll have 4 days where we'll have to travel by train (maybe 5 if i can fit in another), from what i can tell on interrail.ie is that it will cost €134 plus reservation fees for unlimited train travel in italy for any 4 days in a month with an interrail ticket is this right?

And from using trenitalia.com i've worked out that if we booked all the train journeys individually it'll cost approx €210. So its looking like the interrail ticket will be the best option unless i'm missing some hidden charges using the tickets.

kaki

I think the price is 139euros for the 4day pass (could be wrong, maybe looking at a different site) plus any extra reservation fees. And yep, sounds like it's cheaper (the only thing is that they don't do 5day passes, the next up is a 6 day pass, so maybe you can just buy regular tickets on one of the days).

The only other thing I'd advise would be again to book in advance. You might get lucky and be the only 2 on travelling on the days you choose to travel...but better safe than sorry (especially given the pretty high likelihood of a fully booked interregional train in July/August).

Hope this helps Ziggy, have a great trip!

Ziggy_Stardust

kaki wrote: »

I think the price is 139euros for the 4day pass (could be wrong, maybe looking at a different site) plus any extra reservation fees. And yep, sounds like it's cheaper (the only thing is that they don't do 5day passes, the next up is a 6 day pass, so maybe you can just buy regular tickets on one of the days).

The only other thing I'd advise would be again to book in advance. You might get lucky and be the only 2 on travelling on the days you choose to travel...but better safe than sorry (especially given the pretty high likelihood of a fully booked interregional train in July/August).

Hope this helps Ziggy, have a great trip!

Many thanks Kaki!