Hi Everyone
I am planning a trip to Italy (and Western Europe) this December and need help understanding the way it all works - particulary for Italy.
Originally I was going to get a Eurail Select Pass to cover all of my rail travel in Europe, including several domestic Italy trips, e.g. Rome-Naples, Rome-Venice. When I just started to look at timetables for these domestic trips (e.g. Rome-Naples 21st Dec) on Trenitalia.com it tells me there are NO available trains. When I use a secondary Australian website www.raileurope.com.au I can find available trains, but if I check the "I have a railpass" box then these trains disappear. What is going on?!?
Firstly, why can't I find trains on Trenitalia, and secondly, why can't I use a railpass on them?
How do I fix this? Any advice appreciated!
Reply to this Hello Shannon 😊
I think all the trains are not available to those with train passes. I remember when I had a Eurail pass(a long time ago) it did not cover the fast trains.
Mel
Reply to this Thanks Mel, I had thought that might be the case. For this reason I think it might be easier to get point-to-point tickets, and just use the Eurail pass for the rest of Europe. This means that we can get a much cheaper Eurail pass and gives a bit more flexibilty. We are travelling all around Christmas/NY's and I was worried about availablility but from reading a few things it sounds that a reservation a few days before will still be OK.
I've had a bit more of a look at the timetables, for some reason the Trenitalia will not show any timetables for Rome-Naples from the 13th Dec onwards, but it will show timetables for other routes. I was getting so frustrated, thinking I must be spelling the stations wrong or something but no, it looks like it's just Trenitalia's dodgy website!
Any more tips/ideas welcome!
Reply to this Well, when I was travelling around with my Eurail I never had trouble getting a train. I used to just go to the train station and take the next one going. I never reserved them.
But I kinda wonder if train passes are really an economical option. They seem pretty expensive these days. I usually just buy my train tickets these days when there are special offers. But those need to be bought in advance and I am not sure you can buy them from outside Europe on the train company websites?? Night trains often have the best special offers if there are any long journeys you will be making.
Reply to this Take a look at this website:
It has a link in the left side for rail passes. Reply to this For some trains informations, see german railway website: http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml. On all European Union rail station, you have choice to make reservation and buy ticket for any train destination. ( When i make Euro Tour with Train, i buy ticket reservation on TGV THALYS Geneve-Paris and TGV LYRIA Paris- Cologne , from Zurich SBB Rail Station - Switzerland ).
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