klemen_m
Traveller
36 comments
Posted 9 years ago
Hi guys!
Me and my girlfriend want to travel Italy this summer and were wondering if it will be cheaper to buy an InterRail ticket (3 or 4 travel days in a month) or regular point-to-point tickets.
We do not know when exactly we will be traveling but it will be eirher between 10 July and 10 August or after 10 September. We are looking for the cheapest train tickets and not necessarily the fastest ones.
For now we said we will be visiting this 3 cities: Florence, Rome, Naples. We will also be taking several day trips from Florence and Naples (Pisa, San Gimignano, Vesuvius, Pompeii) but will be staying in the bigger cities mentioned above.
Let me also mention that we are from Ormož and will be starting our travels from there. Best way to get to Italy by train is from Ormoz to Nova Gorica and then from Gorizia to Venice for example, right?
I would also like to know where to get the best prices for train tickets between bigger cities as Trenitalia says Florence to Rome cost 75€ which is a lot, but I think I was looking for a date just a few days from now. And earlier you buy your long distance tickets the cheaper they are right?
Thank you for all the answers in advance guys!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
IMO you will be better off using regular tickets, even though the Interrail One Country Pass Italy ( [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-pass-italy[/u] ) has been put in a cheaper price category this year (where it has been until a few years ago; obviously the higher price affected sales...).
Day trips from Florence to Pisa and San Gimignano will be by regional trains which are really cheap in Italy. Firenze - Pisa is 8€ one way for instance.
To get to Vesuv and Pompei you probably will travel with Circumvesuviana where Interrail is not valid anyway.
Rome - Napoli with the regional train is just 11,80€ and 26€ on the Intercity.
However, on longer distances IR can be good value, so a 4day pass to cover Gorizia - Firenze, Firenze - Roma, Roma - Napoli and Napoli - Gorizia can make sense. Then I would also invest 10€ for a high speed train at least for Napoli - Venezia.
Another option to get into Italy would be to go to Sezana - Villa Opicina, then by tramway to Trieste and by train to Venezia. I would travel one way via Trieste, the other via Gorizia. Both are nice places, at least for a quick coffee in the old town. :)
You could also buy advance tickets for the longer trips from Italo at [ux]https://rail.shop/italo[/ux]
klemen_m
Traveller
36 comments
Thank you very much for such a fast answer!
I looked up this routes and prices on Italotrento (but can't get rates for dates from 2nd half of June onward. Why is that?):
- Venezia - Firenze 18€
- Firenze - Roma 18€
- Roma - Napoli 18€
- Napoli - Venezia 45€
--------------------------------------
99€
Those are all high-speed trains right? So if we buy tickets for regional trains (at the station itself, on the day of our journey) it should be cheaper right? And if we take those same trains with InterRail ticket we will need to pay a supplement for each of this trains, right? So this obviously wouldn't make any sense...
My question now would be if it will be cheaper to buy InterRail Italy 4 (108€) and use trains that require no supplement or to buy regular point-to-point tickets (same deal, no trains with supplements)?
But then again 18€ for Firenze - Roma doesn't seem that pricey (what would be an approximate price for this route for a regional train for example?).
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Timetable change in mid june - thats why you cant look up trains after that date.
Italo trains are privately run high speed trains. Interrail is not valid. They have three different price levels, Flex, Economy and Low Cost with different availability and refund/exchange conditions. Usually prices are cheaper in advance but sometimes cheap fares are also available at short notice - this is hard to predict.
I cant calculate the exact amount for such long trips as Venice - Roma on regional train fares (with regional trains operated by Trenitalia, Interrail valid) but this should result in not more than 41,80€ (added fares for Venice - Bologna - Firenze - Roma).
Look up fares for Trenitalia high speed trains on the Trenitalia website; high speed trains (Frecciarossa, Frecciabianca and Frecciargento) require a 10€ reservation when travelling with Interrail. Again, same deal: The earlier you book the cheaper the fares are (in general) and there are three types of fares: Base, Economy and Super Economy.
If you book in advance and get Super Economy or Low Cost fares you it will be probably cheaper than Interrail plus reservations.
klemen_m
Traveller
36 comments
Thank you one more time flo!
I have only one question left now: when will I be able to book trains on Trenitalia and Italo for dates in July/August/September?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
No problem.
There is no fixed date, trains will be updated one after another, usually a few weeks before - you have to try from time to time if they are already available.
BTW I did a similar trip last year; we booked Milano - La Spezia beforehand from Trenitalia; then La Spezia - Cinque Terre - Siena - Perugia - Assisi - Roma with regional trains bought locally and finally Roma - Milano with pre booked Italo. Total cost ~100€ including 1st class trips on the Milano - La Spezia IC and Roma - Milano Italo. :)
klemen_m
Traveller
36 comments
OK! I will be checking from time to time then!
Wow, that sounds like an amazing deal! Hope we get something similar (price-wise)! :)