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timefly
Traveller
3 comments

Posted 12 years ago

Hi!

Me and my brother will be staying in Milan for 5 nights in May because we got a cheap flight+hotel deal, but we'd really like to use Milan as a base to travel to other places. The plan is to take 3 of the days and get early morning and late night trains to and from Pisa, the Cinque Terre, Lake Garda, Venice, or Rome, (we haven't decided which), just to get a taste of as many places as possible.

Would anyone be able to advise whether it would make more sense/be cheaper to get 3 day InterRail passes for Italy or to just buy individual tickets for these trains? I've tried to look up trains, but I've found huge differences in prices on different sites...

Any help would be appreciated! :D

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Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 12 years ago

Hi,

if you are going in May you might still get cheap advance fare tickets from Trenitalia which would be cheaper as a InterRail One Country pass plus reservations.
Have a look at their website (trenitalia.com) to check for prices.

Just out of curiosity, on which sites have you previuosly been checking prices?


Flo 8)

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timefly
Traveller
3 comments

replied 12 years ago

Thanks! I had checked trenitalia.com and raileur*pe, but a lot of the journeys I was looking for weren't available on raileur*pe, or if they were they were more expensive. I wasn't sure if trenitalia was the standard site for booking tickets or if there was an even cheaper one. But I'll check it now and see what the prices look like for May.

Thanks again for your help!

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Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 12 years ago

Hi,

trenitalia.com is the official website of the Italian Railways (Trenitalia). You wont get cheaper prices than there on Rail Eur*pe...


Flo 8)

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timefly
Traveller
3 comments

replied 12 years ago

Thanks again!

Are the trains on Rail Europe a different rail service? Just looking up for example the earliest train from Milan to Rome on 22nd May and Trenitalia's earliest is 09.30, whereas Rail Europe's is 06.00. Although Rail Europe is more expensive, the earliest trains possible would suit us to get the most out of each place we go to. Would we be able to book reservations for those early trains at the station with an InterRail pass?

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Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

replied 12 years ago

Italian schedules:
The schedules on Trenitalia are definitely the correct ones! As they are from the source.
Maybe you used the standard values which says 9 at the field hours. There are a lot of earlier trains.
I recommend to use the ticket machines available in Italian train stations - or book it online at Trenitalia and pick up the reservation at such a ticket machine - very easy (also other delivery/payment solutions available)!
To book Interrail reservations, do it like mentioned here for this type of train: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/frecciargento/49[/u]

Milan to Rome is also possible by free trains (much slower, but free) - for example on the 22nd May:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/-to-[/u]

Peter :)

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Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 12 years ago

Hi,

no Rail Eur*pe is not a different rail service.

Trenitalia shows all available connections, trains leaving Milano at 0550, 0600, 0620, 0645, 0700,... Best price shown for the 0600 departure at Trenitalia: 49€ at Rail Eur*pe: 83,50 GBP :!:

You can of course book all trains in Italy run by Trenitalia at the station; you can even do so at one of the numerous ticket machines; price for a reservation in an AV or ES City train is 10€.
Do the calculations yourself, whether you will be better of with a One Country Pass plus reservations (where needed) or with regular tickets.


Flo 8)

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timefly
Traveller
3 comments

replied 12 years ago

Hi,

Thank you both for your help, that makes things a lot clearer! I think we are going to go for a One Country Pass and will definitely consider getting the reservations from railcc! :)

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Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 12 years ago

Thanks - you can also get the One Country Pass via our partner link [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] , if you want to support our work and all this free help we offer. :)

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nltrainer
Traveller
1405 comments

replied 12 years ago

about the price above is allright.
BUT: most of those trips simply cannot be sensibly be made in 1 day out+back-and do you really want to stay in Milano (a VERY expensive city for Italiano) to come back by midnight and leave next day by 6.00? ONLY that hi-speed line to -FirenzeRomaNapoli makes it worthwhile, most other trips (like Pisam or 5terre) mean sitting a whole day in treni-and those treni are also a lot worse as the superfast).
Adapt plans-vary sleepingspot or choose shorter by destinations-dont simply dumbly open some guidebook. the area around Milano has 1000s of wonderful spots-and they also do a 3 day local pass for Lombardia regione for just 25 or 30 eur (incl ALL local trasporti too)