I'm planning on travelling To Rome from Venice via Eurostar train. What do all the different fares mean?

Question

I went to the trenitalia.com website, where I'm supposed to buy my ticket to get from Venice to Rome next May, but there are a bunch of different fare options, such as "standard" or "Flexi" or about twenty other options. Does anyone know what these mean, and what the best type to get is for travelling with luggage from Venice to Rome in May?

Answer 1

I bought my tickets on     www.raileurope.com  

it was a lot easier then using the trenitalia website because it was confusing and kept crashing, even when I called their office it wouldn't accept my phone call because it was international. I found raileurope doing a search and it was easy to use.  I needed train tickets from Rome to Naples, then Naples to Florence, then Florence to Venice. It was cheaper to buy individual tickets then using a rail pass.  Our seats were assigned, we paid a little more for 1st class it was our honeymoon, but not too expensive for nicer seats.  I was soooo much less frustrated when I did it that way.  Good luck!

Answer 2

The fares are explained (in English) at: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/promozioni_...

The standard fare is the basic ticket price. The flexi fare costs more but allows you to make free changes to a reservation if your plans change. This only applies to the faster, more expensive trains. The regional trains don't require or accept reservations.

The other fares are various discount plans - you have to qualify for the fare and buy an id card that may have to be presented with the ticket.

You don't really need to book a ticket far in advance for a ticket from Venice to Rome. You should be able to get tickets a day or two in advance except during Easter, especially if you're travelling during a weekday. For travel from Venice to Rome a Eurostar will be the fastest, most comfortable option.

Answer 3

Hello,

Usually the only fare you will qualify for (unless an Italian citizen) will be the standard fare.  If you look next to the "choose your rate"  box you will see a blue sign  that says tariffs information.  You can click on it to see what the different fares are.  Most of the time you will need a "cartaviaggio" card to get the discounts offered.  

If you are looking to purchase your tickets you will have to wait until about 2 months ahead of time.  They don't release the schedule that far in advance so just view the fares to get an idea of the cost involved but understand that you won't be able to purchase them yet.  When you view the fares, use the dates for this month or next month but make sure you use the same day (monday, tuesday, etc..) in order to get a more accurate fare idea.