Train pass in italy vs point to point tickets?

Question

I plan to rent a room in Florence for 1 month to use as my 'homebase' while visiting the various cities of interest. I plan to see Rome, Venice, Bologna, Pisa/Tuscany, and sightseeing others in general. I am on a budget, and plan to just walk around Florence. I would only use the train on days I travel to other cities. So, I was wondering if a 10-day Italy pass for $325(youth) is a good option (used for further cities), and then buying some point to point tickets for short trips would be a good option.

Answer 1

If you're planning on going to a lot of other places on top of Rome, Venice, Bologna and Pisa, then do buy a pass. Otherwise it's really not worth it.

Look at this to get an idea (the price is a return ticket):

Florence-Rome (IC, 2nd class): 55 euros

Florence-Bologna (IC, 2nd class): 19 euros

Florence- Venezia (IC, 2nd class): 47 euros

Florence-Pisa (IR, 2nd class): 10,80 euros

Therefore the total amount would be around 130 euros, versus the 235 euros of the pass price. You would be paying over 100 euros extra for nothing!

The prices shown on the website are exactly the same as the ones in ticket offices. The 60$ fare to Rome is a Eurostar train fare (the best and fastest trains in Italy, therefore more expensive). Bare in mind that if you'll buy a pass you'll have to pay an extra charge to hop on to any Eurostar.

Answer 2

$325 for a rail pass for Italy sounds like a mighty rip-off!

Answer 3

In general, you're probably better off buying point-to-point tickets when you want to travel unless you're doing a lot of long distance trips. With the pass, you would still have to pay an additional supplement for all Eurostar, some intercity, and the night trains here in Italy. If you go to the How the Pass Works page on the Eurail website and read the Seat Reservations and Overnight Travel information it tells you about the supplement, but not how much it will be. This will generally be under 10 euro per train and often under 5 euro.

You can check the current prices for point to point tickets at the Italian train website: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html