Rome to Florence?

[MadCommuter]

Me and the wife are in Rome for a few days in Sep and are thinking of a day trip to Florence. I thought I would be able to get some good online info regarding fares, but I'm really struggling, so I would appreciate some advice if possible.

The likely day of travel is Thursday 27th Sep, departing around 9/10ish in the morning and then leaving Florence in the evening (say around 8/9 ish). We are in our 30s, so doubt we can get any railcards, etc.

I don't mind booking in advance if there is a good saving to be mind, but I would prefer to leave it flexible and buy tickets on the day. I suppose this is really what I'm looking for a bit of clarification on.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sonic2009]

Here's a guide about travelling around Italy via train from the man at seat 61 http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm#.UDkNIcGPWNs
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I'm not 100% sure on European travel but from looking at raileurope.com the price for 2 adults return is £158.

 

[radamfi]

Definitely follow the instructions at Seat 61. Get the tickets online from Trenitalia

www.trenitalia.com

if you want to book in advance to get the lowest fares. The website is easy to use and you can travel just with the booking reference, no need for paper tickets. You can also use this website to check for the full price fares which you can get easily from the self service ticket machines in the stations. It can be seen that the base single is €43. Italian high speed trains are compulsory reservation.

There is also a new competing high speed train service, NTV.

http://www.italotreno.it/IT/Pagine/default.aspx

 

[MadCommuter]

Thanks for the info. I have clicked through to trenitalia.com and got prices up which show a fare of 43 euro per person, but it seems this is the price for each way. Once I have selected that fare for both legs, I then get to another page which shows 3 fares, Base (43 euro), Economy (29 euro) and Super Economy (19 euro). So is it now 19euro each way? I'm confused!

 

[radamfi]

Thanks for the info. I have clicked through to trenitalia.com and got prices up which show a fare of 43 euro per person, but it seems this is the price for each way. Once I have selected that fare for both legs, I then get to another page which shows 3 fares, Base (43 euro), Economy (29 euro) and Super Economy (19 euro). So is it now 19euro each way? I'm confused!

Each direction is priced separately so you could get a Base ticket one way and a Super Economy the other. Base tickets can be exchanged or refunded, Super Economy are non-exchangeable, non-refundable.

There are also slower but cheaper Intercity trains, and even slower and even cheaper regional trains.

 

[MadCommuter]

Thank you for all the info. What was misleading me was the initial base fare which is then only 'reduced' to the Economy and Super Economy fares on a subsequent page. Just about to book at 19 euro per person, each direction.

 

[The Barlow Boy]

I've just had a wee peek on the Italian State railway's home page for the date that you mentioned.
Depart Rome 09.10 train 9464 arrive Florence 10.33
Depart Florence 19.08 train 9441 arrive Rome 20.40

Total price for two second class is 172 Euro washers. These are walk-on fares.
The distance is about the same as London Leeds. How do the walk-onfares compare?

 

[radamfi]

I've just had a wee peek on the Italian State railway's home page for the date that you mentioned.
Depart Rome 09.10 train 9464 arrive Florence 10.33
Depart Florence 19.08 train 9441 arrive Rome 20.40

Total price for two second class is 172 Euro washers. These are walk-on fares.
The distance is about the same as London Leeds. How do the walk-onfares compare?

43 euro single = £34 single, £68 return

Leeds - London is
£46.55 Super Off Peak Single (only available online)
£124.50 Anytime Single

£94.10 Super Off Peak Return
£149 Off Peak Return
£249 Anytime Return

You would get a more favourable comparison (off-peak) by comparing Manchester to London:

£74.20 Off Peak Return

Don't forget the Rome to Florence quoted fare is for a high speed train taking 90 minutes. You could also compare with the Intercity train that takes 3 hours that costs €30 single at all times.

 

[Oscar]

There are four options (fares are Second class / Standard class / Smart ambience singles):
- Trenitalia high speed train Frecciarossa / Frecciabianca over the Direttissima high speed line taking around 1 h 30. Walk up Base fare: 43 euros, Super Economy fares from 9 euros, though you're far more likely to pay 19 or 29 euros.
- Trenitalia Intercity over a mix of the Linea Lenta (classic line) and Direttissima taking around 2 h 40. Walk up Base fare: 30 euros, Super Economy fares from 9 euros.
- Trenitalia Regional service mostly over the Linea Lenta taking around 3 h 40. Single: 17 euros. You can only see and buy these fares a week in advance.
- Italo Treno taking around 1 h 30. Low Cost (i.e. Advance) 20 euros (usually available), Economy 32 euros, Base 46 euros.

You need an Italian address to use the Cartafreccia Railcard scheme and you generally need to be on benefits of some kind to use an other Railcard schemes.

If you use www.fsitaliane.it you will see the Base fare first for the high speed services (Eurostar / Le Frecce) and then the other options later, if you use www.trenitalia.it you will see all the options immediately.

Don't use Rail Europe as the only have access to very expensive walk-up fares which the Trenitalia (and Italo?) have released for sale by companies abroad.

Florence is a beautiful city and is pleasant to wander around despite the hordes of tourists and some traffic in the centre. Unless you're very keen on Renaissance art however you'll see a lot of the sights it has to offer in a day or two, though if you want to go into some of them you're likely to have to queue considerably.

 

[Greenback]

I would definitely not use Rail Europe, I always go direct to the main railway operatro for the country concerned. There are alot of negative reports about Rail Europe on other forums, mostly concernign their fares being more than walk up tickets you cna buy on the day (and that's before their booking fees and card fees are taken into account).

The fares on inter city type trains generally come in tiers such as 9 euro, 19 euro and 29 euro for the majority of journeys. Once the 9 euro fares have all gone. For some journeys it cna be cheaper to buy regional tickets on the day (or online up to 7 days in advance) for slower trains, if you ar ehappy with a longer journey.

On the whole though, it's hard to beat some of the lowest advance fares!

 

[MadCommuter]

Thanks for all the help. After a bit of faffing round to try and get 19euro fares, I managed it. 76euro for 2 return on High Speed seems pretty good to me.

In the unlikely scenario that we miss either train, I presume the best thing would be to go to the ticket office and ask for the 'email' to be authorised for the next available service, and pay a supplement?

 

[Greenback]

Yes, Id' go and get advice, but I'm sure it will be in the terms and conditions somewhere that you will have to buy a brand new ticket(if it's anything like the UK anyway!)

 

[embers25]

Just done Milan to Florence then to Rome and back and used online tickets for all. Italian rail ones you have to print but on ITALO you just get given a code and thats all you need. Italian Rail are about to begin a refurb of ther trains but their Frecciarossa trains are comfy although with poor aircon on all the ones I used. Also most seats are around tables with not great legroom. ITALO are pretty much brand new, much less busy, mainly airline and have working aircon, more legroom and friendly staff. Their service just ramped up to higher frequency too and I would definitely recommend them over Italian rail.
Words of caution are watch your departure and arrival stations as some Italian eurostars don't leave from the main Florence SM station and also the arrival point in Rome varies by train. I arrived in Ost and it is a VERY long walk to the metro from the platform and the station is very run down. Termini is huge and a short walk to the metro. Tiburtina will be the new Highspeed hub and looks nice from the train but didn't get off there so can't comment further.
One major disappointment is that the whole way from Milan to Rome the train never got above 270 and normally ran between 220 and 250.

 

[Oscar]

Yes, Id' go and get advice, but I'm sure it will be in the terms and conditions somewhere that you will have to buy a brand new ticket(if it's anything like the UK anyway!)

If I remember rightly, you only have to pay an upgrade to the Base fare but I'll check this tomorrow.

 

[MadCommuter]

We made the journey to Florence last Thursday and all went well, apart from stupid me booking the outward to Firenze Campo di Marto which meant a walk to the city centre oops! Thankfully I noticed the mistake before setting off.

All went well with ticketing and the train on the return had screens showing the speed, which hit 250kmh. I don't want to go OT, but we seriously need more of this in the UK.

Thanks for all the help with arranging the trip.