Hello,
I need your advice on the following matter.
I will be in Italy from 5 to 11th of may.
What is the cheapest and best website to buy train tickets from Rome to Venice And Venice to Bologna? Any suggestions cause the prices really vary from one site to another.
And what about the Roma Pass for 72 hrs is it money saving considering it includes 2 museums/ archaeological sites in addition to the transportation?
Thank You :)
Best site is the official one...Trenitalia.
Most of the others,esp. those in English,are middle men who charge a marked-up price for your tickets.
Of course there are other options,,buses can be cheaper,or if you had time you could use local trains (which don't need to be booked in advance)..but your timeframe is not so long.
On the Rome Pass...I guess it depends what you want to see exactly.
I have never bought one.Its not worth it for me.Maybe if you want to go very fast from tourist 'sight' to tourist 'sight' it might save you a bit of money.
Transport in Rome is easy..inexpensive,and you can walk to a lot of places,You won't need a pass for that.
One other option for trains? Take a look at Italo.
This is a private rail service - NOT a 3rd party - that serves the larger cities and often offers some competitive rates to Trenitalia. They serve all three cities on your list.
We haven't used the Roma Pass as we end up using public transport in Rome very little - it's a fun city to just walk - and it's just as easy to purchase a couple of single-ride BIT tickets for when we might want them. Buy them at newsstands, tabacchi, or at the stations. Tickets must be validated before getting on any sort of transport, and you need to keep them until you've completed your journey.
The Roma Pass doesn't cover entry at the Vatican Museums; you'll want to pre-order tickets from their website to avoid very long ticket lines.
http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html
Entry tickets (if you decided agains the pass) for Colosseum, Forum and Palatine (one ticket covers all three) can be ordered here. Ticket lines for the Colosseum are normally very, very long so buying in advance is advised:
http://www.coopculture.it/en/the-colosseum.cfm
You could also just wait and purchase your combo ticket at the Forum or Palatine where lines are shorter.
I was just looking at Euro rail prices for this same route. I saw however that the train ride was well over 5 hours! I wondered if there was a high speed rail that go there sooner. From Rome to Venice.
First, please don't look at anything called "Eurorail" or "RailEurope" or "Eurail" or other 3rd-party bookers. You want Trenitalia or Italo.
Picking a random date, Trenitalia shows trains from Roma Termini to Venezia S. Lucia in 3 hours, 45 minutes or slightly more.
Italo shows trains taking the same amount of time: 3 hours, 45 minutes.
Why look at Eurorail? Italo and trenitalia operate the trains and will give you the best prices. The high speed trains take around 4 hours or a bit more from Rome to Venice.