Italy - Trains on Christmas

Hi,

1) I am planning to take the EuroStar-Italy between Florence and Rome
on Dec 25th 2003. Does some know if the trains will be running on
Christmas day?

2) Also, where can I book the tickets from.

Thanks in advance,
Abhinav

Abh Khush wrote:

1) I am planning to take the EuroStar-Italy between Florence and Rome
on Dec 25th 2003. Does some know if the trains will be running on
Christmas day?

Trains will be running but the frequency of service will be severely
reduced (say, a train every three hours instead of every hour). You
should check the timetable on the Italian railways website, better after
Dec. 13th when schedules change (at present, the website shows only very
few trains, but when the new schedule will be decided they will be
more).

--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail:

On 4 Nov 2003 22:04:24 -0800 Abh Khush said...

2) Also, where can I book the tickets from.

You could try ordering on-line from the Trenitalia website:

www.trenitalia.com

As Lucca says, timetables are only available up to 13 December at
present. I suspect the same would apply for booking though the agreement
in Europe is to release train seats for sale at least two months in
advance. You can get an idea of the present timetable and prices.

Reports here in the past say the Trenitalia site is pretty much near
useless unless you live in Italy and are tax registered there since you
have effectively got to enrol to use the booking part of the site. Other
than using an agency or distributor outside of Italy at much higher
prices, your other option would be to wait until you arrive there and
book at the first available opportunity.

--
Phil Richards
London

This web site does not seem to work, at least in English. Is there a
way around it?

I saw that I can book the trains on www.lonelyplanet.com. But, unlike
what you say that no reservations can be made until Dec 13th,
lonelyplanet.com allows to reserve for Dec 25th. Could there be
something wrong on their web site? Has anybody used lonelyplanet.com
to book train tickets?

Thanks,
Abhinav

Phil Richards wrote in message . ..
On 4 Nov 2003 22:04:24 -0800 Abh Khush said...

2) Also, where can I book the tickets from.

You could try ordering on-line from the Trenitalia website:

www.trenitalia.com

As Lucca says, timetables are only available up to 13 December at
present. I suspect the same would apply for booking though the agreement
in Europe is to release train seats for sale at least two months in
advance. You can get an idea of the present timetable and prices.

Reports here in the past say the Trenitalia site is pretty much near
useless unless you live in Italy and are tax registered there since you
have effectively got to enrol to use the booking part of the site. Other
than using an agency or distributor outside of Italy at much higher
prices, your other option would be to wait until you arrive there and
book at the first available opportunity.

Abh Khush wrote:

This web site does not seem to work, at least in English. Is there a
way around it?

I think they're having some sort of problem in recent days.

I saw that I can book the trains on www.lonelyplanet.com. But, unlike
what you say that no reservations can be made until Dec 13th,
lonelyplanet.com allows to reserve for Dec 25th. Could there be
something wrong on their web site? Has anybody used lonelyplanet.com
to book train tickets?

No, but if you tell us the price of a ticket, say from Rome to Florence,
and on what type of train, someone here can tell you if the prices are
reasonable.

When are you arriving in Italy? Usually, you can book trains up to the
last minute, and many trains don't require reservations anyway.

Barbara