On Thu, 10 May 2007, poldy wrote:
> Is there a way to look up round-trip fares or is it segment to segment
> only?
>
> BTW, what are "one-way" and "round-trip" in Italian?
Not sure what you mean by round trip ... going from A to B via C and
returning from B to A via D (*another* route) ?
"one way" (single) is "andata" or "solo andata" ; "return" is "andata e
ritorno" (on the same route), and costs twice the single. With the
current fare system I am not aware of any "round trip" or "circular"
ticket.
In the past, with the progressive fare system (the more km you travelled
the less the cost per km) it could have been convenient to make a
circular ticket ACBDA as described above ... nowadays the fare system
is a mess ...
... there are standard fare trains (mainly inter-regional)
... there are regional fare trains with each region having its own
fare (local, regional and inter-regional trains used inside a region)
... there are non-compulsory reservation trains with a surcharge fare
now handled as global price (IC)
... there are compulsory reservation IC (ICplus) with another global
price (one euro more)
... there are the fast Eurostar (ES), compulsory reservation and higher
global price trains, and maybe some special variants (I suppose they
have suppressed the low-cost TrenoOK, but there should be the higher
cost Tbiz, and the ES/AV costs a little more
This essentially means that when you ask for a ticket from A to B
(unless travelling only with interregional or lower), you'd have to
specify the train(s) you'd intend to take, and you will receive a bunch
of tickets for the various stretches, with separate fares !
> Do fares vary by time of day or day of week, high or low season?
Not normally, although there maybe "offers" or other arrangements. For
instance local tickets in Ligury over the weekend have a different fare,
local tickets on FNM LeNord near Milano on holidays have a lower fare.
Trenitalia sometimes makes deal fares with lower prices, to be booked in
advance or "until supply exhausted". Note however that they may be
subject to restrictions in refund and reservation changes ... while with
the standard fare you can change reservation for free until departure.
> Is there any advantage in booking in advance (looks like they let you
No money advantage unless you want to use one of the special limited
offers. Only advantage maybe in securing a seat during peak hours
(otherwise as Barbara said, it is not a problem), and avoiding queues at
the last moment.
Nowadays I usually book the day before, from a station near where I work
(Lambrate, guess what :-) ), even if I depart from another station. In
the past for business I used to book at a travel agent which delivered
the ticket to our office.
Anyhow you can book usually at any travel agent without surcharges (it
used to be like that, although I've seen some limitations ... in Ligury
small travel agents cannot issue reservations but only local tickets, in
Cervia the ticket office at the station has been franchised to a travel
agent, and they apply a surcharge for CHANGES of reservation).
> Do they take American Express for ticket purchases?
No idea at main stations, probably not. Surely not at minor stations.
Most likely yes at major travel agents (in main stations there are often
also a couple of them).
> Do you need to validate the ticket before boarding?
For tickets with no reservation attached yes, stamping at the yellow
machines, or, if faulty, applying to the conductor asap.
Tickets with reservation for a specific train do not require stamping,
as they expire if unused and not reclaimed soon.
> Are there any bus or train tours from Venice to surrounding cities like
> Verona, Padua, Dolomites?
No idea.
> What is the best way to get to the train station at Mestre? Vaporetto
> to Piazzle Roma and then bus? Which number bus?
To get to Mestre from where ? From Venice ? The best way is by train
from Venezia Santa Lucia station !!!
> Trenitalia lists 3 stations in Verona? How far apart are they?
Do not know, but maybe google maps or google earth can help you.
Anyhow fast trains call at Porta Nuova ("newgate"), which is just
outside the walls of the old city. I suppose that Porta Vescovo
("bishopsgate") is similarly located, because of the name. What is the
third ?
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