Amazing Deal! 9 Euros+ Fares On Trains Between Cities Anywhere In Italy
From Mama Margaret’s Italy Travel & Food E-newsletter, February 22, 2012
On February 16, Trenitalia announced that under certain conditions, you can take 1st and 2nd class trains between all Italian cities for “Mini” fares of 9 Euros (about $12) and up on all their trains except Excelsior and Excelsior E4 and Executive levels.
“What’s the catch?” Trenitalia.com says, “The MINI offer can be booked up two days before departure on this website, at authorised travel agencies and through our call centre, also with ticketless option, at ticket desks and self -service ticket machines at train stations.”
The Mini fares are hidden two layers down at the very useful, informative trenitalia.com. On their home page, choose your departing city, arriving city and day and time. A second page pops up with a choice of trains and prices. No Mini fares there!
Where are the Mini fares? Select your train departure time (click on “select” button on the right of the regular train fare) and click on “continue” at the bottom of the train choices list. Up pops a third screen with more fare choices including the Mini one.
The number of Mini seats is limited and varies with the day of the week, the t rain and the class you choose. For example, on trenitalia.com I entered Tuesday, March 6 leaving Rome at 9:15 a.m., arriving Florence at 10:46. Regular 2nd class fare is 45
Euros (about $60) and 1st class 63 Euros (about $85). Mini fare was 39 Euros (about $58). What about 9 Euros?
When can I travel from Rome to Florence on March 6 for 9 Euros? I tested 10 departure times. I’d pay:
Then I gave up. The good news is I get a nice discount if I leave mid morning and pay 19 Euros, instead of 45 Euros for 2nd class or 63 Euros 1st class.
Do many 9 Euro fares actually exist? Yes. On the excellent slowtrav.com website’s Ital y forum, where I first saw GAC’s post about mini fares, some people wrote how they bought 9 Euro tickets from Florence to Rome and from Venice to Bologna. What if you want to change your Mini ticket? Trenitalia says, “All MINI tickets, including tickets purchased online and with ticketless option, can be changed solely at ticket desks at train stations or at the travel agency where the ticket was issued up to midnight of the day before departure.“ Changes can be made only once. You are only allowed to change the departure date or time for the same category of train or service, subject to a change fee (equal to the difference to the corresponding full base price).
