You’ve got incorrect information. You can not buy a ticket from Rome to Pompeii. Rome to Naples is a regular train, run by the national rail company (and covered by a railpass if you choose to use one). You can either buy the ticket from www.trenitalia.com or buy it from the automated kiosk (no lines and very user-friendly in English) in the train station, The train from Naples to Pompeii is the Circumvesuviana commuter line. This line is not a part of the Italian national rail system and doesn’t honor the railpass. You can’t buy that ticket in Rome or on-line. You have to buy it at the commuter train station in Naples — directly under that main station (Naples Centrale) where you arrive from Rome.

Your main point — that you can often buy a ticket from point A to point C and get off between at point B for a period of time (sometimes up to 48 hours, sometimes up to 60 days) will work for your stopover in Pisa. It just doesn’t work for Pompeii as the “train” to Pompeii is really an above-ground subway, not a main-line train.

Some pointers for a day trip to Pompeii: The Pompeii station you want is Pompeii Scavo (ruins) on the Salerno line. It’s right across the street from one of the main sections (there are 7 or 8 different sites) of the ruins. You don’t want the “Pompeii” station on the other line as it isn’t near the ruins. Stop at Erculano (Herculeum) on your way back to Naples — much less crowded and in some ways more interesting than Pompeii. You can buy a ticket that’s good at all the Pompeii sites and Herculaneum.

To accomplish this as a day trip, you’ll probably want to take an early train which means you’ll be paying for a fairly expensive reservation (either in the ticket price if you buy point to point or as an additional charge if you use the railpass). While you can take slightly slower regional or local train that doesn’t require a reservation, all of the early morning trains require reservations.

oh wow thank you so much! Ah, so much to learn still, I thought I was finally getting it

I will look up Herculeum forsure now, thanks!

Yes, the plan was to leave super early…good to know I will have to reserve then (although that makes sense). Thanks so much for your info, you are always so quick to respond to my million questions. The trip is coming up fast so now I am planning in overdrive.

BTW, I really like the EurostarItalia trains. They have the highest cost for reservations, but they’re excellent trains — 2nd class is plenty plush. You can pick your seat when buying a ticket or reservation. I always tried for the pair of seats near the special handicapped seat. We usually got those seats and often pretty much had the whole car to ourselves.

On your stopover in Pisa, you will probably need to buy a second reservation. Your ticket (or using your railpass) is good for any train on the route from Rome to Florence, but the reservation is for a specific train (specific date, time and train number). If you want to take fast trains and/or trains that run at “peak times” (usually between about 6:30 an 11:30) you’ll probably end up on a train that requires a reservation.

Looking at your trip… Why single nights in Zurich and Lucerne? Spend 2 days in Lucerne. Why so long in Munich (although it’s a great place for day trips to Salzburg, Innsbruk, Romantic Road, 1/2 day to Dachau, )? Why Lille, why not stay in Bruges a day longer or do the overnight in Brussels? Take Eurostar from Brussels to London.

Great info, thanks!

Oops, that is an error. We are spending 2 nights in Lucerne and staying with a friend.

Munich is so long as we have family there that we are staying with. So (like you said) it will be our “hub”, but during that time we will be going to Salxburg, Dachau, Romantic Rd, etc. He will be driving us in a car so do not need a pass for that time!

Lille is for Vimmy Ridge (my fiance really wants to go!). I think I need to update my itinerary on this thing (it has sinece been updated).

I just really hate that we have to travel during Easter now….I am assuming shops and some museams will be closed. boo!

edit: looks like I should be going to Arras over Lille.

So I have another question:

This will be a very busy day. We are going from Paris to Arras (getting there at 8:12 am by the looks of it). We will explore Vimy Ridge. So just say we are done exploring in the afternoon. So we would make our way to Lille (the train is about 40 mins).

THEN from Lille, we would take Eurostar to London where we will be staying for 3 nights.

SO my question is : I would use this as a day on my eurail pass (travelling from Paris to Arras and Arras to Lille). Then I see I can use the pass for a Eurostar discount. So would I just go up to the counter that evening, or should I reserve from Canada?

Thanks

You’ll most likely be better off buying your Eurostar tickets online way in advance to take advantage of specials; those prices are often cheaper than the passholder discount fare. Right now you can book tickets for March, so April should be available soon.
http://www.eurostar….

thanks Augustin25!! Will do!

As Augustin says, you can often beat the passholder. Eurostar is priced like an airline with some cheap seats. Buy early as the cheap seats sell out first and the price goes up. Some basic information about the Eurostar discount….

1. Youth passholder fare is almost exactly the same as regular youth fare on Eurostar, so never a good deal.
2. Adult passholder fare is a good deal if you can’t find a special but leisure fares and other specials are often a better deal than passholder fare. Passholder fare can be a lifesaver if all the cheap seats have sold out.
3. If you want to splurge on 1st class, passholder fare is a big discount. It’s a 2 1/2 hour ride and 2nd class is comfortable, so I wouldn’t splurge on 1st class. However, you might find a situation where 1st class passholder fare is as good a deal as the available 2nd class fares.
3. There are two ways to get passholder fare. Either buy it from a travel agent that sells railpasses (buy with your railpass to avoid extra shipping) or at the actual Eurostar train station. While you can a Eurostar ticket at any major train station, on-line and over the phone, you can only get the special passholder fare ticket at an actual Eurostar station.

I didn’t know that. Thanks oldlady