ItaliaRailReviews of italiarail.com

ItaliaRail.com makes it easier to buy tickets then anywhere else. Make sure to take advantage of their ItaliaPass which discounts train tickets and tours. They had incredible customer service the entire time we were in Italy.

ITALIA RAIL IS A SCAM. I had a train ticket in order to catch a flight in another town in Italy. That train was cancelled and ItaliaRail did nothing to inform me of this. I literally found out at the train station at the time it was supposed to depart. I ended up have to buy the next available train right then which ended up being rediculously expensive since only first class seats were left. Italia rail only refunded me for my original 10 euro ticket which wasn’t even half of what I paid for the new ticket. If they had informed me ahead of time I would have been able to get a new ticket for much cheaper. Customer service was terrible and rude they would not pay for any of the new ticket. This site is a total scam. DO NOT USE.

Tourist, 1st time on trains in Italy, good experience

I had the worst time with Italian interrail. I was only 18 years old travelling with my twin and it was our first time visiting italy. We had planned a daytrip from ville franche sur mere to San Marino and we booked our tickets ahead and stepped on the train. But when the conductor came to scan our tickets it said that they were invalid even though we had spend 17 Euro on tickets. We tried to argue with them and explain that we had paid for our tickets we showed the our bank statements that supported that we had spend 17 Euros in italian interrail. Unfortunately he refused to cooperate with us so much that we missed our spot in san Remo and had to leave the train at the next station. We told them our station was right now and that we had to go off but they didn’t let us leave since in their opinion we had not paid for our tickets. They were 2 grown men standing in the way of our seats we could not really push them away ran so we had to wait even though we missed our spots. Since we were tired of arguing with them and also because it not go well since they spoke very poorly English. In the end we had to pay a fee of 117 Euro. I’m very disappointed with the situation, I feel frustrated, misunderstood and sad. I understand they have to do their job and catch people who have cheated the system and not paid for their tickets, but we did pay for our tickets. So we paid for our tickets and and additional fee. In total we spend over 100 euros for a ticket to san remo we did not even go to since we could not get off to.

I used to think that only Deutsche bahn sucks and is delayed until I come to Italy. I have new respect for Deutsche bahn. Italian train system is crashed. Trains are 3 hours delayed. Being on time is not their thing.

After our Eurail trip last year spending literally hours in line at train stations booking seats only; decided to book our seats online for multiple trips at ItaliaRail website. Noticed that every Seat Reservation fee of €10 attracts a "€3 fee per card transaction" (per person, per trip). Hence €60 (6 trips) becomes €78 at the checkout (+€1 "Service Fee"). Seat61@ItaliaRail refunds the "Booking Fee" but none of the extra charges counts as that pesky "Booking Fee". I had multiple emails with ItaliaRail help line; and in the end she just stopped responding. So I'd think the most cost effective way is to turn up to the first Italian train station you get into, and booking all your trips throughout Italy at the Service Desk hoping that none of the trains are booked out. Note; you cannot make seat reservations at the station ticketing machines. The Eurail Booking Service charges the bumped up €13 + their own €2 booking fee. Also; timetables on some routes don't line up with ItaliaRail - so check times at different rail sites

Web site very easy to use. I did a very big itinerary and a short timeline. Took and booked many trains. Had no issues with any of my bookings. When booking ahead when the site says No Available trains - that just means the schedule is not out yet. I was in panic mode at the start as I thought it meant no trains. But they send a message to sign up and they send you notification when its available - very helpful. I had to do a refund as I change my itinerary it was very easy and received refund the next day. I also asked questions via email response always within 24 hours. There was a train strike which was unfortunate but they did email with the issue right away. However with this situation you just had to wait to see when the trains would run again and book a train quickly. Not something they could do anything about. The strike was not their company it was the train company. Over all easy and customer service great. I will use them again!

Train strike, no alternative transport arranged, just left waiting on the platform all day, even ticket refund can take up to 6 months. Even 1 star is 1 star too many...