Reservation on Eurail

I am travelling with my wife and two kids to Italy/France in late May and travel within these countries by Eurail. I got my Eurail passes but it seems that I need reservation on some trains. I checked the reservation rates on raileurope and find that a reservation on a 1st class TGV between Nice to Paris is $11/person while a 1st class Eurostar reservation between Rome and florence is $24 (which I find strange considering how short the journey is between Rome and Florence. I would like to know if it is cheaper and more convenient to buy reservation at the train station itself. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

-Shouvik

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Many people book directly with the train companies on their web sites, because by doing that you get the reservation at the same time (i.e., if no seat available on your date, it just doesn%26#39;t take your money). As you know see, it%26#39;s a two-step (or more) process with Eurail (and usually also costs more, although that%26#39;s a different issue).

The price differene in France and Italy probably is a function of this being two different train systems - they just have their own rates, I suspect, and probably not related to distance (e.g., Florence/Rome is likely a popular route, so they may charge more for it than even within Italy between less heavily traveled places).

At this point, you probably would be best advised to just bite the bullet and make the reservations - otherwise, you risk the possibility that there will not be seats (for your whole group, or together) on the date/time/train you need. I definitely would not wait and try to get tickets at the station, as it could put a major crimp in your plans. Good luck!

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I fear you have just found why it is never good value to buy passes for train travel in France and Italy. The train operators%26#39; prices are cheaper, and they include the cost of seat reservations.

Also, in Italy first and second class are almost identical, so first is an unnecessary expense.

However, as you have bought the passes, you may as well press ahead with the reservations through Eurail.