Travel Italy By Train

[Rubyrose]

Hi,

Is there anyone who has traveled to and around Italy by train from London?
I am going to do this at the end of May for 10 days. I hate flying (but I do fly) however as I am travelling alone so I want to get the Eurostar.
I will go from London to France, then get the train down to Italy. I'd ideally like to start in Florence or Pisa but may have to begin in Milan purely because of train routes. I plan on visiting Florence, Pisa, Naples, Pompeii, Rome. I'll go somewhere else too if I can fit it in.
I have searched online and there are 1000's of sites and I'm so confused as to how to start organising it.

My questions are:
1.How can I get from one of the Eurostar destinations to Italy as quickly as possible with the least changes?
2. If I buy an Interrail pass, is it cheaper (considering I'm not going to many destinations)?
3. Do I have to go via Milan or can I get to Florence/Pisa or even somewhere else? (I'm just not fussed about going to Milan so if I can go via another station I will stop and make a day of it).

I'm sure I have more questions, I just can't think of them right now.
Thanks.

[dannyk13]

Have you thought about something like this:-
https://www.holidaysbyrail.com/europe/italy?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkOGW5oD72QIV7Z3tCh1r2A9cEAAYAiAAEgINUPD_BwE

[Buenchico]

The Man in Seat 61 is regarded as possibly the most authoritative source of information available about continental rail travel:
https://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm

The best source of timetable information though is actually the website of the German railways. It brings the timetables of all European rail operators together into a single resource:
https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

Using that site helps you quickly find the best routes into Italy. (e.g. I just asked it for journeys tomorrow from St Pancras International to Florence. The shortest journey time is 12h 35m, changing in Paris and Turin).

Note that, while Eurostar runs to Gare du Nord in Paris, trains to Turin use Gare de Lyon. You need to take RER Line D (towards Malesherbes/Melon) for a couple of stops to make the change. You need to buy a ticket at the machines in Gare du Nord or, if you want to save time you could buy an all-day travel ticket for central Paris at St Pancras International (in the Eurostar departure lounge). That would cost you more (at around a tenner) but it would save you having to bother about about queuing at Gare du Nord.

If you're starting from somewhere other than London, remember that you can select any major National Rail station as your starting point on the Eurostar website. That often gets you into London far cheaper than buying separate National Rail and Eurostar tickets. (It doesn't include the cross-London transfer, if required, though. Simply use a contactless debit card to pay for your Tube journey).

Details of Interrail passes can be found here:
https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/one-country-pass/italy

However rail travel in Italy is fairly cheap anyway. Search here for times and fares:
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
(NB: If you buy individual tickets in Italy, they're not valid for travel until you've inserted them into the little machine at the platform entrance. If you forget to do that a ticket inspector will assume that you're a fare dodger!)

While the German railways website is the best one for sorting out international timetables, it's the French railways website which is the best one for booking (non-Eurostar) international travel:
https://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/?visitor_country=UK#/

Lastly, don't expect a train in Italy to run on time!

[Rubyrose]

Hi Danny,
That would be perfect but the tour includes hotels (which I don't need as I have free nights to book using my hotels.com account) and it's quite a lot of destinations.
Rr

[Rubyrose]

Thanks Buenchicho. Amazing. I will have a look at all of this tonight. x