How can I get around paying extra charges when traveling by train through Italy with a Eurail pass?

How does Eurorail pass work? Traveling in Europe?

• I live in California and this summer 2011, I am backpacking through Europe. I would prefer to take train transportation when I travel between countries (versus planes) because its a good way to see Europe's scenery between major cities. Anyway, I was thinking of purchasing a Eurorail pass, but how exactly does it work? Say, I'll purchase a 5-country pass, does that mean I get to choose any 5 countries I want and I get unlimited rail transportation within those countries? Does it only include Eurorail lines, what about local trains between smaller cities? Please will someone explain the process for me. Thnak you This is Eurorail website: http://www.eurail.com/home

• Answer:

  There is an excellent resource for train travel in Europe here: http://www.seat61.com/ which provides links to the various national train websites and explains rail passes in detail. It has much more information than there is room for in an answer here. However, in general, Eurorail/Eurail does not run any trains at all; they sell passes that can be used on the train systems in participating countries. You can pretty much use the passes on any trains run by the participating railroads. However, some trains will have quotas on the number of passes that can be used on a given train, and some trains require reservations including an extra cost. For example, the fast trains here in Italy require a reservation and a fee of 10 euro per train when you're using a pass. It is almost always cheaper just to buy individual tickets here rather than using a rail pass. On the slower regional trains, you can just use the pass as your ticket. All that is explained in the site above which also will help you determine whether a pass is cheaper than just buying individual tickets and which pass to buy. There's also information on reservations/supplements here: http://www.eurail.com/planning/train-seat-reservations/domestic-fees , http://www.eurail.com/planning/train-seat-reservations/international-fees , http://www.eurail.com/planning/train-seat-reservations/overnight-fees . Generally, in order to make reservations, you'll need to go to the station, a travel agent that deals with train tickets, or a third party seller. Only a couple of countries, including Italy, allow you to purchase the seat reservation only on-line when using a pass. With a five country pass, you do get to choose the five countries you want, but you need to be careful because you cannot use the pass on a route that goes through a non-included country. You get unlimited transportation within or between the included countries for the number of travel days you've selected. For example, If you chose Italy, France, Benelux, Germany and Austria, you would would not be able to use the pass on a route that passed through Switzerland although you could just pay for a ticket.