The One-country pass will be valid until Domodossola (last stop in Italy) and then you’d need regular tickets. As tickets in Switzerland are really expensive, I’d have a look at the Global Pass. It might be cheaper in the end.

Please note that there are mandatory seat reservations on Italian high-speed trains : 10€ for Frecciarossa, 3€ on IC trains. They are best bought on tickets.oebb.at (no booking fee). The EC crossing the Swiss border is 11€.

The night train between Catania and Naples which you might take is best bought on interrail.eu btw. It leaves Catania at 22:58 and arrives in Naples at 07:22 (the train takes the ferry while you’re asleep)

Let me know if you’ve got any other questions.

I have seen many posts that the Eurail reservation site has a very limited range of sleeper options. I understand that Italiarail can book reservations only online.

https://partners.italiarail.com/default?force_pass=true&aff=EURAIL&fbclid=IwAR1zG__8EtpSCsza3WI-eFahHfXJqmDhBLIZUyoO5qYeAc8t7fzjgBbTd5A

Interrail.eu offers couchettes with other people but yes if you want a sleeper or anything else, it's way more complicated... and sometimes cheaper to book a normal ticket !

For a single person in a 2 berth sleeper the super economy price for a random date in April  is 202euro (single occupancy). A shared couchette would be 45.90 euro. Trenitalia isn’t showing a price for sharing a sleeper. However if you are travelling as a couple the cost for 2 in a double cabin drops to 176 euro. For 2 in a couchette for 4 with sole use would be 115 euro.

With a pass a berth in a couchette for 4 would be 39 euro, but a berth in a 2 bed sleeper would be 56 euro. These prices remain the same whether it is for 1 or 2 people so I assume they are not sole use.

So for couchettes the saving would be 7 euro pp and about 30 euro pp for 2 travelling, but for a single person in a sole use sleeper the saving would be almost 150 euro.

The buy it now prices are not refundable or refundable. For fully flexible (BASE) fares they effectively double the cost of each option.

It seems no more complicated to get berths from Italiarail with a pass, than from Trenitalia without a pass, especially given that economy tickets are non-refundable.

I admit the refund policy on pass reservations is not fully flexible but (Changes to date and time only are permitted. Changes to stations or route are not permitted. Seat selection and seat changes post order completion are not available. Type: Non-refundable.) Taken from Trenitalia site.

I can see following fares on Trenitalia for a random May date 23.05 (1 adult) :

• 44€ Shared 4-people couchette
• 77€ Deluxe for single use
• 99€ Excelsior for single use

On ItaliaRail with the Interrail discount for the same date :

• 39€ Shared 4-people couchette
• 47€ Shared 3-people Cabin
• 56€ Shared 2-people Cabin

It’s a bit cheaper but I cannot see how to book on ItaliaRail for single use and the Excelsior cabins cannot be used with an Interrail pass. Well it’s complicated in my opinion.

For 2 people, on Trenitalia :

• 2 x 44€ Shared couchettes
• 2 x 71€ Private Deluxe double cabin
• 2 x 79€ Private Excelsior double cabin

ItaliaRail :

• 2 x 39€ Shared couchettes
• 2 x 47€ Shared 3-people cabin
• 2 x 56€ 2-people cabin (should be private)

Edit : For 3 people, a 3-people private couchette cabin would be 3 x 34€ on Trenitalia

I fully appreciate it is is complicated, but I remain convinced that you should always compare like for like as far as possible, rather than send people down that complex alleyway.

All regular contributors are well aware of the complexities of routings, reservations and the general complexities of both Global passes and pay as you go.

I recently did a fully detailed breakdown of my 2022 10 day in 2 months First Class pass trips comparing both super economy prices and full fares for trains at similar times. The results showed my pass + reservations costs were about 400 euro lower than super economy fares and about 1000 euro cheaper than full fares. What the figures don’t show is that due to a family issue we had to completely change our second 5 travel day excursion and the pass allowed us to do that with no losses except a couple of small reservation fees.

I think far too many suggest comparing pre-buying super economy tickets and compare with the daily pass price without pointing out the difference in flexibility. The real cost comparison should be done based on the best flexible fare for the specific trains that suits your plans, not the cheapest on the day.

For example for me to get to London and then onto Eurostar I need to leave home on a peak morning business train with much higher prices than one after about 1000 and with very few saver tickets. The same on return - I regularly arrive back in time for the late afternoon peak trains. 

In addition many of us do not worry about only using a pass if the daily cost is less than a super saver ticket. I look on it like buying an all-inclusive holiday - as long as my total spend is less than the estimated equivalent cost of buy as you go tickets why worry? 

Of course I am not saying there aren’t some plans posted that would be cheaper on a pay as you go basis, but they are rare and do limit you to either a large number of must travel tickets or high on the day prices. 


 

I wasn't speaking at all about a whole trip but rather about this specific journey (while still having a pass).

For this night train you have plenty more (and sometimes cheaper) options buying regular tickets than using your passes. Of course it shouldn't be like that but it is what it is…

Even with a pass you have to book this train in advance. So there's no advantage on the flexibility here.

Again, the discussion was all about Italian night Intercity trains (ICNs).

I'm all for using passes and will travel on a 2-month Global Pass this summer

As my earlier post points out the sleeper reservation with Italiarail is actually changeable but not refundable, whereas the super economy fare we both quote is non exchangeable or refundable.