Matera Travel Forum

Does anyone know if all the trains you book for night travel automatically include sleeping quarters? Is there anyone who can give me some good advice on traveling by train. It appears there is more than one company, and prices vary.

Trenitalia is the italian railway company, then there are some small regional companies that reach places not served by trenitalia.Matera is one of these examples, to go there you have to take the ferrovie appulo lucane train in Bari.The Appulo lucane station is really close to the Bari main station.
The cost of the train from Bari to Matera is about 4 euros and that doesnt change as there is only one kind of train.The costs of the trains to go to Bari vary depending of the kind of train you use, the faster the more expensive.
Corra

Is it good that Corra explained about the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane as it is not obvious from the Trenitalia.com website that this is a private train. Note that unlike most regional/private trains, the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane timetables are available through www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html or you can go to the private railway's website (in Italian) at http://www.fal-srl.it/quadriorari2003/matera.htm where you will see the Matera/Bari run.

The bulk of the trip is on Trenitalia, of course, so this is where your choice matters. In terms of overnight trains, you really have only two choices, the 780 Freccia Salentina that departs Bari at 21:01 and the 784 Freccia del Levante that departs Bari at 22:59. Both of these trains are ICN (InterCityNight) trains, so the accomodations are likely to be similar.

To answer your specific question, no, travel by night does not automatically include sleeping quarters, unless you are traveling on a train that has only sleeping arrangements (many night trains include seats as well as sleeping arrangments). These 2 ICN trains offer:
(Mandatory reservation for all places on train)
Seats
Couchettes for four "Comfort"
2 bed compartment
3 bed compartment
Double seat compartment
Special seat compartment
Single seat compartment

You might look at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/treni_stazioni/treni_notte/index.html (in English) for descriptions of the various types of accomodations on the night trains (use the links).

Bill

Bill is right, the timetable is shown also on trenitalia web site, the funny thing is that trenitalia cannot sell the ticket, nor online, nor at Bari central station, so I have been told in may when I went to Matera for my first time.
Corra

Thanks for your replies! I appreciate it.

That's some great info, Bill. I'll check out the link you provided. I couldn't seem to find descriptions of the trains on the site, just the symbols (which I didn't understand). Thanks!

To find the descriptions, to the following:

1. go to www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
2. Enter "Bari" as the start and "Milan" as the stop. Choose a day next week which is the same day of the week as when you want to go (train schedules more than 60 days out are sometimes unreliable). Enter "18:00" as the time.
3. Click on one of those two ICN trains at the shopping cart icon under "Buy".
4. You will now see a screen that asks for types of fares, seats, etc. Udner "Services Preferences" (second section down), click on the pull down menu for "Seats descriptions" (the default entry is "Mandatory reservation". Here you will see all the types of accomodations available on this particular train by name (not icon ;-) ).
5. To actually get prices, you will also have to choose a fare category in the first section. Most of us visitors to Italy can use only one of two fares: Standard and Amica. The Amica fare is about a 20% discount on a limited number of seats if purchased at least the day before, i.e., this fare will not always be available - but it's worth asking for.
6. For more detailed descriptions of what these names mean, I think I gave you the link already that described services on night trains, right?

Make sense?

P.S. Note on #2 - the reason I said "Bari" and not "Matera" is because, as Corra pointed out, the trip from Matera to Bari is not on the Trenitalia system, so you can't price the entire trip through the website...and so the shopping cart icon doesn't appear when you include Matera...

Bill

Hi, Bill,
Again, great info. I've been playing around on the Trenitalia site and wondered if the Amica fare would apply to foreigners. Thanks for verifying that for me! If you buy online, do you get some sort of ticket to print out, or is it better to buy in Italy? I'd like to get the Amica fare, if possible, which might mean I have to buy sooner.

When you clicked on the shopping cart icon on one of the trains, you got the screen that let you see the pricing. At the bottom of that screen is "Ticket Delivery", giving you the three (usually) options...which are really all the same option...

The most important thing is the "PNR", your booking code that you got when you bought the ticket. With it, you can either get your ticket from the self service machine or just show the email (along with your passport, I imagine) to the conductor on the train. You are supposed to get an email after the transaction, but in case you don't, be sure to record the PNR during the transaction itself (I think and hope that the PNR shows on the screen when you buy the ticket).

So, armed with this, there is no reason not to get the ticket sooner than later, although, of course, this does lock you into this train at this time...there will be a charge for changing the Amica fare before your trip, if need be...

Bill

Hi, Bill,
Thanks again. I hear what you're saying...we'd need to know for sure if we want to travel at a certain time, and when you're there, you might want to veer off course a little. I'm finding that buying individually is cheaper than buying a 3 day pass, at least for where we'd want to travel (Rome to Bari/Matera, Bari to Venice, Venice to Milan). Is this typical?

Thanks for your great help!

Yes, in Italy, because the rail fares are so cheap, it is difficult to buy a pass that is cheaper than just buying point to point tickets.

Bill

I have another question, and that's about the sleeping arrangements on the train. What is a couchette? How does it compare to a bed?

A couchette is a "bed" that folds out from the wall of the compartment. I say "bed" because it is a plank or board with a thin mattress, sheets, and a pillow - not as plush as a "bed", but considerably more comfortable than sleeping in the seat, even a seat that folds down.

During the day, a couchette compartment has seats, but at some point in the evening, the porter comes through and pulls down the couchettes (little "couch" in French - get it?) and makes them up. There are 4 to 6 in a compartment, depending. It used to be 4 in first class and 6 in second, but it isn't clear to me that it's always this way anymore. In any case, when you buy your ticket, you'll get your choice (if both types are on the same train).

This means that you are sleeping with "strangers", and when you make your reservation, you are able to indicate if you want to be in a compartment of only women or only men. I did it when I was much younger and didn't think anything of it...it was just that I got a lot more sleep than I did on the seats ;-)

Bill

Hi, Bill,
Thanks. So, is the bed compartment bigger than the couchette compartment? At least in terms of the size of the bed?

I can't speak for all bed compartments (I was never in the sleeping compartments, only the couchettes - what's the difference? The sleeping compartments are all for you, the couchettes are shared space).

However, you can view a number of the sleeping compartments using QuickTime at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/treni_stazioni/treni_notte/index.html .

I see that the 3 bed Classic compartment (I picked it at random) appears to be larger than a single 6 seat compartment. I am thinking that the biggest difference is the privacy, not the bed ;-)

Bill

Okay, thanks. You might be right. There are 4 of us, so I think we can get a 4 couchette room and that'll be good for privacy.