Three companies
Rome and Florence, Eight Nights
Two cities joined by a train you cannot read the timetable for from here. Three companies, three cancellation rules, and one document that puts them in day order with the platform times on it.
| The company | What it owes you | Its own rule if you cancel | What happens if it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| The airline | Seats and bags, out to one city and home from the other, which costs a little more than a return and saves you a wasted day | Fare rules. An open jaw fare has its own conditions and they are quoted rather than summarised | Rebooking under their conditions; it releases nothing else |
| The two hotels, held as one arrangement | Four nights in each, both walkable from the station, with breakfast where the rate includes it | Their schedules differ from one another. Each is set out on its own in the proposal, since folding two into a single soothing sentence would misrepresent both | Rehousing at their own cost |
| The rail operator | The seats between the cities, reserved rather than open. The useful trains fill, and an open ticket buys you a place to stand | Reserved seats on the less costly fares are typically not refundable. The rail leg is the second rigid contract after the airfare | A cancelled train is re accommodated under their rules, and a strike is force majeure under everybody's |
Three contracts, three answers
This is the tier where an agency starts to be worth something, and the reason is arithmetic rather than glamour. Cancel this trip four weeks out and you get three different answers on the same afternoon: the airline says nothing, one hotel says everything, the other says half, the railway says nothing. Somebody has to read all four schedules and give you one figure.
from$1,640per person, two sharing, land only
Split across three companies. What each of them charges, and what none of them charges, is on prices. The figure is confirmed in writing before anything is placed.
What is not here
Meals beyond breakfast. Museum entries, which are inexpensive and better bought for a timed slot yourself, and we will say which ones sell out. Any transfer at either end, because both cities run trains from their airports into the middle.