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Are you allowed to eat on trains in Italy?

On board services: Eating and drinking are permitted on all trains. Most long distance trains offer dining cars. If your train does not have a dining car, it likely offers a buffet bar car.



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On board services: Eating and drinking are permitted on all trains. Most long distance trains offer dining cars. If your train does not have a dining car, it likely offers a buffet bar car.

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On board services: Eating and drinking are permitted on all trains. Most long distance trains offer dining cars.

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Bringing Your Food Aboard You may bring your own food and beverages onboard for consumption at your seat or private Sleeping Car accommodations. However, you can only consume food and beverages purchased in Dining and Lounge Cars in those cars.

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You may bring your own food and beverages onboard for consumption at your seat or private Sleeping Car accommodations. However, you can only consume food and beverages purchased in Dining and Lounge Cars in those cars. Personal food and beverages are allowed in the upper level of Superliner Sightseer Lounges.

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There are no restrictions about which sort of food you can bring on board, but please be considerate of other passengers and don't take strong-smelling food on board. On intercapital and daytime ski trains; each traveller can take 4 bottles or cans of beer, or 1 bottle of wine.

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While you can bring your own food and drink (alcohol included) onto most trains, many offer some type of food and beverage either for purchase or included in your ticket price. For example, UK's LNER trains serve sandwiches, snacks, coffee, juice, and more.

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Italians love discussing what they're eating, and we'll always have an opinion on how our way to do it is way better than others (Florentines, in particular, master the art of criticism.) You'll soon find out that eating alone is fine, but eating with a new friend might be even better.

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Some trains require seat reservations, and on other trains it's optional. If you're riding a train on which reservations are only recommended or completely optional and you don't have a reservation, you can sit in any available seat in the appropriate class you have booked.

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On all regular trains, you are allowed to eat and drink — another benefit over bus tours, where food and drink are often not permitted. The food does not need to be purchased on-board. You can buy a snack and sandwiches at the station or a take-away breakfast from your Hotel, and eat it on-board.

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Italian Intercity trains are very comfortable, air conditioned, have plenty of legroom and good space for luggage. Generally, a bar/bistro car is found on Italian Intercity trains selling snacks, hot and cold drinks. There are also no rules against bringing your own food and drink to enjoy onboard.

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In most cases tickets are sold in unlimited numbers so the train can't sell out, although regional trains on a few routes now have limited numbers.

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Italiarail shows a whole day's trains in the search results and can book up to 20 people at a time. Trenitalia's own website only shows a couple of hours-worth of trains at a time and can only book up to 5 people at a time.

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In Italy, don't shock your waiter by asking for tap water As Fodors explains, usually, you'll be offered a bottle of still (naturaleor liscia) or sparkling (frizzante or gassata). You might occasionally be offered filtered — but you'll still be expected to pay for it.

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It's common to split food with people at your table, but usually this applies to antipasti or second courses, rather than splitting a pasta dish. All this said, the world's your oyster when it comes to eating out in Italy, so get what you want and leave the rest.

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If you ask locals “Do you tip in Italy?”, they'll explain that while they sometimes leave a small tip, it's generally not necessary. In Italy, gratuity (or una mancia, pronounced oo-nah MAN-chah) is considered a bonus for exceptional service. And it's not often that you'll find a tip jar at a register.

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Here's how the 7pm rule works If your overnight train is leaving after 7pm then you can put in the following day's date on your rail pass and use one rather than two days of travel for the overnight trip. Simple!

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First class also has wider seats and aisles, and is more likely to have amenities such as air-conditioning and power outlets (though outlets are still rare on Europe's trains, in any class). While first class is less conducive to conversation, it's more conducive to napping.

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Nobody else wants to hear your conversation on the train. This doesn't mean you have to stop talking unless you are in a designated quiet train, but be mindful of the volume of your voice. Europeans are generally not as loud as Americans, and unfortunately, this is one way that we Americans stand out as tourists.

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Unless suggested by the organizer or recipient, plan to stay no more than 10-15 minutes when dropping off a meal. See our article on Should I Stay or Should I Go? If there are open calendar days after your delivery, make enough for leftovers. Freezable meals are also nice.

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If it's a large train station in a big European city, you shouldn't come across any problems. Be sure to use your backpack as a pillow and to sleep with your daypack on your front to deter any thieves. The more major the city, the more likely there'll be others settling in for the night, so bag a space nearby.

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