Need help routing!! Round Two

[bcasper1]

Okay I’m sorry for not replying sooner on the orginal post, I was distracted by some term papers. Anyway, I have researched and looked into all your suggestions and some decisions are being made.

The original post is here: pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&n=1&thread=2902

(I moved it here because it seemed more fitting and I thought I could get more help here. I will delete the old one soon.)

So far the plan looks like this:

Flying from the U.S.A (JFK or Newark) ---> Madrid, Spain

Madrid ---> Saragossa or Tarragona (going to one of these since they are on the way to Barcelona, but which is better?)

Saragossa or Tarragona ---> Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain ---> Rome, Italy (by plane: $60USD)
(Then traveling Southern to Northern Italy)

Rome ---> Florence
Florence ---> Bologna
Bologna ---> Venice…

From Venice we want to go to Interlaken, Switzerland. Would it be best to stay in another Italian city maybe Milan and then continue north to Switzerland? Or is it better to go straight from Venice to Switzerland?

Our route breaks up in concreteness as you can see from Venice. But eventually we want to go Switzerland, Belgium and then to Amsterdam. Suggestions between Venice and Amsterdam would be much appreciated.

Feel free to add suggestions or critiques of the cities mention before in Spain to Italy or other.

Thanks for checking this post
- Brett

[me]

quick comment:

for Barcelona -> Rome, look into Ryanair.com flights from Girona to Rome. Girona isn't far from Barcelona, and the tickets are as low as €35.50, including taxes, fees & charges.

also, as i've mentioned elsewhere, Austria & northern Italy are just as beautiful as Switzerland, yet vastly cheaper.

[bcasper1]

wow your totally right about flying from Girona to Rome, dead on.

Where in Northern Italy might you suggest?

[me]

never been to these places, but i saw some coverage of the olympics in Turino that looked nice. and, although his editorial stance leaves much to be desired, Rick Steves has touted Oberbozen, near Bolzano.

also, a place i enjoyed was Siena. the cathedral there is special. so is the town hall & the square.

bcasper1 said:

Where in Northern Italy might you suggest?

[herrbert]

bcasper1 said:

Saragossa or Tarragona ---> Barcelona

I think you mean Zaragoza. If you are interested in archeology and history (esp. Roman era), than Tarragona, will be a good place to go, but in all other cases choose for Zaragoza. Personally I would choose Zaragoza. (or maybe I'd choose for Sevilla, 2 and a hald hours from Madrid, by hi-speed train, and then fly Barcelona).

From Venice you could also take a very cheap flight with hapaglloyd (www.hlx.com) to Munich. (daytrips from there, and from there go North, but it would make Switzerland a little bit of a detour, if you want to go from there)

I heared from other people that Turino isn't that nice and there is not a lot to do. (except, the normal stuff, like the Cathedral and it's fake shroud), but maybe someone, who has been there can give a better advice.

[me]

however, between Venice & Munich is is Bolzano, which i wrote of before, and Innsbruck, an especially charming city - surrounded by beautiful mountains and historic sites.

if monetary history is an interest, there's a cool museum of money in Hall: "The Hall Mint Museum." [Hall is where the name "Taler," what became "dollar," was born] (i studied Economics, so this caught my eye)

herrbert said:

From Venice you could also take a very cheap flight with hapaglloyd (www.hlx.com) to Munich. (daytrips from there, and from there go North, but it would make Switzerland a little bit of a detour, if you want to go from there)

[madamtrashheap]

herrbert said:

I heared from other people that Turino isn't that nice and there is not a lot to do. (except, the normal stuff, like the Cathedral and it's fake shroud), but maybe someone, who has been there can give a better advice.

Torino/Turin isn't the most exciting of cities, scenery is pretty but not as grand as Switz/Austria, so if you can slot it into your schedule, perhaps look at Bolzano, Lake Garda or even Lake Como as they are all on your way. Going back to your original post, it would be very possible to go from Venice to Interlaken without stopping en route, but there are some pretty places to stay in along the way, so I guess it's a time thing - how much time do you have to play with?

[bcasper1]

We plan on traveling for 4 weeks. Whats the best way to get from Venice to Interlaken? Train or flying?

[madamtrashheap]

The closest airport to Interlaken is Zurich and a train from there to Interlaken (either Ost or West) will take around 2hrs. By the time you travel to the airport in Venice, plus the hour before check-in, then flying time (would be around 1hr15m I'm guessing), then getting luggage, then the train to Interlaken, you would have done half the train journey but have moved around a lot.

If you have a rail pass that covers the journey, perhaps use it as I don't think there will be too many cheap flights on this route, or if, in fact, many airlines service this route. The train will take around 7hrs, scenery is great, so if you don't mind sitting for quite a bit and you have the time, I'd go by train. Up to you though.