Tentative Itinerary - need guidance on trains...

[sarahg]

I have a tentative itinerary done for 4 weeks travel in may/june. I'm travel with one other person. we are both students. Any suggestions on what type of eurail pass we should get (or if we should even bother).

Here's what our rough plans are so far:

May 23 - arrive in frankfurt...afternoon/overnight in frankfurt
May 24-leave for brussels (not sure if we should spend the morning in frankfurt or go right on to brussels)
May 25 - day in Brussels then leave for amsterdam
May 25 -28 - amsterdam
May 28 - lv. for berlin
May 28-31- Berlin
May 31 - Lv for Prague (am?)
May 31 -June 3/4 - prague
June 3 pm or june 4 am ? leave for vienna
June 4-7- Vienna
June 7 - leave Vienna in am for Munich
June 7-9 Munich
June 10 - day in switzerland..not sure where yet
June 11 - 13 - Nice
June 14/15 - Lyon
June 16-19 Paris
June 19 pm/june 20 am...leave for London then return to canada on 20th

Its a bit of a rush trip. What we were wondering is when to take trains at night/afternoon/evening and when it would be better to stay in a city overnight and then leave in the morning. We're still trying to smooth out the itinerary so any suggestions would be great.

[herrbert]

If you want a good advise on passes, go to www.railsaver.com, and fill in your itinerary.

If you want to use trains, and you are sure you can sleep on a train, then take the nighttrains. (you have to pay for the cabin, but it save you a night in a hostel, but make reservations)

I would still skip one or two towns. Also give yourself some time to get over the jetlag, when arriving. I see you have 2 traveling days. try reversing Amsterdam and Brussels. (the nighttrain between Amsterdam and Berlin, is actually a nighttrain between Brussels and Berlin - If you want to travel during the day, I recommend flying this stretch.

[Eagle]

sarahg, welcome to the Boards! I have some questions and a few comments.

IMO, the Itinerary you listed could probably be made a bit more efficient with a few changes, but this might not be possible if you've already bought your air tickets? I'd suggest starting your trip by flying to Amsterdam / Schiipol to begin with, rather than Frankfurt. It will save you some time and most probably some money as well. Amsterdam is a major hub, so there should be lots of flights available. I couldn't tell where you're located, so don't have any idea what flights might be available from your area. Keep in mind that you'll likely lose the first day of your trip due to flight times and time zone changes.

Would something like this work:

> Fly to Amsterdam (again, not sure where you're from but try to find a flight that lands in the morning. Even if you do start in Frankfurt, I wouldn't spend any time there)
> Train to Brussels? (most here seem to prefer Brugges. Is there any reason you want to visit Brussels?)
> Train to Berlin
> Train to Prague
> Train to Vienna
> Train to Munich (what attractions were you hoping to visit in the Munich area? I might be able to offer some suggestions, as I was there a few months ago)
> Train to Switzerland (the travel time will depend on exactly where you want to go in Switzerland, but this will probably be a trip of at least 6 hours - Gimmelwald is a big favourite here, you might consider that?)
> Budget flight to Nice? (not sure what flights are available from the larger Swiss cities - again, this will depend on what city you select for your Switzerland stop?)
> Train to Lyon (again, this will be a longer trip, but there is TGV service available - I found one departure at 13:39, arriving at 18:01, with NO changes. Reservations are mandatory for TGV!)
> Train to Paris (this will be an easy trip - TGV service is available, and the trip is about 2 hours - again, reservations are mandatory!)

If you haven't bought your air tickets yet, you could return to Canada from Paris, rather than spending the time and money to return to London. Check Zoom or Air Transat for flight details.

As herrbert suggested, use Railsaver once you've finalized your Itinerary, as the site will suggest the most appropriate pass for you.

With a more logical route, you should be able to eliminate some of the "rush" aspect, making the trip much more enjoyable and relaxed. It's difficult to make any suggestions regarding the night / afternoon / evening trains until the Itinerary is "fine tuned" a bit more.

Hope this helps. Happy planning!!!

[sarahg]

thanks for the help. the suggestions are great!! I'm sure we'll have more once the Intinerary is closer to being finalized.

[madamtrashheap]

eagle said:

: Budget flight to Nice? (not sure what flights are available from the larger Swiss cities - again, this will depend on what city you select for your Switzerland stop?)

Some choices for flying from Switzerland to Nice are:
Basel-Nice: EasyJet;
Geneva - Nice: EasyJet; Fly Baboo;
Zurich - Nice: Air Berlin

Best choice of airport will depend on where in Switzerland you decide to stay (ie what's closest by train from where you're staying)