Trip to Europe for March/April

[chedder]

If anyone could help me with what kind of Railpass i should be looking into that would be great, i am kind of confused at which one to get.

[pointofnoreturn]

Use railsaver.com to find out if you need a pass or not. If not, it's cheaper to buy point to point tickets.

[me]

also, depending how long your trip is, www.RailSaver.com might even suggest buying more than one pass, or buying a shorter pass and not using the pass for some of the trips, i.e., buying point-to-point tix sometimes.

if RailSaver suggests pass(es), buy it (them) here. it costs you the same, but some of the profit supports this site.

[chedder]

OK I will keep that in mind, thank you

I am in the middle doing a second look on my Itinerary. I am just looking into flights versus trains...

I was also looking into heading into Salzburg, how many days is worth spending here?

thanks for everyones input thus far!

[herrbert]

chedder said:

OK I will keep that in mind, thank you

I am in the middle doing a second look on my Itinerary. I am just looking into flights versus trains...

I was also looking into heading into Salzburg, how many days is worth spending here?

thanks for everyones input thus far!

A combination between flights and trains, will work the best. For Salzburg I would say 2 days, but you can look at some possible trips from there as well.

[chedder]

ok here it goes, this is basiclly what i have

March 1 - Fly from Toronto to Frankfurt
March 2-4 Frankfurt, Germany (visiting some friends)
March 4-6 Vienna, Austria
March 6-9 Salzburg, Austria (with a day trip to Werfen)
March 9-11 Lienz, Austria
March 11-14 Innsbruck, Austria
March 14-16 Dublin, Ireland
March 16-21 Cork, Ireland (day trips to Blarney, the Burrne, and to the Cliffs of Moehr)
March 21-24 Edinburgh, Scotland (with a day trip to St. Andrews)
March 24-26 Glasgcow, Scotland (with a day trip to Stirling)
March 26-29 York, England ( with a day trip to Leeds)
March 29-April 3 London, England
April 3-5 Salisbury, England
April 5-8 Amsterdam, Netherlands
April 8-11 Rome, Italy
April 11- 14 Florence, Italy (with a day trip to Pisa)
April 14-17 Cinque de Terre Region, Italy
April 17-19 Venice, Italy
April 19-? Tour around Germany with my buddy from Frankfurt

Well thats it, hopefully you guys will be able to help me out a little bit , let me know if it sounds possible to do or not. In most cases I will either take a train or a bus depending on price, or even fly, thats what i have to look into next is my transportation...

[heartshapedbox]

I'm planning a four month trip through Europe beginning next April so I've been doing quite a bit of research as well ... from what I've gathered Pisa is worth a couple hours/half day at the most which means you could do it as a stopover on your way from Florence to La Spezia/Cinque Terre. That would leave some time open during your stay in Florence to take a day trip to Siena or San Gimignano, or even to the Chianti region of Tuscany.

[chedder]

oh wow, thank you!!...that sounds like a good plan!!

how has your planning been??

[heartshapedbox]

I'm glad that tip was helpful ... my bf and I are planning on doing Siena as a stopover on our way from Rome and then with our three days in Florence we're going to take a bicycling wine tour through the Chianti and a day trip to San Gimignano if we've felt we've seen enough of Florence itself so I've researched that area of Italy quite a bit.

Planning is stressful but fun ... a nice distraction from school haha. This board is so helpful! I've been dreaming about/saving for this trip for quite a few years now so its exciting to be in the final stretch. We have our itinerary pretty well planned out so its now in the "booking things" stages!

Good luck with continuing your planning! You look like your well on your way!

[me]

FWIW, i found Siena to be even more delightful than Florence! Florence is, unquestionably, a worthy place to visit -- the museums there hold great art -- but, at times it was just too touristy, too cheesy.

for the architecture, the Tuscan feel, Siena is tops. Siena is the more dignified & sedate of the two, if that means anything to you. [Florence has a bit of a circus atmosphere that Siena lacks] the Campo there is a great place to relax, have something at the Café.

Siena's Duomo is also very impressive!

- d

[herrbert]

I see you added a daytrip from Salzburg to Werfen. I know I have suggested it a couple of times on these boards, but I think for your trip, the timing might be wrong to go there. The two main attractions are the Castle "Hohenwerfen", and the Ice Caves. The Castle re-opens for visitors around the middle of March, so you might be in Werfen too early for a visit. The Ice Caves (which are spectacular), don't open before early May.

I would actualy stay a day longer in Vienna, if I had the choice, now you only have 1 whole day in Vienna, and two half ones, in my opinion that is too few to see Vienna.

I would also rather be in Amsterdam one day less, and spend one day more in Rome. If possible, (I don't know till which day your visit lasts) you could plan to be in Amsterdam on the 30th of April (Queen's Day)

Also take a good look at you connections, I have the feeling that e.g. Salisbury - Amsterdam, can take longer than you think. (going back to London, for a cheap flight?)

[me]

herrbert said:

Also take a good look at you connections, I have the feeling that e.g. Salisbury - Amsterdam, can take longer than you think. (going back to London, for a cheap flight?)

how about a flight from Southampton to Amsterdam on www.flybe.com for UK£27.99, inclusive? Southampton Int'l Airport is 24 miles from Salisbury.

BTW, Chedder, that statement above about Florence being too cheesy at times wasn't intended as a pun on your screen name. that didn't cross my mind until later. <a instead of e, and all>

- d

[chedder]

DOnt worry David, its just my nickname, ha ha

David and Herrbert thanks for that last little bit of advice, i will definetly take that into consideration

- I was also wondering if it is better to order Rail passes ahead of time or to do it while i am there?

- another thing was the International Hostel Card, how do i go about getting one of those??

[Eagle]

chedder, a few more comments on your travel plans....

In reading over your last Itinerary, the routing seems a bit inefficient (land in Frankfurt, back to Ireland, then England, then back to Europe - a lot of "back and forth" tends to be costly in both time and money!). I realize you probably have valid reasons for this, but I would have arranged it somewhat differently in the interests of efficiency and cost savings, perhaps along these lines (as you're flying from Toronto, I have a general idea of your flight options):

> Fly to Belfast - train to Dublin - tour Cork, etc. (how were you planning to get to Cork, Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, etc.?). I was there a few months ago, and the transportation options in some of those areas is a bit "sparse".
> Fly to Scotland - tour Glasgow and Edinburgh
> Train to York (the walking tour which departs just in front of the T.I. is excellent! If you're interested, don't forget the Railway Museum - one of the best! BTW, what's the interest in Leeds?)
> Train to London - tour Salisbury (Salisbury is kind of a wide area - what are you planning on seeing? You can take a Coach from London to Bath, about £17, and use that as a base for touring the area).
> Fly to Amsterdam (probably from Luton or Stanstead - EasyJet?)
> Train to Frankfurt (visit friends)
> Train to Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck
> Train to Venice (probably change in Verona)
> Train to Florence
> Train to Cinque Terre (probably via La Spezia - note spelling of C.T.)
> Train to Rome (depending on which train you choose, this is a fairly easy trip - I did it in the reverse direction last year)
> Fly back to Frankfurt to tour Germany with your buddy? (you should have good choices for flights back to Toronto from Frankfurt with Zoom, Air Transat or Air Canada?).

You could reverse visits to Cinque Terre and Florence? The trip from Venice to the C.T. is a bit long, so I thought an "intermediate" stop in Florence would make travel a bit easier.

I was also wondering if it is better to order Rail passes ahead of time or to do it while i am there?

You can only purchase Eurail Passes outside of Europe AFAIK (not available in Europe except for the Interrail Passes for EU residents). Note that you can purchase Eurail Passes from the home page of this site, which helps to support our efforts here. Click on the Guide For Europe logo at the top of this page to take you to the home page. Use the Railsaver site first to determine the most appropriate pass for your particular circumstances.

another thing was the International Hostel Card, how do i go about getting one of those??

I assume you're referring to a H.I. Hostel Membership card? This will be helfpuf if you stay in H.I. Hostels, but likely won't provide as many benefits if you stay in independent Hostels. Just the same, I usually travel with one as it has been very useful in past travels. For example, at one Hostel I used in Switzerland, a Hostel membership was required when making the booking. I tend to prefer "chain" Hostels as the facilities are somewhat predictable, and they're usually quite well run (nothing worse than arriving in a new city tired and grumpy and finding that one is booked in a somewhat dodgy Hostel). I bought my Hostel card at the local H.I. Hostel just down the street from my house. Check their website for locations near you, or you may be able to order this off the Internet.

Hope this helps? Happy travels!

[chedder]

Thank you that helps alot Eagle



I will be buying two Rail Passes...BritRail Pass and a Eurail Global Pass both 15 days in 2 months

For airline tickets is it also better to buy those in advance?

Another thing, if I was wanting to book an overnight ride on a train how far in advance do i have to book that?