Train Travel throughout Europe

[kelli]

Hey all! My friend and I are traveling for 5 weeks end of March to End of April all throughout Europe. We are finding that we have lots of questions about using the trains. I'm sure they will be easy to figure out once we are there but we need some answers before we go! So, If you guys will tell us how long it takes from place to place, if its better to take a night train or day train to specific places and any other useful tips about our itenerary listed below regarding travel that would be awesome!!!!

- Flying in to London, taking a bus to Scotland
-Bus back to London, then flying to Amsterdam
- Train amsterdam to frankfurt
- Bus from frankfurt to Munich via small towns i.e. Wurzburg
-Train from Munich to Prague
- Train from Prague to Salzburg
-Train or bus or car rental from Salzburt to Vienna via the lakes district
-Vienna to Budapest (We are thinking about skipping budapest due to time constraints - anyone insist on going to Budapest?)
-If we miss budapest then we will go straight to Croatia (any tips on best way to get to croatia from either budapest or vienna?)
- Train (I think) from Croatia to Italy
-fly Milan to Greece round trip
-Train from milan to rome and other places of italy
- train to south of france and spain
-Train from spain to western and northern france
- Train to belguim
Fly from belguim back to london to catch flight home.

Super packed, I know but any info is appreciated!!!!!!!

[me]

Hi, Kelli.

wouldn't it be better to see everything you plan to see in London when you get there? don't go back to London, just fly from Scotland <EDI?> to Amsterdam.

it might be better to fly to fly from Croatia to Athens, then from Athens to Milan.

there are flights from various places in Italy to Spanish cities. look into them.

also, you might think about changing the order of places visited. many northern European cities have direct flights to Greek islands which might hold more interest than Athens. (no need to fly in *&* out of the same place, Athens)

just some ideas.

[herrbert]

It looks packed indeed. Did you make list, and put the nights you want to stay at each place next to it? I guess it could reveal some problems, as far as time is concerned. (don't be to afraid to skip a city on this tour, it will still be there for the next one).

Take nighttrains, to get to places that would take you about 6-7 hours or more. But make sure that you can actualy sleep on these trains. In your trip, most distances are too short between the cities. but you could opt for nighttrains in the south of France to get to Spain, or between Amsterdam and Munich (if you would skip the places in between).

There are some remarks I would like to make:

Why wouldn't fly London - Glasgow or London - Edinburgh. There are numerous flights between both these Scottish cities and London (check RyanAir, Easyjet, BMI). A bus would at least need 7-8 hours to reach Scotland. I also don't see the need to return to London, you can get a flight to Amsterdam straight away. (Edinburgh - Amsterdam is available at Easyjet). That can save you the long bustrip back to London.

Wurzburg is not really a small town, so i would get a train directly to the places you want to visit in Germany. Frankfurt can be nice for a day, but in my opinion there are better options in Germany. If you take the train to Frankfurt or another place, and you are passing Cologne, make sure to make a short stop, to visit the Cathedral (it's just across the square from the Train Station)

It might be a better plan to Go Munich - Salzburg - (Cesky Krumlow) - Prague - Vienna. I think that is the most time efficient, but you can check yourself on www.bahn.de I put Cesky Krumlow in the mix, because it might be a good place to stop between Salzburg and Prague.

If you would stick to getting from Salzburg to Vienna by car:
then don't only take time to see the lake district (Salzkammergut), but also take a look in Melk (you can visit the big monostry), and get away from the Autobahn, and find your way along the Donau (Danube) to Vienna. The area you will be driving through is called the Wauchau (from Melk till Krems, after that, the landscape open up to a wider valley). I think it would be wise to split the trip in two days, maybe staying in Melk for the night.

Budapest, first find out how many days you want to spend in other places.

I guess the best way to reach Croatia is by train. Which places do you want to visit in Croatia. It makes a difference if you want to visit Zagreb or Istria or you want to see Dubrovnik. In case you want to visit Dubrovnik, than I would try to find a cheap budget flight, to get there.

Why would you go back to Italy, to take a flight to Athens. I know that Easyjet has the cheapest flights to get into Athens, but I would reconsider, if it is worth it, to first travel from Croatia to Milan. You can consider taking a flight that is a little bit more expensive by AirOne, from Trieste (that is much nearer to Croatia) to Athens.

You could also fly back from Ahens to Roma with this company, or with Olympic Airlines, Aegean Airlines and even Alitalia, has some good offers. But you could also get to Milan with Easyjet, and get to Venice, Florence and Roma. (and take another plane from there).

Remember that train travel in France and Spain can be very long travels. A lot of people, tend to fly to Barcelona or Madrid, straight from Rome or another place in Italy. As you don't give names of the places you want to visit in France of Spain, it's a little hard to give you information.

[madamtrashheap]

kelli, welcome to the boards. Trains and planes will be your best bet and the routes both David and Herrbert have suggested are well worth considering. If you do want to travel by bus, you're either looking at local busses (SITA in Italy, for example) to get to smaller towns, or perhaps look at Busabout routes ( www.busabout.com ) to see if they fit in to your (new) schedule.

Happy planning!