Preferred mode of transport for my itinerary

[ghady]

Hey!

This'll probably come off as stupid, but I had no idea that there were so many options for transportation!

This is what I have so far:

Berlin to Amsterdam: plane: transavia

then i need to make my way to stuttgart. is there a way to get there from amsterdam directly, or should i go back to berlin by transavia and either train or plane-it (german wings) to stuttgart??

Stuttgart to Paris:
I have NO idea how to make this one work.

Paris to lyon: train

lyon to barcelona: i was gonna plane it by going back to paris and using ryan air. turns out that's not the smartest thing to do. so im probably gonna go to geneva from lyon by train, and then from geneva to barcelona by plane (with easyjet).


so you can see my problem HELP!!!

is switzerland (geneva) part of the EU or do i have to get a visa for it (im british). as for my friend, will the schengen visa work there? (im assuming that if it's non-EU, they'll stop the train at the border)

[herrbert]

When I mentioned flying Berlin - Stuttgart in the other thread, I was under the impression that you were flying Amsterdam - Berlin. (if you could start in Amsterdam, that would work, going Amsterdam - Berlin (transavia), and Berlin - Stuttgart (Germanwings). It's getting a little bit late here, so it's my mistake as I misread your route.

You can train Amsterdam - Stuttgart, if I remember, it's about 6 hours by train. You could opt for a train to Cologne, spend a couple of hours there, and then travel on to Stuttgart, if you want. Breaking up the journey half-way would be good to stretch the legs, see the Cathedral (opposite the train-station)

From Stuttgart to Paris you can fly (check Germanwings, and TUIfly for the options), of course it is also possible to go by train, a 6+ hours ride. A flight by Germanwings, can be as cheap as 19 euro (including taxes), to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Germany is a good place to catch a cheap flight, as there are a lot of budget companies, but also because there are a lot of airports. Choosing between flights, and trains is also a choice between what you prefer. Some people like to be moving, instead of waiting at airports, but getting there faster in the end. If you like seeing the scenery pass, while you sit in a train, then also trains are the way to go. I guess it also has more of a traveling feel to it, to train it.

As you are British a pasport will do for Switzerland (it's non-EU). It could be that they stop the train on the border, and control the pasports, but it can just as well be that they don't.

[madamtrashheap]

ghady said:

is switzerland (geneva) part of the EU or do i have to get a visa for it (im british). as for my friend, will the schengen visa work there? (im assuming that if it's non-EU, they'll stop the train at the border)

As Herrbert writes, Switzerland is not part of the EU, plus it is also not part of the Schengen Treaty agreement, so while your British passport is fine your friend (I recall he is Lebanese - is that correct?) will need to contact the closest Swiss embassy to apply for a visa and any other requirements (travel tickets, etc)(note: this applies to Liechtenstein too as it is aligned with Switzerland and not the EU).

[ghady]

i just spoke to my friend, he doesnt wanna pay the extra cash and get the swiss visa...so it'll be the long, detoury ryanair thing to get from lyon to barcelona, but that's fine, ill have my ipod and im sure ill enjoy the scenary on the bus/train rides..

herrbert said:

From Stuttgart to Paris you can fly (check Germanwings, and TUIfly for the options), of course it is also possible to go by train, a 6+ hours ride. A flight by Germanwings, can be as cheap as 19 euro (including taxes), to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

say i decide to go by train.. how exactly does one go to a train station and say "hi. i know im in germany. do you have anything going to paris?"

herrbert said:

You could opt for a train to Cologne, spend a couple of hours there, and then travel on to Stuttgart, if you want. Breaking up the journey half-way would be good to stretch the legs, see the Cathedral (opposite the train-station)

could i still stop by cologne if i plane it back to berlin from amsterdam, and go to stuttgart by train (from berlin)? or would that be too much of a detour (cuz map-wise, that looks like the case). again, how exactly does one do that? how will i know what trains to get on exactly? and what if i decide to just train it from amsterdam to stuttgart in order to see colgone...how can i be sure that they MAKE trains like those on the day i need to travel?

(i realize the stupidity of almost every word i'm typing, and i apologize for it, really..but i've NEVER done this before)

[herrbert]

I had forgotten your friend was from Libanon, but if Paris is the way to go, you could also check out Vueling Airlines, they are flying from Charles de Gaulle airport, instead of the far away Beauvais airport, that Ryanair is flying on. (and lands at Barcelona el Prat, instead of Girona). For Vueling you pay 55 euros (I just picked a day in June to test it), for Ryanair you would pay 5 euros (incl tax, but you need the transfer to Beauvais 13 euros if I am not mistaken, and another 12 euros to get from Girona to Barcelona by bus so in total 30 euros). It's your decision if you think it is worth to travel 2,5 to 3 hours more (both transfers are well over an hour) and save 25 euros or not. I also took a look at the departure times of RyanAir, one is really early, another one is leaving at 12.15 (might be too tight to make it for the two of you.), but the third plane of the day is leaving at 22.05 (landing at 23.35, with lugage to collect, and the 1.10 hr trip to Barcelona to go, you are lucky to be in bed at 2.00. (mention this to your hostel, so they can keep the room for you). This is the timetable for the busses from Girona to Barcelona. www.sagales.com/Data/Files/206_Barcelona-Girona_aeroport_(cast-cat-Ingl)_2007-03-01.pdf *it's too long for the url to work, so you need to cut and paste it

Making a detour to Cologne coming from Berlin, would be in my opinion a detour that is too big. If you leave Berlin early in the morning, you can reach Cologne, 4.30 hours later (approx), in the early afternoon and continue after dinner to Stuttgart in another 3.30 hours (or by more expensive ICE in 2.15 hrs). As compared to a 5-6 hrs, you need to go from Berlin to Stuttgart. But Cologne is a place you should visit when you are there anyway (or near, like you would be if you took the route from Amsterdam to Stuttgart).

In the large trainstations you can just go to a counter (I believe there is a special one for international travels) I think it would be strange if they wouldn't speak English there, but you'll never know:

So here's your German lesson for today:
Gutentag, I möchte gerne eine fahrkarte reservieren für den Zweiten Klasse nach Paris. (I want to make a reservation for a 2nd class ticket to Paris

Ich möchte nach Paris fahren am ... (montag, dinstag, mitwoch, donnerstag, freitag, samstag, sonntag) = I go to Paris on Monday, Tuesday ... etc ..))

On a second note, I see that some trains that go from Stuttgart to Paris make a stop in Strassbourg, but others (THALYS) in Cologne, but these are also more expensive (and traintravel in Germany is already pretty expensive, lowest fare to Paris is EUR 86,20)

[me]

the German Ö is often hard for English speakers.

i'd suggest wearing a plesant smile when you go to the counter and having a paper or card that says:

Fahrkarte und Reservierung, (if you have a railpass, "nur Reservierung" is what you'd need)
Paris (or, whichever city you wish),
2. Klasse (unless you want more expensive 1st class tix)
the date & time you wish to go. (day first, month, then time in 24 hour clock style. eg. 3:15pm would be 15:15)

Be sure to cross your sevens - 7 - Germans would probably understand an uncrossed 7 as 1.

German train stations post departures. it's a big piece of paper, prolly in a glass case. as i recall, departures are on a yellow paper, arivals are on a white paper. [but, it might be vice versa. it's been a long time since i was there (2004)]

herrbert said:

So here's your German lesson for today:
Gutentag, I möchte gerne eine fahrkarte reservieren für den Zweiten Klasse nach Paris. (I want to make a reservation for a 2nd class ticket to Paris

Ich möchte nach Paris fahren am ... (montag, dinstag, mitwoch, donnerstag, freitag, samstag, sonntag) = I go to Paris on Monday, Tuesday ... etc ..))

[ghady]

haha.. the only things i know how to say in german are ja, nein, and ich liebe dich...though i doubt i will (or should) be using that last one ;D

ill have to go over these with my friend and see which ones he'd rather do... being the adventurous type, he wouldn't care about the long ride from berling--cologne suttgart, nor would he care about the amsterdam--stuttgart (thru cologne) ride.... so cologne it is!

also, strassbourg it is, as a lot of my friends have been nagging me to go there for a day cuz it's "really pretty" apparently..

thanks a lot guys..

[me]

ghady,

if it were ok for you to visit Strasbourg before Barcelona, you could fly from Basel-Muhlhouse-Freiburg EuroAirport to Barcelona (BCN) on easyJet, or another airline. although the easyJet flights are priced in CHF, the airport is physically in France. no need for a Swiss visa.

- d

[ghady]

oh cool.. i just wikipediad the euroairport... that sounds cool.. so it's located on the french-swiss border.. i could train it from lyon to there, and plane it from there to barcelona..

easyjet you say? great!

me said:

if it were ok for you to visit Strasbourg before Barcelona

but why should i do strassbourg before barcelona? i just looked at the map, that seems too much of a detour from lyon to the swiss border.. unless i'm wrong..

[me]

i obviously didn' look carefully enough. there are easyJet flights from Lyon to Madrid for as little as €31.50.

Madrid is also worth a look - you can go to Barcelona from there. do you have a couple of days for Madrid?

Euroairport is very close to the Swiss border, but it's entirely within France. [5km, maybe?]

[ghady]

hmm..no i haven't got time for madrid, although i would've wanted to see it..

what i meant was, why do i have to wait till before i need to leave france to see strassbourg. map-wise, it looks impractical. lyon--euroairport--barcelona seems more reasonable.

[me]

it's just that Euroairport is fairly close to Strassbourg, just 2 hours.

- d

ghady said:

what i meant was, why do i have to wait till before i need to leave france to see strassbourg. map-wise, it looks impractical. lyon--euroairport--barcelona seems more reasonable.

[herrbert]

I might have found something great.

I found Iberia is flying Marseille to Barcelona, as of 21st of june, and for a good price (just below 50 euros incl. taxes). The only problem is that when you go to www.iberia.com. it only shows flights from Spain. You can choose the country of departure (on the right), but if you choose it to France, you can only get the page in French or Spanish ...

If you know a little bit of one of the languages, I think you can book yourself a flight. I will try to see if there is a possibility to book that same flight on an English page (maybe at british airways, as they have a joint-venture with Iberia and some other companies called: Oneworld)

Did a check: www.oneworld.com doesn't show me that flight ... strange.

[ghady]

oh cool!

my friend is french-educated, so it'll be fine..

ill check it out, thanks!

[herrbert]

Let us know if it works out, as it could save a lot people a long trainride between the Provence/Cote d'Azur and Barcelona.

Another option would be to use Clickair, also from Marseille.