12 days in Europe

[Eagle]

sarahbec,

Would Pisa be an easy stop going from Manarola

Pisa would be somewhat of a "detour" from Manarola, and given the very short time that wouldn't be my first choice for a town to visit in Tuscany.

One option you might consider would be to take the train from La Spezia Centrale to Pisa (one or two changes depending on which train you select). The trip is about 3 hours. That would allow you to spend one night in Tuscany and Siena is a fantastic city (you will definitely want to return!). You'll have to budget a bit extra to take a Taxi from the rail station up to the town (I believe there's a Bus, but Taxi is much easier).

From there you could take the train to Rome. That trip will take 3 - 3.5 hours, with one change usually in Chiusi. Again, Taxi to the station is a good choice.

Can I just walk right up to the station and by any of my tickets for where ever I want to go right before I need them, or do I need to buy them before hand?

I generally buy the tickets for my outgoing journey when I arrive in a particular city. Tickets are available either from automated ticket Kiosks, or at staffed ticket booths (the agents can generally speak some English). You might find it useful to have a look at www.roninrome.com for more specific information on buying tickets in Italy.

Regarding your question on the Swiss Pass, I'll have to give that some thought. It's after midnight, and I'm not thinking too clearly at this point. You might want to have a look at www.ricksteves.com/rail/ for more specific information on Railpasses. You can download a free PDF Rail Guide which will also provide lots of information (look in the lower right corner of the webpage).

Cheers!

[sarahbec]

I've made some changes to our itinerary due to your advice and I think it's looking good. It's still a bit crowded but I think it will be okay. I guess we'll see what we say when we get home!

Please don't bother about the Swiss Pass - I'm afraid I've taken too much of your time as it is. I'm sure it'll work out. It will be a huge adventures and a "live and learn" experience.

Again, thanks so very much for all the information!

[Eagle]

sarahbec,

Don't worry about "taking too much of my time". That's what we do here!

The website link I provided should answer a lot of your questions regarding travel with Railpasses, and rail travel in general.

With such a short trip, you'll have to plan carefully as any "live & learn variables" you encounter along the way could disrupt your whole schedule.

Cheers!

[sarahbec]

Okay, as long as I'm not being a bother.... here's our updated plan, with more detail.
I'm afraid we aren't allowing for any "mishaps" which will likely be a problem, although we're willing to change our plans or cut something out last minute if need be. While I'd like to have a "tight schedule" to start off with, we're pretty easy and will probably deviate from it some along the way.

We're planning on booking B&B's, but not hostels - from what I understand, we won't have a problem with no vacancies the last 2 weeks of April and would like to check them out before committing. Anyways, that will give us a bit more flexibility if we, say, miss a train or take the wrong one.

We'll be packing very light - just a backpack each, so luggage won't slow us down much - unless it's to wash some clothes.

That said...

Day 0 flight to Amsterdam (most arrive early in the morning the next day) I know, this is new as of the last itinerary, but I REALLY want to see the Kuekenhof gardens and I thought it might fit in since we cut some other things. (However, we may still end up cutting it out...In that case, we would probably move this day to Rome or do the day trip to Siena or Civita. Or maybe Brussels?...)

Day 1 Arrive AMS 8:00am. Take the train to Leiden, then the bus (or bike?) to Lisse. Spend the afternoon/evening there. Back to Leiden for the night.

Day 2 late morning train to Brugge. Do some sightseeing, walk around town.

Day 3 Brugge - more sightseeing, a couple museums, fish market in the morning. Perhaps a bus to the coast. (We aren't huge museum fans and we only have a couple we might want to go to - depends on what there is we'd rather do - like going to the coast? Do you know if the coast is nice there near Oostende? We LOVE the ocean/coast/beach, but would it be worth going to?)

Day 4 am train to Brussels. Have a look around the city. Stay the night there.

Day 5 Morning flight to Geneva. (I would really rather do the train - skip Geneva and go straight to Leysin - but I can't justify the 100 extra dollars each that it would take)
Train to Leysin. Night in Leysin.

Day 6 Afternoon train/etc. to Gimmelwald. Night Gimmelwald

Day 7 Gimmelwald - look around. Hike if there's not too much snow. Take the ride up the mountain.

Day 8 Interlaken to Manarola - a long "just travel" day. Should be beautiful scenery right?

Day 9 Hike the Cinque Terre. Find a gelato shop!

Day 10 Slow morning (hopefully ) Train to Rome. More gelato. Some sight seeing in the evening.

Day 11 Rome. Packed with sightseeing. I realize this is no time at all in Rome, but we had no time in Venice either, so...

Day 12 afternoon train to Venice.

Day 13 Just Venice

Day 14 Flight home.

Okay, say this was your first trip ever (with the knowledge you have now, of course ), what would you cut out to make it better?

I checked out the links you gave. The rail one was very helpful and I need to study it some more! Thanks.

[sarahbec]

Another question - Have you ever used Eurolines bus pass? Do you know if it would work for an itinerary like this instead of the train?

[Eagle]

sarahbec,

This still looks like a VERY busy Itinerary, but if there are no "complications" it should be feasible.

No, I haven't used a EuroLines Bus Pass, but it would be much slower than by train so it wouldn't be a good choice for an Itinerary like this. Bus travel is fine for shorter distances, but nothing compares to high speed trains such as the TGV for efficient travel.

I'll have a closer look at your latest Itinerary tomorrow.

[sarahbec]

Well, we purchased our airline tickets!! Now that the dates are set I really feel like I can pin things down. I made a couple changes and have a few questions if someone wouldn't mind answering. Thanks!

Day 0 Flight

Day 1 Arrive Amsterdam 8:00 Take the train to Haarlem

Day 2 Haarlem. Bike to Keukenhof gardens if the weather is good.

Day 3 train to Brugge

Day 4 Brugge

Day 5 Brussels

Day 6 Train to Leysin. I decided it would be worth it not to have to deal with the plane, plus we'll be able to see some of France through the train window. Question 1 - I looked on raileurope for point to point tickets from Brussels to Lausanne and find that it's cheaper to get multiple tickets rather than one straight through. Is that correct? Also, most trains going this route look like they go through Paris and then Geneva before going around the lake to Leysin. Is there a faster route that I'm not finding? How would you do this leg?

Day 7 Gimmelwald I'm leaning toward NOT getting a Swiss pass now. I don't know how I would figure out how much we would spent on cog rails and ferrys, but the three main train trips we'll be taking ( Geneva to Leysin, Leysin to Gimmelwald and Gimmelwald to the Italian border) add up to about half the price of the pass.
Does that sound like a good choice?

Day 8 train to Manarola

Day 9 Cinque Terre

Day 10 Perhaps Venice? I know Venice is badly flooded right now...would that be over by April? If Venice is having bad weather, we'll just pick a town in Tuscany (Siena or Lucca) and stay a night or two there or just make a couple day trips out of La Spezia or Rome to...somewhere.

Day 11 Rome (or town mentioned above, if not Venice)

Day 12 Rome

Day 13 Rome

Day 14 Flight out 11:00 am

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Eagle]

sarahbec,

I'll try to answer some of the questions regarding your current Itinerary.

I looked on raileurope for point to point tickets

Rail Europe is not the best place to look for ticket prices, as they tend to be somewhat overpriced. When possible, check the country-specific websites for "local" prices (ie: Deutsche Bahn for Germany, SNCF for France).

I'm not absolutely sure on the best way to get to Leysin, as it's an area I'm not familiar with. The bahn.de website lists a number of stations for Leysin, and I'm not sure which one you'll be going to? From Brussels to Geneve is fairly easy - for example, I found a train departing 08:15 from Bruxelles-Midi, arriving Geneve at 14:57 (time 6H:42M, 2 changes, reservations compulsory). It appear that the trip from Geneva to Leysin is about 1.5 hours or so?

If you haven't seen it already, you might enjoy reading wikitravel.org/en/Leysin or swissrailways.blogspot.com/2007/05/aigle-leysin-train-in-aigle.html for further information.

The trip from Leysin to Gimmelwald should be fairly easy, about 3 hours or so to Interlaken Ost (3 changes). Please advise if you need information on how to get from Interlaken Ost to Gimmelwald.

The trip from Interlaken Ost to Manarola will be a bit longer. For example, there's a train departing Interlaken at 07:29, arriving Manarola at 14:34 (time 7H:05M, 4 changes, reservations compulsory for some legs). That would still get you to the Cinque Terre fairly early in the day. However, if you decide on that train it means getting up at a ridiculously early hour to get from Gimmelwald to Interlaken. One option might be to spend your last night in Interlaken, instead of Gimmelwald. There are later trains of course, but the travel time with the others is somewhat longer.

Travelling from Manarola to Venice wouldn't be my first choice, as it's on the opposite side of the country. You might consider Florence instead, as it's a wonderful city, with lots of history. You could also consider Lucca, Siena or other "closer" locations.

or just make a couple day trips out of La Spezia or Rome to...somewhere.

Orvieto makes a good day trip out of Rome, as the trip is only about an hour each way. It's a beautiful "hill town" in Umbria, and has an interesting history. MTH can tell you about the "table cloth Church" (hopefully she spots this post). The ceiling frescoes in the end room (to the right of the altar) are incredible!

Happy travels!

[sarahbec]

Thank you, Eagle. The Leysin links you posted were very helpful!

Feb 24, 2010 0:21:52 GMT -5 Eagle said:

Please advise if you need information on how to get from Interlaken Ost to Gimmelwald.

Yes, if you don't mind, please let me know the best way to get to Gimmelwald. The cog rails are a bit confusing to me. Say we don't want to spend a lot of money on them - could we walk pretty much everywhere or is that ridiculous?

Venice, is going to be a hard one to give up, but it makes the most sense to stay on the western side.

[Eagle]

sarahbec,

Yes, if you don't mind, please let me know the best way to get to Gimmelwald

That's an easy trip. When you arrive at Interlaken Ost, go into the station and buy a ticket for Gimmelwald. That will include all modes of transport. If you're travelling with a Railpass that includes Switzerland, you may be able to get a slight discount (I'd have to check).

Board the local Berner Oberland train (probably blue & gold colour) for the first part of the trip. Have a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=95G1yLjShNw for some views of the trip. I recall something about having to board cars in the last part of the train to reach Lauterbrunnen, as the train "splits" at Zweilutscheinen and the other part goes to Grindelwald. I can't find definite information, so it would be a good idea to ask when you buy your tickets at Interlaken.

When you arrive at Lauterbrunnen, walk across the street and transfer to the Post Bus (bright yellow, you can't miss it). These are timed to arrive at the same time as the trains. The Bus will take you to Stechelberg (about 15-20 minutes) and the base of the Schilthornbahn Cable Car.

Walk up the steps and board the next Cable Car. The ride is steep and spectacular and Gimmelwald is the first stop. Some passengers may transfer to the next Cable Car, which goes to Murren. Disembark from the Cable Car and walk to your lodgings. The Mountain Hostel is only about a one minute walk (if that).

You may also want to have a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ru9JguLrY this video.

If you want to reach Murren (the next village), you can either walk up the narrow paved trail (about 30 minutes hike) or take the Cable Car (for a charge). Murren is larger and has a Co-Op Store as well as ATM's and other facilities. The trip to the top of the Schilthorn requires two more Cable Car links. It's a bit pricey but a wonderful trip, and if you go first thing in the morning you can have breakfast in one of the world's first revolving restaurants at Piz Gloria. One point to note is that there is another revolving restaurant, the Le Kuklos near Leysin in the Canton Vaud.

could we walk pretty much everywhere or is that ridiculous?

No, except for hiking in the area you won't be able to walk as the distances are too far. Be sure to allow for that in your budget. I believe the Berner Oberland train is a "conventional" train and not a cog-wheel design.


Cheers!

[sarahbec]

Thank you, Eagle! Those are all the questions I have for now. I'll let you know if I think of more.

[sarahbec]

Just wanted to thank you for all the great information and travel help! Anna and I spent 2 fabulous weeks in Europe and are now home trying to get back to reality.
We're working on posting about our adventures, so if you'd like to check it out our blog is - www.thesistersfour.blogspot.com .

Thanks again and happy travels!
Sarah

[Eagle]

sarahbec,

It's great to hear that you had such a fantastic trip! I'm really interested to have a look at your Blog (which I'll do after dinner) as I'm thinking of posting a Blog this year.

I depart in less than a week, so starting to get a bit nervous!

Cheers!

[sarahbec]

I hope you post a link to your blog on here if you do one. I'd love to know where you're going and how you're traveling.

I'm afraid I've caught the "travel bug" now...

Hope you have a wonderful trip!