Looking for advice, please.
Jun 9th, 2015, 08:29 PM
#1
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Looking for advice, please.
My sister and I will be traveling to Europe in October... and we are hoping someone can give us the best advice about the smartest ways to travel, stay, tour, etc. I will be 66 by then, and she is 59. We will stay in Rome for a week (and the hotel is already paid.) The second week is not figured out yet. I am hoping that we can see Neuschwanstein Castle, and visit Salsburg and Munich, and then we will fly out of Zurich to return home.
Is it best to purchase reserved seats on the train? From what I've seen in articles, we would have to get a pass for 4 countries - and for 5 days. Or would it be better to purchase individual tickets?
How much can we really do in a week? And what would you recommend above all?
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for any assistance you can give us!
Is it best to purchase reserved seats on the train? From what I've seen in articles, we would have to get a pass for 4 countries - and for 5 days. Or would it be better to purchase individual tickets?
How much can we really do in a week? And what would you recommend above all?
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for any assistance you can give us!
Jun 9th, 2015, 08:58 PM
#2
Train tickets (except for regional trains) are like air tickets. Cheaper the earlier you buy them. Whether a pass or individual tickets would be a better deal depends entirely on your itinerary - you need to price it both ways.
For all the info you need on trains in Europe, see http://www.seat61.com/index.htm
For all the info you need on trains in Europe, see http://www.seat61.com/index.htm
Jun 9th, 2015, 09:30 PM
#3
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"The second week is not figured out yet" indicates this would be a two-week trip. I am afraid the most useful advice on "the smartest ways to travel" would no longer be relevant to you. If you look at your destinations, you are connecting two clusters very far away - Rome and Southern Germany/middle Austria, then whip over to Zurich to come home, all in one week.
If you feed your itinerary, for example, Rome to Salzburg into www.bahn.com to see the train info, you find the trip takes around 10 hours! So you might ask what about the night train? There aren't many night trains left. There is a 9:09pm night train leaving Venice arriving in Salzburg at 4:09am. Do you really want to arrive at 4am in the morning?
So if you insist on keeping your itinerary as outlined, you would probably want to fly from Rome to Munich.
Another way, which does not seem to be an option anymore, is to make your way slowly northwards in Italy instead of spending all the time in Rome. For example, Verona to Salzburg would be 6 hours by train. If you were returning home from Munich instead of Zurich, it would have been even easier. If you made your way up to Milan, then Milan to Zurich is only 4.5 hours. However, I realize that Zurich seem to offer better airfares.
If you fly between Italy and Germany, and if Rome is the only Italian destination, you are not even taking any long distance train in Italy. No point to point ticket, no pass. You just need some kind of Rome city transit pass.
For Germany, you might look at regional offers, http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/pr...overview.shtml instead of familiar pass. I do use a German rail pass, but only on trips I make extensive use of ICE highspeed trains leaving early in the morning. Your itinerary does not involve ICE trains. And if you get an offer like the Bayern-ticket, you can even travel to Salzburg http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm .
This leaves Salzburg-Zurich as the remaining segment. And for one shot trip, you buy a point to point ticket. This is a long trip, so you would probably want to use a Railjet train. If you look at www.oebb.at/en, you will find that the normal price for no-change train for this segment is about 98EU and advance ticket on some RJ trains are about 39EU. Munich to Zurich would be 78EU normal price and 39EU advanced. If you look at www.bahn.com, a bus is actually faster and cheaper (if booked ahead) than the train. But you cannot walk around on a bus like a train.
If you feed your itinerary, for example, Rome to Salzburg into www.bahn.com to see the train info, you find the trip takes around 10 hours! So you might ask what about the night train? There aren't many night trains left. There is a 9:09pm night train leaving Venice arriving in Salzburg at 4:09am. Do you really want to arrive at 4am in the morning?
So if you insist on keeping your itinerary as outlined, you would probably want to fly from Rome to Munich.
Another way, which does not seem to be an option anymore, is to make your way slowly northwards in Italy instead of spending all the time in Rome. For example, Verona to Salzburg would be 6 hours by train. If you were returning home from Munich instead of Zurich, it would have been even easier. If you made your way up to Milan, then Milan to Zurich is only 4.5 hours. However, I realize that Zurich seem to offer better airfares.
If you fly between Italy and Germany, and if Rome is the only Italian destination, you are not even taking any long distance train in Italy. No point to point ticket, no pass. You just need some kind of Rome city transit pass.
For Germany, you might look at regional offers, http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/pr...overview.shtml instead of familiar pass. I do use a German rail pass, but only on trips I make extensive use of ICE highspeed trains leaving early in the morning. Your itinerary does not involve ICE trains. And if you get an offer like the Bayern-ticket, you can even travel to Salzburg http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm .
This leaves Salzburg-Zurich as the remaining segment. And for one shot trip, you buy a point to point ticket. This is a long trip, so you would probably want to use a Railjet train. If you look at www.oebb.at/en, you will find that the normal price for no-change train for this segment is about 98EU and advance ticket on some RJ trains are about 39EU. Munich to Zurich would be 78EU normal price and 39EU advanced. If you look at www.bahn.com, a bus is actually faster and cheaper (if booked ahead) than the train. But you cannot walk around on a bus like a train.
Jun 10th, 2015, 01:08 AM
#4
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Or there is the lovely Rome to Munich City Night Line (CNL) train departing at 20:20 and arriving in Munich at 06:33, a 10 hour overnight train with one change at 21:51 in Florence. From Munich take whatever train you want to Salzburg - they leave every 30 minutes and take 1.5 hours.
A couple of nights in Salzburg then back to Munich for 2 or 3 nights leaves you with a 4 hour train or bus ride to Zurich for 1 or 2 nights.Alternately, if that is too much moving in too short a time, you could consider staying in Munich for 4 nights and visiting Salzburg and Neuschwanstein as day trips.
Something probably has to give if you need to leave from Zurich, which is not that interesting. If your goal was to see the Swiss Alps, you won't get to from Zurich.
A rail pass is not necessary for this fairly straight forward and brief itinerary.
A couple of nights in Salzburg then back to Munich for 2 or 3 nights leaves you with a 4 hour train or bus ride to Zurich for 1 or 2 nights.Alternately, if that is too much moving in too short a time, you could consider staying in Munich for 4 nights and visiting Salzburg and Neuschwanstein as day trips.
Something probably has to give if you need to leave from Zurich, which is not that interesting. If your goal was to see the Swiss Alps, you won't get to from Zurich.
A rail pass is not necessary for this fairly straight forward and brief itinerary.
Jun 10th, 2015, 02:51 AM
#5
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I would bag Zurich and fly home from Munich to save the extra travel time and circling back.
I don't see why you need a multi-country pass but you might want to look at the bavaria pass depending on what your final itinerary looks like.
I don't see why you need a multi-country pass but you might want to look at the bavaria pass depending on what your final itinerary looks like.
Jun 10th, 2015, 11:12 AM
#6
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In one week hard to imagine enough train rides to make a pass pay off - maybe say take the night train Rome to Munich or a long day slog and buy discounted tickets at www.bahn.de/en - German Railways official site - but no way would you realize the value of a pass.
For a lot of good stuff on planning the train part check www.seat61.com - good advice on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.
one can easily see Newuschwanstein Castle (train to Fussen from Munich - day trip or stay the night) - Salzburg - few hour train ride away again day trip or overnight and time for Munich - short day trip to Dachau perhaps in Munich suburbs.
For a lot of good stuff on planning the train part check www.seat61.com - good advice on discounted tickets; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.
one can easily see Newuschwanstein Castle (train to Fussen from Munich - day trip or stay the night) - Salzburg - few hour train ride away again day trip or overnight and time for Munich - short day trip to Dachau perhaps in Munich suburbs.
Jun 10th, 2015, 12:44 PM
#7
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I thank you all so much! Your responses are all so helpful!
I didn't mention that we planned to do two day trips during the week in Rome... going to Florence and also to Assisi. But it still sounds like getting passes are not needed. Okay. Now I need to check out the sites that you all recommended. I will also check on changing our plane tickets to leave Zurich out. Thank you again - so very much!
I didn't mention that we planned to do two day trips during the week in Rome... going to Florence and also to Assisi. But it still sounds like getting passes are not needed. Okay. Now I need to check out the sites that you all recommended. I will also check on changing our plane tickets to leave Zurich out. Thank you again - so very much!
Jun 20th, 2015, 11:20 AM
#8
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Okay... We will fly from Rome to Munich. I am looking at day-trip tours out of Munich - for Salzburg, and for castles.
I checked into changing our tickets to leave Zurich out, but the change is too expensive. So we are stuck with going to Zurich.
Anyone have good advice about where to stay in Munich? Looking for inexpensive, but in a good area.
I checked into changing our tickets to leave Zurich out, but the change is too expensive. So we are stuck with going to Zurich.
Anyone have good advice about where to stay in Munich? Looking for inexpensive, but in a good area.
Jun 20th, 2015, 11:51 AM
#9
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Zurich is a handsome city if you take the time to see the right parts of it. You should just fly there.
http://www.burbs2abroad.com/wp-conte...-Zurich-42.jpg
You can visit "the other Southern Germany" from there. It's quite lovely around Lake Constance, which borders Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a destination which is not nearly as far from Zurich as your other destinations; N'stein is a fake castle anyway:
Meersburg - which has its own (real) castle, btw: http://www.brodyaga.com/pages/photos...aga.com%29.jpg
Near Meersburg is Lindau, a gorgeous island town:
http://www.inselwache.de/assets/images/Bild_Lindau.jpg
Cruise from Lindau or Meersburg to other lakeside towns, like Konstanz: http://www.lindau-tourismus.de/wp-co...er_900x600.jpg
In between Lake Constance and Zurich check out traditional Appenzell:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iQJXlI7lmz...Appenzell2.jpg
Lake Constance map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...t_Bodensee.png
http://www.burbs2abroad.com/wp-conte...-Zurich-42.jpg
You can visit "the other Southern Germany" from there. It's quite lovely around Lake Constance, which borders Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a destination which is not nearly as far from Zurich as your other destinations; N'stein is a fake castle anyway:
Meersburg - which has its own (real) castle, btw: http://www.brodyaga.com/pages/photos...aga.com%29.jpg
Near Meersburg is Lindau, a gorgeous island town:
http://www.inselwache.de/assets/images/Bild_Lindau.jpg
Cruise from Lindau or Meersburg to other lakeside towns, like Konstanz: http://www.lindau-tourismus.de/wp-co...er_900x600.jpg
In between Lake Constance and Zurich check out traditional Appenzell:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iQJXlI7lmz...Appenzell2.jpg
Lake Constance map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...t_Bodensee.png
Jun 21st, 2015, 07:37 AM
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Jun 23rd, 2015, 02:30 PM
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We have stayed at the Uhland mentioned above and we liked the hotel. It is in a quiet neighborhood very near the Oktoberfest grounds and within a 20-25 minute walk to Marienplatz (the center of town). We usually stay in one of the dozens and dozens of hotels in the train station area (10 minutes walk to Marienplatz). You can find hotels of all classes and all prices in the Bahnhof area. We like the Drei Lowen (3 stars) or if you want a little fancier La Maridien, also near the train station, is either 4 or 5 stars and priced a little higher.
The Platzl Hotel is a little bit higher and is right smack in the middle of Munich, across from the HofbrauHaus.
The Platzl Hotel is a little bit higher and is right smack in the middle of Munich, across from the HofbrauHaus.
Jun 23rd, 2015, 07:35 PM
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you can do a day trip to Salzburg from Munich by train. The train takes about an hour and a half each way and they run frequently. You can see nearly all of the main sights in the old town of Salzburg in a day.
Jun 24th, 2015, 11:53 AM
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If you get the Bavaria Pass - sold at any train station then you and several folks could all travel to Salzburg for a grand total of about 30 euros - not p.p. but for the whole group - you do need to use regional trains however which would take up to an hour longer, cutting down on time in Salzburg but huge savings even over discounted fares on www.bahn.de/en - the German Railways web site with deep discounted tickets available but they are train-specific and can't be changed.
