georgina_allen_923

Hi Fodorites,

I am planning a trip with Mum and we are trying to book transportation from Montpellier (or any city within a few hours drive) to either Bologna or Venice. I have tried trains, rental cars and flights and the cheapest option I have found is a easyjet flight from Lyon to Venice for 100euro

Is this reasonable? Are there any sneaky options that I don't know about like renting a car to the French border, walking over the boarder to Italy and renting another car? Any budget sites you can recommend?

Thanks so much for your help, we are looking at travelling on the 30th April or 1st/2nd May

Sassafrass

Are you visiting Montpellier before your home exchange in Venice or sightseeing in that area? Will you be doing round trip back to Montpellier? It seems an odd, and not easy, connection from NZ. Anyway, try flights from Nice to Venice. They will run about $100.00 RT and days are limited. You also could take a train to Nice unless you wanted to do the drive and see a bit of Provence. If you could allow two or three days each way, that could be very nice. Do look at which airport you would be flying into. There is Venice Marco Polo - what you want, and Venice Treviso - not your best choice. I don't know all the cheap airlines within Europe- looked briefly at going from Marseille and did not find anything, but you might. If anything goes from Montpellier to Milan, Verona or Treviso, you could then get a train into Venice. Good luck. Hope others can help and let us know what you find. Overnight trains?

georgina_allen_923

Thanks for the reply. We have another house swap in Montpellier before the one in Venice, which is why we have a weird one way connection to make. I thought it would be easy to book trains but the websites don't seem to link trains between countries very well.

Thanks for the info about the Nice-Venice flights. I will try researching that, along with a series of local trains through Milan.

Sassafrass

OMG, what a fabulous time you will have in, not just one, but two fantastic areas. There is so much to do and see in both places. I had another thought. You will be only about 80 miles from Carcassonne. See what flies from there.

Pvoyageuse

Ryanair flies from Marseille to Treviso.

bvlenci

If you plan on renting a car as soon as you arrive, Treviso is not a bad choice for the airport. I suppose you are staying in a part of Venice where a car would not be a liability rather than a convenience.

dreamon

Amadeus.net is showing airfares from 209gbp Montpellier to Venice with one change. Barcelona to Venice from 77gbp. Toulouse to Venice from 114gbp. Marseille to Venice 62gbp. All 1st May.

Sassafrass

If I recall correctly, you are staying right in Venice. If so, a car will be an unnecessary and costly pain. Trains are easier and cheaper and take you city center to city center. If you are in a country area, that is different.

Flights from Nice to Venice Marco Polo were around 40 euros one way. You could take a train to Nice one day, visit Nice and catch the flight the next day. If you can get a decent flight from Marseille, that would be great, but I would try to fly either from Montpellier, then train to Venice, or train someplace and fly directly into Venice, Marco Polo. I would not want to be traveling at both ends of the flight or have stops in between.

While you are in Montpellier, do try to visit Aigues Mortes. Stay late and have dinner in Saint Louis Square.