GettingMarried2014

Hi everyone, my husband and I plan on packing throughout Europe for about 4 weeks this summer. Tickers are bought, hotels are booked, we are also going on a few private tours. We are just stuck on figuring out how to get around. We have not purchased any rail passes and I am getting a little scared about the process. Would you all mind helping me out a bit?

My main 4 questions are as follows
1) What type of passes do I need to purchase? I am totally unfamiliar w/ public transportation in Europe. What should I purchase right now? - websites and names of train stations would be great!
2) Which passes can I use to travel from city to city (Rome-Florence-Venice-Paris) and which ones can I use within each city? do I have to purchase DIFFERENT passes?
3) Should we purchase a Eurail pass?
4) I would love a list of at least 1-2 great places to eat in each city, especially in Rome & Paris.

Here's our itinerary

Wed Jun 25 -- Rome

Thursday June 26 -- Rome

Friday June 27 -- Rome

Saturday June 28 -- Rome

Sunday June 29 -- Rome

Monday June 30 -- Rome

Tuesday July 1 -- Florence

Wednesday July 2 -- Florence

Thursday July 3 -- Florence

Friday July 4 -- Florence

Saturday July 5 -- ** NEED TO TRAVEL TO Venice

Sunday July 6 -- Venice

Monday July 7 -- Venice

Tuesday July 8 -- ** NEED TO TRAVEL TO Paris

Wednesday July 9 -- Paris

Thursday July 10 -- Paris

Friday July 11 -- ** NEED TO TRAVEL TO Versailles

Saturday July 12 -- Paris

Sunday July 13 -- Paris

Monday July 14 -- Paris

Tuesday July 15 -- **NEED TO TRAVEL TO LONDON

Wednesday July 16 -- London

Thursday July 17 -- London

Friday July 18 -- London

Saturday July 19 -- London

Sunday July 20 -- London

Monday July 21 -- HOME

Thank you all ahead of time for the help!

PalenQ

) What type of passes do I need to purchase? I am totally unfamiliar w/ public transportation in Europe. What should I purchase right now? - websites and names of train stations would be great!>

Ok web sites that I find very informative: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

I do not think you will realize the benefit of a Eurailpass but maybe if your are going first class, IME of decades of European train riding a much more relaxed ride, especially for those with typically too much luggage - easier by far IME to stow in first class - often lots of empty seats nearby IME to put them on and seats are bigger, more empty seats - all in all a more relaxed ride and if you want flexibility to chose what trains you will take once there then that and first-class may mean a France-Italy Railpass (not a classical Eurailpass) could well save you money - but

if you are going on the overnight train Venice to Paris railpasses are not valid so if you are taking the day time link involving high-speed (nearly 190 mph) TGV trains then yes the pass in first class will save money and 2nd class too perhaps if you want flexibility to chose which trains to take once there.

If you do not desire flexibility and wish to virtually lock your trains in stone weeks or months in advance you can try to get the limited in number on each train discounted tickets - a series of them would be the cheapest way to do that by train, especially if you end up flying Venice to Paris like many will recommend.

Discounted tickets - www.trenitalia.com is the official site of the Italian Railways have restrictions on changes and refunds so read the conditions first - they may not be changeable at all nor refundable, depending on the discounted fare level you get. Plus you can spend hours tracking down these fares and getting a rather flummoxing to many trenitalia.com to work for foreigners.

nytraveler

Transit systems within each city are individual and have nothing to do with national or multi-national train passes. You would have to buy individual passes for each city - depending on how much you would use public transit versus walking or taxis. In Venice especially, which is so small, you may want to walk mostly, rather than use the bus boats.

From your itinerary it doesn't look like a pass will do you much good. For the trip from Paris to London you should buy tickets for the Eurostar now - since, like airlines the price increased the closer you get to travel date - and the more popular trains cost more than those at inconvenient times.

Trains from Rome to Florence and on to Rome run very frequently. You may get discounts by buying in advance for the high speed train - if you are able to commit to specific times at this point. If you want flexibility you can buy tickets once you get there = but will pay more (but still less than an Italian rail pass.)

From Venice to Paris is a very long trip - so you might want to consider flying.

As for great places to eat - what is your specific budget - in euros or pounds per person - there's no point in giving you recos for a great restaurant that's $200 per person if you want to stick with a budget of $50.

RonZ

Roma-Firenze-Venezia, just go to the Trenitalia web site, choose the non-registration option and buy your train tickets up to 120 days in advance. At the station, look for the train number on the departure board.

Venice -Paris, fly Easyjet. Go to skyscanner.com.

Versailles, see any Paris guide book.

Paris-London take the Eurostar. Tickets on

http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/

Country: Antartica

StCirq

Don't use http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/ to book French trains. In all likelihood it won't accept your credit card.

Use www.capitainetrain.com - same schedules and prices as the SNCF site. Buy your tickets 3 months out from your date of travel for the cheapest prices.

RonZ

Oh, on sncf tickets go on sale 90 days in advance.

StCirq

Same thing on capitainetrain.com. And it's 3 months, not 90 days (they can be different).

janisj

You are leaving in just 3 weeks -- most likely all the cheapest tickets have sold out. You should take trains in Italy, fly from Venice to Paris (check out easyJet) and take the Eurostar from Paris to London. Book you Venice/Paris flight and the Eurostar immediately to get as good a deal as you possibly can.

In Paris - buy a carnet (book of tickets) for the Metro. In London buy Oyster cards for the tube and buses.

In London - where you are staying and which airport you are using will part;y determine the best option for getting to the airport.

GettingMarried2014

Alright, thank you so much! okay in regards to eating out. I would like for us to go to ONE real nice place in Rome, Venice, and Paris. I guess our budget would be $150 per person -- although I would also love some recommendations of small bistros and bars that are MUCH cheaper, we love street food!

I will also look into flying from Venice to Paris

Oh I also forgot to mention that we will actually not need transportation from Rome to Florence because we have hired a car that will take us to various cities including Pisa before we get to Florence. It's costing a pretty penny but my friends have used the same company before and really enjoyed it.

Okay, I have a few more questions

1) To get from Florence to Venice - without having to lock in a time that we're leaving - what exact website do I use? or do I just go to the train station on the day of? What train station should we use to leave Florence and what train station should we arrive in when we get to Venice?

2) Same question as above but about getting from Paris to Versailles? which train stations should we use?

3) What are some of the best apps or things that I can electronically download to help me?

4) although we're taking a few private tours in each city, are there any other good itineraries that you guys recommend? We want to do some fun adventurous things.

5) I have an AT&T phone that is NOT unlocked. Should I switch to the global data package plan for the few weeks when we are overseas? or should I spend $40 to get my phone unlocked so that I can purchase SIM card when we're there? My husband has a phone that does NOT have a SIM card, so will he be able to use his phone? He network carrier is Sprint.

thanks again!

JAMH

"2) Same question as above but about getting from Paris to Versailles? which train stations should we use? " You will take the RER C. The RER is the suburban train system and each line makes a few stops in Paris. You will have to get to an RER station. Here is a link to step by step instructions for taking the train to Versailles. http://parisbytrain.com/paris-to-cha...lles-by-train/

"3) What are some of the best apps or things that I can electronically download to help me?" For Paris for using mass transit, try downloading the RATP app. It provides mass transit directions, etc.

"My husband has a phone that does NOT have a SIM card, so will he be able to use his phone?" Use his phone for what. To access the internet via wi-fi networks? Yes, if networks are available and he has a smart phone. As to phone service, he should call Sprint customer service.

Sarastro

I would strongly consider flying to Paris, ORY is my preferred airport. When you arrive, purchase a Navigo Découverte pass. The pass card will cost 5€ and you will need passport sized photo of yourself. The base (zone 1-2) fare is 20.40€, good for all of your travel within Paris from Tuesday when you arrive to the following Sunday. For 34.40€ you could include trans from the airports (some restrictions on ORY) and Versailles.

To reach London, look at the Eurostar which departs from Gare du Nord:
www.eurostar.com
www.capitainetrain.com

At this late date, train tickets will cost more as most of the discounted fares will already be sold. I would not wait to purchase any required train tickets.

dwdvagamundo

1) If you're just winging it, I'd go the train station (Santa Maria Novella) the day before you want to travel and buy the tix.
You'd go to Santa Lucia in Venice.

4) I'd use this forum and go to each of the countries you're going to visit and then find posts where others have asked similar questions. E.g. Europe Forum. Country "Italy" then just read through the questions.

5) I use ATT and get a month's worth of global roaming (international calling) and a month of data roaming-I get 120 MB. I've found this is about as cost-effective as anything. I buy them about a week ahead of when I'm going to leave. You have to subscribe for at least a month. I also use wi-fi when possible and hotel computers if they're free. This usually works out so that I only use data roaming for my Google Maps application.

In regard to your question re restaurants, this Fodor's website has links to good restaurants in the major cities, as does the Michelin website. For the length of time you'll be gone, I'd advise you to purchase and carry at least one good guidebook for each city (get one for Italy for the three cities in Italy). We usually buy a new (different) guidebook every time we go. The restaurant and hotel recommendations get out-of-date, but the "must-see" attractions stay pretty much the same. Then we have some book shelves full of our travel memories.

bvlenci

If you get your phone unlocked, you would be able to get a TIM Welcome plan in Italy, a new plan just for tourists, for a total cost of €30 (about $40), which includes €10 for the SIM card and €20 for the plan, which is good for one month and can't be renewed. This would allow you 200 minutes of phone calls, both within Italy and to the US and many other countries, as well as 2 gb of data. It doesn't cover text messages. You could use this plan to tether your husband's phone, which means that your phone could serve as a wifi point for your husband's phone, so he could be connected even when he can't find a wifi point.

Then, for when you're in France and England, you could either get a new SIM card in those countries, or you could activate TIM's roaming plan, TIM in Viaggio Pass, which costs €10 for one week, and gives you 250 minutes of talk time, for calls to anywhere in Europe or the US, plus 250 text messages (to the same area), and 500 mb of data. This plan would have to be renewed at the end of the week if you wanted to continue using it. You can do this by sending a free SMS to their customer service number. If you used this plan for 2 weeks, that would be another €20 (about $26).

So you can see that your total costs would be $40 for unlocking your phone, plus about $40 for the SIM card and TIM Welcome plan. If you wanted to use TIM's roaming plan (TIM in Viaggio Pass) for the two weeks you'll be outside of Italy, that would be about another $26, for a total cost of about $106. It would cover all your calls to anywhere within Europe and the US, and give you enough data for your phones for the whole trip. If AT&T has a plan cheaper than that, you should get that. However, be aware that 128 mb is nothing at all and can easily be used up in a jiffy unless you keep data services turned off except when you really need them and use wifi wherever possible. TIM Welcome has 2 gb, which is about 15 times as much as AT&T's data plan. Of course, if you don't use your phone much for data services, 128 mb might be enough.

I've used the TIM in Viaggio Pass plan in London; I had looked into getting a SIM card there, because they're usually free, but I couldn't find a plan that would have given me calls and data that would have cost less than the €10 the Tim in Viaggio Pass cost. The last time I was in Paris, this plan didn't exist, but I used a previous TIM roaming plan there. I really don't know if there are French plans for talk and data that would cost less than the TIM in Viaggio Pass plan.

Public wifi points are much more available in Paris and London (especially London) than they are in Italy.

TIM has another roaming plan if you don't need much data, where you pay as you go for calls, and pay €3 per day (only when you actually use it) for data. This might be cheaper if you used data only once or twice a week. This plan is called TIM in Viaggio Full. Calls within Europe and the US cost 16 cents a minute, with a 16-cent connection charge, charged against remaining credit on your SIM card. If you activate TIM in Viaggio Pass for your first week, and don't renew it, your fallback plan will be TIM in Viaggio Full.

You can activate TIM in Viaggio Pass when you first buy the SIM card. The week begins when you first use the phone outside of Italy, either for a call or data connection. If you think you want to use the pay-as-you-go version after the week is up, make sure you have enough credit on the SIM card to pay for additional usage. SIM cards come with €5 initial credit; you might want to add another €5 when you buy the card.

denisea

I'll take a stab at Paris and Rome dining with the understanding that I don't know where you are staying or your budget.

In Rome, we loved Glass. For something less pricey consider La Gensola. For wonderful pizza try the bakeries in Campo die Fiori. Both Roscioli and Forno are terrific and inexpensive.

In Paris, Verjus offers a very reasonable prix fixe menu- very creative and wonderful food. The wine bar upstairs is also nice. You can always visit one of the neighborhood markets for cheeses, fruits, bread, olives and have a picnic in Luxembourg Gardens. Plenty of places to grab a crepe and that works for me. Cafe Constant is a great option, as well. We always enjoy Reed--small, charming and delicious.

ssander

City Transport:

Rome, Paris and London all have 7-day travel passes. However, while Rome and London passes are good for any seven consecutive days, the Paris pass only works from Mon-Sun.

ROME:

PARIS: My own experience is that your Tue arrival in Paris would make it worthwhile...but that's just me...we use the buses and Metro a lot when in Paris. Then use a carnet (or individual tickets) for Mon & Tue.

LONDON: You may want to take advantage of the 2-for-1 coupons available in London for train riders -- even if you are not arriving by train, you can buy your 7-day travel card at a train station and that will qualify you. You'll save a bundle.

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

(Search this forum for specific info on how it works...but it's really easy.)

SS

ssander

Oops...accidentally submitted before finished...

ROME: Rome is very, very walkable...you might not need a 7-day pass there. Make that decision after you have your hotel location set and a rough idea of what sights you want to see.

SS