1st time in Europe - Rail or not to Rail
 

Spending a month in Europe - two weeks starting in Madrid, then Barcelona, then Paris, then London, then Chichester (UK).....return to Barcelona to board 2 week Med. cruise going to FRANCE: Nice, France; ITALY: Livorno/Florence, Naples, Venice, Rome; CROTIA: Dubrovnik; GREECE: Corfu. Traveling in June.

Flying between Madrid/Barcelona/Paris/London -- what are all the differences between rails, trains, undergrounds etc. Want to self transport off cruise ports and get around in cities. The 'rail' passes are confusing and seem very expensive. Have info on stations etc. for all areas - just do not understand all the different ways to acquire/pay/passes etc. Any info greatly appreciated.

Rails include anything that goes on rails; trains, underground, light rail, etc. Not much use as a description, really.

Trains usually describes aboveground (except for tunnels through mountains) things on rails (though you can refer to an Underground/Subway/Metro unit as a train), usually for longer distances than a subway/underground/metro (with the exception of commuter rail, which usually has a longer range than underground/subway/metro, but runs on set timetables, unlikes a u/s/m).

Light rail is a special subset of trains that runs like a u/s/m, without a set schedule, and for relatively short distances.


As for whether rail passes are expensive or not depends on what trains you are thinking of taking (trains are what you'll be using between those cities). Plug your itinerary into railsaver.com (check the box "only if it saves me money"). Some countries have very cheap trains, other very expensive ones. For train timetables use http://persoenlicherfahrplan.bahn.de...ry-p2w.exe/en?

Once you've looked at those, come back and ask if you've got questions, or if it says that passes won't save you money and need more information on buying point-to-point tickets (just a single ticket from one city to another). It's not hard, it's just a good bit of typing, with all the different methods.

Thank you very much and I see I need to clarify. I am flying between Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and London. Once I am on the cruise - getting off and getting to the inland cities is where I am confused. From Civitavecchia port to Rome can I take advantage of 'rail passes' or is it like the subway in NYC? Or like trains into Chicago from the suburbs? Same issue with Livorno to Florence and Villefranche to Nice. Do I get multi-country passes for this type of travel?

I'm no rail expert, but I don't think a rail pass is appropriate for what you mention, i.e., transport to and from cruise ship docks to various cities in various countries.

Second, I can't imagine there is a single correct answer that covers the situation in all of these places. People I know who did that used local taxis.

Oops, but the distances weren't far that they were covering. More to explore the local area where the ship docked.

I'm not entirely certain where Civitavecchia is in relation to Rome, but I can't imagine it's within the Rome metro system (which isn't particularly wide ranging). Your best bet will probably be a train, but for a train that short, there is absolutely no reason to buy a rail pass (if, as suze said, you'll just be going from cruise ports to inland cities, point-to-point will almost certainly be cheaper). Getting around within cities depends on the city; I'd make separate threads for each city you're interested in as there is so much complexity and variation (after searching for more information in the forums); I know for at least Paris and London there is a wealth of information already posted.

Civitavecchia is about one hour from Rome by rail. It is NOT on the Rome Metro system (too far away).

The RR station in Civitavecchia is about a ten-15 minute walk from the <b>entrance</b> to the port area in which your cruise ship will undoubtedly be docked further on.

Rail tickets to Rome are fairly inexpensive and service is frequent to and from. It would be a waste of money to get a rail pass which covers the coutries you will be visiting on the cruise vs. getting point-to-point tickets at the particular stops.

Livorno: the railroad station is much farther away from the port area than in the Civitavecchia situation. For Livorno, you'd be better off getting a taxi from the ship to the RR station. From there, for Florence, all the trains will travel through Pisa (about 15 minutes away) and you may even have to change there for a train to Florence; Pisa-Florence is again about one hour by rail with, again, frequent service.

I believe the train from Villefranche to Nice takes less than 10 minutes but I have no idea how far the port area is from the RR station.

As a child growing up in the North US my school group would often visit a local church that was part of the 'underground railway' from the Civil War days. To this day decades later I still have not found the entrance, stairs, escalator, or any other way to get down the 'underground railway' nor have I figured out how they dug a tunnel under the river and through the hill nearby.