Are the trains really this expensive?
Feb 21st, 2003, 10:27 AM
#1
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Are the trains really this expensive?
I've been reading every train post I can find, looking at the recommended sites, and though I've never thought myself mentally challenged, I may need to re-think. ;-) I'm planning a big birthday trip for the first 2 weeks in June. Flying into Rome, training it to Venice, then taking the overnight train to Paris. Seems fairly straightforward. HOWEVER, I'm having trouble with trying to price the overnight train portion of the trip. I'm looking at the double excelsior cabin (I know it's the priciest choice, but it IS the whole birthday blowout, and I'm lucky to get dh on the overnight train at all, let alone sleeping with with 4 other people and trudging down the hall to the wc). Bottom line: Do I really have to buy a Eurail 3 country pass (304euro/ea) plus the 98 euro fare for the excelsior? At 800 euro, it will cost almost as much as our airfare! (btw, europebyair.com gave me a price from venice to paris of $639/ea with a connection in Munich) What am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help!
Feb 21st, 2003, 10:40 AM
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Railsaver.com seems to be down at the moment, so I can't check the price, but here's SOME help:<BR><BR>If these are you're only 2 train trips, you probably don't want a Railpass.<BR><BR>If you can do without the toilet IN your compartment, you can get a PRIVATE sleeper for 2 for $76 each.
Feb 21st, 2003, 10:42 AM
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If these two train trips are the only ones you plan to take, there is absolutely no reason to buy a rail pass of any kind, let alone a 3 country pass. Or even if you plan to add a few samll daytrips via train.<BR><BR>You would buy a point to point ticket for your trip from Rome to Venice, and then another for the overnight train Venice to Paris.<BR><BR>Europebyair does not have such a thing as a flight directly from Venice to Paris (hover over Venice on their flight routes map; they do fly Rome-Venice), so it's not a good choice for this route. Volare airlines flies from Venice Marco Polo to Paris Beauvais for as little as 12.67E one way - check on applefares.com
Feb 21st, 2003, 10:47 AM
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Try germanwings.com - - you should be able to get the two legs you need, to get from Paris to Venice for under 150; maybe less.<BR><BR>And maybe this notion is too late to help you - - but I find it very important NEVER to lock in trans-atlantic travel "deals" without a thorough understanding of what the time/cost/means of the INTRA-Europe transportation will be.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>[email protected]<BR>
Feb 21st, 2003, 11:08 AM
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According to www.trenitalia.com and www.sncf.com, point-to-point tickets for the two of you from Rome to Venice and the double excelsior from Venice to Paris would be more like 600 euros than 800. You can certainly wait to buy the Rome-to-Venice tickets until you get to Rome; you might want to order the Venice-to-Paris tickets ahead through SNCF.
Feb 21st, 2003, 11:16 AM
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Wow! Flaneuse, that is almost the exact trip I'm leaving on for tomorrow. We are using a cheaper T2 cabin from Venice to Paris.<BR><BR>I would recommend buying the France'n'Italy Saverpass (First class $239 for 4 days in 2 months/Second Class $209 for 4 days in 2 months). Even if you don't use the pass for all 4 days you may find it cheaper. <BR><BR>We are adding a trip to Pompeii. We found this to be about $50 cheaper per person than buying point-to-point tickets.<BR><BR>One word of advice, book your overnight from Venice to Paris as early as possible. I was shocked when I found our first choice travel date for February was completely sold out! And this was booking 7 weeks in advance.<BR><BR>Whatever you do, have a great time!!!<BR><BR>And Happy Birthday!<BR>
Feb 21st, 2003, 11:33 AM
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Thank you all so much for your help! elberko, where do I find the 76 p/p for the private sleeper? Would you recommend I buy those tix ahead of time? (I'll have 8 days in Italy before I need to leave for Paris)<BR>jpm, Did you buy your France/Italy pass through raileurope.com, and if so, did you also book your tickets for the night train through this site?<BR>And Lesli, thanks for the info on applefares.com. What GREAT prices! <BR>
Feb 21st, 2003, 11:41 AM
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Do NOT buy passes from raileurope - there is a huge markup.<BR><BR>railsaver.com will allow you to figure out specifically what pass (if any) makes the most sense. They recommend purchasing from railconnection.com - I have not used them, but perhaps others will chime in here.
Feb 21st, 2003, 11:49 AM
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flaneuse-<BR><BR>www.euraide.de has the prices for various night trains, and you can buy the sleeper reservations there.<BR><BR>Raileurope charges the same for railpasses as everybody else, it's point-to-point tickets that they overcharge for.
Feb 21st, 2003, 11:58 AM
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Yes, I bought everything through raileurope.com. They get flamed occassionally but I was pleased with their service. And their customer service on the Phone was a very positive experience. I managed to get everything screwed-up and they worked it all out for me (including having to send back some original reservations and exchanging them for another night train - which they did with no charge).<BR><BR>Anyway, our night train for a T2 (double) from Venice to Paris was $82 each. I'm travelling with my 13-yo niece and wanted the security of a private sleeper.<BR><BR>This is the first time I have ever used the trains in Europe so it is going to be a new experience for me. Having said that, with my great expertise, I would recommend getting your sleeper reservations as far in advance as possible. I eagerly await others posting their experience on this as I admit I'm a newbie to train travel.<BR><BR>It took raileurope 3 days to get my tickets to me once I ordered them.<BR><BR>Oh yea, the night train (Venice - Paris) requires reservations. Try to order these the same time you order your tickets to avoid a seperate $15 delivery fee. <BR><BR>Rail Europe has online ordering, but everything is still done manually behind the scenes - so just because you order tickets/reservations for a particular day doesn't mean that they are available. Use their website for info/prices/routes but call them to place your order.
Feb 21st, 2003, 12:14 PM
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I admit, I got curious so I went to railconnect.com to see what price they would quote me. Using their itinerary engine it recommended a 1st Class ticket for me (even though I asked for 2nd class) and a 2nd class ticket for my niece - for a price of $187 more than I paid at Rail Europe. <BR><BR>I searched their website and could not find the France'N'Italy Saver Pass listed anywhere.<BR><BR>The moral, be sure to check out all the sites to determine where you will find the best deal.
Feb 21st, 2003, 12:29 PM
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It looks to me like raileurope does have the best deal in this situation. The euraide.de site says that the T2 sleeper costs 76E p/p PLUS a 1st or 2nd class railpass (plus their handling charge).<BR>Again, thanks for all the input on this. At least I have a better idea of what I'm doing (or trying to do). ;-)
Feb 21st, 2003, 01:32 PM
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I've bought railpasses from Raileurope and they were very helpful and efficient and do NOT mark them up at all. (I've never seen any variation on railpass prices, but I've only looked at a few sites.) Elberko is correct.
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