elmo218

Hello To All,

I am planning a family European trip for March 2006. The only problem is that we only have 12 days two of which are already lost to traveling.

We are going to fly into London, stay for two days. Then fly to Rome stay for 3 days. Then either drive or take a train towards the Emmental, Switzerland area for the rest of our trip. Then we fly out of Milan, back to Orlando, FL (via London) on the last day.

There are six of us going: My wife, teenage dauther, 4 year old daughter, My In-Laws and my self.

My dilema is how should we travel from Rome to Switzerland. We may want to make a couple of stops along the way. Therfore, I thought of renting a minivan. However, car rentals in Europe are expensive, or maybe I am not looking in the right places. The other option is to purchase a train pass that will allow us to make several stops along the way towards Switzerland (this is more appealing to me). If we have time, which I doubt we will, we may also enter into France.

Is there a Europe Rail Pass that would allow us to use the trains unlimited during a 5 day period for these three countries: Italy, Switzerland & France. If not at least Italy and Swtizerland.

Or should I forgo the train ride and get a one-way minivan rental to allow us to have the flexibility.

Any advice is greatly appreicated.

Have a great day.

Elvis

grimmy

I'm not an expert on train passes as we usually drive but I would think that rail passes for 6 would be more expensive than the rental and gas.
I also like the flexibility of driving.

Pilchard

Hi.

I'm afraid you will get many responses like mine, but I believe your itinerary is a bit too ambitious. I strongly encourage you to have a family meeting and rethink this. The short answer is that you are doing too much in too short a time. Fatigue will set in early and you may all grow quickly cranky unless you are all much more generous souls than I.

Without knowing exactly what your wishes are regarding sites to see, etc., I would suggest that you plan a trip wherein you sleep in no more than three beds in your 12 days. If there were only two of you, a four-bed trip would be okay, but with a group that size, mobility is going to be slower.

Good luck and B.V.

Intrepid1

To answer your question about passes the best place to go would be either RailEurope.com (simply yto find out what passes are available).

ALSO, go to www.railpass.com or www.railsaver.com and, if you know what it will be, input your proposed itinerary. This will give you a comparison of costs for passes vs. point-to-point tickets.

Have you considered taking a cheap flight from Rome to Switzerland either using an airline such as Helvetic from Rome to Zurich or EasyJet from Rome to Geneva and taking a train from there?

You can check budget flights at www.whichbudget.com or also use www.skyscanner.net

wliwl

I agree with previous poster. How could you only spend 2 days in London and three in Rome? It just isn't enough time to actually experience these great cities - especially traveling with a 4 yr old.

Also, the larger your group the harder it is to move around and be happy. Well, that is just my unsolicited opinion...

rex

Please see http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34598597

and

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34520252

Best wishes,

Rex

janis

This isn't an answer to what you are asking -- but I just have to put in my 2 ¢ worth.

I think this itinerary would be OK for someone traveling solo or maybe a young couple. the London bit is too short because the first day is usually a killer due to jet lag. But the basic itinerary would be OK.

BUT for a group of 6 with a small child, teenager and older folks - it is close to madness. Do you already have your tickets? If not, you could do Rome and Switzerland, OR just Switzerland instead. But you only have 10 days on the ground, 1 shot to jet lag and 2 others practically shot travelling between countries. You will actually only have about 7 days free for sightseeing.

Has everyone been to London before? if not 1.5 days is barely worth even going there . . . . .

janis

This isn't an answer to what you are asking -- but I just have to put in my 2 ¢ worth.

I think this itinerary would be OK for someone traveling solo or maybe a young couple. the London bit is too short because the first day is usually a killer due to jet lag. But the basic itinerary would be OK.

BUT for a group of 6 with a small child, teenager and older folks - it is close to madness. Do you already have your tickets? If not, you could do Rome and Switzerland, OR just Switzerland instead. But you only have 10 days on the ground, 1 shot to jet lag and 2 others practically shot travelling between countries. You will actually only have about 7 days free for sightseeing.

Has everyone been to London before? if not 1.5 days is barely worth even going . . . . .

janis

sorry about the double post -- not trying to pile on -- Honest

cparris

I think instead of going to Switzerland, I would rent a car and visit some other places in italy, ending up for your flight in Milan. It is often expensive to rent in one country and drop off in another (you should check). You won't see much of London in two days. You will be jet lagged. Are you staying there 2 nights or three? Rome has a tremendous amount of things to see. I would suggest 4 nights.

kleeblatt

I assume the OP has a reason to go to Emmental. It's a beautiful, hilly area dotted with farms. When people think of Emmental, they think of "traditional Swiss", with cheese, beautiful farm houses and "the way it used to be."

The last time I drove through that area, I saw a Berner Sennenhund pulling a wooden cart loaded with milk cans. A child was guiding the dog. It was a beautiful sight.

However, Emmental is not on the beaten path so you need time to rent a car and drive there, visit and drive back.

I have to agree with the other posts. Choose London or Rome and fly in and out of those places. Because of your child, I would choose London because of the Tower of London and the London Eye.

If you use the Swiss airlines, you can fly out of Heathrow and back. Their prices are very reasonable right now.

You might want to spend a night in Lucerne and rent a car from there. From Lucerne, you can visit the Rigi or go to the Tierpark in Goldau. Then you can rent a car and visit Emmental and Berne.

Patrick

I agree it's awfully ambitious. But I question the Rome segment. Is that flight part of your deal? I'd consider a couple nights in London (3 nights allows you two full days) if that's where your flight takes you, then fly to Switzerland (Easy Jet or someone else cheap) and do a Swiss Pass there, spending the bulk of your time there in perhaps three different locations. For a small supplement you can then take either of a couple wonderfully scenic train trips to Milan to fly home.