First point:. Buy your plane tickets so that you fly into your starting city--London-- and out of your ending city, whatever that is. This is known as multi-city or open-jaw ticket. It saves you a day of travel going back to your starting point.

Second, when you say you want yo save money, what do you mean by it? For 18 nights, what is your total lodgings budget?

The reason I ask is this: you have mentioned wanting to see scenic sights more than once. I'm not sure you should drop Switzerland. Give your dates, I would drop Rome and Florence. It will be pretty hot in both. And this edit would balance the city heavy trip you otherwise have.




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Is going with a professional tour company is better than going on our own? do you suggest any tour company if it is a better idea.

Maybe at this point in your planning and given the ground you wish to cover, seeing a travel agent who can expose you to many different professional tour options would be a good idea.

do you guys recommend any tour companies?

Organized tours will not save you money. A tour that covers three countries will be expensive and a blur.

On your own you could do:
Fly into London. 4 nights (3 full days) with ONE day trip
Train to Paris. 4 nights (3 full days) with ONE day trip (for Loire you probably need an organized day trip)
Fly to Venice. 2 nights (1 full day). Train to Florence 2 nights (1.5 days). Train to Rome. 3 nights (2.5 days). This is bare MINIMUM time in each place and assumes a lot of research ahead of time to understand local transportation, booking hotels in very good locations, etc. And NOT planning on going to things requiring long waiting lines or very time consuming (e.g. in Paris go look at the Eiffel Tower, don't plan to go up in it, don't go into the Louvre, etc.). If you are happy with this kind of trip it is doable. Your original posts indicated way more day trips, etc. This trip would be an initial "taste of" trip. If you want more in depth you need to drop another country.

two jet lagged days in London? Why not just one?

hello All, I am palnning to take Eurostar train from London Ebbsfleet to Paris Nord. I am getting a good price from this station, instead of St. Pancras to Paris Nord stn. The trian starts at 8:38am. how early i need to be there if i am travelling from Kings Cross or somewhere Holloway isligton to Ebbsfleet international stn? has anyone traveled on train from here to paris. is the commute from london city center to here is easy by taxi? or train. please advise.

That is pretty convoluted. since the easiest way to get to Ebbsfleet from central London is from . . . St Pancras. Islington/Holloway is a large area so exactly where will you be? But just using Highbury & Islington station -- you'd have to take the tube to St Pancras and a SE train from there (Not the Eurostar so in a different part of the station and quite a long walk).

Unless you are saving a LOT of ££ I don't think it is worth the effort. From Highbury/Islington the entire journey will take about 35 minutes and you will want to be at Ebbsfleet International by about 0745. The journey would be different from other tube stations.

we are four of us and i save $30 per person, so $120 total. how about a cab?

I would count on an hour and 15 minutes by taxi from Islington. If you're unlucky with traffic it could easily be 1,5 hours.
Unless it's on a weekend with lighter traffic, I really wouldn't do that. You risk missing your train if you are stuck in traffic.

Ebbsfleet is not in London but a long way out in Kent. I reckon a taxi will cost you more than you think you have saved. Even taking the train there will be expensive.

I'd not use Ebbsfleet to what you are trying to do. Too tricky and probably too expensive.

If your main interest is scenic beauty/Alpine meadows etc I would not drop Switzerland and Jungfrau area.

ok, thank you. Four of us travelling in trains between London-Paris-Zurich-Lucerne-Zermatt-Interlaken-Chur-Tinaro-Vennice-Florence-Rome.
May be at least 10 train trips total stay between these places. we are four of us. Is it a good idea to but four country eurorail pass? or point to point ticket. which way I save? Eurorail pass is valid in these four countries? please advise.

>>we are four of us and i save $30 per person, so $120 total. how about a cab?<<

A taxi would cost about as much as transatlantic airfare -- only a slight exaggeration. It would certainly cost ay least $120 (£90-ish). It is more than 25 miles and would likely take 80-90 minutes and with bad traffic could easily cost £100+. Just pay the extra $30 pp and take the Eurostar from St Pancras.

It's up to you to do the math and match point-to-point ticket prices for four people on each of those train journeys and compare the total to the total of rail passes. But generally speaking, rail passes aren't worth the money (or the hassle of arranging and paying extra for seat reservations on long-haul trips).

Instead of a Eurailpass I'd strongly consider looking at the Swiss Travel Pass for trains, lake boats, buses, trams and free entry to hundreds of sights. And buy discounted tickets for your other trips. the Swiss Travel Pass IMO would be great for you Swiss travels - hop on virtually any train anytime.

Check www.sbb.ch - Swiss Railway site for pass prices and maps of validity - cable cars are usually half-off as are trains to mountain tops. For help with discounted tickets for other trains check www.seat61.com.