We are going from Garmish, Germany to Orviete, Italy. Can someone tell me the best (ie least expensive) way to get from one to the other. We are not doing a eurail pass because it seems to be a waste of money from what I see. The only other time we need trains are to travel to Rome. We only need that one trip of about 120 miles. Do the trains run inter country? Rent a car? (we are a party of 4 with luggage!) What price would I expect?

Do you mean Orvieto, not Orviete? Check www.bahn.de (German rail website) for schedules. It'll take you 12+ hrs by train, and require 1, 2, or even 3 connections - it's not a straightforward route since passing through the Alps at 2 points - Garmish to Innsbruck, then Innsbruck on to Italy.

Yes, trains run inter country - even inter continental if you wish.

The simplest route would be an overnight direct train departing Innsbruck at 11pm.

When will you be doing this trip? On Dec. 11, 2010 the timetables of all European train services will be adjusted. Some times on some routes will change, others not.

So keep that in mind when you look things up, on the www.bahn.de website J62 gave you (which is the German train system), or on the Italian one - www.ferroviedellostato.it - or on the Belgian one that's quite useful for all of Europe and sometimes easier to understand - http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...ld=IA&L=profi&.

If your trip is for next year, you can input a date before Dec. 11 and at least see what's available.

Trains run across borders, seamlessly - a train from Germany to Italy may be composed of some carriages of German origin (where the multi-lingual signs begin with the German version), or you might be boarding an Italian carriage, or maybe even one that is based in Austria - that's half the fun.

On this route you will need to book and you will get reserved seats, whether you pick 2nd class (cheaper and perfectly adequate in terms of comfort) or 1st class (extra plush and wider seats, usually quieter and "more dignified").

Input Garmisch-Partenkirchen (the full name) and Orvieto (o at the end not e).

As it happens, both places are not major railway hubs, a bit out of the way, so some changes of trains en route will be inevitable. But unless you have way too much luggage to carry, switching trains is not usually a big deal.

There is currently a pretty good connection that goes like this:

At 09:17 you take the bus SEV from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Seefeld in Tirol where you arrive at 10:05. At 10:16 you leave from Seefeld on the S5 train (regional light-rail) to Innsbruck Hbf (arr. 10:56 on track 22).

You walk to track 3 and, at 11:27, you leave on a EuroCity train EC85 for Bologna Centrale where you arrive at 16:36.

Now you have two options - and you will have to decide at the time of booking since you have to travel on the train (carriage number / seat number) that is printed on your ticket:

Either take the direct train from Bologna to Orvieto, lvg. Bologna Centrale at 17:18 (IC InterCity 597) and arrive in Orvieto at 20:11.

Or take one that gets into Orvieto earlier but requires one more switch: Lvg. Bologna Centrale at 16:47 (the faster ES EuroStar 9557) arr Firenze Campo di Marte 17:23, lvg. Firenze Campo di Marte on IC 595 at 17:57, arr. Orvieto at 19:33.

Now this is just one I picked to give you a sense of what's possible. Find your way around the timetable websites above, and you'll soon get the hang of it. A good travel agent may be able to book this for you, but be aware that the company that often gets involved in this, Raileurope (a promotional North American unit of combined French and Swiss ownership) tends to mark up prices and offer fewer choices - maybe somone else might be better for you. Or see if you can book it directly yourself, on the www.bahn.de website.

Hope this helps.

Or you can just wait until you get to G-P and purchase tickets there.

True, but there could be savings in buying in advance.

Just drove that way a few weeks ago. Not again. It seemed that there was construction every 10km. As a driver I couldn't see much scenery either. It was about 38 Euro in tolls. And many, many trucks.

yes i did mean orvieto...thank you all so very much...i didn't know it would be that involved but ...wow...italy has been the big hassle fo the trip. Germany was so easy! We considered driving over to italy, then taking trains... we have a while to prepare, so I will check all of the thing DalaiLlama suggestd.

Michele - allow me to encourage you not to look at this as being a hassle. It's simply a connection between two out-of-the-way locations, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Orvieto, think going from Aspen, CO to Sedona, AZ, both famously well known but neither located on a major route... At least Orvieto is on the main train line.

This leg of your trip offers you many chances at making the most of it - rethink this part of the trip in terms of "Do I really have to make it in one day?" and "Where could I stop along the way that I haven't been?". Suddenly there's a whole lot of opportunities.

Two hours out of Innsbruck trains stop in Bolzano. A magical mountain region! Maybe interrupt the journey?

Bologna? A great place.

Have you seen the byzantine mosaics in Ravenna? Well worth a quick detour. It's just over an hour by train from Bologna, and except for one (Sant' Apollinare In Classe - by bus) you can walk to the three mosaics locations from the train station. Look them up, if you haven't seen them, they'll enchant you! This is just one of the many sites where you can catch a glimpse: www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/ravenna

Or Florence - the train I mentioned gets in at Campo di Marte, on the opposite side of the old center from the "other" station S.M.N., not a problem to get into the center, by bus or taxi or even on foot.

Enjoy!

Fodors allows no edits/additions, so here is another post: Let me add a practicality about interrupting the journey. Unfortunately you have to take into account the fact that trains in Italy (the faster inter-city ones) come with mandatory seat reservations - you have to take the train printed on your ticket and sit in the assigned carriage on the assigned seat, just like on most airlines. (This is just like in France, but contrary to Switzerland for example).

So plan you trip and book the tickets with that in mind, you can't at the last minute change your plans. But you can certainly wait to buy a ticket at the last minute if you don't mind waiting maybe for the next train if the imminent one is full (rare!). Trains go often, so another cup of coffee later you'll be on your way if it comes to that.

I currently see a daily direct CNL night train from Munich to Rome which stops in Orvieto at bahn.de website.
dep Munich 21:03
arr Orvieto 07:55 next day

But since the main line from Garmisch to Munich (or to Innsbruck) is currently under construction, the travels with replacement buses and trains is a PITA. But that will change from next week when things are back to normal and you have again one train per hour from Garmisch to Munich without transfers in appr 80 min.

The only question might be if the night train is still in the next winter timetable if you need to travel after mid Dec or later.

P.S: I forgot to mention that you can also catch the night train to Rome/Orvieto in Innsbruck instead of backtracking to Munich. But due to a long transfer wait (around 90min) you might not save/lose much against going via Munich. You can play with both options time- and pricewise.

I looked some of the sites you have mentioned and found a 12 hour day trip 8 - 8 from garmish to orvieto. We are now looking at it as a beautiful way to see much of northern italy from the train. Once in orvieto, we will take day trips to some of the places mentioned. and our hotel in germany has a day trip to balzano! wish they could just leave us there to catch the train in italy...hmm might be an option if available on the day we want

Since I have to reserve seats....what do you all recommend. Some day with a table or in 'saloon' I take it that means salon....sorry for so many questions but we are so excited.

We drove a leased car from the Brenner Pass south, with a lot of stops in between, zig-zagging our way from Venice to CT through Tuscany and into Umbria.