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Help a novice traveler

I will be studying in Italy for 6 weeks this summer. Rome to be exact, from may24-july6. i want to find out good clubs to go to for the younger crowd. Of course i will do all the sightseeing, all that info is easy to get. But i have been looking all over for information on clubs and bars to go to. I also would like to travel some while there and was looking at the eurorail passes. What areas of europe area reasonable distance from rome. the most free time i will have is 3 days in a row at a time on weekends, and i'd like to see as much as possible. Thanks!

I'll leave the bars'n'clubs question for someone else. Buying a pass, to travel around in Italy is almost surely a waste of money. Passes start to make sense if you plan to travel an average of 200-250 miles PER DAY. Use www.railsaver.com to try some sample itineraries. you'll see that point-to-point, ordinary tickets will be your best way to go. Otherwise you're traveling around too much. Or you're a traveling salesman. And as for where can you "reach" with a three day weekend from Rome? Virtually every square inch of Italy. Not all of it, of course. But any of it. Best wishes, Rex

Can't help with the clubs; maybe try www.timeout.com. As for sightseeing, if you're willing to take overnight trains, from Rome you can go for a weekend to any place in Italy or Switzerland, or even as far as Paris, Munich or Vienna. Maybe consider the Eurail Selectpass Youth (if you're under 26)--for $352 you get ten days of train travel over 2 months in 3 adjoining countries (say Italy, Switzerland and France). You'd be able to go somewhere and come back on each of 5 weekends.

I was thinking it said JUNE the 6th, not july. but it doesn't change my opinion all that much. I still think passes are overrated and over priced. Surprisingly, there are a few destinations you can fly to, as cheap as you can train away from Italy. for example on www.ryanair.com - - if you get yourself to Pisa, you can fly all the way to London for only 19 EUR each way (checking the dates of 13-17 Jun, for example) - - cheaper than a train to Switzerland! Still, I am not pushing to see you fly anywhere (except maybe Sicilia or Sardegna). Five different weekends in five different parts of Italy!! Wow! can I be you?

Some helpful information has been posted, i guess my next question would be how to get more attention in a post so i get more feedback

Topping again, for Kevin...

To find pals and/or club info, I suggest you put a note on Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum (Travel Companions and Europe branches). LP seems to have younger participants who would doubtlessly know the best places/clubs etc. Have fun.

Kevin, I've been thinking about this further. For starters, I'm going to copy here this piece from the "other" thread you have going on this same subject: <<I have been to italy before, i saw venice, florence, and trent. i do want to see sicily, capri, naples, milan, obviously rome, but a lot of that i will do with the class during the week. i just wanted to see how far of a scope i can reasonably cover without spending most of my time traveling instead of seeing things.>> And I know that in your e-mail to me you mentioned Paris, Amsterdam, Munich and Vienna. Sorry to tell you but I think that Munich and Vienna are both rather too far (in my book) and too expensive to fly. With that said, this is my list of recommendations: 1. Athens. This will be the most expensive - - your splurge, but I think you ought to try to plan to do this. Still only $99 each way - - and a good reason NOT to spend money on a rail pass as a rail pass would NOT allow you to get to Greece. I know you want to get to Paris, but Paris will still be there, and Paris will be a better fit with other destinations in Europe some other time. Athens/Greece will NOT fit so well if you go to Europe in the future and "base" more in the north and west. You're two thirds of the way to Greece. Go the rest of the way. 2. England. So cheap (to get to) and such a nice contrast with Italy and other places you've already been. 3. Brussels. Fly there but plan to actually go see Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and/or Maastricht. or Amsterdam/other places in Holland. or Paris, if you insist. 4. One or more of Italy's more obscure places - - like Sardinia, or the place in Rieti I mentioned to you (Orvinio) or Sicily. I have already said to you, you could do all five weekends as Italy only and still have plenty of variety. 5. Campania: Pompeii, Caserta, Amalfi, Capri etc. Already on your list. This is all a very ambitious set of plans, and it's gonna cost you some money. But I commend you for having big plans. We're talking about $1500 perhaps - - by the time you plan in losging for 2 nights, five times, meals and transportation costs AT the places you go away to. But I still do NOT think that a rail pass gets you the bang for the buck - - the variety and the time regained by NOT sitting on a train 6-10 hours each way on a weekend getaway. Good luck. Let's keep this dialogue up on this thread, as your plans evolve.

Has anyone flown this Rome-Athens route mentioned above? Is it on www.europebyair.com?

how is munich or vienna further from rome than england?

More expensive to get to by air. Both are too far by train - - but that's just my opinion.

When does the new Rome-London service start? is it on Easyjet?

so it isnt that munich is frther than england, it's that it is more expensive to fly there?