I'm visiting my son stationed in Frankfurt and would like to travel to Venice and Paris and then back to Frankfurt. Can anyone give me advice on a travel route, for ex. Frankfurt to Paris then to Venice, or Frankfurt to Venice, then to Paris. I am planning on purchasing a eurorail for those 3 countries. Also, any recommendations on reasonable, clean hotels in Paris & Venice would be much appreciated.

1) most likely a EurRail pass won't be cost effective. Check first on the prices of individual tickets.

2) How long do you have toyal for these excursions?

3) what is your budget? "Reasonable" means different things to different people

4) You might want to re-post w/ a less generic title. Most threads ask for help planning. It is best to include planning " for what" in your title. . . . .

check www.railsaver.com to see if a pass is good for your plans or not or at least to get a ballpark idea. If they say no then it's no for sure. If they say yes then it may be. And for anyone asking fairly novice questions like this i refer to get the free European Planning & Rail Guide (at www.budgeteuropetravel.com) on home page as it may help you immensely plan such a rail trip. www.ricksteves.com also has good rail info. I wouldn't say a pass is not cost effective but it may hinge on the fact that with the minimum 5-day EurailSelect Pass what you do with the other two free travel days - a few day trips in Germany or France can be costly. And if you buy a EurailSelect pass before the end of Dec 2006 you get an extra day on most passes and you can use the pass until eight months after purchase, making per day cost of pass lower. that said if you want to go the online route for special fares, often hard to get but not if you act early - go to www.bahn.de for Germany-Italy or Germany-France fares - look for SPAR fare available for real discounts. Paris-Venice to to www.voyages-sncf.com or if starting in Venice www.trenitalia.com and look for PREM's on the French site and discounts on the Italian. Night trains run between Venice and Paris and v.v. and Frankfurt and Paris and Venice and Munich, with connections in the morning to Frankfurt.

If it's just those two train journeys, I doubt you want to buy a train pass. Just point-to-point tickets.

I have taken (and enjoyed) an overnight train to get between Venice and Paris.

In Venice I stayed at www.lacalcina.com and in the latin quarter in Paris at www.dacia-paris-hotel.com

Both were comfortable as a solo female traveler. A single room at La Calcina is ~100 euro and a Dacia Luxembourg ~130

Thank you so much for your expertise. My plan is to stay 10 days. I will fly into Frankfurt - stay a few days then off to Venice & Paris (3 nights each) and return to Frankfurt. I thought a eurorail pass would be the way to go because of the 3 countries. I would like to keep the cost of a hotel room down around $100US per night.

EurailSelect could well be the best if you want fully flexible full fare tickets bought at stations - the three countries you'd want would be Germany, France, Italy and Austria - yes you'd need a 4-country pass at about $40 more than the 3 country you were thinking of as from Venice back to Frankfurt, unless you ridiculously back track thru Paris would entrail either going thru Austria or Switzerland - Austria the most direct from Venice. Note if taking the overnight Artesia Paris-Venice night train even though it goes thru Switzerland you do not need Switzerland on your pass, only France and Italy for you pass to pay for the rail fare (sleeping options extra, a minimum of about $30 above the pass for a couchette).

OK, so 80 euro for a hotel room.

Depending on the time of year the small singles at La Calcina may still fit your budget.

Hi M2

With the short time that you have, you might also want to consider www.whichbudget.com for cheap airfare.

www.mayair.com flies between Venice VCE and Paris ORY.

In Paris, you might wish to consider
www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75012lux.htm

It's a bit out from the center, but near metro stops. It's been recommended by other posters on this board.

Ira makes a good point, that with such a short time (2 cities, 6 days), flying at least some of the segments might make more sense than the train.

and be cheaper as well

You might prefer to check possible flight schedules using the site www.skyscanner.net which tends to be somewhat more up to date than whichbudget.