HELP PLEASE!! TRAINS, PLANES, and no automobiles (this time)
 

First Trip to Europe; traveling 1st 2 weeks in June

Itinerary:
Fly London to Amsterdam
Train Amsterdam to Paris
Fly Paris to Venice
Fly Venice to Rome

The airfare in Europe seems too good to be true! How reliable are Ryanair & EasyJet airlines? Expected time dealing with customs when flying? Flying OK or better to take trains?

I am having problems finding train schedule for Amsterdam to Paris. I have checked Rail Europe and Rail Connection and haven't seen any departure and arrival times.

Also, each website lists a different fare for the same trip...are these different trains or same trains and different prices among competitors? Any suggestions as to best place to purchase point to point rail tickets? Are seat reservations necessary?

Are the european trains like the american trains as far as storage? Luggage storage in overhead bins?

Thanks for your help!

For train travel from amsterdam to paris I would suggest looking at Thalys.
http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/

They might help you.

Sindre

For train travel anywhere is Europe (altho without prices) check reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e

Taking trains are good for seeing the countryside. Planes are obviously better for fast trips. Trains often leave from the center (or almost the center) of cities so you save time that way. Also you don't have to get there an hour or more ahead of time. So sometimes trains can actually be faster than planes. Just some things to consider.

Paris to Venice is a long way. Either fly or take an overnight train.

Venice to Rome isn't all that far. Take a train, don't fly. For the time it would take you to get out to the two airports, check in, pick up your luggage, you could almost BE THERE on the train. Besides, the scenery is gorgeous.

Watch out for Ryan Air. They fly into dinky weirdo airports. Ends up costing you more money getting from those airports into town and you spend as much if not more money than if you'd flown a mainstream airline. Wastes your time, too. I think they have low baggage allowances to watch out for.

I don't know anything about EasyJet.

The above posters were right on--check the DB (Deutches Bahn) website for ALL train schedules throughout Europe. It's amazing. Should be easy to go from Amsterdam to Paris.

The advantage in Europe with trains is their reliability, they go everywhere, and the stations are usually right downtown where you want to be and well connected to public transport.

Luggage can go in the overhead racks, or most cars have a luggage rack at one or both ends as well. Buy one of those little combination cable locks to lock your suitcase to the rack. Snatch and run thieves won't bother with a locked bag when there are so many others to choose from.

Traveling around like you are, be sure and pack lightly with preferably a carry on size bag or you'll regret it as you lug your suitcase in and out of the train and up and down the stairs at the stations.

Have a lovely time in Europe. I'd be jealous, but I'll be in Turkey :)

Customs is a non-issue flying WITHIN Europe. (All the places you mentioned are within the EU). It's the equivalent of taking a domestic flight in the U.S. - you'll pass through security after check-in but that's the extent of it.

Please don't worry about RyanAir or EasyJet, both are very good. But watch out for baggage, secondary airports, getting there early, etc. You can view all the information about how they work on their websites.

Hi st,

You can purchase your Amsterdam/Paris train tickets at the French National Railroad, www.sncf.com.

I think that you would be better served taking the train from Venice to Rome. It goes from/to city center.

The Paris Beauvais/Venice Treviso flight is from 2 secondary airports at some distance from the city.

You might want to consider flying London Gatwick to Venice Marco Polo, Rome Ciampino to Paris Beauvais and finishing in Amsterdam.

((I))

<<You might want to consider flying London Gatwick to Venice Marco Polo, Rome Ciampino to Paris Beauvais and finishing in Amsterdam.>>

Good advice, ira - - exacty what I advised on sylly's earlier post, http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34579774

<< there could be many other ways:

Day 0 - - fly to London
Day 3 - - fly London-Venice
Day 6 - - train Venice-Rome
Day 9 - - fly Rome-Paris
Day 12 - - train Paris-Amsterdam
Day 14 - - fly home>>

And my closing question from that post remains central to this trip:

<<what is the goal of visiting five famous cities that are so culturally disconnected?>>

The itinerary has the feeling of a scavenger hunt.

Best wises,

Rex

For the budget airlines there are shuttles usually under 15E to get you to and from the airports. They are scheduled around arriving and departing flights. For both Rome airports try www.terravision.it For Paris Beauvais you can look at the airport website and they will have their shuttle info.

Be aware of luggage weight restrictions when flying within Europe. Usually you can check no more than 20 Kilos (44 pounds) per person; carry-on restrictions vary by airline but both RyanAir and EasyJet have explicit information on their websites.

Rex: what do you CARE whether or not a bunch of places seem "disconnected" or not? Apparently that potential "handicap" doesn't mean diddly to these people and I say, more power to them.

Do I <i><b>care</b></i>? Well, in many ways , I do not. Thousands of Americans &quot;see&quot; Europe this way, especially on their first trip. I suppose maybe I did on my first trip, in 1969. My intention is/was to get sylly to think about how different these places are, and how inherently, this means getting a rather superficial understanding of each destination. There are many different ways to get introduced to Europe travel/culture... its cuisines, its geography, and yes... its <i>touristic</i> attractions. This forum is a soapbox for alternatives to &quot;If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium&quot;.

For what it's worth, in the initial post about this itinerary, I was in the minority saying that this itinerary IS doable, when the majority advised giving it up.

I'm not opposed to contrasts in trip - - indeed, I often try to plan a 2-3 day contrast as a footnote to a trip to a group of &quot;clustered&quot; or &quot;related&quot; destinations.

But this strikes me as saying we have ninety minutes to go to the zoo, we want to see: a tiger, a prairie dog, a python, some eels, and a macaw. I say, pick two or three - - there's more in that aviary than you realize. The zoo will still be there next year.

Thanks to everyone for your input. Special thanks to Rex for replying to both my posts.

Question to Rex &amp; Ira with regard to itinerary...any particular reason for traveling cities in that order? I was planning geographically, but if your route is more efficient then please let me know!

Oops...I wasn't done yet.

As far as why we are traveling to 5 cities in 2 weeks -- you got me. We are a party of 4 with different people wanting to visit different places. This may be the only opportunity for all 4 of us to travel together for some time. We do't have too many places that we absolutely want to see in each city. We just want to get a feel for each city, walk around, and absorb the people and culture. We'll explore each place in depth on our own later.

We are definitely planning to see Versailles. Versailles is the only specific thing on our agenda.

&lt;&lt;Question to Rex &amp; Ira with regard to itinerary...any particular reason for traveling cities in that order?&gt;&gt;

Well, I'll credit ira for spelling out what I did not.... better use of airports which are not so distant from the centers of their respective cities.

H ST,

&gt; I'll credit ira for spelling out what I did not.... &lt;

Thank you, Sir. I hadn't seen your earlier suggestion.

&lt;&lt;are a party of 4 with different people wanting to visit different places. This may be the only opportunity for all 4 of us to travel together for some time. We do't have too many places that we absolutely want to see in each city. We just want to get a feel for each city, walk around, and absorb the people and culture. We'll explore each place in depth on our own later.&gt;&gt;

I would still urge paring it down to just France and Italy.

Yeah, but what zoo costs $6,000 to visit?

My favorite Rail Schedule site:
http://www.eurorailways.com/timetable/index.htm

Hi wc,

Interesting. That's a link to http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

((I))