>>I have now decided to only visit Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Venice & Bern. <<

MUCH better - not so stubborn after all

However >>I have 18 days (17 nights)<< It doesn't work that way. 17 night equals about 16 days. In your case almost 17 days since your train back to London is in the evening.

5 cities is a teensy bit rushed but 100000% better than what you started with.

Ok, just saw that you are willing to give up Zurich. Now you have two more extra days with the above plan. Add one each to Paris, Barcelona and Rome and it is looking much better.

Day 1, London to Barcelona
Day 2 - 4, Barcelona
Day 5, travel to Venice
Day 6, Venice
Day 7, travel to Rome or Rome with stop in Florence
Day 8 - 10, Rome
Day 11, travel to Bern
Day 12, Bern
Day 13, travel to Paris
Days 14 - 16, Paris
Day 17, home in the evening

@Sassafrass Are you suggesting that I take a train from Paris to Barcelona once I get to paris straight away and not stay there a night?

You are doing great. It is very difficult to create an itinerary that does exactly what you want. We all have to pick and choose. I am doing it myself right now, trying hard to decide what to give up.

Look at travel times and ticket costs carefully from Barcelona to Venice and from Barcelona to Rome. Be sure to check which airports are being used also, especially on the Barcelona end. You don't want to plan what looks like a good cheap flight, but is from an airport requiring lots of time or money to get to. You know how some of the cheap airlines are. They list their airport as Barcelona, for example, but use one an hour away that requires expensive transport. Train times might work out to nearly the same. Either way, you would have a train from Venice to Rome or Rome to Venice, and one from Rome to Bern or Venice to Bern, so that is pretty much a wash, just depends on times and costs of trains. Air from Barcelona to Italy is probably the most important consideration.

Here's my version:

Day 1, London to Paris to Barcelona
Day 2-4, Barcelona
Day 5, Barcelona to Rome (flight) & Rome
Day 6-8, Rome
Day 9, Travel to Venice & Venice
Day 10, Venice
Day 11, Travel to Bern & Bern
Day 12-13, Bern
Day 14, Travel to Paris
Day 15-17, Paris
Day 18, Back to London in evening

@Sassafrass

Thanks for your advice. I will keep that in mind

I would look at the times, but I am one for not staying in the same city twice, checking into and out of a hotel. It also depends on how short the first leg of the trip is. From London to Paris isn't too bad, so, yes, I personally would go straight on and get the longest part of the trip out of the way. I would consider a flight, but getting to the airport, waiting, etc in Paris is a pain. Someone else will know this, but they were supposed to have some of the fast trains running from Paris to Barcelona by now. I would check for the best options - Paris to Barcelona, but get it over with.

Whether I did your version or mine would depend on flights and airfare from Barcelona. Getting from the airport into Venice is easy, so something to know; but arriving in Venice by train is beautiful, coming from Rome and walking out of Santa Lucia Station to see the grand Canal is a once in a life time experience - even if you see it more than once.

I agree with you that going into Paris twice can be annoying especially when it is highly unlikely that I will be able to tour much during the first night if I decide to stay there. So London to Barcelona it is. It takes 2.5hrs + 6.5hrs which is not too bad.

I have no idea how much it generally costs for the flights but I had a quick look earlier on and I found Barcelona to Rome for £335 (5 people).

Personally I would rather go Rome and than go upwards because it just makes it easier and wastes less time.

Just had another look at that flight and found it for £300 not bad at all.

Can someone please answer my question regarding local train travel? If I get point-to-point train tickets to travel between cities and a flight ticket from Barcelona to Rome, how would I travel in the cities to various attractions? Sorry I have no information regarding this.

In london they do day passes unlimited train,tube,bus etc so I presume such exists elsewhere in Europe but wouldn't that cost a lot?

>>how would I travel in the cities to various attractions?<<

You'd walk to some, take local buses to some and the metro/underground to some. In Venice you'll mostly walk and take Vaporettos (boats).

In Paris you'll probably use carnets (books of individual tickets). In Rome you buy individual or day tickets at newsstands, etc. and from vending machines.

>>>You know the places I want to go and you know that I have purchased the return ticket to Paris<<<

It doesn't matter that you have purchased the r/t London/Paris ticket and no, you aren't losing the full amount if you don't return to Paris. If you use the first part of the tickets, you are not losing the whole value, only the return. I would assume you can't get any refund on these tickets so it makes the most sense to use the first part to Paris so as not to waste the entire thing. Fly home from your furthest point.

You should likely forget the interrail pass (have you even calculated all the fees that aren't included with the pass?) and look at budget flights. Buy discount train tickets where it makes sense (such as Rome/Venice on Trenitalia).

www.whichbudget.com
www.skyscanner.com

You can get budget flights on Easy Jet from Paris Orly to Rome (or Venice).

>>>a flight ticket from Barcelona to Rome, how would I travel in the cities to various attractions?<<<

The pass you were talking about does not include travel on public transport in cities. You have to buy tickets for buses/metro/tram.

@kybourbon I don't see the point of wasting that return ticket even though if its half the price now that I am accommodate going to Paris only once in my plan.

I want to avoid plane journeys where possible because it takes unnecessary time to/from airport and checking-in/out and travel costs etc. Also you miss seeing the scenic route e.g. within Italy and Switzerland that you would get to see otherwise.

I will certainly have a look at the budget flights though to see how much is the actual difference. I've had a look at reservation fees for trains and yes I have to say they can be really expensive especially around Spain and Italy.

If the inter-rail pass does not work on public transport (trains) within cities than it makes it even more pointless to get.

I just checked to see how much would train from Paris to Barcelona cost and the same for the flights.

The train is £567 and the flight is £250. This is for 5 of us. Unbelievable difference. But then how easy it is to get to paris airport, how much does it cost, how long customs take etc.

I haven't read through this whole thing - it's simply too painful.

All I can suggest is this:

Decide what places you must see (not sure why you are going to Zurich, Milan or Bern - what sights there MUST you see?). If you want to see the Swiss Alps - you're not in them - you're in the lowlands. And Zurich and Milan are primarily business cities.

You do NOT have the time to see the major sights in each place - not nearly enough - esp with kids. I don't see the ages of the kids - but if any are less than 10 or so - you have a disaster in the making. Where is the time for them to find a playground and run around? When do they play? Do you really think they won't be incredibly grumpy after 10 hours on a train?

I would bag this whole train thing (which sounds like the Bataan death march) pick your top 4 cities - and get at least a little taste of each. And train or fly between as makes sense. That is a LOT to do for a family of 5 in the limited time you have - esp if you are not used to foreign travel and all of the constant adjustments it requires.

You can fly from London to Barcelona for 212 GBP.

@nytraveler

Things have really changed since my first post Please see the following latest plan.

Day 1, London to Paris (train) to Barcelona (plane/train)
Day 2-4, Barcelona
Day 5, Barcelona to Rome (plane) & Rome
Day 6-8, Rome
Day 9, Travel to Venice (train) & Venice
Day 10, Venice
Day 11, Travel to Bern (train) & Bern
Day 12-13, Bern
Day 14, Travel to Paris (train/plane)
Day 15-17, Paris
Day 18, Back to London (train) in evening

@Judy

Please don't say that to me, it is really painful I bought return ticket to Paris for £550 (5 of us).

Does anyone know cheap train ticket websites for travel between france to spain, spain to italy, italy to switzerland and switzerland to france?