Hi,

I am looking for encouragement and advice! Our family of 4 (2 adults, 15,& 11) are going on 1st trip to Europe in July. I having been reading the boards here and picking up tips!

We were going to buy Eurorail passes because we are traveling to several places. We wanted to take a night train from Paris to Rome on July 13th. I decided to use a travel agent to buy the tickets and make reservations at the same time. She talked to RailEurope and told me that only the 6 person couchette was available. We really don't want to share. So I didn't end up purchasing anything yet.

I then called RailEurope today and I was told that their system was not updated. That a 4 person may become available. Hmm. Checked RailEurope online and other dates (before and after) from Paris to Rome are showing more options than a 6 person couchette. I think she was wrong.

I checked on Trenitalia and they showed a 4 person but I couldn't find how to choose that I would have a EuroRailpass. Is Trenitalia just for point to point tickets?

In between, I checked on flights to see if flying was cheaper. The Paris to Rome flight is expensive. If we fly there, then it would not be cost effective to purchase the Railpass.

My brain has frozen up! The Railpass is the cheaper way to go but I can't seem to get the 4 person couchette. What am I doing wrong??

Check out www.ryanair.com as they usually have reasonable fares to Rome. They do fly from an airport about an hour by bus from Paris, but the savings are usually worth it.

I've flown them from Rome to Paris and my experience was a positive one. The airport in Rome is about a 30 minute bus ride from the airport.

Good luck!! Mike

You can also check out www.easyjet.com/en for flights from Paris Orly to Rome Ciampino airport.

The problem with the Easy Jet flight is that it departs at 6:00AM with the exception of an 8:30AM Sunday flight. Mike

I'm sorry I couldn't offer any better alternative although for me leaving at 0600 wouldn't be that much of a problem.

We purchased an Airfrance tkt from Paris/Nice/Rome/Paris for 257.00usd per person.

I had to call AF to book it and it needed to be a return even though we are not using it. We decided it was worth the $ to fly instead of overnighting on the train as we have 2 teenagers with us also.

Thanks for the replies! I had used Skyscanner.com to find prices. Ryanair after all fees was 509 Euro, Berlin Air is 531. My first choice is Berlin Air because they fly at 8:25 am from the regular Paris airport.

I am just looking for a better idea. If we fly, then I need another night in Paris which also costs $$. At this point, it still looks like my best option.

thanks
Sandy

Sandy, call Air France as they had the best rate and they fly from either Orly or Charles De Gaulle.

Way cheaper that Alitilia.

Hi Lets,

At this moment, www.voyages-sncf.com has a 1cl 4 person couchette for 2 adults, 1 youth and 1 child for 485E, departing Paris Bercy at 19:06, arriving Rome 09:42 on July 13.

This is a refundable ticket.

There are 2 other trains that connect through Milan or Lausanne, but you have to buy them in France.

Have a nice visit.

I am pretty shocked that you can take the train for less than you can fly. We did not use railpasses, just purchased tickets for the Artesia overnight train paris/rome and they were quite expensive.

If you get a huge discount because of your railpasses I guess it makes sense to travel that way, but I am not sure that the air conditioning is all that functional on those trains. A very hot night in July with four people in a couchette could be terrible.

Did you check fares on the ryanair website rather than skyscanner? We flew Ryan Air and it was great - you arrive in Rome early, not tired, and you have a large part of the day to do stuff.

Thanks for all the help!

I redid my calculations for my various options. I went ahead and booked the Berlin Air flight for 531 Euro.

I rechecked the Ryanair website and with all the extra fees for 1 checked luggage each, it was just under the Berlin Air price. Berlin Air leaves from Charles De Gaulle airport which is closer plus the time was more convienent.

I checked the train website given - Thanks! But again the price was so close that we decided to fly.

I am glad that I did not order my Eurail pass until I could book the seat reservations. I had no idea that they would book up so quickly. If I had purchased the Eurail pass, we would be stuck getting a 6 person couchette.

Thanks
Sandra

Oh yeah, you shouldn't check any extra luggage on Ryan Air, it's too expensive.

However, if you are moving around Europe in a group of 4 AND on trains, I'd strongly encourage you to just bring one 22" or 24" check through piece each and one smallish carry-on tote each. Otherwise you will be miserable.

Although it seems that you have worked out your issue I will chime in with my two cents ... for what it is worth. My daughter and I travelled from Rome to Paris in an overnight. We made our reservations two days before in Rome and told the agent we wanted a private sleeping car. We were booked, by ourselves in a couchette for four. Apparently the fact that a compartment will accommodate more than the number in your party does not mean that you will share.

You should be able to book a 4-person couchette thru Raileurope - i believe these accommodations were just re-instated on their system. But RE has put a temporary block on France-Italy ticket reservations after around July 1 but expect them to come back on the system soon. Anyway to sort it all out i advise calling Byron at BETS (800-441-2387) - they are a RailEurope agent but from my years of dealing with them much more experts than RE's phone folk. If it exists and can be booked then BETS will do it. Should run around $45 p.p. in a 4-person compartment and you may have to have a first class pass to use these T-4s. Can book up to 90 days in advance i believe.