Planes or Trains? Italy, Switzerland, France
Jul 6th, 2012, 01:53 PM
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Planes or Trains? Italy, Switzerland, France
Hello,
I am traveling with my father to Rome on Sept. 21. Rome to Florence, Sept. 24; Florence to Milan, Sept. 27; Milan to Interlaken Switzerland, Sept. 29. I assume these trips are best done by train. So my question is, should I get a rail pass or buy individual tickets, and through which company? Would it be better to fly in any of these cases? We are then going from Interlaken to Paris on Oct. 2. Is this better by train or plane? Our time is limited so I think it might be better by plane if there are any airports in Interlaken. Then we are flying from Paris to Naples (this flight is already booked). We aren't staying in Naples but going on to Pompei. I figure there's a train or bus we can take to Pompei. We'll be there for several days and hope to go out to Capri for a day. Then we are traveling back to Rome (plane or train?) to stay overnight so we can fly back home first thing in the morning on Oct. 11. If there is any advice out there I'd really appreciate it.
We would like to find an option that is economical but fast.
Thanks
~Julianna
I am traveling with my father to Rome on Sept. 21. Rome to Florence, Sept. 24; Florence to Milan, Sept. 27; Milan to Interlaken Switzerland, Sept. 29. I assume these trips are best done by train. So my question is, should I get a rail pass or buy individual tickets, and through which company? Would it be better to fly in any of these cases? We are then going from Interlaken to Paris on Oct. 2. Is this better by train or plane? Our time is limited so I think it might be better by plane if there are any airports in Interlaken. Then we are flying from Paris to Naples (this flight is already booked). We aren't staying in Naples but going on to Pompei. I figure there's a train or bus we can take to Pompei. We'll be there for several days and hope to go out to Capri for a day. Then we are traveling back to Rome (plane or train?) to stay overnight so we can fly back home first thing in the morning on Oct. 11. If there is any advice out there I'd really appreciate it.
We would like to find an option that is economical but fast.
Thanks
~Julianna
Jul 6th, 2012, 02:16 PM
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You will pprobably be interested in a rail pass. Try www.raileurope.com
Add up the costs of individual trips and compare it to a rail pass.
If you're flying overnight, then stay at or near the airport. There is a Hilton at the airport that is way overpriced.
I had their dinner buffet, as no a la carte was offered. The theme was French food vs. Italian food. I think both sides lost as the quality sucks.
Try this for hotel listings. Most of the hotels have shuttles to the airport. http://rome.airporthotelguide.com/
Add up the costs of individual trips and compare it to a rail pass.
If you're flying overnight, then stay at or near the airport. There is a Hilton at the airport that is way overpriced.
I had their dinner buffet, as no a la carte was offered. The theme was French food vs. Italian food. I think both sides lost as the quality sucks.
Try this for hotel listings. Most of the hotels have shuttles to the airport. http://rome.airporthotelguide.com/
Jul 6th, 2012, 02:27 PM
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Depending on when your flight is.ll you can fly Easyjet from Orly to Fiumicino FCO the evening before you want to fly home. Cost is about €50. The one caveat is to make sure you meet their baggage weight and #bags restrictions. Can be expensive if you don't.
Easyjet is a pretty reputable airline that is low cost.
Easyjet is a pretty reputable airline that is low cost.
Jul 6th, 2012, 03:31 PM
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I think you need above all a resource to get train travel time.
For ease of use, the DB site is the best:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en
For point to point pricing, however, you have to go to the departing countries' train companies:
Italy: www.fsitaliane.it
Switzerland: www.sbb.ch
France: www.voyages-sncf.com
The sticking point with the rail pass for these types of route is the reservation requirement. Look at a summary http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/pdfs/reservations.pdf High speed trains on following Italian routes need reservations: Rome-Napoli, Rome-Florence, Florence-Milan. The EC train from Milan to Brig requires reservation and the TGV segment of Interlake to Paris requires reservation.
Flying? Look at a map. Interlaken has only a military airport. Big jet airports in Switzerland are in Basel, Geneve, and Zurich. It takes about couple hours to get to any of these airports. Simple math will show you that flying is a lot of hassle with little time benefit (5-6hrs either way), if any, considering check-in time requirement as well as having to travel from the airport to the city center.
The best recommendation for this type of trip would have been before you made any arrangements. Many people with limited time consume additional time doing back-tracking further reducing what limited time they started with.
I am curious how you decided to fly in/out of Rome. The most efficient and perhaps near most economical would have been to fly into Naples, then travel to Rome (70min train trip), then to Florence (91 min train trip), then to Milan (105 min train trip), then to Interlaken (about 3hrs train trip), then train to Paris (about 5 hrs), then fly home from Paris. If you couldn’t have flown into Naples, you could fly into Rome and if the arrival is in the morning, you could have travel straight to Naples after landing. Any of these would have eliminated back tracking from Paris to Rome as well as likely to be an unproductive last night in Rome.
For ease of use, the DB site is the best:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en
For point to point pricing, however, you have to go to the departing countries' train companies:
Italy: www.fsitaliane.it
Switzerland: www.sbb.ch
France: www.voyages-sncf.com
The sticking point with the rail pass for these types of route is the reservation requirement. Look at a summary http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/pdfs/reservations.pdf High speed trains on following Italian routes need reservations: Rome-Napoli, Rome-Florence, Florence-Milan. The EC train from Milan to Brig requires reservation and the TGV segment of Interlake to Paris requires reservation.
Flying? Look at a map. Interlaken has only a military airport. Big jet airports in Switzerland are in Basel, Geneve, and Zurich. It takes about couple hours to get to any of these airports. Simple math will show you that flying is a lot of hassle with little time benefit (5-6hrs either way), if any, considering check-in time requirement as well as having to travel from the airport to the city center.
The best recommendation for this type of trip would have been before you made any arrangements. Many people with limited time consume additional time doing back-tracking further reducing what limited time they started with.
I am curious how you decided to fly in/out of Rome. The most efficient and perhaps near most economical would have been to fly into Naples, then travel to Rome (70min train trip), then to Florence (91 min train trip), then to Milan (105 min train trip), then to Interlaken (about 3hrs train trip), then train to Paris (about 5 hrs), then fly home from Paris. If you couldn’t have flown into Naples, you could fly into Rome and if the arrival is in the morning, you could have travel straight to Naples after landing. Any of these would have eliminated back tracking from Paris to Rome as well as likely to be an unproductive last night in Rome.
Jul 6th, 2012, 04:24 PM
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Agree that you are wasting a lot of time with all this circling around. If possible get an open jaws flight - it won;t cost any more - into Naples and out of Paris.
Separately - you don;t really have enough time anywhere - except Amalfi Cost (I hope you aren;t planning on staying in Pompeii - it;s a dead city. One would stay either in Naples or in Sorrento.
Separately - you don;t really have enough time anywhere - except Amalfi Cost (I hope you aren;t planning on staying in Pompeii - it;s a dead city. One would stay either in Naples or in Sorrento.
