The best way to get from Berlin to Rome that won't cost an arm and a leg...
 

Hi folks-

My family will be flying out to Berlin to visit family, and we'd like to take a trip to Rome, as well, from Berlin. I'm assuming the train is going to be the best way to do this (not the fastest, but I can't afford an additional $750 fuel surcharge on top of airfare for the four of us), so can someone tell me how to set up a train trip to do this?

I'm hoping to take a night train for the first leg. When I go on the train sites, it really is confusing. Does anyone have any suggestions or a way to decode this type of trip?

Thank you.

Did you try this site?

http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

I found a EasyJet flight for 453€ for four. The earlier you book, the greater the saving. The day of the week also counts.

Rome is over 18 hours away by train. This entails a 6 hr trip from Berlin to Munich and then a 9 hr City Night Line overnight train from Munich to Florence. From there (ca. 6 AM arrival), you head on down to Rome (ca. 1.5 hrs).

I don't know how long you plan on staying in Rome or if you intend to return to Berlin, but 18 hours of train travel seems a little excessive when you can do as Michael suggests and book a discount flight. You might be looking at train fares in excess of 200€ each, so consider air travel as a faster AND potentially cheaper option.

Check Air Berlin, German Wings, TUIfly, and EasyJet.

Thank you. It seems from what I've found that the train may cost more. I wish it was easier to figure out. My uncle (from Germany) seemed to think that the train was less expensive.

I find the Deutsche Bahn website most helpful for planning train itineraries. If you have any questions about that site, let us know and we can try to help.

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

Yes, and I see that you actually wanted to do the night train from Berlin. That ends up being a slightly longer journey with a couple of more stops, but there is a route which departs Berlin at 20:56 and gets to Rome the next day at 17:45, in time for dinner.

I ended up booking a flight on Air Berlin. Not cheap, but actually cheaper than the train, and only a two hour flight. Thanks for the information folks.