bluemoose56

we are going on a cruise Oct 2006 out of Venice, ending in Bacelona. Flights seem much cheaper if you arrive and leave from the same city, so, it has been recommended we fly to Barcelona and take the train to Venice. So, any advice ? details ? sites re; train schedules ? costs ? train better than drive (1,300 km ?)

ellenem

That seems like a long, expensive train rie to me. I can't imagine that an open-jaw ticket would cost more than the added expense (and time!) of the train ticket.

Eloise

I would look into the airfare question more closely. Open-jaw fares - into one city, out of another - are normally not THAT much more expensive than return flights. I'm pretty sure the additional expense would not be more than train fare (probably including an overnight) for two people.

You can also look into cheap airfares with discount airlines between Barcelona and Venice at

www.whichbudget.com

suze

Sometimes open jaw are not any more expensive at all. Have you tried that?

As above, Barcelona to Venice is one heck of a train ride... you'd need to be saving quite a bit of money to cover the expense of train tickets and the hassle of making the trip.

bluemoose56

Maybe our base location is causing the flight price issue ??? While I have not yet exhausted all travel avenues, a search of Expedia and Travelocity indicates return air from Providenciales TCI to Barcelona is $1,137 each, vs. $1,306 one way to Venice and $1,498 from Barcelona to TCI. And, because the air schedules all seem to arrive in Venice on Sunday, yet we don't board until Tues, it was suggested to us a leisurely train ride thru French Riviera and northern Italy might be a great way to see some very nice scenery ? But, I can't seem to get any definitive info on train schedules and costs and time, plus I get the idea from the replies that this seems more trouble than it's worth ????

Eloise

I entered Providenciales TCI into Expedia; it did not recognize it.

Where, precisely, are you leaving from and returning to?

Therese

You shouldn't need to price the open jaw (different arrival and departure airports) as two separate one way tickets but as a single return ("round trip&quot. You'll need to use the "multidestination" tool to look for these fares. When you do so you'll find that the trip's perhaps a bit more expensive, but possibly even less expensive.

And excuse my ignorance, but where is Providenciales TCI?

Therese

Okay, so TCI is Canary Islands?

Using Travelocity and plugging in some random Oct 2006 dates I got open jaw from TCI into Venice and back out of Barcelona for $935 total.

bluemoose56

ooops, sorry..... we are in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies for a 3 to 5 year contract.

Therese

What's the three letter code for the airport you'll be using?

Therese

Never mind, it's PLS. And if you use the multidestination option you should be able to come up with some decent fares.

Eloise

Entering just TCI, I get CDN $1,939.25 per person for the complete trip: one way TCI to Venice, one way Barcelona to TCI.

I didn't get any flights at all for the dates I chose arbitrarily for a return flight TCI-Barcelona, but I am sure there are return flights.

I get Euro 109.55 with Madrid Air for arbitrary dates that I chose for a return flight Tenerife Norte to Barcelona.

With Vueling, on an arbitrary date in March, I get a one-way fare Barcelona to Rome from between 24.50 Euro and 59.50 Euro per person.

There are two discount airlines that fly Barcelona to Venice. I tried October, but it was too far in advance to get flights or prices, and I really don't have any more time for this.

Eloise

Sorry, I didn't see your reply about being in the British West Indies. Expedia told me TCI was Tenerife Island.

Therese

To clarify, the code for bluemoose56's departure airport is (I think) PLS, not TCI (which I also mistakenly thought was the airport code for Tenerife/Canary Islands but in fact stands for Turks & Caicos Islands).

TimS

I plugged in some arbitrary October dates on expedia.com for open jaw Providentiales-Venice-Barcelona-Providentiales and got a price of $1,246.

Eloise

OK, so it's CDN $ 1,321.14 for PLS-Barcelona return and CDN $ 1,832.99 for PLS-Venice, Barcelona-PLS.

It's a difference of CDN $ 500.

So fly return to Barcelona, and use AlpiEagles or MyAir for one-way Barcelona-Venice. They will not post their flights and prices this early, but I will bet you dollars to donuts that you can get a one-way flight for about CDN $ 100.

ellenem

Just plugged the train trip from Barcelona to Venice into the search engine at
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/e...quest=yes&

Couldn't get it to work for October, but tried an April date. Again, couldn't get pricing, but the trip takes at least 20 and evn 24 hours with as few 2 and as many as 5 changes. Doesn't sound like enough fun to me.

lincasanova

would flying into easyjet's london or berlin base help any for continuing onward to venice?

bluemoose56

thanks a bunch to everyone that replied, this has been really helpful ! I'm going to use these forums again for other questions concerning out itinerary. Clearly, the train option seems to be not very popular. I was concerned about dragging luggage on and off trains. So, the best bet seems to be return to Barcelona, with a cheaper local carrier one way Barcelona to Venice ? What about driving from barcelona to Venice ? it's about 1,300 km, and I have several days to do it ?

GeoffHamer

From Barcelona, you can get a ferry to Genova (www.gnv.it) or Civitavecchia near Roma (www.grimaldi-ferries.com). The former certainly has cruise-ship standards. If you are flying into Italy, then Milano or Roma might be most convenient, with good train services to Venezia, Genova and Civitavecchia.