My husband and I will be in Italy and France for a month, and plan to use the following forms of transportation while there: Train from Rome to Florence, Train from Florence to Venice, Train from Venice to Monterosso, Train from Monterosso to Nice. While in the area of Nice/ Mougins we will rent a car for one week. Is there a package that would include four train rides and a car rental? How do I go about purchasing the package (or individual tickets if that is less expensive) while still in the U.S.? Thanks!

There is a rail/drive program through RailEurope (www.raileurope.com) but I do not know how economical it is.

I would also input my itinerary at www.railpass.com to see if a rail pass is the most economical way for you to do this.

Point to point tickets may end up being a better deal for you, especially in Italy.

You may not NEED to purchase tickets for the rail portions in advance, depending on the time period in which you are traveling, and, especially if you are going to be IN Italy for a few days prior to the first rail segment.

Give us more details, please.

Hi d,

Good advice from Intrepid.

After you have discovered that an Italy flexipass is more expensive than buying your tickets online at www.trenitalia.com, check www.novarentacar and www.autoeurope.com for rental car rates.

While a friend and I were in Italy a little over a year ago, we just bought all of our tickets there, usually the morning we planned to use them, sometimes even last minute. We took the train from Milan to Venice, Venice to Rome (overnight), Rome to Florence, and Florence back to Milan. Never had any trouble getting ticket for when we needed them.

To jump into this thread, how is train travel in mid October during the week. We plan to take a day trip from Venice to Bologna but weren't planning on prepurchasing our tickets b/c we wanted to wait and pick a good weather day. Does this sound like a good plan or is it too risky that we won't get tickets?

swalter,

The Bologna-Venice route is like a shuttle. If you miss one train, there's another within the hour.

That's what I was hoping Metlc. I just wanted to double check.

Thank you Fellow Travelers for your wisdom and experience. Tomorrow I will contact the web-sites you suggested to plan our travel itinerary. Intrepid, because you asked, here is more information about our trip: Oct. 12--Arive in Rome; Oct 15--Train to Florence; Oct 15-21--Guided walking tour through Tuscany hill towns; Oct. 21-24--Florence; Oct 24--Train to Venice; Oct 26--Train to Monterosso; Oct. 29--Train to Nice; Oct. 29-Nov.5--rent car and condo in Nice/Mougins; Nov. 5--easyJet to Paris; Nov. 8--Depart Paris, direct flight to Los Angeles. Because this is our first trip to Europe, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Wow! Your schedule is very similar to ours. We fly out on Oct.10 and are in Rome from the 11 until the 15th. 15 until 29th we are renting a villa outside of Florence. 29th - Nov.1 we are in Venice for three nights. Nov.1- 8 we are in apt. in the 7th in Paris. Home to KC on the 8th of Nov. Maybe we will run into each other somewhere between Rome and France. Have a great time. We are renting a car in Tuscany and will get our trains tickets to go from Rome to Florence and Venice to Paris once we arrive. Good luck and safe travels.


Victoria in Knasas City,Mo

Victoria--I'm amazed that after months and months of planning this trip, someone else (you!) ended up with essentially the same ininerary! I would love to know more about your plans for each city. Perhaps we could meet in one of the cities---maybe Paris on the 6th or 7th of Nov.? Let me know if you're interested. Dianne

Dianne:

Since your dates for train travel are pretty much set, ehere is what i would do about the tickets:

when you arrive in Rome either go to the train station or to a local travel agency and buy all your tickets at once.

If you are planning to take Eurostar services remember that the seat reservation on those trains is included in the price of the ticket.

Assume you have already looked into renting the car...I would explore this on line with agencies such as www.autoeurope.com or others and have that waiting for me in Nice.

Have a great trip.

BTW..good idea when buying tickets to have written down the times and possibly the train numbers you are interested in using.

Thanks for the great advice. How can I see a schedule of the trains and times, in order to have that information already figured out when I make my reservations?

Hi d,

www.tenitalia.com for Italy
www.sncf.com for France

SNCF is usually better for buying tickets to/from Italy than Trenitalia.