I am trying to find out some conections So i can work out the travel time for my trip..what website should i be looking at? Travelling in June/July 2004.

Hi Rose,

Where are you planning to visit?

Jim

Hi Rose,
This is the site I use for Europe planning. It seems to be pretty accurate to me but it does not give prices for trains outside of Germany. I know there are others for specific countries, but this has been very helpful to me. When planning, be sure to look at how many changes and the length of the trip. Some trains are more direct than others. Some trains are fast inter-country ons and some are local ones that make more stops.

http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Hi Jim, I have posted my trip already but it has changed since then so let me know what you think. We have a month and are doing

Fly into London
3 Nights London maybe 4
Train/Fly to
Paris 3 Nights
BIG QUESTION
Paris to Barcelona-
Overnight Train/Fly
3 NIghts Barcelona
Barcelona to Nice
Fly/Train
3 Nights Nice Train to
Venice for 3 Nights
Train to Florance for 4 Nights
Train to Rome for 4 Nights
Train / Bus ?? to Amalfi for 4 Nights
Back to rome before we fly out.

Main problem is I dont know how much travelling time I will be wasting and have been told to maybe get rid of Barcelona but if I can do those trips on an overnight train it would be great and save two nights accomodation.

Thanks again let me know what you think.

Hi Rose, I still had the website for the trains open and plugged in some of your plans.
Paris -> Barcelona is about 12+ hours
Barcelona -> Nice 10.5 - 11 hours
Nice - > Venezia 1-10 hours
Venezia -> Firenze about 3 hours

there are lots of connections for all of these, I just plugged 18:00 for the departure. One thing I've noticed is that you sometimes need to use the local spelling of the town. For example, venezia instead of venice. Hope this helps!

It's been interesting to watch your persistence in figuring out if there is a reasonable way to do this ambitious itinerary.

There is no one single best source for information as far as I know. And I believe tha you COULD keep Barcelona in (I advised against it earlier) - - but perhaps it would work best to try to remove Nice.

There is no one strictly "correct", logical order that you need to use to connect all these dots. And no one best wwebsite for schedules, in my opinion. The bahn.de website is good; Raileurope.com is easy to use but incomplete (and don't go by those fares). You may also need to consult www.sncf.fr or www.renfe.es or www.trenitalia.com

You can get (cheap) flights between

London and Paris
London and Rome
London and Venice
London and Nice

Paris and Barcelona
Paris and Venice
Paris and Rome

Barcelona and Venice
Barcelona and Rome

The only relevant overnight train, to the best of my knowledge is Paris-Barcelona (either direction), but perhaps there is also an overnight train Rome to Nice.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hello again Rose,

To be honest, I only asked the question for the benefit of any other readers who had some knowledge of rail timetables & so would, hopefully, be able to help.

I'm afraid that I'm a bit out of my depth on this subject, but it looks as though you've had some good advice already!

Enjoy your trip.

Jim

Hmmm... hit post too soon. Omitted flights between Paris and Nice.

Thanks for all your help. Am looking at Easyjet.com for domestic flights looks like it may be a lot cheaper to fly between points then to get the Train and may save some time as well? How far is London Luton from central London?

Also wanted to mention there is a flight between London to Paris for 6.99GBP in comparison to London to Paris by train 120usd
What do you think?

Cheaper. Takes as much as a good hour longer to fly, measured say from Big Ben to l'Arc de Triomphe. Your experience may vary depending on actual origination point and destination.

Well seems alot cheaper and its only an hour difference so might go with that.
The paris to Barcelona comes up at 90.99 Euro and takes about two hours from what I worked out.. so may go with that and save a day of travel.

Okay I need advise on one more thing hope Im not being a pain!! Just found another domestic airline and I can Travel from Paris Beauvis to Barcelona Girona for 19.99 EUR and again takes about two hours are both those airports easy to get to from the centre of the city? should mention I am looking at Ryanair.com

Hi Rose,

Me yet again & this time I can help!

I don't know about the Paris end, but I travelled to Barcelona (Girona) with Ryanair just a few weeks ago. There is a direct bus connection from Girona Airport to downtown Barcelona which takes about 1 hour & 10 minutes. This bus service is timed to coincide withn the Ryanair departures & arrivals & will wait in the event that the flight is delayed (within reason I suppose).

If you go into Ryanair's website & click on Destinations/Spain/Barcelona-Girona you'll find a link to all the bus info. Also, if you click on my name above this message you'll find my trip report which gives more details of the bus transfer.

Hope this helps,

Jim

Rose-

Even though the prices on Easyjet & Ryanair look great, you should be award that there are "hidden" charges. Tax on the ticket is easily $15 per ticket, and they charge a surcharge if you buy your ticket with credit card. Also, most of their airports are outside of the cities (about 1hr away) and you have to pay an extra $15-20 to take the bus to the city. If you add that all up, it might not be that much cheaper (or time-saving) as you think. Just make sure you check the logistics out before you buy your tickets.

To find out more about the airports, do what Jim suggests. Both Easyjet & Ryanair websites have airport information and directions.

Good luck.

Rose,

Train schedules are never easy to get on the internet. I suggest you buy a Thomas Cook European Timetable at http://www. thomascooktimetables.com

BTW, Barcelona can be skipped.