Train Train or plane
 

We are planning to fly into Lisbon and fly out of Rome. We would like to travel over land, probably by train, from Lisbon through Spain, seeing Barcelona Valencia and Alhambra. Then going through France, seeing Nice Monaco and Cannes. Moving on to Italy, where we would like to spend a majority of our time seeing Cinque Terra,, Luca portofino lake cuomo Venice and Palermo. Also Sardinia and Sicily and possibly Malta. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Crucial info missing: How long is your trip- you can do it all by train but to go those distances takes a lot of time -all those places can easily be reached by train. For schedules check www.bahn.de/en - German Railways site for schedules of all European trains.

Great sources of info - www.seat61.com - great advice on discounted tickets you can book yourself if you book far enough in advance; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

<i> Train Train or plane
Posted by: lynelle926 on Mar 5, 17 at 5:26pm</i>

Looks like a six to eight week trip. For an illustrated introduction to trains see http://www.enjoy-europe.com/trains-in-europe.htm.

You could do this trip in a very rushed way in two months. How much time do you actually have?

There are no trains between Malta and Sicily.

My rules are :
- train when under 4 hours of travel
- plane above (you lose a lot of time getting to airport, waiting for flight and getting fro mairport to hotel at destination).
- never take a bus (I hate buses, but they can be budget friendly

Trains : good sites given by PalenQ - he will tell you to reserve a first class, I never do but that is my only disagreement with him regarding trains.

Planes : look at low cost companies like Ryanair, vueling, Germanwings, easyjet, wow, transavia etc.
Pay attention to luggage restrictions that can blow a hole in your budget.

Easy enough by train!

Lisbon to Madrid by Trenhotel Lusitania sleeper train, www.loco2.com or www.renfe.com - cosy sleepers, cafe-bar.

Madrid-Valencia then Valencia-Barcelona booked at www.loco2.com or www.renfe.com

Barcelona-Marseille on the direct 16:45 AVE from €49 www.loco2.com

Overnight stop in Marseille.

Marseille-Cannes www.loco2.com from €15

Cannes-Nice-Monte Carlo = just buy local tickets at the station, a few euros.

Nice or Monte Carlo to Italy www.trenitalia.com or www.loco2.com

Within Italy www.trenitalia.com - for example you can go by direct train from Rome or Naples to Palermo from €19 including the train going onto a ferry across the Straits of Messina, a fascinating experience.

Italy (Catania or Pozzalo) to Malta www.virtuferries.com

How many months will you have for this trip? Will you travel in summer or in winter?

Trains : good sites given by PalenQ - he will tell you to reserve a first class, I never do but that is my only disagreement with him regarding trains.>

I prefer to point out the differences and say that sometimes discounted tickets in first class may not be more than 2nd when talking about Italy and if not much more go first class.

I do in general advocate for first class (as has Man in Seat 61 once here a few years ago when he said 'he was an aficionado of first class himself'

Yes that is a subjective thing that many disagree with - but on the trip of a lifetime and especially with too much luggage first may be more relaxed. That said Italy's newer spiffy modern high-speed trains have really nice 2nd class cars.

Thank you all for your valuable advice! The reason I did not put in a timeframe is, we have none. Four months, six months, more… We are winging it. We're just in the process of booking a RTW star alliance ticket, and in the very beginning stages of thinking about ground transportation or short flights. I'm sure I'll have lots more questions as we continue our planning ! But for now, thank you all very much !

PS leaving at the end of September, and ending up in Australia sometime in December or January or February. As I said, we are really open

I don't know if you're aware that you can stay in the Schengen region only 90 days unless you have a Schengen passport or a visa that allows a longer stay. Spain, France, and Italy are all in the Schengen region.

<Four months, six months, more…>

As above, have you taken into account the 90 day Schengen limit? How do you plan to stay for six months or more?