Transport advise- Rome - Florence - Berlin - Copenhagen
 

Hi there

My family and I will be travelling this December/ January to Europe. We are going from Rome to Florence, Florence to Berlin and Berlin to Copenhagen. Please can I have advise on what will be the best way to travel from city to city?
We would prefer trains and are happy to overnight on the trains. What would be the best rail company to book with? I have checked some prices but am not sure what the average price of such journeys are- we would like the prices to be as low as possible and the train time to also not be too long. Please please can I have advise on this?

Thank you! :)

Rome to Florence, train. Trenitalia is marginally more convenient as it leaves from Termini, but in the future also Italo will leave from Termini (at present it leaves from Tiburtina).

Florence to Berlin, find a flight. At present Vueling has direct and relatively cheap direct flights, Easyjet and Alitalia fly from Pisa. I do not like Vueling very much but this is up to you.

Sorry to inform that low cost companies have driven night trains out of market. So there is really no train options between Florence and Berlin - it would be a 15 hours or so trip by daylight, changing trains multiple times.

Also look at flights to Copenhagen. To find out what trains are available look at bahn.de and it will show all trains - inclding routes and where they stop. For fast trains tickets are often cheaper if bought far in advance - but then you are locking yourself into you those specific trains.

www.skyscanner.com
www.whichbudget.com
www.seat61.com
Those are some basic tools for doing your research.

If into night trains as I am you can take an overnight train from Florence to Munich and then go on on day trains to Berlin or stay in the day in Munich and take a night train to Berlin but it is a long haul to go straight thru.

Berlin to Copenhagen also has a night train I believe.

as for prices check www.trenitalia.com for those starting in Italy (or www.tialotren.com for Italy too - a competitor to Trenitalia - and also check www.raileurope.com as they now at times have even cheaper fares IME than trenitalia.com and is a lot easier to use.

www.bahn.de/en the German Railways site for those in Germany (and perhaps Florence to Munich as this is a German train I believe).
In addition to www.seat61.com other sites I find useful and info-laden: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com. Booking way early can get discounts but those often have severe restrictions on changes or refunds so be sure of your dates.

Going by train Florence to Berlin could also cost a whole lot more than a flight - especially with night trains where you must also pay for the sleeping accommodations.

I'm a huge proponent of trains but unless you want to break your journey and stay in Munich then between Florence and Berlin I'd fly.

There is one daytime train Berlin to Copenhagen daily - with no changes. Takes about 7 hours and you wold have to look 90 days out to find the cheapest fare. There is no overnight train. Well, you can leave at night and arrive the next day, but the trip leaves at about 12:30 am and there is one stop - early in the am at Odense. You can look at the prices - don;t know what a compartment will cost - and sitting up all night - if the train is set up to allow that - will be uncomfortable and leaves your belongings open to theft.

There is an overnight train link Berlin to Malmo, Sweden (actually Trelleborg, a port near Malmo), just across the Sound from Cpopenhagen - practically a suburb of Copenhagen - this train has cars that actually roll onto the train IME but not sure if that is still the case. So there is an overnight train/ferry link Berlin to Copenhagen - from Malmo - then frequent trains across the bridge-tunnel over the Ore Sound to Copenhagen.