curmudgeon

I'm setting up a last minute trip which has us flying into London and out of Paris. We usually rent a car in our Europe trips, tending towards the countryside, but given November weather, this trip is leaning more toward cities and museums. We'd like to allocate 3-4 days for one stop in Italy - Venice or Florence seem the prime candidates. Keeping cost low is a priority.

One consideration is to fly Easyjet from Gatwick to Venice (about 30 GBP). My concern here is that the flight leaves at 6:55 am, and I'm not sure if we can catch an early enough train from central London to allow for check-in.

From Venice to Paris, it looks like the best bet might be the Artesia overnight train - the www.trenitalia site is advertising 35Euro fares for this route, but I'm don't seem to be able to reserve it online.

Florence doesn't seem to have as much in the way of discount connections - are there alternative airports I should consider? How far or inconvenient for connections is Bologna? I might consider renting a car in Bologna if it would be usefull for Florence/Sienna. (it looks like the Artesia train deal also applies to Bologna).

Any thoughts or alternatives on where/how to fit in a few days (somewhat oriented toward art museums) in Italy, with the connection points to London and Paris, would be appreciated.

ben_haines_london

Ryanair, http://www.ryanair.ie, ++44 870 156 9569, fly from Stansted and perhaps Luton and Gatwick to Treviso (for Venice), while Volare, http://w3.volareweb.com/en/index.html, fly from Gatwick to Venice and Venice to Paris

Ryanair fly from Stansted to Pisa, whence a train takes 80 minutes from the airport to Florence.

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ira

Hi ben,

I don't think volare flies to London anymore - at least I couldn't find it in the "destinations" list.

Curmudgeon - the 35E fare on the Artesia train is for a six person couchette.

You might find it more convenient to fly www.volareweb.com to Paris Orly from Venice.

Does Italy have to be in the middle? You can't do London-Paris-Venice?

curmudgeon

We are pretty much stuck with starting in London and finishing in Paris (using FF tickets that are committed for those points). We are somewhat flexible about destinations for the middle stop - it's just that we have a few extra days and haven't previously been to either Florence or Venice. Volareweb is definitely an alternative for Venice-Paris.

Any thougts on what is practical in terms of early flights from Gatwick or Stanstead (assuming we are staying somewhere near Victoria station)?

flanneruk

There are 5 am trains from Victoria to Gatwick and from Liverpool St to Stansted (though note that early morning Stansted Express trains are running a few minutes early during the leaf fall season). There are also buses from Victoria Coach Station (just far enough from the railway station to be a real pain if you've got luggage) to Stansted, and also buses through the night from Liverpool Street. Details at the BAA website.

But do you really need to catch an uncomfortably early flight? Go to www.nonrev.net (click on timetables) for all flights to Venice and Florence, as well as to Treviso and Pisa (input LON, not Gatwick or Stansted, as your departure point). Don't assume that the low-costs are necessarily the cheapest.

ira

Hi curm,

Have you checked www.whichbudget.com?

Andre

BMI also has a daily flight from HEATHROW to Venice with very low one-way fares in the 30 GBP range and a humane schedule: dep. 10:50 AM.

www.flybmi.com

Hope this helps,
Andre

curmudgeon

Thanks for the pointers folks. I had checked the BMI flight for Nov 15, and it was 154 GBP each; on the 16th it is much cheaper - 53 GBP, but the 15th is much preferable for us. I also found that since I last checked, it looks like the mid-day Ryanair flight from Stanstead has gotten much cheaper, around 35 GBP with tax.

I've noticed that Ryanair seems to be having problems with baggage handler strikes at Stanstead - does anyone know if they are still so strict about carryon under those conditions? They might not have much choice about it, with limited space in the cabin.

It looks like if we can get ourselves out of bed early enough, the Victoria-Gatwick trains are definitely available. www.gatwickexpress.co.uk

www.whichbudget.com is definitely a good starting point. The full timetables at www.nonrev.net were also very helpfull (have to be a little patient while they load).

dhb5221

Hi--have you thought about using a car service to pick you up on the morning of your 6:55 am flight? I was just in London flying to Venice as well and the four of us traveling together split the cost of the car service and they pick you up ar your hotel. Go to www.justairports.com, it is so worth it! AHH Venice....