I need suggestions for transportation between Krakow,Poland - Salzburg,,Austria - Brig(Matterhorn),Switzerland - Carnac(west coast of France) - Stone henge, England.
Thanks!

There is really no way to answer -- those are VERY far flung (and partly very rural) places. How long do you have, and are you planning to see anything in between these five destinations?

Supposed those are your absolute musts and that is great - trains are the only answer for such a far-removed itinerary (or flights) - overnight trains can save daytime travel time and the cost of a night in a hotel - for lots of info on trains check www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Krakow - night train to Prague
Prague - Salzburg train via Linz, Austria

Salzburg - Zurich - Zurich - Brig - Zermatt (Matterhorn)

Zermatt- Brig - Paris

Paris - Carnac area by train

Each of those journeys can be done in a long day best to break them up a bit.

Carnac - Brittany Ferries to Portsmouth - Portsmouth train to Salisbury (Stonehenge) or fly from say Rennes to southern England.

How long do you have to see all those far-flung places? Are you going just between those places or plan to stop in between some?

Prague to Salzburg on the fastest connection takes about 6 hours.

Salzburg to Zermatt (M'horn) takes 6.5 hours.

If possible, try to look at some of the places in between.

" trains are the only answer for such a far-removed itinerary"


There is no "only" option. Each journey will need a completely different mix of train, plane, bus, taxi and possibly ferry. And you probably don't really want to travel between these sites anyway.

For Carnac-Stonehenge, for example, the most practical way is probably the TGV train from Lorient (for which you really need a taxi from Carnac) to Paris-Montparnasse, a taxi to Orly airport, a flight to Southampton, a train to Salisbury and the Stonehenge Tour bus to the site. But you can't stay there, so you'll probably want to get back to Salisbury for a hotel.

A kind of summary of options is at www.rome2rio.com, though the ambition of that site is a great deal greater than its operators' understanding of how European public transport actually works, and it throws up many howling errors.

But it's a useful starter. Cross-check it against bahn.de (close to OK for major European railway routes) as well as national transport sites (like, for the UK traveline.info which is far more comprehensive than bahn.de)

" trains are the only answer for such a far-removed itinerary">

edited out my "or flights" which means exactly like you say -

and from Brittany to Salisbury it is much quicker and cheaper one would think to take Brittany Ferries to Southampton or wherever it goes and then up to Salisbury- why trek all the way back to fly to Southampton when you can take a train or bus to the Brittany port and do an overnight boat trip (saving on a hotel to boot)

So if you are going to quote me please do not edit my words - trains OR FLIGHTS is what I said! Very different than the edited portion without OR FLIGHTS in it!

and there are buses from L'Orient to Carnac - no need for an expensive taxi. Those menhirs or ancient stones are in many ways nicer for the visitor than mobbed Stonhenge (try to get the special tour early in the morning I think to get behind the roped off megaliths and be nose to nose with the stones) - Carnac's are much more vast and accessible to both sheep and visitors:

https://www.google.com/search?q=carn...w=1920&bih=955

I think Pal may be incorrect about Salzburg-Zermatt. A little more than NINE hours at a minimum is more likely.

I think Pal may be incorrect about Salzburg-Zermatt. A little more than NINE hours at a minimum is more likely.>

Good call Dukey - I messed up and put Zurich instead of Zermatt to Salzburg - Zermatt to Salzburg is about 9.5 hours or a bit less or more - thanks for the correction.

For Carnac-Stonehenge, for example, the most practical way is probably the TGV train from Lorient (for which you really need a taxi from Carnac) to Paris-Montparnasse, a taxi to Orly airport>

WRONG - Carnac has train service itself and lots of connections during the day, taking about 5.5 hrs to Paris Montparnasse - NO need for any taxi - Carnac by local train to Auray for direct TGVs to Paris from there.

Correcto - Carnac don't have train service but a bus that shoots over to Aurac timed with train departures from there such as TGVs to Paris - no need to take an expensive taxi to L'Orient that's for sure!

For schedules of all European trains I use www.bahn.de/en - the German Railways all-European train schedule site - always spot on IME.