Richie20852

What is the most efficient and cheapest way to travel between cities in Europe. I looked at a few places and it seems to be quite expensive. Here is my travel plans. This is my first time traveling to Europe so I would appreciate any advice and recommendations. Thanks everyone
7/14 - 7/17 - Rome
7/17 - 7/20 - Florence
7/20 - 7/23 - Venice
7/23 - 7/26 - Milan
7/26 - 7/29 - Paris
7/29 - 8/1 - Amsterdam

fmpden

Certainly by train except maybe for Milan to Paris. Advance, discounted purchases by train can be very cheap. Where are you checking for prices?

bobthenavigator

All by train, except to Paris---fly that leg.
See www.whichbudget.com for cheap fares

Christina

Trains in Europe are inexpensive for what you get IMO, and definitely compared to the cost of trains in the US, which are very high. Sometimes people have very unrealisitic ideas of what a train trip should cost -- I remember someone once was complaining about a fare that was maybe 40 euro for a 6-8 hour TGV train trip.

SOme countries are cheaper than others, of course, Poland is a lot cheaper than France or Switzerland or Germany.

Fares will be cheaper in Europe than if you check from an online travel agent like Raileurope, of course, and buy from them. Once in a while some turn out to be not too bad a price from them, but not usually. Your trips are all fairly short, anyway, so I really wonder if you just have unrealistic ideas of what they should cost.

charnees

You can't do better than the train within Italy. If there are several people traveling together it might be cheaper to rent a car, but since you cannot, and should not, plan on driving within these cities, the train is best. If you take the regional trains, which stop at many more stations, you can save money, but on a vacation your time is worth more than that.

Buy your tickets in Italy. There are ticket machines in the stations, which are in the central city.

Dukey1

a more comprehensive budget airline site is www.skyscanner.net

You use the term 'expensive' yet you do not say where or how you have checked travel prices


BTW, how much are you paying for your AIRFARE????

alihutch

Lots of VERY good train info on http://www.seat61.com/ Train is great way to do it. Arrive in city centres, no parking or local traffic laws to worry about and no hanging about at airports

FrenchMystiqueTours2

As others said, the train except for Milan-Paris. I just got 49 euro return flight Paris-Milan-Paris for my husband on Easy Jet.

As for trains, check the Italian train company's website: http://www.trenitalia.com/ as well as http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/?time=1295893334 or http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/?DISTRIBUTED_COUNTRY=GB for the Paris-Amsterdam train. It's too early to book yet, Thalys trains can be booked up to 4 months ahead.Tickets are as low as 35 euros when booked 3 to 4 months ahead.

My recollection of Italian train prices is that they were quite cheap but I am not an expert on travel in Italy.

Véronique

StCirq

As everyone else has said, trains for all your Italy destinations, plane to get to Paris.

In my experience, train fares in Italy are extremely inexpensive. Where have you found these supposedly expensive fares?

Christina

I didn't notice the Milan-Paris trip, that is a long one. But even on Raileurope, they have Paris to Amsterdam at only $51 on Thalys. At the current exchange rate, that's only about 38 euro. Of course they won't even show fares for July at this point, but that's the fare for March. Rome-Florence they show at $61, which is higher even though it's a shorter trip. But their Thalys fare isn't bad.

kerouac

I would stick to the train at all times. At least you can see something out of the window between Milan and Paris.

hetismij

The Smoove fare for Thalys, which is fixed and non refundable is €35 but occasionally slightly less. You can't book it for July yet though.

Surfergirl

I agree with kerouac. I personally like taking the night train (Artesia) from Milan to Paris, but I'm a train freak.

http://www.artesia.eu/english/train-...-schedules.php

kfusto

I love trains but not night trains. I would fly if the trip was longer than 6 hours.

laurie_ann

Here are some links which show indicative train costs in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/italy.cfm

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/timecostmap.htm

nytraveler

Richie - Whwere are you lookng for prices? Train travel in italy is dirt cheap (are you comparing to train travel in the US - which is typically much more?).

You're not looking at Rail Europe are you - they aren't a train company - just a ticket reseller. For Italy you need to look at trenitalia.

Richie20852

I really appreciate all the input from everybody.
I was looking at this website (http://www.eurorailways.com/products...select_passes/) which shows rail passes over $500 per. I also remember looking on another one that was asking for $1000. Which all seemed pretty high!! My aitrline ticket is costing $1500 per. I will look into all of the links provided by you all and feel free to leave any other pointers if you're willing in regards to city tours, side trips from the cities and anything else that may make my trip more enjoyable, safer and cost efficient. Thanks again!!

Christina

Rail Passes are pretty expensive, I agree with that. It is usually cheaper to buy individual tickets for specific trips rather than railpasses for that reason. Railpasses are usualy only cost effective for people who really intend to use the train a lot, like every day or two, and have some very long distance trips in that mix.

I think folks who haven't traveled to Europe before or used the train much often assume those railpasses are the best deal and what they should do, but they often are not.

ellenem

Try inserting all your train trips on Railsaver.com. You can toggle between "railpass" versus "least expensive" versus "best schedule" to see the best option for you.

Richie20852

Ellenem,
Thanks, I did look on that website and the search result returned "Eurail 3 Country Benelux/France/Italy 5 Day 1st Class Adult Select Saver Pass" for $388/person for all three searches (Always Railpasses, If More Convenient, and If Less Expensive). Is this the normal going rate?

Charnees,
You mentioned buying the tickets in Italy and that although cheaper there are more stops. I already feel that 3 days in each city is still not enough time to see everything unless I'm moving along at a fast pace. Although, I wish to see much of everything, I would also like this to be a relaxing vacation and take things at a slower pace to get a feel for each city instead of passing through. If prices aren't too extremely different I would like to take non stop or minimal stop trains b/w cities. Would you still recommend buying it there?

Fmpden, Bobthenavigator & Frenchmystiquetours2,
In regards to the flight from Milan to Paris, will this be on a very small airliner and do they have overnight flights? Ideally I would like to get much of my sleep during the travel so I will have more time to sight see during the day.

As stated before I really do appreciate those of you who have taken the time to give me any and all pointers!