karishka

hello fellas travelers! i live in usa and all traveling flight websites offering flights from this places from 3 to 6 thouthands of eurous for 2 in june. i am a little confused about rail passes it mentioned that on a top of rail passes which is not cheap either 550 euroes for 2 in each country, i will have to pay 60-70 extrain italy. i used vueling, rainair, jet wizz, they dont have flight dates i needed. i wont consider hichhiking. is there anybody know what is the best way to travel from and to mentioned places? i am also wondering if booking in january too early? maybe the will have more flights and dates availble later? i use to usa websites like travelocity and orbitz, too bad it dont work us good for europe. i will highly appreciate useful suggestions. excuse me my english, its not my native language.

Gretchen

Glad you added about the English. You do better than I would do probably.
You should look at point to point rail fares rather than a pass.
You don't say how long you are going for. Less than 2-3 months, you need to pare down your places.

PalenQ

i am a little confused about rail passes it mentioned that on a top of rail passes which is not cheap either 550 euroes for 2 in each country, i will have to pay 60-70 extra in italy.>

It seems unlikely you are traveling enough on trains to merit a railpass - though if you are going on a lot of Italian trains then an Italian Railpass could be cost effective, especially if you want flexibility to chose which trains to take once there not book in stone weeks early.

but if only taking a few Italian trains then go to www.trenitalia.com and see if there are discounted fares available and these are sold in limited numbers so must be booked weeks early and then must be used on that specific train.

For lots of good stuff on European trains check out these IMO superb sites: www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Marseilles to Florence by train is a long long day since ther are no high-speed trains from the Italian border to Genoa and Milan and the trains on that stretch limp along at slow speeds. And you always must change trains at the border - at Ventimiglia, Italy. Check flying into Pisa's International airport or Florence' airport.

brotherleelove2004

Don't expect to take a train into Greece. There is no train crossing the Greek border at this time.

kja

Getting to Hvar will be very tricky. I think you would need to fly into Split and then take a ferry. The ferry schedules in Croatia generally vary with the season.

kybourbon

Use www.whichbudget.com or www.skyscanner.com for flight info.

>>>i am also wondering if booking in january too early?<<<

You didn't state when you were traveling.

karishka

hello everybody! thank you so much for your advice. i was planing to spend 12 days in south of france at the end of may, then 1st week of june in florence italy and 2nd week in greece and next week in croatia and back. is there trains from greece to croatia, because it very difficult to find a decent cheap flight from greece to croatia. i wont care if i will have change a squence of countries if i will be able to find semi decent way to get around thous countries. again i am sorry for my broken english and thank you, every one, for your useful suggestions, its precious!

karishka

somebody suggested to travel by boat, is such ferries exsit between marceille and greek islands and between myconos greece and croatian islands like hvar?

PalenQ

no the ferries you may want to use go between Italian Adriatic ports like Ancona or Bari to Croatia - maybe stopping at Hvar.

From Greek island you would take ferries to Athens Piraeus port then train or bus to Patras then to Igoumenitsa for boats along the albanian/Croatian shore to Hvar.

But I doubt if there is any direct ferries between the places you mention - Marseilles I guess could have some long-distance boats going to the area but doubt it or very frequent.

karishka

would be logical if they have its all on the Mediterranean and interconnected..never thought that will be so difficult to get to this choice of places.. all this flight websites results still too expensive , i am checking everyone known: from 4 to 6 thousands for 2 people.seem that flying from place to place is best option? if i try flying from capitals of countries prices is still too high. cannot come up with easy solution yet.i appreciate everybody's advice who have knowledge or actual experience.

karishka

is it possible to book ferries online?

Sassafrass

Ryanair isn't the greatest Arline, but I've used them several times, so they can be made to work. They fly several days a week from Marseilles to Rome Ciampino airport, which is East of Rome. From there, you could get a shuttle into Rome and a train to Florence. In May, cost of their tickets vary from 35-65 euros plus some fees. Be sure to look at the totals, plus luggage. Some days it is a lot, some, very little, but it can be double the base cost. At least, it is not thousands. It might be a start.

PalenQ

is it possible to book ferries online?>

Usually thru the ferry companies web site but unless you get a discounted fare you may was well just show up - rarely any problem getting on those large ferries.

artsnletters

I was researching this a while back, and I could not find any routing from Greece to Croatia that did not go through Italy. Unfortunately, the two countries are not easy to travel between.

Sassafrass

Noticed that Alitalia Airlines also flies from Marseilles to Rome. Most of the flights are super expensive, but a few dates have budget fares of around 135 euros. You might have to adjust your schedule to take advantage of them.

kja

Are you fully committed to visiting Hvar on this trip? Getting there will be complicated and time consuming.

thursdaysd

You can go overland from Greece to Croatia, but it will be by bus through Albania and Montenegro.

I agree with kja about Hvar, unless you want to spend time elsewhere in Croatia I would skip it. Hvar isn't that compelling a destination: plenty of other islands and beaches around, and it's overfull of posh people with expensive boats.

This is a good site for European ferry routes: http://www.directferries.co.uk/

For ferries along the Dalmatian coast see: http://www.jadrolinija.hr/en/home

kja

"Hvar ... overfull of posh people with expensive boats."

Well put, thursdaysd!

karishka

hello everybody! thank you for usuful advice! about hvar. i was always dreaming to participate one time in yacht week in regata.its work like this 9-10 people,friends usually renting yacht for a week itcost around 9k, they live and stay on this yacht,some people have their own, but its actually accecible if you think of it. so while i will be in europe i dsided to visit one week and see this all myself.