Booking Trains

Sorry, the pass link https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/select-pass/two-country/france-italy

Obviously I haven't booked it yet but there it is, seems the right fit.

~Firsttimers from Canada, girls trip mother daughter <3 gotta be safe and perfect

Actually, any pass covering France can now be used for the London-Paris Eurostar train, if starting use of a counted rail pass travel day and with a seat reservation fee of about $34 per person in Standard class. Kids get discounts on most regular train tickets or travel free on the pass (except for seat reservations). The international TGV pass holder seat reservation fee from Paris to Italy (Torino or Milan) is about the same. If buying a pass, I'd recommend booking both of those seat reservations at the same time, because those trains limit the number of pass holders and can also fill up. The overnight train between Paris and Italy does not accept rail passes. See more at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/france-rail-passes. You should also check the current price to book tickets separately for your travel dates, since both trains have a wide range of fares. They've already been for sale for months for summer travel, so the best rates may be selling out. Many trains within Italy also require a seat reservation with a pass but don't place any artificial limits on using them.

But you might also reduce the number of train rides by flying from Paris to Venice for a competitive price; see www.skyscanner.com. And fly home from Rome, not Paris, so that all travel is in a relatively straight line without backtracking.

" I have been advised to book open jaw tickets and flight from Paris home."

Is Paris your last stop? With open jaw tickets, it always best to book tickets from the last city you'll be visiting. I'd prefer other airports to Paris for flights.

As Laura mentioned, you will need to buy seat reservations for the express trains in Italy (Freccia, Intercity). These are specific to train, date and departure time and can only be used on the one train listed on the ticket. If you board the wrong train by mistake, you'll be subject to hefty fines collected on the spot (they don't care if you're using a Railpass). The Railpass can be used freely on the Regionale trains, so it's important to know what type of trains you'll be using on each trip in Italy. I don't believe Railpasses are accepted on the Italo Treno high speed trains.

It's $1300 each to go home to vancouver be from Rome whereas we can travel round trip to London for $700 reach right now so why would so spend $2600 to come home from rome when I could take advantage of the trains? We aren't rushing and or Italy accommodations bookings are flexible. We are leaving London Sept 25 to Paris and leaving Paris Oct 2 to Italy (Venice? Tuscany and Rome) and have until the 16th to go home. Flights home on open jaw are super steep. The train family's pass for me and 9 yr old daughter seem good I'm just a little confused about the reservations and the specifics. It just seems cheaper. Maybe there's sense in backtracking a bit?

Open-Jaw or Multi-City flight tickets usually don't have that big a price difference, although maybe there's just a great deal for London. Make sure you're not looking at One-Way flights, which are usually more expensive.

If you don't book an intra-European connection through your trans-Atlantic airline, you can still book a budget airline from Rome to London and spend another night or more there (so you don't risk missing the most important flight). Flight prices on this route routinely start from $25; see www.skyscanner.com.

Seat reservations on nearly every train leg will add up over this distance.

Thank you so much laura you are so helpful. I called a flight line and asked specifically for open jaw flights she said the second flight just from rome to Frankfurt to Vancouver was $1300 each

I thought that was all flights per person but it wasnt

I

t's $1300 each to go home to vancouver be from Rome whereas we can
travel round trip to London for $700 reach right now so why would so
spend $2600 to come home from rome when I could take advantage of the
trains?

I suggest that you look again. Use Expedia or Kayak. Make sure you are looking at the prices for multicity trips. I just priced out a trip from Van to London, returning Rome to Van for less than $1,000/pp. If that's still too much, at least consider flying from Rome to London vs sitting on trains for 15 hours. You could probably fly for the price of the various seat reservations charges you'd have to pay for that one train trip.

That's not too much. I feel like airline companies like flight Center don't know how to find deals. And they wanted me to book it immediately and a I said I would keep looking. She said "okay" like I was crazy not to book. She said it was getting almost too late to find anything. I'll book through kayak or whichever, Ive never done that I've always booked through WestJet for Canada and Mexico and now they have London's flights. But if kayak and such sites are reliable and safe Im looking forward to saving money that way and seeing the results.

So I totally like skyscanner and this is what I got per person looking up what I think I've been advised to do in terms of travelling

https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/d/yvra/2017-09-17/lond/lond/2017-09-25/pari/pari/2017-10-02/veni/rome/2017-10-16/yvra?adults=1&children=0&adultsv2=1&childrenv2=&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&ref=day-view#results

I am guessing renting a car in Florence for the Tuscany period of the trip and then dropping it in Rome and fly home? Now we aren't taking any trains and we're saving time.

Note that most of the first results on your Skyscanner search have you changing airports in London and some also have you changing airports in Paris, in order to catch budget airlines like EasyJet. The EasyJet flights would be a great choice if you were staying in those cities, but they're not a co-operative partner with the other airlines and the airport transfers are really not a great idea. You might start by limiting the search results to just Heathrow and CDG, which results in mainly flight connections by British, Air Canada, and Air France.

Most large car rental agencies have no problem or even extra fee for picking up and dropping off at different cities in Italy.

I chose Heathrow in London and Charles de Gaulle and it came out cheaper! https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/d/yvra/2017-09-17/lhr/lond/2017-09-25/cdg/pari/2017-10-02/vce/rome/2017-10-16/yvr?adults=1&children=1&adultsv2=1&childrenv2=9&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&ref=day-view#results

I also booked a car rental through Budget (they are here in Victoria BC so it's familiar) for a week and it's only $300 estimated total. I find that really affordable.

I hope you noticed that those prices quoted were in British £s. Not sure why you selected that. Look at the top of the page and select for Canada and CDN $ before you make a big mistake.

Thank you for noticing that, I tried another site here https://www.ca.kayak.com/flights/YVR-LON/2017-09-17/LON-PAR/2017-09-25/PAR-VCE/2017-10-03/ROM-YVR/2017-10-16/1adults/children-11?fs=takeoff=1400,2330|||

I feel like I'm getting simpler and simpler. I would just need to rent a car in Venice and drop off in Rome and I have a whole two weeks from Venice to Rome.

I have a place in Tuscany booked. I just need to find places in Venice and Rome. Could Florence be just a day trip?

I like booking directly with the airline I am flying.

rnsmith the only thing is i don't know many airlines in uk, west jet is the only one that flies to london from canada, the rest of the airlines look very new to me

Be sure to check each airlines baggage policy.

What may be included or allowed on one, may be an extra charge on another.

Canada is a big place. Exactly where are you flying from? That will determine the best airlines and routes. From some cities, your options will indeed be more limited. With a change in Toronto you can get almost anywhere; I'm not sure what changing in Toronto is like these days (as Canada's largest and busiest airport, by far, changing there may not be the best option).

Air Canada has lots of flights to London and Paris (fewer to Rome). But be careful; more and more of their international routes are on their subsidiary Air Canada Rouge, which does not get such good reviews.

Air Transat has a lot of flights from Canada to Europe; they do not always show up in flight searches, so look for them directly on their website.

To see who flies where from an airport, you can look at that airport's Wikipedia page.

When looking, make sure you are using the "multi city" option on websites. This is usually much cheaper than two one-way tickets.

I've been told you can just grab a flight when in the UK/Europe. So if I book from Vancouver (here where I live) to London and then Rome to Vancouver, I have considered in between getting flights as I go from London to Paris, Paris to Venice. I'd just being getting an open jaw ticket in advance and leaving the smaller trips in between to plan while in Europe. That way I won't be stressing out about time. But then I've also been advised against that.

"I've been told you can just grab a flight when in the UK/Europe. "

Sure you can - on two conditions:

1) The flight still has to have seats. Depending on the route and the time/day, the flight can be sold out.
2) You have to be able to pay last minute prices. Some of these can be hundreds of euros.

Once upon a time, when budget airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair were starting out, they had last minute sales to fill planes. Those days are long gone; they don't need to do this anymore. Now, the prices start out low if you book way in advance, and go up - sometimes WAY up - closer to travel.

Take a look at Skyscanner for some of the flights you are considering. Look at prices for tomorrow, and for a few months out, to see if the last minute prices and availability will work for you. https://www.skyscanner.com/