Central Europe: 3 flights. What would be your choice ?

Hi!

Is your plan still "Vienna, Southern Poland, Slovakia and Hungary"?
If so, Venice is quite far out of the way. Have you checked Munich? It is much closer to Vienna.

Yes the plan still the same.

Munich cost the same as Vienna so no savings there. It's along way, not ideal for sure....but a 6 hours trains is doable for for a 32 days trip.

If you are zigzagging between the two, then option 2 is the obvious choice.

How are you getting such low fares?

Edit: did not see your original plan mentioned above. Venice is way out of the way.

Low fare ? I usually pay less that 1000$ for flight between Montreal and Europe in summer.

I know Venice is out of the way, but doable by train. Train, an ipad, a cold beer and some nice views. Not that bad. Not ideal, but not a torture!

How much savings is it once you have figured in the hotel night(s) on the front and/or back end, train tickets for four to get where you want to go, etc (value being counted in both money and time).

Also Venice has always seemed one of the absolute worst places out of which to leave Europe for north America since you inevitably have to leave so early in the morning (making getting to the airport a real hassle).

Only you can make the calculations between money and time and hassle for yourself.

1) train is around 90 euro for the family each way (so 180 euros)

2) lodging…we still have to sleep somewhere. Venice mestre a not more expensive than Vienna.

3) flight from Venice leave at 1pm to Montreal.

There are also flights from Venice to Newark and Philadelphia leaving at sane hours. My sometimes-travel-mate (resident of Phoenix) and I (resident of Washington DC) have had no problems getting convenient flights home from Venice--and I've done it with airline miles--I think it was under 45,000 miles for the one-way ticket home.

Ok but that doesn’t help me much since I live in Montréal.

Have you checked fares to and/or from Milan? It was a great return choice for us.

Then none of those seem insurmountable in your case.

For me time is gold, so of the three I would do number 3. I assume those are Canadian dollars? The difference between number 1 and number 3 is about 15$ per person per day. Eat less. Or look at it this way. 38 days under option 1 is 36 days under option 3 cause you dont need two days of travel. So how much is two days costing you? The differnece in air fare?

Or spend much less time in Austria and more time in Poland and Hungary where the prices are much lower. You can maybe make up the difference just in the cost of a hotel room. From what I am seeing on the forum, hotels in Vienna are twice that in Budapest.

Option 4 would be open jaw and its the only way I would do this trip .... again time is money. And again, because you dont have to back track, maybe your trip is now 35 days? Does the extra day of savings cover the additional cost.

It all comes down to quantity or quality. Only you can define quality.

Bigger question, how are you getting around during this trip? Cause that can be as much as the airfare ... or not with some good planning.

Mr E. You are right about qualilty vs quantity. It's not an easy choice. Those 60 daily $ could also be put in a nicer airbnb (more central), a better restaurant....at the end of the trip could a daily + would be better than two more convenient flights ?

Time is gold for almost everyone, but a train ride between Venice and Vienna...is it that much of a bad time ?
We could always do both, but sometimes we have to put limits somewhere !

About transportation, we would do a mix of Train/bus and car rental.

jphbucks: Milan is the same price as Vienna, so no saves theres.

With 30+ days you have time to see lots of cities and sites in central Europe (not the typical we have a week to see Vienna, Prague, and Budapest). So for me, the answer to this question is how much of southern Austria do you plan to visit? If Graz and Innsbruck or Salzburg are on your agenda, then Venice isn't all the far to start and end your trip.

Time is gold for almost everyone, but a train ride between Venice and
Vienna...is it that much of a bad time ?

You are right. So arrival in Venice and on to Vienna in the same day will be every bit of 8 hours, taxi fare to train station and train ticket costs maybe a night train? If not, now you have hotel cost. Or you arrive direct in Vienna on the more expensive flight, but the following day. You get the same tour time, either way.

Then fly home from your end stop and save on another hotel and more train tickets.

More important, design the trip efficiently and minimize rental cars and the savings will be substantial with no loss of enjoyment or things you see.