Eurail or ptp? France/Switzerland/Dolomites/Tuscany

Eurail is inconvenient in France and Italy due to the need for mandatory passholder reservations on long distance trains. So I'd vote for point-to-point!
And Dinan to Chamonix is a long way; do you need to combine Brittany and the Alps in the same trip?

I know it, it's exhausting just looking at the trip. We have a month there. We've never been to France. My initial goal was Northern Italy, particularly Dolomites while staying out of big cities other than an overnight to fly in/out. Paris/Dinan got in this itinerary because we've been promising friends in that area that we'd visit. Chamonix was more of a long haul 3 day pit stop. Maybe fly into Lyon instead of Paris (?) Or simply make France/visit friends the summer of 2025. Any tips on this are appreciated.

An improvement would be to fly out of Rome, if possible, rather than fly back to Paris.

Dinan to Chamonix takes about 12 hours by train so it is a punishing journey. What could help would be for you to travel to Dinan right when you arrive, visiting your friends before going to Paris, then go from Paris to Chamonix. To do so, either take the train from CDG airport to Rennes, or see if you can fly into Rennes maybe.

Punishing to be sure. We may simply need to make two trips.

Lauterbrunnen to Kastelruth is no walk in the park either, at least 10 hours with at least 5 train changes plus a bus. Then at least 8 hours from Kastelruth to Volterra.

Thanks for the help. We have to either commit to France or Italy/Switzerland. I preferred staying in Kastelruth over Trento or Bolzano, but I may have to settle for a day trip to Kastelruth from either of those two locations. Plus, making it to Volterra seems more manageable. Now I need a stop between Lauterbrunnen and Trento/Bolzano. .

Stresa is a lovely stop between Bolzano and Lauterbrunnen.

Thank you for the suggestion! I'm not sure my 15 year old would appreciate the lakes right now (?) He's pretty adventurous (jumping off cliffs and hiking waaaay up there. I revamped the itinerary (for now). Let me know if I'm overshooting. Or if there's a place that I listed that should be reconsidered. Looking forward to reading the RS books that I ordered.

Venice...1-2 nights Verona or Bassano del Grappa?...4 nights Trento or Kastelruth (still debating, but with our son, maybe Trento?)....1 night Verona....3 nights Lauterbrunnen...3 nights Chamonix (still debating, but with a 15 year old it may have to remain on the itinerary)...1 night Milan (can't escape this one)...5 nights Volterra...1 night Venice & fly home

Still more hopscotching than what I'm used to. Perhaps it's sane for a 3 week stint. I wish taxis were affordable because some of these trips are cut in half when driving a car.

Seems like enough speed trains can get us to larger centers. Small bus rides to/from big train stations make staying in smaller venues an option.

I'm glad to see Venice sneak in there. And to do on arrival instead of departure. Smart move.

ah - just read - in AND out Venice. That one I'm not so sure on. Many of the flights at Venice starting home are at stupid early times which means getting you and the gang across the lagoon in the stupid early hours.

YUK.

What a way to spoil a lovely Venice evening.

Have you got your beady eyes on a Venice - Home flight that goes at a civilized hour? If not, maybe make your way across to Milan (via a lake) for departure.

What makes you think the 15 yo needs to go to Chamonix? It's not that easy to reach from Italy, and for thrill-seeking mountain adventures, the Dolomites definitely deliver. Therefore I would not stay in Trento, but in the mountains. Kastelruth is an option, but have a look at the villages in Val Gardena and Val di Fassa as well.

Ah, that's good to know - never been to Venice, more of a in/out. Flights haven't been released for our dates, so I haven't investigated arrival/dep. times. Round trips appear less expensive than two one-way tickets..I need to crunch cost/benefit all things considered.

Chamonix appeared to be a lovely visit. I thought the different people, mtn. views, villages from the itinerary mentioned would offer rich experiences and would be doable in terms of public transportation. Chamonix is on the possible chopping block to accommodate longer stays, but we're still fiddling with the plan.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise. We have one shot to do this vacation - I don't want to self-sabotage due to ignorance..

don't do one way tickets on airlines, or two one-ways ever on most airlines. There are a very few budget airlines like Ryan Air and Easyjet and Wizz which use a one way only model, but the vast majority of airlines, especially the big ones will eat your lunch with one ways.

The trick is to use what Rick and some here call Open Jaw (for the general analogy of the cartoon of such) and most airlines call multi-city or a variation of that name.

A multi city should be less or not much more than a round trip - called a return in Europe.

Don't get me wrong, Chamonix is a lovely visit, but Lauterbrunnen to Chamonix takes 4 hours by train and Chamonix to Milan is another 5-6 hours, so it adds up! I'd rather add 1-2 nights to Lauterbrunnen, and 1 night to Venice.

Holy smokes, I just looked up multicity flights. That's the ticket! I'm so grateful for that tidbit. Thank you! The things I don't know are a lot.

I understand about the travel time between the places. Last trip, we had 5 different overnight places (w/a couple 5-hr rides). This trip would be 8 stays - some train travel rather nominal like Verona to Trento & back; Volterra to Florence. I don't mind the pit stops in Verona & Milan. I rather enjoy traveling by train in Italy. It gives me time to write in the journal, read, decompress, plan, LOOK outside :) all without having to worry about driving!

You are right, Chamonix is for another trip. The days we would have spent there can be reallocated to enjoy more time in the Dolomites. We will likely enjoy time there than the traveling back and forth no matter how beautiful the scenery. Now our journey will be the Dolomites, Lauterbrunnen, and Tuscany.

I'm beginning to research Italian mtn. towns that would make a suitable home base for 4-6 days. The only ones I've read about are Trento, Bolzano, Kastelruth, Selva, Ortisei. Cortina d'Ampezzo. Which top 2 would you prefer for a lowkey town for hiking, biking, a couple of cafes, and a few bus routes for day trips? I was set with Trento, but still thinking on that one..