Travel to Europe

If you have not purchased your tickets you should seriously consider an open jaw - into Paris and home from Rome. Save time and money. You have a very busy schedule. Your time is shorter than you realize. Many of us here would encourage you to reduce the number the places you intend to visit but you may be more interested in a drive by trip. The individual books give greater detail and often have complete walking tours. The Best of Europe is a very good summary of those areas. A train pass has no advantage with the number of passengers. With the extra fees and sometime limited availability rail pass often do not have a financial advantage over point to point but you have to do the math to see if a pass pays. Four people in a car probably has a cost advantage over a train. However, given you list of places you intend to visit, a car would only be useful going between locations. Once there it becomes a costly liability - parking fees, traffic tickets, etc.

Marisol Current Itinerary - You are going to be in Europe for 19 days. Not sure if you are arriving in Paris on May 31 or leaving from the US on May 31. But you will definitely lose June 18 going to the airport and going through lines and waiting at the airport for 2 1/2 hours or so before your flight. And if you are leaving for the US from Paris ,you will lose half a day or more getting to Paris from Rome. So really only 17 or 18 days in Europe. Hard to understand before you go, but it will take a 1/2 day or more to travel to each place, plane or train. So in 17-18 days ,you have 7 (8 with return to Paris) destinations and therefore have 4 full days in traveling plus last day flight home. So 5 travel days means you only have 12 or 13 days to sightsee! As you can see, you are spending way more time in a train/plane than you expected to. Also, it costs money everytime you move. The result is you have less than 2 days in each destination. From your itinerary, it appears you want to focus on Italy. One suggestion when your itinerary gets overloaded is to focus on what is really important to you. Your trip to Nevers from Paris is 2 hrs. by train and then you could go to Lyon (2 1/2hrs.) to catch a discount airline to Venice. But the timing doesn't work out. So your Nevers trip takes 1 1/2 days out of your schedule. And Switzerland is beautiful! However, some of the best areas of Switzerland deserve more than 2 days especially counting any travel time. I would suggest you leave out Pisa (near Florence) as it has one claim to fame. Another 1/2 day. BTW, if you are not an art lover, you could also skip Florence. Although other posters will think this is bad advice. Continued Below

Continued from Above However, if you are looking for a small town in Tuscany, here is my suggestion. If you skip sleeping in Florence, you can take the train to Florence from Venice, and switch to the bus to Siena, a lovely walled old town with plenty to keep you busy. Day trips to Florence and to countryside by tour or rental car would be fun. So my suggested itinerary would be: Paris (4-5 days) by air to Venice (3 days) by train/bus to Siena with day trip to Florence (4 days) by train to Rome (4 or 5 days)- agree about doing open jaw flights (to Paris, home from Rome ) Paris, if necessary If this doesn't fit your priorities, then put Nevers and/or Switzerland back in but you have to take some other place out. Suggest you put your current itinerary with estimated travel time on a June calendar. It is easier to see how your time is spent. Now to your questions:
1 - Buy RS Italy and Paris. Take Switzerland RS book out from the library. 2 - Eurail Pass will not be cost effective. In Italy, the city to city trains (called point to point) are cheap if you buy ahead, If you need them elsewhere, still not necessary. Discount airlines cheap (less than $100 pp). You cannot rent a car in France and drop it off in Rome without a very hefty drop off fee. Also, once you reached Venice you wouldn't need it. 3 - Siena small town near Florence. 4 - Switzerland - Suggest you skip until your next trip. I am sure other posters will have other useful advice. Keep us informed as to how your trip planning proceeds! Bobbie

Marisol, A few comments to add to the others regarding your questions..... 1.) The Best of Europe book provides a "general overview" of many popular locations in Europe, but may not cover all the areas you want to visit. Although the country-specific Guidebooks may also not cover everything, they have more detailed information. Therefore, I'd suggest buying the country Guidebooks. Note that these are now available in E-book format at slightly lower cost, should you have an iPad, iPod Touch, Kindle, PC or other Reader. One option would be to buy the print versions of the France and Italy books, and the E-book version for Switzerland (*Note - not all of the 2012 E-books may be available yet - they're typically about 3-months behind the print versions). 2.) Well planned train trips will be the fastest and most efficient travel method. Railpasses are not the bargain they once were, as many trains have compulsory reservations which must be paid for separately. As previous replies mentioned, renting a car in France and dropping in Rome IS NOT a good idea as there's usually an exorbitant drop-off fee. In addition, there are some "caveats" to be aware of when driving in Italy, which can potentially be VERY expensive. 3.) Why not stay in Florence "to see Florence and surrounding area"? It's a beautiful city and you could take a day trip to Siena by Bus. 4.) The Berner Oberland and Lauterbrunnen Valley is a very popular location in Switzerland with many here. It's located just outside Interlaken, so very easy to get to. Lucerne is also a beautiful city and would make a great choice. Which place to choose will depend on what you're hoping to see in Switzerland - city or alpine with mountains. Good luck with your planning!

1. use the library to get add. RS guidebk country info. 2. that time of year reserve your lodging way in advance. If you are students you will delight in european hostels and Switzerland has some rail fares for students, you must have student ids. Renting a car for your distances and dropping off in diff country from pick up is extremely expensive. ck www.autoeurope.com for estimates. And gas for me last yr was almost equiv $8.00 per gallon. if you rent rent economy/compact 4door. 3.Stay in Florence for sure there is no gd substitute and worth it as there are alot of top sights. you can take short bus out to tuscany for day. 4. Lucerne is beautiful and a gd choice on train rte.
all the best you will have a wonderful time.

Marisol: 1. I bought Rick Steves' Italy online, and it's something like 1200 pages. It's overwhelming. I'd suggest you start at the library to see what they have for free. His guides are great, and Lonely Planet guides are popular. 2. Travel between close big cities is best done by fast train. Longer distances by budget European air carriers. City tourism is best done by mass transit. Doing day trips out of a central location is best done by rental car, especially when 4 people are paying for it. 3. I'd suggest staying in Florence 3 nights, and moving to the Tuscan countryside for 3 nights. Checkout B&B's or Agritursimos outside of San Gimignano on BBPlanet.com, Booking.com, Venere.com or AirBnB.com. 4. I would check what Swiss cities are on the train line between Paris and Milan. Just make sure it's in the mountains or on a lake. A great website on Italy is RoninRome.com. He explains the train systems especially well. Many on this website would think you're biting off more than you can chew given the time allotted. You might do best to do your Paris area sights, and take a budget air carrier into Venice. Then, you could do Florence, Tuscan countryside, Pisa and Rome without backtracking.
Just your Italian portion is a 2 week minimum trip. Have a great time!