I'm planning a trip to Italy in late July and early August We are trying to figure out 2 long trips.
Venice to Freiburg Germany and Zurich to Florence. When I look at the Eurorail it shows
13 to 15 hours from Venice to Frieburg and and takes us north east of Venice and thru Munich to Mannheim and back down
to Freiburg! Really? I'm surprised. Now when I look at buying individual tickets it looks like their are more direct routes, but they don't show the schedule that far in advance. I want to buy Eurorail, but I'm not excited about 13 to 15 hours with 3 train changes. I have looked at FLixbus as a better option for the long rides, anyone have suggestions for the Eurorail? Why wouldn't Eurorail show direct routes?
Posted by
Chicago
7836 posts
Are you planning to use a Eurail pass?
You don't want to use the Eurail site to look for train schedules for planning purposes. They are a 3rd party site that only sells tickets and passes on the national rail lines (e.g Trenitalia in Italy, Deustch Bahn in Germany) they are not a railway company.
If you are not using a Eurail pass you should use https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml for planning and booking tickets or
https://www.thetrainline.com/?redirected=true for both Italy and Germany.
Switzerland requires https://www.sbb.ch/en/buying/pages/fahrplan/fahrplan.xhtml
Forget taking the train from Venice to Freiburg;
I would fly to Basel from Venice in 1 hour and then just take the train to Freiburg from there in 1 hour.
It is too early for buying train tickets for late July and early August. They usually go on sale 90-120 days in advance Try around 3rd week of April or May 1.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3161 posts
Though the summer schedules won’t be posted for a while, the Trenitalia site shows a Venice>Milan >Freiburg train at 8:20 that takes 8 hours - €71.90. I used a mid-April date. Consider point to point tickets rather than a Eurail pass as they are often less expensive.
Posted by
3245 posts
When you say "the Eurorail", are you referring to Rail Europe?
Suggest that you use loco2.com to buy point-to-point tickets. You can have them email you when the tickets you want are available for purchase.
Posted by
OP
Elk Grove, Ca
14 posts
This is some great advice! Thank you so much. I ended up booking a flight from Venice to Basel, fairly cheap! One leg is done!
Posted by
Chicago
7836 posts
That's the spirit!