Taking the train from Germany to Venice.

Last summer, we took a train from Milan to Munich. We had to change trains in Verona and I am pretty sure there is a train between Verona and Venice. So, you might want to consider flying into Munich. The train ride was 7 hours from Milan to Munich just to give you a ball park idea of time realizing that Milan is opposite of Venice.

Last October on our two week Eurail trip we flew into Munich on the last day of Oktoberfest. Then the next day took the train to Venice. This train trip was a total of 7 hours with a change of trains in Verona. Very scenic through the Alps of Germany, Austria and Northern Italy.

This year we will fly into Zurich and spend two nights in the Berner Oberland area. We will then take the train from Interlaken Ost to Venice. The train departs Interlaken Ost at 8 AM and arrives in Venice at 2:30 pm. We will also spend a night in Venice before we get on our ship the following day. On the morning of the last day of the cruise we will catch an 11:30 AM flight home from Venice.

Flights for next June will not open up for reservation until around 330 days before your travel days. So if you know your travel dates this far out you will have a chance to get some FF seats.

Thank you both so very much for your reply. I'm going to get on line to try to redeem the tickets exactly 331 days out. Munich sounds good as well as Zurich. Has anyone flown into Innsbruke Austria and taken the train to Venice? Just wondered if that would be closer than Munich or Zurich.

Sharon,

Some more details about what you want to accomplish by flying into Germany rather than directly into Venice would help us give you better advice.

Is your goal to sightsee in Germany and get over jet lag before the cruise? What airline do you have your FF miles with? Do they fly direct to Munich but not Venice?

A few more details will help us help you with your plans.

Actually Robert we have ff miles with Delta, and they do fly into Venice. 50,000 miles is suppose to get us to europe. We have a little over 100,000 miles to work with and would like to get two frees. I know the airlines don't always have those seats available for the 50,000. They are upping them to 100,000 per passenger in some cases. That's why I'm trying to cover my bases if it doesn't work out flying with them into Venice. If we can fly into Venice with the 2 frees then we would go a couple days before the cruise. The same if we flew into Germany or Austria. We are taking our 15 year old grandson and will be purchasing his ticket. So 2 frees would be a big help.

Thanks for your reply
Sharon

Sharon:

I have been playing around in the Delta FF reservation section of their web site. And I guess you have also. (For my own trips I spend hours doing this same process, so it is fun for me to try check out possiblities for others).

I have used the latest bookable dates currently possible (May 2009) and am using Detroit as the departure city assuming Byron Center MI is close to Detroit. I have also assumed you will go in and out of Venice. I probably assumed this as that is what we are doing in Sept. (HAL). However it looks like 50,000 miles will get you to and from Venice. But with the minimum points you get some odd choices of airlines and departure times. Looks like Air France to Paris and then on to Venice. Northwest also came up as a possible choice. The return flight leaving on the day you return to Venice (after 11 AM) will get you a long layover in Paris 17 to 20 hours. An early flight out of Venice at 6:55 am the next day gets you home with minor layovers but you have a very early morning trip to the Venice airport.
Delta has a mid day flight out of Venice right to JFK but they probably don't make it available with FF miles. They use their codeshare partner's flights for people with FF miles. If you know what you want on the day the return flight is bookable I would think you should be able to get your FF seats odd routing and all.

Robert,

Thanks so much for your reply. You can definately spend hours online trying to get ff miles, I know. Yes, I would go out of DTW. We live closer to GRR, but more flts go out of DTW. The outbound isn't too bad into VCE, but the return is not the greatest. I guess then we would just have to find a place to stay in Paris for the night and see a few sites while we are there. What do you think about flying into Innsbruck, Austria if I can't get ff miles into VCE? Would it be closer than Munich or Zurich? I should hirer you as my Frequent Flyer Miles Rep. A travel agent I talked to said the miles will probably be going up to 60,000 for a flight to europe next June and higher. My big concern is working around this cruise out of Venice. We depart on the cruise on June 20 and return on the 27th. So I will probably try to get my outbound on the 17th or 18th. Wish my luck and I hope you have a great trip in September.

Sharon

I don't think you can get to Innsbruck via a Delta codeshare partner. I just looked for FF flight in September of this year and there were still FF seats available fsor 50,000. Again I think you should be able to book DTW to VCE when your travel dates first become available. Right now your choices are Air France to Paris then to Venice. From what I read on this site you probably need for than 1 hour layover in Paris in order to get your flight to Venice. There is one with 3.75 hours. I have never been to CDG airport but this site has many comments about short layover times. The return flight from Venice also goes through Paris on Air France. Depart Venice 12:20 and arrives in Paris at 2pm then leaves the next morning at 10 AM. So, right now, I don't see much of a way to avoid an overnight in Paris when you use air miles. It looked like all connection (Munich, Milan Zurich) go through Paris for the 10 AM flight back to DTW. So taking the train to Munich or Zurich is just more cost and you still go through Paris and have to get to the Airport very early in the AM to get to Paris in time for the 10 AM to DTW. However I still bet you will be able to get DTW to VCE ff seats. Just with lousy return conncections.

Robert, Thanks again for your reply. I was on the phone with Delta a little while ago and they said to get on line on July 31 to try for my ff tickets. We have as of right now about 107,000 miles on Delta. Enough for two tickets if we can get them for 50,000 miles. Also we have about 48,000 on Northwest, one of their codeshares. After getting the 2 on Delta, and putting them on a 48 hr. courtesy hold I can try Northwest after transfering some of my miles to my husbands to make 50,000 and see if they can get me on a Delta flt with those miles. So----if I'm very lucky maybe I can get 3. But of course there is a fee of $75 to transfer 5,000 miles to my husbands account. Still it's better than paying full fare for a ticket. Thanks again Robert.

Sharon