Best or Cheapest Transportation Help Please

Think trains, trains and more trains.

And never, ever, ever, ever, well almost never, use RailEurope.

To get schedules for all of Europe, and to buy actual tickets involving trains in Germany:

Dbahn

At the top center, click on the little German flag until you see the USA...click on that to get the site in English.

Except for Paris to Vernazza, where I would consider flying to Pisa, everything else is by train.

"what parts of my trips could I wait until I was in Europe to [buy] the train tickets?"

Hint: the European aren't coming over here to buy their tickets.

My rule of thumb is that I never buy ticket from over here unless I can save money (like the Europa-Spezial tickets from Verona to Munich).

For Innsbruck to Munich, and this, again, might require advance purchase of a Bayern-Ticket from the Bahn Shop, you could also purchase an Austrian Rail ticket to the German border at Scharnitz (~€7 pP) and use the Bayern-Ticket from there to Munich via Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. You could also buy the Austrian ticket to Mittenwald (~€10-€11 pP), stop in Mittenwald (a worthy site) and buy the Bayern-Ticket from an automat, there.

"And then in Munich we will be side tripping to Fussen - what is the best way to travel there?" Without a car, I would say the easiest way to visit is to take a tour bus from Munich, although this may not be the cheapest method.

For Paris to Vernazza, consider the TGV (high speed train) to Marsailles and then regional trains via Nice and Genova from there. There are often great rates for advance purchase non-refundable tickets on the TGV. You could break up the trip with a night along the French Riviera, if desired.

For a side trip to Fuessen, there are hourly train connections from Munich Hbf. They take about 2 hours to the Fuessen Bahnhof, from where a bus meets the train and takes you to Hohenschwangau (9 min, I think). The bus stop in Hohenschwangau is about 100 yds from the ticket kiosk for castle tours. See my webpage about getting to the castles.

Commercial tours are, in my opinion, a waste of money. You can do it yourself for a lot less. One Bayern-Ticket for €28 will cover all of your transportation (train and bus) all day for both of you. On workdays, you cannot use the Bayern-Ticket before 9 AM, but if you want to leave on the 8:52 train, you can buy an MVV 3 zone Einzelfahrkarte (single trip ticket) for about €7 pP. That will get you to Geltendorf a little past 9 when the Bayern-Ticket is valid.

RailEurope does NOT show all the train connections in Europe, only those for which they want you to buy tickets.

There are four Eurocity (EC) trains per day from Verona to Munich, stopping in Innsbruck. If you buy a Europa-Spezial Italien ticket from Verona to Munich from the German Rail website, it's as low as €39 per person. Venice to Verona is €18,50 per person for a one hour ES* trip, more time and less money by regional train. Just get off with your luggage in Innsbruck and "forget" to get back on.

For Innsbruck to Munich, your lowest price would be regional trains - Innsbruck to Kufstein with an Austrian Rail ticket (Einfach Raus for €28 for three people) and Kufstein to Munich with a €28 Bayern-Ticket. The Bayern-Ticket would be available at an automat in the Kufstein station, if you stopped there, or online from the Bahn Ticket Shop, although I think that Ticket Shop in only in German.

All of these suggestions are good - I'm going to start looking right away.

Right now my problem is that tgv-europe.com always redirects me to raileurope. Can you tell me how to get around this?

Also, I have been using the dbahn website to look at train schedules, but what parts of my trips could I wait until I was in Europe to the train tickets? (I'm thinking Cinque Terre to Florence and Florence to Venice?)

If you and your mom are willing to share a four-bunk couchette with strangers, you can get a discount fare of €55 for the Paris-Milan night train. Book well in advance (up to three months allowed) at www.tgv-europe.com. To keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site that doesn't offer discount fares, choose Great Britain as your country of residence. Pick up your tickets at any SNCF station or boutique (ticket shop) in France.

Buy your Milan-Vernazza tickets when you arrive in Milan. Go to www.trenitalia.com for timetables and fares.

Buy Vernazza-Florence and Florence-Venice tickets as you go in Italy. Again use trenitalia.com for timetables and fares.

If you book well in advance by phoning the Austrian Rail call center, you can get a SparSchiene fare of €29 for Venice-Innsbruck.

If you book well in advance (up to 90 days) at www.bahn.de, you can get a Europa-Spezial Oesterreich fare as low as €19 for Innsbruck-Munich on fast ICE trains.