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To Fly Or Ride?

I'm currently studying abroad in Edinburgh, and my friends and I are planning a 3-week Easter Break trip to Rome, Prague, Vienna, Munich, and Paris (in that order).

We are all flying into Rome, but are unsure of what the best mode of transportation would be after that. Should we look for cheap flights, or for train tickets?

We are most concerned with time and cost (comfort/luxury is not as important), since it is a short trip and we are on college budgets.

Any advice you might have would be very helpful!

Posted by
7070 posts

You can get a Eurolines bus pass for 175 Euros (under 26 years) to cover those routes on those dates.

Eurolines brochure

Posted by
8700 posts

Rome-Prague: According to the timetables on the German Rail site, www.bahn.de, it would take a minimum of 17 1/2 hours by a combination of train and bus. I recommend that you fly on the budget airline German Wings.

Prague-Vienna: Phone the Austrian Rail call center and book a SparSchiene fare of 29 EUR. (Not available for online booking.)

Vienna-Munich: Phone the Austrian Rail call center. Or book a 29 EUR SparSchiene fare online on the Austrian Rail site or a 29 EUR Europa-Spezial Oesterreich fare on the German Rail site.

Munich-Paris: Book a Europa-Spezial Frankreich fare of 59 EUR in a 6-bunk couchette or 69 EUR in a 4-bunk couchette on the German Rail site for the direct CNL night train. You can get discount fares for daytime routes, but taking the night train saves you the cost of a night's lodging and gives you more daylight hours for sightseeing.

Book all of these ASAP. The longer you wait the higher the fares.