Hello!
I would love some help/advice with planning our family trip (two adults, 2 kids (16 &14). I am new to the train travel/pass concept. And, I can't figure out whether we should get Eurail passes or individual tickets and if the Eurail pass will meet our needs (when I know we will need additional reservations on top of the pass). Our travel legs are as follows:
Paris to Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen
Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken to Munich
Munich to Venice
Venice to Florence/Orieto
Orieto to Rome/Zagarolo
Zagarolo to Rome and back (~4 days)
Do I just need a pass for the first 3 trips? or Does it work for all of the Italy trips as well? The reservations fees associated with TGV from Paris make me think it is better to individual tickets.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
M
Posted by
Chicago
8165 posts
Fly to Munich from Paris and work your way down so you are not yo yo ing from Lauterbrunnuen up to Munich and then down to Venice. Forget the Eurail pass. Depending on how many days you have in Switzerland and the mountain excursions there which Eurail does not cover, you may want to consider one of the Swiss Travel passes.
You can read all about the benefits of the different Swiss Travel passes on the this site
https://www.swiss-pass.ch/
Consider this as your rail travel order
Munich to Lauterbrunnen to Venice to Florence to Orvieto to Rome
Posted by
Minneapolis
1261 posts
Hi. Do not buy any passes, except possibly a Swiss pass as mentioned. I normally agree with Jazz+Travels, but actually Lauterbrunnen is not at all on the way from Munich to Venice; and Munich to Venice is a scenic and easy route. However, you might consider dropping Munich unless it's a high priority; it would simplify your route quite a bit. Enjoy your trip!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
I agree, Italian fares are the cheapest in Western Europe. A pass will never pay in Italy.
Instead buy your tickets in advance from the Italian Railways website ( http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en ). There are large discounts for buying in advance. The send you a ticket by e-mail as a PDF file, which you have to print out and show on the train and sometimes at the station as well.
Munich is an outlier. I would either go: Paris (fly) Munich (train) Venice - i.e. skip Switzerland.
Or: Paris (Train) Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken (train) Venice - skip Munich.
The train from Paris to Switzrerland is also a lot cheaper if bought in advance.
For lots of background info about travelling by train and buying tickets, see the "Man in Seat 61" website: https://www.seat61.com/