Hi,
I'm planning the following legs during May:
Edinburgh to London /
London to Paris /
Paris to Florence (overnight) /
Florence to Prague (overnight)
I'm assuming these are best by train and not by plane (couldn't find any reasonably priced short flights). Are train reservations recommended, required, optional? Are there any rail passes or package deals that would make sense to get with this itinerary, or would it be best to get single tickets?
Thanks!
For four relatively long journeys like this point-to-point tickets will be almost always cheaper than a pass. The very cheap advance tickets, unfortunately, may well be sold out by now.
London-Edinburgh - book at https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/. You will automatically get a reservation if you manage to get a cheap advance ticket, which is only valid on a single train. If not, I would recommend a reservation for early morning or evening departures, and at weekends.
London-Paris - book at http://www.eurostar.com/. Reservations are automatically included.
I don't know about the trips to Italy, I hope someone else will comment. If no-one does, look at www.seat61.com
All about trains: www.seat61.com
Compare air, especially Florence to Prague, at www.skyscanner.com
Overnight trains are a dying breed.
You might look at flying EasyJet Paris Orly to Pisa, then the new shuttle train to Pisa Centrale then train to Florence. Trains take about an hour and go at least two times per hour. The night train requires a change in Milan.
EasyJet also flies Milan and Venice to Prague. The night train goes to Vienna, then a train change to Prague and takes 15 hours.
Yes, Orly to Pisa by plane is a better option than overnight train from Paris to Florence. Sam is right!
Train is usually better than flying up to the 500-600 kms. range. More than that and usually flying is more convenient (cheaper and faster). Also, train night travel is slowly being phased out - up to the 500 kms. an early fast train is more convenient to most people than spending the night on a train and often business travelers can do more with a day trip on the first and last train of the day than with a night train.
Update: Thanks for all the replies and advice so far. I found seat61 super helpful, and I wrote to the author with a comment and question and he replied promptly and kindly.
We got trains for Edinburgh to London, London to Paris. Seemed like an easy decision.
For Paris to Florence we looked at flights, but prices were volatile and went up sharply around when we looked, except for flights from the remote BVA (certainly seemed like not a good idea). We nearly got the flight from Orly to Pisa on a budget airline, but the prices went up, and I found that Thello recently (in March) provided reduced fares for their overnight trains that were previously only available for their daytime trains, providing 40-60% off the standard fare for a compartment for 2. The website was a little glitchy, and I had to get a more than lowest fare for the Milan to Florence leg in order for it to all go through. In the end, the price was competitive with the airline when factoring in ground transport to airport and staying in a hotel in Paris or Italy. As well, we figure the overnight trains seem to be getting phased out as more high speed trains are deployed, and we wanted to experience a bit of the older overnight train while they last.
We found a bargain price on Czech Air from Pisa to Prague, though considered the train passing through Vienna with a short stop there.
