Hello All My wife and I have frequent flyer tickets to Venice via Amsterdam over the Holidays this December and we are looking foreword to splitting our time between these two canal cities. Our only issue is we don't have a return air ticket back to Amsterdam from Venice to fly home at the end. (Ah, the mysteries of award travel.) So, we could either fly one-way back from Italy to Amsterdam via a local European airline (any suggestions on local airlines by the way?) OR since neither one of us have ever done an overnight sleeper-coach, we thought we might try that from Italy to Amsterdam through some nice landscapes. There doesn't seem to be a direct train from anywhere in Northern Italy back to Amsterdam that I can find that doesn't have either a layover or a change somewhere. We heard that there is a overnight to Munich from Venice and I'm guessing there must be something similar thru Paris. Any suggestions of nice scenic trips by rail from Italy to the Netherlands? We fly out on Dec. 14 and return Dec. 30. Much thanks
Gregg
Posted by
Green Bay
21159 posts
We've done the Venice-Munich City Night Line run in a sleeper car. It seems to spend a couple hours parked along the way. If you want to go by train to Amsterdam take a day train to Munich through the Alps for the view, and then a sleeper from Munich to Amsterdam. Thats the only direct train from Munich to Amsterdam. KLM is showing outrageous prices for one way flights from Venice to Amsterdam for that time of year.
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
There are no direct trains between both cities. I would try some flight (maybe a combination of train + flight from airports in Milan).
Posted by
OP
Seattle
5 posts
Thanks for the help.
I see Transavia air flies between Venice and Amsterdam. That seems the only lost cost airline that flies direct. Anyone ever flown it? I see it flies out of Treviso. Does that present any issues?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Have you considered purchasing a RT ticket via KLM out of Marco Polo, and "throwing away" the unused portion? That's what I did on this route; it cut the fare in half.
Posted by
Green Bay
21159 posts
You can get to Treviso Airport either by taking a regional train from Venice Santa Lucia to Treviso then to the airport on local bus, or from Venice Mestre on an ATVO bus direct to Treviso Airport.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
First, the subject of night trains is very divisive. Search this board, and you'll see that some like them, but many say "never again." If you don't sleep on the train (and many don't) you arrive tired and cranky, and your first arrival day is miserable. Second, remember that if you're traveling at night, you won't see much no matter what the route. Third, as you've learned, on the route you're proposing, there is no single night train; you'd have to change somewhere. If I were in your position, I'd break up the trip and see places along the way (using trains), or fly. To find flight options, use http://www.skyscanner.com/ or http://www.skyscanner.com/ or http://www.opodo.co.uk/. And yes, investigate both one-way and round trip fares, and if RT is much cheaper, you can just book this and not use the return portion (as long as it's a separate ticket from any other flights you need). Some budget flights out of "Venice" actually use Treviso airport; this has reasonable connections to Venice, but of course you have to factor in the time and money this takes when making comparisons among your options.