Andalusia or Rome/Milan in March/April?

poldy wrote:
Can get award ticket in March to Spain or in late March/early April to
Rome/Milan.

Spain would be flying into Malaga and going to Seville, Cordoba,
Granada, etc.

Duration would be about 11 full days.

Italy would be flying into Rome, spend a few days (been to already, but
would maybe take some side trips) and then making way towards Milan.
Ideas include Cinque Terre and Lake Como.

Andalusia would be warmer no doubt. Is it too cold for CT and Lake Como
that time of the year? Not interested in going swimming or anything.
But is it still too early in the year for those areas to open up with
all the options which would be available later in the spring?

As nobody mentioned Andalusia then I will. It is very beautiful in
spring before the summer heat sets in. You have the Alhambra in Granada,
probably the most spectacular building in the whole of Europe, the Great
Mosque of Cordoba, the White Villages, Ronda and Seville itself. The
problem is with your timing - Holy Week is the week when these cities,
Seville in particular, are jammed pack with locals for the great Easter
processions, and accomodation in the cities themselves may be hard to
find. You can read up about these he
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_in_Seville

I saw the procession in Marbella some years back, it was much smaller
but it was impressive enough.

T.

Tom P wrote:
poldy wrote:
Can get award ticket in March to Spain or in late March/early April
to Rome/Milan.

Spain would be flying into Malaga and going to Seville, Cordoba,
Granada, etc.

Duration would be about 11 full days.

Italy would be flying into Rome, spend a few days (been to already,
but would maybe take some side trips) and then making way towards
Milan. Ideas include Cinque Terre and Lake Como.

Andalusia would be warmer no doubt. Is it too cold for CT and Lake
Como that time of the year? Not interested in going swimming or
anything. But is it still too early in the year for those areas to
open up with all the options which would be available later in the
spring?

As nobody mentioned Andalusia then I will. It is very beautiful in
spring before the summer heat sets in. You have the Alhambra in
Granada, probably the most spectacular building in the whole of
Europe, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the White Villages, Ronda and
Seville itself. The problem is with your timing - Holy Week is the
week when these cities, Seville in particular, are jammed pack with
locals for the great Easter processions, and accomodation in the
cities themselves may be hard to find. You can read up about these
he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_in_Seville

I saw the procession in Marbella some years back, it was much smaller
but it was impressive enough.

T.
I agree Sevilla Cordoba and Grenada are very nice towns to see. but nothing
in comparison with Rome and Naples.
you mentioned just a few monuments. Naples and Rome will require weeks to be
visited. or explored their museums.

In article ,
Tom P wrote:

poldy wrote:
Can get award ticket in March to Spain or in late March/early April to
Rome/Milan.

Spain would be flying into Malaga and going to Seville, Cordoba,
Granada, etc.

Duration would be about 11 full days.

Italy would be flying into Rome, spend a few days (been to already, but
would maybe take some side trips) and then making way towards Milan.
Ideas include Cinque Terre and Lake Como.

Andalusia would be warmer no doubt. Is it too cold for CT and Lake Como
that time of the year? Not interested in going swimming or anything.
But is it still too early in the year for those areas to open up with
all the options which would be available later in the spring?

As nobody mentioned Andalusia then I will. It is very beautiful in
spring before the summer heat sets in. You have the Alhambra in Granada,
probably the most spectacular building in the whole of Europe, the Great
Mosque of Cordoba, the White Villages, Ronda and Seville itself. The
problem is with your timing - Holy Week is the week when these cities,
Seville in particular, are jammed pack with locals for the great Easter
processions, and accomodation in the cities themselves may be hard to
find. You can read up about these he
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_in_Seville

I saw the procession in Marbella some years back, it was much smaller
but it was impressive enough.

T.

I ended up choosing Rome. The availability for Spain, specifically
Malaga or Madrid (then AVE to Seville) would have been within March.

Italy availability was slightly later so I'm banking on it being warm
enough in Rome and especially being drier than Andalusia.

In article ,
"tile" wrote:

poldy wrote:
In article ,
"tile" wrote:


How about the trains?
almost the same. expecially in the afternoon even if Italians prefer moving
by car.
better booking in advance.
but if you need to take the train to FCO.. there is a special train every
few minutes.
actually.. there are two trains. one is direct and one makes many stops.
you will find useful info on the webpage of FCO airport

I going to have to study using the trenitalia.it site. Tried some
searches and none of the routes show that you can buy tickets.

Apparently you have to register an account first, before the buy option
shows up or for that matter, the prices.

Or are routes like Rome-Naples or the circumferrovia usually going to
have seat availability and there's no big advantage in booking in
advance?

Italy availability was slightly later so I'm banking on it being warm
enough in Rome and especially being drier than Andalusia.

normally. it seldom rains in Andalusia
by the way. the old name of Andalusia was Vandalusia.. land of origin of the
Vandals. the first Barbarians that conquered Rome..

On Wed, 10 Dec 2008, poldy wrote:

I going to have to study using the trenitalia.it site. Tried some
searches and none of the routes show that you can buy tickets.

I generally use a German site for timetable enquiries (no fares) even in
Italy and even for a 5min stretch between Milano Greco and Milano
Lambrate. http://home.arcor.de/e.lauterbach/au...fplanx-en.html

Or this other site by Trenitalia is good for showing the network map,
and to check train times in real time (no fares though)
http://www.viaggiatreno.it/viaggiatreno/

I use the main trenitalia site only to check fares, and I can definitely
check the fares without having an account. I just check the fares, I
never bought anything online.

It is possible that you are experiencing problems because you are
looking for a date in the future, where the future begins after next
December 13 :-) They have not loaded yet the new timetable (this is
matter of complaints among commuters here in Lombardy, there are rumours
of severe timetable rearrangements connected to the opening of the
high-speed line Milan-Bologna, but they can't be checked because the
timetable is not online yet !!!). Wait a few days and try again.

Or are routes like Rome-Naples or the circumferrovia usually going to
have seat availability and there's no big advantage in booking in
advance?

The Circumvesuviana is not part of the FS network, and is more like a
metro or underground or S-Bahn. Surely you'd never think to book on the
underground, would you ? Similarly there is no sense in booking on
commuter trains or regional trains, and this is simply not possible.

The easiest ways to buy a ticket for a regional train are : to walk up
to the station counter, to use a vending machine if you trust it, to go
to a newsagent or tobacconist (see below), to go to a travel agency.

Tickets sold at the counter or travel agency are valid for 2 months on
any train on the specified route (provided it's regional or
interregional). You must validate them, and once validated you must
complete your journey within 2/6/24 hrs depending on distance.

Tickets sold at a newsagent or tobacconist are like metro tickets. They
are valid for a given distance range (e.g. 5-10 km, 10-15 km etc.) on
any route and for unlimited time. As above, you must validate and once
validated they expire in a few hours. These are regional tickets, each
region has its own and its own fares, so I cannot assist for Lazio and
Campania. You'd be using the Lazio regional fare if you travel around
Rome, but check before travelling if crossing the border with Campania
toward Naples.

In all such cases there is no advantage at all in buying online. As far
as I know, online tickets for regional trains are valid for a specific
train only (but they do not guarantee a reservation ! which is not
possible on such trains), so are just a pain in the neck.

Regional trains may be crowded around big cities during commuter peak
hours only. This might include school exit time after noon (but you'd be
travelling during the Easter school holiday season, won't you ?)


Reservation is instead compulsory and included in the fare for ICplus,
ES and ES-AV trains (in order of increasing cost and speed). I do not
know if there are any "normal" IC left (fare with supplement, but no
compulsory reservation). Even in those cases it is usually not necessary
to book in advance, except in peak times (say Friday afternoons or
Sunday afternoons, depending on the way, or summer vacation period).

In this case the easiest way to buy a ticket are : walk up to the
station the day before or a few hours before, or go to a travel agent.
You can also go to the station counter or using a vending machine just
before travelling. The advantage to buy the ticket with small or no
advance is that you can do it when your travel plans are fixed, and have
the freedom to change your mind. If you buy in advance, and change your
mind, if you want to change you'd have to queue up again, and perhaps
pay a surcharge, depending on the fare.

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M wrote:
Following up to Tom P

As nobody mentioned Andalusia then I will. It is very beautiful in
spring before the summer heat sets in. You have the Alhambra in
Granada, probably the most spectacular building in the whole of
Europe, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the White Villages, Ronda and
Seville itself.

got to agree with all of that

the most spectacular building of all Europe ?? Have a look at all the
Ancient buildings in Italy.
Reggia di caserta for instance..
Of course. it is difficult to compare. But look at the Unesco list of
protected monument sof Europe. and you will have an idea of what Italy
offers
(46% of Unesco protected monuments is in Italy.. )

the most spectacular building of all Europe ?? Have a look at all the
Ancient buildings in Italy.
Reggia di caserta for instance..
Of course. it is difficult to compare. But look at the Unesco list of
protected monument sof Europe. and you will have an idea of what Italy
offers
(46% of Unesco protected monuments is in Italy.. )

Comparing a palace, most of which enspired by and modeled for Versailles is
an ill comparison for the Alhambra.

Regards, s

tile wrote:
M wrote:
Following up to Tom P

As nobody mentioned Andalusia then I will. It is very beautiful in
spring before the summer heat sets in. You have the Alhambra in
Granada, probably the most spectacular building in the whole of
Europe, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the White Villages, Ronda and
Seville itself.
got to agree with all of that

the most spectacular building of all Europe ?? Have a look at all the
Ancient buildings in Italy.
Reggia di caserta for instance..
Of course. it is difficult to compare. But look at the Unesco list of
protected monument sof Europe. and you will have an idea of what Italy
offers
(46% of Unesco protected monuments is in Italy.. )


Ok, try finding this in Rome-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3lMJSWLKeI