Eurail pass for 3 countries < US300?

I'd like to travel from central Italy (Rome) to the north (Florance,
Venice), then on to Switzerland (Zurich and perhaps Bern). I figure Eurail
might be the best deal for this. However, their cheapest single person pass
(Eurailpass) is US588 for 15 days and 17 countries. Overkill for my needs.

What would be the best method for doing the above route? I'll have about
one week,which means some stops may last only a day. Open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Brett

"Brett" schrieb im Newsbeitrag

I'd like to travel from central Italy (Rome) to the north
(Florance, Venice), then on to Switzerland (Zurich and
perhaps Bern). I figure Eurail might be the best deal
for this. However, their cheapest single person pass
(Eurailpass) is US588 for 15 days and 17 countries.
Overkill for my needs.

What would be the best method for doing the above route?
I'll have about one week,which means some stops may last
only a day. Open to suggestions.


Buy point-to-point tickets locally:

Roma - Firenze: ES train 29,44 EUR, IC train 21,95 EUR, diretto/interregionale
train 14,31 EUR

Firenze - Venezia: ES train 26,6 EUR, IC train 18,75 EUR

Venezia - Zurich: international ticket 64,4 EUR

Zurich - Bern: 45 CHF (~ 29 EUR). If possible it's cheaper to buy the ticket in
Italy, it should cost 25,2 EUR.


Totally between 122,66 EUR and 145,64 EUR (depending on train category on
domestic italian trips).



[1 EUR = 1,32 USD]




--
Helmut Uttenthaler,
Graz - Austria

"Helmut Uttenthaler" wrote in message
t...
"Brett" schrieb im Newsbeitrag

I'd like to travel from central Italy (Rome) to the north
(Florance, Venice), then on to Switzerland (Zurich and
perhaps Bern). I figure Eurail might be the best deal
for this. However, their cheapest single person pass
(Eurailpass) is US588 for 15 days and 17 countries.
Overkill for my needs.

What would be the best method for doing the above route?
I'll have about one week,which means some stops may last
only a day. Open to suggestions.


Buy point-to-point tickets locally:

Roma - Firenze: ES train 29,44 EUR, IC train 21,95 EUR,
diretto/interregionale
train 14,31 EUR

Firenze - Venezia: ES train 26,6 EUR, IC train 18,75 EUR

Venezia - Zurich: international ticket 64,4 EUR

Zurich - Bern: 45 CHF (~ 29 EUR). If possible it's cheaper to buy the
ticket in
Italy, it should cost 25,2 EUR.


Totally between 122,66 EUR and 145,64 EUR (depending on train category on
domestic italian trips).



[1 EUR = 1,32 USD]


How do I find the train stations to purchase tickets and board in these
cities? What is the best way?

Also, is there a way to put together some type of schedule ahead of time?
In other words, I'll need schedule tables to put together some type of
itenary.

Thanks,
Brett

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 07:36:42 -0500, "Brett" wrote:


"Helmut Uttenthaler" wrote in message
. at...
"Brett" schrieb im Newsbeitrag

I'd like to travel from central Italy (Rome) to the north
(Florance, Venice), then on to Switzerland (Zurich and
perhaps Bern). I figure Eurail might be the best deal
for this. However, their cheapest single person pass
(Eurailpass) is US588 for 15 days and 17 countries.
Overkill for my needs.

What would be the best method for doing the above route?
I'll have about one week,which means some stops may last
only a day. Open to suggestions.


Buy point-to-point tickets locally:

Roma - Firenze: ES train 29,44 EUR, IC train 21,95 EUR,
diretto/interregionale
train 14,31 EUR

Firenze - Venezia: ES train 26,6 EUR, IC train 18,75 EUR

Venezia - Zurich: international ticket 64,4 EUR

Zurich - Bern: 45 CHF (~ 29 EUR). If possible it's cheaper to buy the
ticket in
Italy, it should cost 25,2 EUR.


Totally between 122,66 EUR and 145,64 EUR (depending on train category on
domestic italian trips).



[1 EUR = 1,32 USD]


How do I find the train stations to purchase tickets and board in these
cities? What is the best way?

I kinda scratched my head a bit when I read this, as the stations are
pretty easy to find! They are quite central in all these cities, and
finding them poses no great problem.

Also, is there a way to put together some type of schedule ahead of time?
In other words, I'll need schedule tables to put together some type of
itenary.

Where are you flying into and out of, or don't you know yet? Also, how
long do you have? Don't try doing a trip like this in less than a week
(some people do!).

You don't really need to book it all ahead. The trains rarely book
out. You MAY need to buy advance tickets, especially for the
Venice-Zurich bit, but this can be done both at the stations and
travel agents.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 06:45:59 -0500, "Brett" wrote:

I'd like to travel from central Italy (Rome) to the north (Florance,
Venice), then on to Switzerland (Zurich and perhaps Bern). I figure Eurail
might be the best deal for this. However, their cheapest single person pass
(Eurailpass) is US588 for 15 days and 17 countries. Overkill for my needs.

What would be the best method for doing the above route? I'll have about
one week,which means some stops may last only a day. Open to suggestions.

Just buy tickets from the train station while you're in Italy. The
first time you buy a ticket, you might want to reserve the
international ticket as well. This is the only one for which I would
really want a reservation.

The cost of the tickets within Italy would come to about 75 euros
total travelling 2nd class on Eurostar Italia trains. I priced Rome to
Florence, Florence to Venice, and Venice to Milan, which is where you
would normally change trains to go to Zurich, although there is at
least one nonstop daily from Venice.

The Eurostar (ES) trains cost more, but their 2nd class is very
comfortable and they have all-reserved seats, so crowding is never a
problem. The cost in 1st class Intercity (IC) trains would be about
the same. These are usually older and don't require reservations, so
you can buy a ticket at the last minute without worrying about whether
there are any seats left. In 1st class there will almost always be
seats left. 2nd class IC would be about 30% less, but on IC trains it
can be rather crowded because they don't require reservations.The cost
for 1st class Eurostar would be about 45% more, but it is an expense
that I wouldn't incur unless it turned out that 2nd class was full. I
wouldn't take any of these trips on the cheapest trains (interregional
or IR) unless the timing were very inconvenient for the others. The
interregionals make too many stops. Anyway on some of the these lines,
there are hardly any interregionals running.

You can check schedules and prices on www.trenitalia.com. Click on the
Union Jack to get the English language version. The don't show prices
for the international segments, but I'm sure the Eurail pass would be
a waste of money.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Also, is there a way to put together some type of schedule ahead of time?
In other words, I'll need schedule tables to put together some type of
itenary.

The best way to plan your schedule is to use the train companies' online
timetables. Usually, they do not only have the connexions in their
respective countries, but also include most connexions inside other
countries:

DB (german): http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de
(the best service: you can find connexions on DB not usually found by
other search engines)

SBB (swiss): http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm
(also pretty good)

Other services are not so practical. SNCF (french) is too slow and
complicated and requires useless informations for planning (age and
reduction cards and such). I wasn't able to find FS (italian) online
timetable after 2 minutes browsing on their site - BAD.

Hope this helps.
Thomas

--
Thomas Guignard
Laboratory of Electromagnetics and Acoustics
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne

I wasn't able to find FS (italian) online
timetable after 2 minutes browsing on their site - BAD.

OK, it's www.trenitalia.com, thanks Barbara. Still, they could have
placed a well visible link on FS' home page...

T.

--
Thomas Guignard
Laboratory of Electromagnetics and Acoustics
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:50:47 +0100, Thomas Guignard
wrote:

Other services are not so practical. SNCF (french) is too slow and
complicated and requires useless informations for planning (age and
reduction cards and such). I wasn't able to find FS (italian) online
timetable after 2 minutes browsing on their site - BAD.

If you go to www.trenitalia.it, and choose either the Italian flag or
the British flag, you will see the dialog box asking for your
itinerary details right on the first page, in the upper left-hand
corner. You need to enter just your travel date and time and your
beginning and end points. If you have chosen the English language
page, you can use the English names of the cities (Rome, Florence,
Venice, etc.); on the Italian language page you need to enter the
Italian names.


--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

"B Vaughan" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 06:45:59 -0500, "Brett" wrote:

I'd like to travel from central Italy (Rome) to the north (Florance,
Venice), then on to Switzerland (Zurich and perhaps Bern). I figure
Eurail
might be the best deal for this. However, their cheapest single person
pass
(Eurailpass) is US588 for 15 days and 17 countries. Overkill for my
needs.

What would be the best method for doing the above route? I'll have about
one week,which means some stops may last only a day. Open to suggestions.

Just buy tickets from the train station while you're in Italy. The
first time you buy a ticket, you might want to reserve the
international ticket as well. This is the only one for which I would
really want a reservation.

The cost of the tickets within Italy would come to about 75 euros
total travelling 2nd class on Eurostar Italia trains. I priced Rome to
Florence, Florence to Venice, and Venice to Milan, which is where you
would normally change trains to go to Zurich, although there is at
least one nonstop daily from Venice.

The Eurostar (ES) trains cost more, but their 2nd class is very
comfortable and they have all-reserved seats, so crowding is never a
problem. The cost in 1st class Intercity (IC) trains would be about
the same. These are usually older and don't require reservations, so
you can buy a ticket at the last minute without worrying about whether
there are any seats left. In 1st class there will almost always be
seats left. 2nd class IC would be about 30% less, but on IC trains it
can be rather crowded because they don't require reservations.The cost
for 1st class Eurostar would be about 45% more, but it is an expense
that I wouldn't incur unless it turned out that 2nd class was full. I
wouldn't take any of these trips on the cheapest trains (interregional
or IR) unless the timing were very inconvenient for the others. The
interregionals make too many stops. Anyway on some of the these lines,
there are hardly any interregionals running.

You can check schedules and prices on www.trenitalia.com. Click on the
Union Jack to get the English language version. The don't show prices
for the international segments, but I'm sure the Eurail pass would be
a waste of money.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot
it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

In the way of a hotel room for central Rome, Venice and Milan, will it be
possible to find something less than US100/night without a booking?

I suppose arriving in these cities in the afternoon is a good idea to have
time for finding a hotel room before it gets dark. Are these cities
considered safe for walking around at night?

Thanks,
Brett

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 20:24:15 -0500, "Brett" wrote:

In the way of a hotel room for central Rome, Venice and Milan, will it be
possible to find something less than US100/night without a booking?

It's getting hard to find rooms in this price range in Rome. I have no
experience of Milan and not much of Venice. It also depends on what
time of year you are there. I would carry a copy of Let's Go, Italy,
which has good listings of hotels in this price range. Try to call
ahead a day or two. You might want to make sure you have your first
stop reserved ahead of time because you'll surely be tired after the
trip. If you reserve for one or two nights, you will often find that
they're willing to extend it if you want to stay longer.

You might want to consider staying in hostels or convents at this
price range.

I suppose arriving in these cities in the afternoon is a good idea to have
time for finding a hotel room before it gets dark. Are these cities
considered safe for walking around at night?

In high season, even arriving in the morning may leave you without
many options. Either you may waste a few hours on the phone, or you
may end up having to spend more. I prefer to make calls from my
previous stop rather than arriving and looking for a room on the spot.
First, I can make the calls from the comfort of my hotel room rather
than from a phone booth in the train station. Second, it gives me a
little more lead time. Third, if I can't find a room, I can either
stay where I am or go somewhere else.

The historic center of Rome is safe. I've heard that the area around
the train station may be dicey. I think all of central Venice is safe
at night. I don't know Milan very well. Maybe someone else can help.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup