Geneva - Venice - Vienna - Prague - Geneva

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 Hi, I am planning a trip with my girlfriend and a friend of her in early september. I was recently relocated to Geneva and the intention is to visit Venice, Vienna and Prague in 9 days.

I'm wondering which would be a better option: a) Driving (as I have a company car) b) Taking the train.

The route would be Geneva - Venice - Vienna - Prague - Geneva

I'm looking for information about what will be the cheapest and most reliable way to do this route (sounds possible?), what is the most time consuming or efficient, picturesque or save route.

Thanks in advance for all the support

Our team mainly travels by train, so we aren't big experts in car renting, thus we will only give couple advices about train options and then it will be your choice - either to go with trains or rent a car.

Geneve-Venice: SBB offers special discounted ticket for travels from Geneve to Italy, so if your purchase those in advance so you can get rather good quote. For instance Geneve-Venice for only 45 CHF or Geneve-Milano(from Milan to Venice you can use domestic Italian train) for only 30 CHF. You can check discounted tickets for your dates here - https://www.sbb.ch/mct/wi/shop/b2c/pipSchritt_2.do
If you travel before September 5 you can as well consider use of SBB Supersaver ticket from Geneva till Italian border (https://www.sbb.ch/mct/wi/shop/b2c/adw.do?4004), then domestic ticket to Venice. Tickets in Italy aren't that expensive, so you can travel from Swiss border to Venice for not more than 30 euro, in some cases even for 15 euro etc.

Venice-Vienna: discounted tickets start from 29 euro (http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c79686605528a110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD). You can as well travel over the border to Villach and then use OEBB group pass (allows travel through out whole Austria for the whole day long).

Vienna-Prague: easiest part of your itinerary, just buy discounted 29 euro tickets in advance from OEBB website (https://ticket.oebb.at/bin/frame_ticket.pl?ticket=jticket.pl?ABBFSEL=8101865&ANBFSEL=5400201&LANG=EN)

Prague-Geneve: cheapest way here is to use discounted ticket for CNL train Prague-Basel (from 29 euro) and then just travel from Basel to Geneve on Swiss domestic train. Other options is daytime from Prague to Zurich (same 29 euro), then again domestic till Geneve.

In terms of cheap, efficient etc. routes... well, most of the discounted tickets are sold for specific routes and trains, so you don't have any choice there. In case you want to travel with routes different than those for discounted tickets, then you will need either to pay more for the full fare tickets or rely on group rail passes (available for Austria and Czech republic).

It is worth to mention as well that Venice, Vienna and Prague can be visited cheaper, if you can switch the sequence of cities from Geneva - Venice - Vienna - Prague - Geneva to Geneve-Prague-Vienna-Venice-Geneve.
 

Hi
Realize the above is almost one year old.    Wondering if this is still current info.    Also, as one who has never been to Europe, can someone help me with where to find times and info on getting from Prague to Geneve.   

The info above speaks abot the CNL train - not sure what CNL is.   Looking for how long this trip is and whether I need to make reservations ahead of time.

Many thanks for the help.

Jeffrey - South Haven, Michigan, US

The info above speaks abot the CNL train - not sure what CNL is.

CityNightLine (CNL). Basically a company operating few overnight trains in Central and Western Europe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CityNightLine or official website http://www.citynightline.de/citynightline/view/en/index.shtml).

Looking for how long this trip is and whether I need to make reservations ahead of time.

As of this summer schedule, overnight option Prague-Basel SBB is 18:31-7:55, next direct train from Geneva after arrival of the one from Prague is at 9:03 or also option with one change in Bern a bit earlier (8:28-11:15).
The point of early in advance purchase (in most cases online) is that you can get discounted fare ticket instead of paying full fare, so for instance you can pay 49 EUR instead of 129 EUR etc. So we recommend you to check out DB website for all the timetables and purchase options - http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?newrequest=yes&protocol=http:&
In case of Basel SBB-Geneva you also have a chance to pay less, the offer is called SuperSaver ticket (all the details and purchase - http://sparbillette.sbb.ch/home/?lang=4). Also official website of Swiss railways might help as well - http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

I am looking travel from Prague to Geneva (via Basel) on the CLN in about 2 weeks.  I am in the US trying to purchase tickets.  I have been to bahn.de, sbb.ch, and cd.cz/eshop and none allow me to purchase tickets on the overnight train (though I could easily get e-tickets on the daytime trains).  I don't even see a fare listed.

Ideally, I would like a 2nd class, 2 person private sleeper but am traveling with a child and can manage with either the single or double compartment.  If I go through raileurope.com, I am forced into a 1st class single sleeper.  I keep reading that raileurope.com has inflated prices but I cannot even price compare since I cannot seem to find a fare anywhere else.

I have to travel on a specific date, and once in the Czech Republic I won't be near a train until the day of my travel so I'm afraid I will be closed out if I wait to buy at the station.

Any ideas?

I am looking travel from Prague to Geneva (via Basel) on the CLN in about 2 weeks.  I am in the US trying to purchase tickets.  I have been to bahn.de, sbb.ch, and cd.cz/eshop and none allow me to purchase tickets on the overnight train (though I could easily get e-tickets on the daytime trains).  I don't even see a fare listed.

The problem here is that there is no direct rail connection from Prague to Geneva, thus the websites you mentioned just have troubles selling one online through ticket with change.
But you can easily purchase Prague-Basel SBB ticket via DB website (bahn.de), if you are lucky you can still get a discounted fare. Then just go to SBB website and purchase SuperSaver ticket (can be bought up to 14 days in advance) Basel-Geneva keeping in mind arrival time of train from Prague (for instance direct train ICN 614 9:03-11:46). This should do the trick and even save you money

p.s. if you still have troubles, then let us know the exact date, so we can look more precisely at what is wrong.