Family trip to Europe - take 2

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Hi Tut,
After a very difficult end to our family last year,we are now ready to re-book for Europe again.

I will run through our plans.

We are wanting to travel round trip from Rome to rome.

We are also hoping to stay in the following cities,
Rome- Florence-Cinqe Terre,Nice,Paris,Munich,Salzburg,Venice.
Can you suggest the best train route to take?
If some of the train journeys are long should we stop in an other city?

thanks

Frank.

Ok, so once again all of the below suggestions will be based on point-to-point tickets:

Rome-Florence: Italian Railways (TrenItalia) still offer a limited amount of discounted tickets per each departure. The offer used to be called 'MINI', but recently it was renamed into 'Super Economy'. But the drill is the same - purchase early in advance online & get tickets for as low as 9 euro, so in your case you can get ticket Rome-Florence for high-speed Frecciarossa trains for only 9 euro per passenger. If you don't want to buy in advance discounted non-exchangeable & non-refundable 'Super Economy' tickets, then cheap option to travel from Rome to Florence is to rely on slower Regional trains, here full fare ticket is just 20,25 euro per person and it can be bought even on day of departure.
Also besides TrenItalia, there is new private train company serving the route, called Italo (italotreno.it/EN), sometimes the fares they offer are cheaper then ones from TrenItalia, so you can check both companies before purchasing your tickets

Florence-Cinque Terre: if to speak about La Spezia as final destination, then ticket for regional train(s) from Florence to La Spezia is just 12,5 euro, no need to buy it in advance, do it already in Florence. Similar level of fares is for routes from Florence to other destinations in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre-Nice: easy and simple trick here is of 'breaking' tickets via border will help to save money here. Basically the idea is to buy first cheap domestic Italian ticket till Ventimiglia (last Italian station before France), full fare for regional train(s) La Spezia-Ventimiglia is 18,2 euro, but you can also get 9 euro Super Economy tickets for InterCity trains. From Ventimiglia to Nice there are plenty of local trains & buses (during summer), train ticket (you buy it already in Ventimiglia) is around 7 euro, while bus ticket is even cheaper

Nice-Paris: cheapest option here is to hunt for discounted tickets (Prem's or IDTGV), they start from only 25 euro (tgv-europe.com). Also flights (EasyJet and even Air France) usually tend to be not extremely expensive (at least cheaper than full fare tickets for high-speed TGV trains)

Paris-Munich: nothing really changed here, purchasing in advance discounted tickets from DB website is still the cheapest rail option

Munich-Salzburg: same story here, 'Bavaria Lander Ticket' (bought either from DB ticket machine in Munich or online via DB website) is ultimately the best option for families, especially since you can even enjoy some other destination in Bavaria before going to Salzburg (like morning departure from Munich to some place in Bavaria, few hours there & afternoon trip to Salzburg)

Salzburg-Venice: again same story here, because nothing really changed compared to the previous post - http://europetrainsguide.com/forum/index.php/topic,446.msg1868.html#msg1868 The only new thing new is OnlineTicketShop interface for Austrian Railways, though we have a short step by step guide on how to handle it - http://europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/Austria-OeBB.html

Venice-Rome: as for the previous journeys within Italy, cheapest options to make it from Venice to Rome by train is to rely on Super Economy tickets from TrenItalia or discounted tickets from Italo. Also possible to do the whole trip by regional trains only, but it's not the best choice here, since the distance & overall travel time not really attractive for holiday travel

Hi TUT,
Which way would be the fastest way (also the fastest train)to get from

Florence-Nice
Nice - Paris
Paris - Munich
Salzburg - Rome.

If costs were not the issue then which way is the quickest?

If we speak about journeys by land using rail transport, then

Florence-Nice

Florence-Milan (high-speed Frecciarossa train), Milan-Ventimiglia (InterCity) & Ventimiglia-Nice Ville (Regional train), travel time in total 7:05 

Nice - Paris

Direct high-speed TGV trains, travel time +/- 5:40 min

Paris - Munich

Direct high-speed TGV train or TGV till Mannheim/Stuttgart and change there to high-speed ICE to Munich, travel time for both options 6:10-6:20 min

Salzburg - Rome

High-speed RailJet train from Salzburg to Innsbruck, then EuroCity trains to either Bologna or Verona and high-speed Frecce train to Rome, travel time in total is between 9:30 & 10 hours (depending on time of the day)

Hi Tut,

How far in advance is it  best to book the Nice-Paris train trip?
I have had a look at tgv.europe.com and i can't work out the differance between tgv and idtgv what is the differance between the two?

How far in advance is it  best to book the Nice-Paris train trip?

Ticket sale starts 92 days in advance, so today the last day you can purchase tickets via tgv-europe website is June 3. Obviously it makes sense to buy the ticket early, since then you chances to get a cheap one (like only for 25 euro) are much higher, for iDTGV last date is June 13. Btw, we recently created a step by step guide on how to purchase tickets for French trains via tgv-europe, it might be of help - http://europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/France-SNCF.html

I have had a look at tgv.europe.com and i can't work out the differance between tgv and idtgv what is the differance between the two?

Well, difference isn't very essential. iDTGV basically is a kind of low-cost option, for which tickets can be bought only online. Also in iDTGV it's only one class and you can select between two options - seats in iDzen part (for customers wishing a quiet trip, where mobile phones and loud conversations are banned) and iDzap part (for customers looking for entertainment, where more noise is tolerated and games, shows, etc. are sometimes given)

Also, just as some background info, recently SNCF announced start of full scale low-cost train company - Ouigo (ouigo.com), original plans doesn't yet include Nice at the destination, only Marseille, but at the same time fares are extremely cheap for France (like 15 euro for Marseille-Marne la Vallée Chessy (small station at the outskirts of Paris, end of RER line A). As result on some occasions (like situations when direct Nice-Paris tickets are really expensive) it might make sense to travel by regional train from Nice to Marseille and then board low-cost Ouigo train to Paris 

Hi Tut,
We are wanting to go to Dachau (concentration camp) and BMW museum in one day.
Can this be done?

we will be staying near the HBF Munich.

What train can we take to see both places in the same day.

We are wanting to go to Dachau (concentration camp) and BMW museum in one day. Can this be done?

Answer a lot depends on how much time you want to spend in each place, but saying in general it won't be a problem, since BMW museum is located in Munich (near Olympiapark), so you don't even need a train, but just subway (U-bahn), while Dachau is just 11-21 min. (depending on train) from Munich Hbf with trains running every 20 minutes
In terms of tickets, since it is more than one passenger traveling, best choice might be to get Munich XXL Partner Day ticket (will cover train to Dachau, bus from Dachau station to Camp site & transportation within Munich, like U-bahn to museum)

Hi Tut,
I have checked the tgv site for train travel for 21st August.
I know that you can't book until 92 days in advance but i just looked an was able to book now.
My details are -

2 adults ages 26-59
1 child   age  12-25
1 child   age   4-11

Nice -Paris
leaving 9.34am.

First class

177.50 EURO

I would like to book this trip at this price today if i can--is it possible?

The part i don't get is where you book for seating preference as it comes up with so many to choose from.---such as;

1.beside
2.upper deck
3.lower deck
4.club four
5.lounge
6.upper deck club four
7.upper deck lounge
8.lower deck club four
9.lower deck lounge

what is club four etc etc etc.

FRANK.

I have checked the tgv site for train travel for 21st August.
I know that you can't book until 92 days in advance but i just looked an was able to book now.

Apparently something changed, it used to be only iDTGV trains available that long in advance, but anyway 177 euro in total for the first class is a good price, so if you ok with time of the day and ticket conditions, then why not book it now

The part i don't get is where you book for seating preference as it comes up with so many to choose from.---such as;
1.beside
2.upper deck
3.lower deck
4.club four
5.lounge
6.upper deck club four
7.upper deck lounge
8.lower deck club four
9.lower deck lounge

what is club four etc etc etc.

Well, first options ('besides', upper/lower deck) are kind of self explanatory, while 'club four' it's just 4 seats around one table, thus two passengers will face other two passengers, 'lounge' is a sort of separated salon at the end of the first carriage (it was designed for business passengers who might need to arrange some kind of meeting there etc.). Also you can read about seating options on tgv-europe website - http://help.tgv-europe.com/en/france-europe/on-board-seating-positions

Hi Tut,
I have been trying all week to book the trip (as mentioned in previous note to you).Nice-Paris.

I hve filled in all details needed but once i get passed the credit card verification section it comes up with the following message---

*your payment was rejected.
*we regret that we are unable to continue with this order procedure.

i have spoken with the bank regarding our card and they can confirm it is not the card but TGV.

Would you know what the problem is?

also i would rather pay with paypal but the paypal box does not come up when you get to the payment section.

First of all really sorry for a bit late reply, were traveling for quite a bit and had no decent connection to the internet, so couldn't answer your question earlier, we apologize

i have spoken with the bank regarding our card and they can confirm it is not the card but TGV.
Would you know what the problem is?

Well, unfortunately it does happen sometimes, we heard a number of stories about TGV website rejecting bank cards.
Apparently now you have a few options: a) contact tgv-europe direct and ask what is wrong and why they don't except you *Name of the Bank* card, maybe they will be able to clarify the issue; b) try to purchase same tickets via French website voyages-sncf.com, it's the one all the locals book, however it's only in French, so you'll kind of need to use google translate; c) if you ok moving you departure earlier or later, then you can try buying tickets for iDTGV trains on their website - idtgv.com/en/ , maybe there your card will work. If none of the above works, then you probably will be left to use some agency or reseller, which is obviously not the best option, but waiting and buying already in France won't do you any good either

also i would rather pay with paypal but the paypal box does not come up when you get to the payment section.

Apparently it's not available for all customers and in all cases, nothing we can do here 

Hi Tut,
Thanks for the response.
I have spoken to TGV customer service and they said that their site does not accept Australian credit cards. 
Not sure what we can do to get the cheapest fare.

I might try to give the french site a go like you said and i will let you know how i go.

I have spoken to TGV customer service and they said that their site does not accept Australian credit cards. 

Imho, very dumb decision from them, they basically refusing many potential customers, weird tactics (obviously unless they intentionally want to promote rip-off agencies)

Not sure what we can do to get the cheapest fare.

Well, as a final measure (and if nothing works out with official French website), then I guess you'll be forced to address agencies like raileurope and see what they have to offer

Hi Tut,
I'm still having problems with booking on SNFC but for the moment my next question is travelling to Sorrento.

What is the actual name of the Sorrento train station?Is it Sorrento Porto?

How long does it take to get from Naples station to Sorrento station?And also from Rome station to Sorrento station?

If i want to travel from Reggio Calabria to Sorrento what would be the best way?
My understanding is that there is no direct route so is it best to go from Reggio to Naples then Sorrento or Reggio to Rome then Sorrento?

Once again thanks for your help as always.