Europe Trains Guide Forum
General discussion => Travel plans, routes and timetables => Topic started by: daana on February 12, 2012, 02:07:00 pm
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We would like to travel from Athens to Florence via train. I cannot find any itineraries that get me to
Florence. I also found one site that indicated the Greek train service is suspended due to the austerity measures.
Anyone have any ideas on if we can do this trip via train? If not, what are our other "cheap" options?
Thank you so much for your input
d
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Yep, Greek Railways lately tend to have trouble with international connections, and as of now all the international trains are canceled, thus it makes it a bit difficult to organize the whole trip in terms 'only by rail'.
Probably your best option simply to catch local train from Athens to Patras via Kiato, it will cost you 15,3 EUR. While from Patras you can catch one of the multiple ferries (http://www.ferries.gr/) to Italy. (NB: make sure you check all the available ferry companies, since fares tend to differ, thus it makes sense to find the most suitable one). Then from either Bari, Brindisi or Ancona you can easily reach Florence by train. For Italian train timetable and fares check TrenItalia website (http://www.trenitalia.com/). If you purchase your train ticket in advance you can actually get a pretty good deal with offer called 'Mini'
Also, in case you really in a mood for a long trip, then we can advise you on 'by land' itinerary (something like Athens-Thessaloniki-Sofia-Belgrade-Zagreb-Ljubljana-Venice), but, as you probably understand, it take much more time in total.
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Thank you so much for your valuable information. Upon further research it looks like flying to Florence is going to be just as cheap as the train/ferry route. Plus we won't have to change from bus to train to ferry to train to......
Thanks very much for your insight!
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Actually yes, flying is cheapest and easiest option, especially if you don't have any particular preferences regarding sightseeing during the trip, 'only by land' etc.
Not sure what you found, but just in case, EasyJet has a relatively cheap flights Athens-Rome, while RyanAir serves Pisa and Bologna (both close to Florence) from a few Greek destinations as well.