TofuBoy
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 10 years ago
My plan so far is with a 5 days within 10 ticket travelling as a group of 4:
Geneva
Milan
Lecce (n)(d)
Rome
Venice (n)(d)
Ljubljana
Salzburg (d)
Munich
Stuttgart
(n) arrive on night train
(d) arrive morning and leave evening on same day
It seems like a lot of places in very little time but using night trains and later evening trains, I think it's possible to visit some extra places here and there. We only plan to visit and see the main attractions/sights on the day stops.
An ideas or suggestions? Would this be too much?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
I like the route, a perfect example of what is possible with the 5in10 pass. :)
From Geneva to Milan I would suggest avoiding the direct EC trains which would require a 11€ reservation. Instead, cross the border with regional trains, this would require changes of trains in Brig and Domodossola. The regional trains Brig - Domodossola are not very frequent so you should plan ahead and look for a convenient connection.
Depending on you time budget you might make a detour from Domodossola via the Centovalli railway to Locarno and continue to Milan from there via Bellinzona - Chiasso.
From Lecce to Rome there is a convenient direct Frecciargento service in the late afternoon, requiring a 10€ reservation though. Alternatively there is a connection with a change of trains in Bari using a regional and a IC train without compulsory reservation but this would take three hours longer so I think that it would be worth investing the 10€ for the FA high speed train.
For Venice - Ljubljana look here: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/travel-lake-bled-train/[/u]
How do you want to get to Geneva/go back from Stuttgart?
To support the free information and the forum on railcc, please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
Thank you! :)
Flo 8)
TofuBoy
Traveller
2 comments
Thanks for the suggestions, I shall do some more research later tonight.
For going to Geneva/getting back from Stuttgart, I have managed to find very cheap one way flights so we will be flying in and flying out from these cities back home to England so it saves having to spend a travel day going back and completing a loop to get on a return flight :D
TofuBoy
Traveller
2 comments
I have looked at the Centovalli railway, and although it looks great, I think it might take a bit too much time out of the day for us on this tight schedule as we want to spend some time in Milan.
With that in mind I'm looking at the regional train times and I can't figure out the last part going from Domodossola to Milan without more changes along the way. So like with the Lecce to Rome suggestion of investing 10 euro to save some time, I think it might be better to do the same for this journey too. Just to give more time in Milan on this tight schedule. I just need to find out how to make these reservations now :D
The Venice - Ljubljana information is very helpful thank you, the other route for it I saw was via Villach I think but took a very long time.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Yeah, if you want to visit Milan this would probably just be too much...
Geneve 0742 - 1135 Milano Centrale
The above would be a direct EC train, 11€ reservation. The next good connection with such a EC would be at 1203, requiring a change of trains in Brig (Geneve - Brig with IR, Brig - Milano with EC), the next direct EC would only be at 1342.
Geneve 0803 - 1032 Brig
Brig 1044 - 1112 Domodossola
Domodossola 1254 - 1432 Milano Centrale
This would be the option without extra reservations, sadly, the connections in Domodossola are quite bad (if you would go on a weekend, you could leave Geneve one hour later, arriving in Domo at 1212 (with a change of trains in Brig again).
The reason you probably did not find this connection is that the local trains around Milan are operated by company Trenord whose schedules are not included in the standard schedule planners...
Reservations can be made locally at a ticket desk at a station; in Italy there are also easy to use ticket machines.
The route via Villach is not recommended as it usually requires using a IC Bus or EC train with compulsory reservation.
If you have time I would recommend to stop in Gorizia for a coffee in the nice old town.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
I just checked again regarding the EC to Milan and reservation is compulsory only between Domodossola and Milan, from Brig to Domodossola you can use the EC without a reservation (although it is recommended); sadly there is no good connecting regional train at Domodossola from the 0742 EC from Geneve, so you should just get the reservation for all the way through to Milan if you want to spend as much time as possible there.