Pisa - Frankfurt - Warsaw : Need advice please

NatureOne
Traveller
273 comments

hi,
this depends, if you only want to stop in Frankfurt I think it will be cheaper to by the tickets in advance. But if you want to stop in any other place, it depends on the places and the trains. If you take sleepers you also have to pay a reservation fee.
As you start in Pisa I would suggest to spend a day or two at Cinque Terre: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/cinque-terre/[/u]
From there you can go to Milan, if you want. If you are more into nature I would skip Milan and continue to a place at Lago di Como. But anyway a trip over the alps to Zurich is amazing: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u] You can easily exit the train in the alps and walk around a little bit or go on top of a mountain by cable car :)
In Germany you can stop at Schloss Neuschwanstein [u]https://rail.cc/en/fuessen/c[/u] from their to Heidelberg, which is close to Frankfurt.
From Frankfurt on you can I would rather suggest to go to Berlin or Dresden and than continue to Warsaw. If you stop in Dresden you can also have stops in Prague, Wroclaw or Krakow.

If you want to visit some other cities in Italy, I can recommend Venice. On the route from Pisa you can also stop in Florence or Bologna. You'll find some cool spots in Südtirol or directly take a train to Munich. If you want to visit Austria before, Innsbruck or Salzburg might be worth a stop. From Munich you can continue to Frankfurt.

As far as transport is concerned I prefer trains instead of buses, but maybe you'll find some cheaper bus connection, if you don't by an Interrail ticket. You can to make clear where you want to stop & and than maybe check the price. But keep in mind Interrail tickets are under promotion :) [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-global-pass[/u]
If you can sleep on trains, sleepers are quite nice, because you save money for a hostel and be in another city the next day.

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi,

just a few things to add.
1) You could make a few day trips around Pisa: La Spezia/Cinque Terre; Lucca; Siena; Florence; Perugia/Assisi... then go through the Swiss Alps: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u] before you head to Frankfurt (you could stopover at the Rhine Falls close to Schaffhausen), then stop in Dresden/Berlin before you head to Warsaw or travel off the beaten track via Görlitz and Wroclaw.
2) Train, obviously. ;) A sleeper train probably would only make sense on the way to Warsaw: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/amsterdam-warsaw-en-447/91[/u]
3) Depends on when you travel, how many stopovers along the route you want to make and when you want to book your tickets in case you do not go with InterRail. The only sensible IR ticket would be the 5in10 so you could make a few calcuations using these links for regular tickets:
[ux]https://rail.shop/italo[/ux] or [ux]https://rail.shop/omio[/ux] for long distance travel in Italy; for purely local journeys just buy your tickets directly at the station, regional trains are very cheap in Italy
[ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] for tickets from Italy to Germany through Switzerland or Austria; just ask if you need assistance with booking or finding good/cheap routes. Use this link also for Frankfurt - Warsaw. The best offers are usually Europa Spezial tickets.


Flo 8)

helpimlost
Traveller
5 comments

Hi,

Thanks for the advice so far, we have done some reading.

We are thinking along the same lines as you've suggested for the 1st part (we've not decided about the 2nd half after Frankfurt yet). Spend a couple of days around Pisa and surrounding area... make our way up to Milan, and then take the [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u] train up to Zurich. From there to Frankfurt (maybe with a stop in the middle).

1) So, is it better to get an interrail pass? or buy individual tickets?
2) Do the trains above get booked up in advance? meaning we cant just turn up at the train station and buy tickets.
3) Is it much cheaper to buy the tickets in advance? and if so, how far in advance? and where can we book them for the trains talked about above? (especially for the Milan to Zurich trip).

We go in 6/7 weeks from now!

Cheers.

helpimlost
Traveller
5 comments

Also, just wondered if anyone can suggest how many days to spend in Pisa, Florence etc?

We were thinking of 1 day/night in Pisa, and maybe 1 - 2 days in Florence?

Cheers.

helpimlost
Traveller
5 comments

Anyone???

1) So, is it better to get an interrail pass? or buy individual tickets?
2) Do the trains above get booked up in advance? meaning we cant just turn up at the train station and buy tickets.
3) Is it much cheaper to buy the tickets in advance? and if so, how far in advance? and where can we book them for the trains talked about above? (especially for the Milan to Zurich trip).

Thanks in advance.

Loiseau
Traveller
231 comments

I would definitly suggest Interrail-Pass for this route. Take the 5in10 pass, so you can go maybe like this. Pisa-Firenze-Milano, Milano-Zürich, Zürich-Heidelberg-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Berlin or Hamburg, Berlin/Hamburg-Dresden-Praha. And the last ticket to warsawa you may can buy in advance - this might be not really expensive?! If you want to stay more than one afternoon in Firenze you can by Pisa-Firenze at the train station separately. It should be less than 20EUR.

If you won't be stay at Milano - buy Pisa-Firenze separetely and than go straight over to zürich from firenze. it's a long journey, but possible on one day. So you have the 5th travel-day for the last step to warsawa.

And buying your interrailtickets here in the railcc-shop would be fine, to help the people who doing this great job here. Get help and Help others! ;)

helpimlost
Traveller
5 comments

Hey,

Thanks for the reply and good info. We are now looking at buying the 5 in 10 pass from the railcc site, and we also like the route you have suggested.

Couple of quick questions though...

1) If we buy the interrail pass, do you think we will also need to pay many suppliments/extra's on top? (assuming we travel you route you have suggested).
2) Do these trains get fully booked up? ie. do we need to book/reserve in advance or can we just turn up at the train station and show our interrail passes etc and get on?

Cheers

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi!

1) You can travel the complete route without extra reservations. However if you want to save a bit of time you could invest 10€ for a reservation for a high speed train from Florence to Milan.
2) Since you wont need reservations, just turn up at the stations at find a free seat. If you choose to go with the high speed train from Florence to Milan you can easily get reservations at a ticket machine or ticket desk, also at short notice.

Buy Praha - Warsaw at [u]https://rail.shop/cd;[/u] if you travel Pisa - Florence and Florence - Milan on two different days, the Pisa - Florence ticket on a regional train is just 8€.


Flo 8)