domdom
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 14 years ago
First of all, i want to say thank you! This is my first post but i read many, many other before and it was really useful!
But now my question:
Friday, we´ll start from Germany (near Bielefeld) which is our country of residence and we want to go to Italy. We thought of crossing the border at Aachen. But it seems quite difficult to find a good connection to Italy without using the Thalys. So now we thought of staying in Switzerland for at least one night (probably in Genf/Geneve).
The best connection i could find until now:
Aachen 10:32 dep (RE 5031)
Liège-Guillemins 11:24 arr
Liège-Guillemins 12:00 dep (IC 534)
Bruxelles Midi/Brussel Zuid 13:03 arr
Bruxelles Midi/Brussel Zuid 13:09 dep (97)
Basel SNCF 19:47 arr
Basel SBB 20:03 dep (IC 1640)
Lausanne 22:15 arr
Lausanne 22:20 dep (IR 2540)
Geneve 23:04 arr
Do you think this is a good idea? If we take this trains we really have to hope that they aren´t delayed.
Or do you know a better connection? Or is there another city on our way to Italy that would be (more) interesting? Perhaps it isn´t a good idea to arrive this late at Geneve when we don´t have a place to stay?!
Is it a better idea to go first to the south of France and then to Italy?
And í´m a little bit confused by the name of the train from Bruxelles 97. Do we have to pay a supplement for this train?
Many questions, but i hope that you can help us :)
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi.
I think you selected the best way if you want to travel to Italy.
In France (or crossing France) you always have to pay attention to the TGV trains which have supplements:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/tgv-sncf/42[/u]
The train Bruxelles-Basel is free of supplements:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/brussels-luxembourg-strasbourg-basel-zurich-train/f2915[/u]
For your stop in Switzerland, I recommend you to stay at a place with cheap options of hostels and a good night live. Geneva is definitely nice, but also check Basel or Zürich where you will find good places to have a beer in the evening. Check the [ux]https://rail.shop/hostelworld[/ux] website for details on hostels.
From Switzerland you have good connections by day trains to Italy - you will already know it.
- In Italy itself, pay attention to the supplements.
Eurostar Italia are expensive with EUR 10 per train - but very fast.
IC trains are free of supplements - you can buy a reservation online for EUR 3 if you like.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/italy/it[/u]
- Always book online and use the ticket machines at stations to get your ticket printed out:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/roma-termini/f4491[/u]
- At night trains use couchettes and not the seats. As it is good if you can lock the doors.
- More information:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-in-italy[/u]
Have fun on your trip, Peter :)
domdom
Traveller
1 comments
Hi Peter,
thank you very much for the quick answer and the nice tips!