NicoDK
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 4 days ago
Hey, I am planning to travel from Roskilde DK to Firenze IT in Easter 2025 with family (2 adults and 2 teenagers). The first part, from DK to Hamburg DE is straight forward. Wondering what is then the best to get to CH and then down to Firenze IT. Is there a good night train connection to CH? And how to book tickets from CH to IT? The ItaliaRail website does not yet have the schedules ready for April 2025. Any idea when the reservations will be open? Thanks for any tips and tricks!
MisterSteve
Traveller
1094 comments
Before you go any further....
ItaliaRail is NOT the official Italian Railways website, it is owed by an American outfit from Boston called Interrail LLC who are also NOT anything to do with the official Interrail/Eurail pass organisation in Europe.
The best schedule planning website is www.bahn.com which covers most of Europe - once each country has finalised the data and uploaded it. The Italians are always close to the deadline with this (but not the worst) and since the 2025 timetable begins on December 15th (2024) we are in that period when things are not guaranteed to be complete.
The first part from Roskilde to Hamburg is prone to delays, always allow around 90 minutes in Hamburg Hbf for long distance connections.
There is indeed a night train from Hamburg to Switzerland which calls at Basel SBB and Zurich Hbf. Just to make life interesting this is mostly operated by the Austrians even though it doesn't go to Austria! Mostly - the ordinary seats are technically a German train with a different train number! The proper night sleeping accomodation is on www.nightjet.com but if you are buying tciekts rather than using a pass the best price for seats will probably be on www.bahn.com If youa re using a Pass, on Nightjet do an ordainy booking enquiry to get the full price, then use the discount card option and look near the bottom of the list, it will then recalcuate the price to just the accomadation supplement.
Do you want to go direct from Basel/Zurich to Firenze in one fast day? At the moment bahn.com doesn't seem to know about fast international trains running into Italy and neither route is showing direct international fast trains. If you are not in a hurry, don't use those in Switzerland either, ask for a routing via Airolo (in bahn.com set a "stopover" with no time) to use the "Treno Gottardo" via the old scenic route instead of the long boring tunnel (Google or Youtube the name). These normally run every two hours from Basel to Bellinzona, but add about 90 minutes to the journey compared to the tunnel.
My advice is reserve Nightjet now since they are open and Easter is always high demand and gets expensive if you wait. Then find the Danish connection with a sensible amount of time in Hamburg, bahn.com is the easiest for booking that. The rest can be done in January when the data is put right.
You might also like to have a look at www.seat61.com This is based on travel from London but is full of useful info as well.
MisterSteve
Traveller
1094 comments
PS the official Italian site is www.trenitalia.com but if you want to buy international tickets from Switzerland www.sbb.ch is clearer. You could buy an international ticket from Hamburg to Italy from bahn.com but that might not get the best price/cabin options on the night train.
NicoDK
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks MisterSteve for the tips. I'll start looking with those details in mind! Looking forward finding the best and cheapest way for this trip. Cheers.