Due to budget, i’ve got sort of a fast itinerary that can’t be stretched out any longer (as much as i’d like it to). The flight lands in Amsterdam and also departs from there. The plan is to purchase a select 4 country rail pass to go from Benelux > France > Switzerland > Italy and from Italy take the Rail back to amsterdam overnight (15 hours, might have to split into 2 days instead).
Mainly I want to see Switzerland, Italy and France. The others just to go by because 1. They are on the way and 2. To say i’ve been there. I’m not into the clubbing/drinking scene, I mostly want to come here to see as many different sights as possible. I’m more of a trekking/scenic person, I love to walk and bike. Here is an extremely rough and vague itinerary;
Amsterdam
Brussels
Luxembourg City
France (4 days)
Switzerland (4 days)
Italy (4 days)
Amsterdam
It’s a little sketchy. I could cut off Italy altogether and throw those days back into the other countries; except Italy looks too good.
Also, i’m a bit unfamiliar with the rails in Europe. How much freedom will I have? Do the trains usually come every hour? I would like to take day trips to multiple areas in the country.
What do you think?
Have a look at this railsite.
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It is German but is thorough.
link
You could probably squeeze in some Italy. That’s a lot of sitting on the train, but the view is nice. I guess you can say that you saw the view.[
If you cut the trip down some, you could travel less and get some more comprehensive trekking/scenic stuff.
Don’t rule out inexpensive inter-European flights.
I never understood any of the timetables. They tell you to pick exactly what time you want the train to come at. That makes no sense, shouldn’t they tell YOU what time the train will come at?
The thing about getting a railpass is I thought it would fit my scenic trekking needs. I could visit smaller towns instead of taking a plane into the main city and not being able to go much further.
I wouldn’t mind just looking at the view. Forgetting about Italy would save me quite a few days if I went without though.
Also: With a rail pass do I have to book a ticket still? Or reserve a seat? Because that would probably ruin my whole plan then.
I think your problem is that you don’t understand how many trains there are. There are sometimes 30 or 40 trains each day between major cities that are close to each other — like Amsterdam and Brussels. You need to put in the time you want to leave (or arrive) in order to narrow the selections to something more manageable. Put in a time like 9:00 and it will give you the first 3 to 5 trains that leave after 9:00 AM. You can then click on “earlier” or “later” to see more options.
I would be inclined to skip Switzerland to make this a little more comfortable and I agree with Cil’s suggestion to look at a cheap flight (or an overnight train if you really want to avoid flying) for a long leg. My absolute max for 2.5 weeks would be a total of 2 flights and overnight trains. I find more than an average of about 1 flight or 1 overnight train a week to be exhausting.
If the trains are so frequent, do I need to reserve a seat? (I’ll be there in april)
Switzerland is the #1 country I want to see. I may cut out Italy.
I would also prefer rail over flights. If I miss a train it’s no big deal, if I can’t get to the airport in time it’s a waste of money. And even if I buy a flight for a long leg of the trip, i’d still need a rail pass for actually going to places around the country, so why not use the rail pass for all of the trip?
Thanks for the info.
This is a little bit off topic, but I saw trips for cycling switzerland at a decent price. Does anyone know anyone who has done this? (cycling trips for any country in europe)