Put your itinerary in the trip planner or put it in railsaver (under the “bookings” tab). That should give you the best general recommendation about a railpass.

I’d look at flying to Berlin and perhaps to Barcelona. Find which low fare airlines fly which routes at www.whichbudget.com and check our “cheap flights” forum for more links, tips and help.

Thank you. That really helps. I never thought of flying to Berlin, but that cuts the time down by like7 hours!

If I were to cut Berlin out all together, do you have a recommendation for another German city between the Netherlands and Italy? Maybe something on the West side of the country. Preferably a city or somewhere with great scenery, sites, and nightlife, that I could stay at for 3 or 4 days. That would be a great help.

Thanks again!

Just remember that any flight takes about 5 hours when you add in time to get to/from airports, security time, check-in time to the actual flight time.

oh gees, you’re right. Well maybe another German city would be a better deal for my time.

Any favorites?

Since you want to go to Amsterdam, Berlin is probably as good a choice as any. Overnight train from Venice to Munich is another possibility — although you’re still a long way from Amsterdam. Frankfurt is a good choice because it’s a major transportation hub so it would be easy to get there although it’s not a great tourist destination. You could fly or overnight train to Frankfurt then take a day or two to cruise the Rhine to Cologne on your way to Amsterdam.

I don’t really think there’s enough similarity between major cities in Germany to pick one based on travel convenience. What do you want to see/do in Germany?

The girl I’m traveling with is the one really set on going there. I don’t think she has anything or anywhere in Germany, only that her family is German and she speak it. I think we just want a taste of the country somewhere in the trip. It doesn’t have to be a large city, but somewhere we can spend a few days. Maybe some sight seeing, food, people, drink. I was looking at Dusseldorf. It might cut a little time off. What do you think about that?

Between Holland and Italy? I have some personal tips. How about Heidelberg, a nice university town near Karlsruhe, almost untouched by the WW2 with lots of old German architecture? Or Innsbruck, Austria (they also speak German there so your friend can practise), nice and mountaineous. Munich is also nice, but kind of flat.