Check it with http://www.railsaver… A quick look for you suggested France-Italy 4 day flexi pass, plus Madrid or Barcelona to France border on a separate ticket.

Are you aware, or have you considered http://www.easycruis… for Greece?

Also consider flights, MAD or BCN > PAR and ROM>ATH for example with www.skyscanner.net and www.whichbudget.com

Within Italy, you’ll definitely want to take the train — whether or not to get a railpass depends on how much train travel you end up with outside of Italy. Madrid-Paris and Paris-Venice are legs where I’d look for a cheap flight or take an overnight train. I would look for a flight to Greece. If you can’t find a flight then ferry is your answer and free passage on some of the Greece/Italy ferry lines may be the thing that makes a railpass worthwhile.

You can link to railsaver under the “bookings” tab, or it’s part of the trip planner.

As oldlady said. Use the ‘Find Railpasses’ button in the Trip Planner. You can book directly through the planner and we guarantee that we have the lowest prices anywhere…

Thank you so much for your responses!! I will check them out.

Anyone know if we should do Barcelona or Madrid? Can’t decide. And is Florence worth squeezing in somewhere??

I think Barcelona is more popular with people here on the forum, and it’s my favorite city, but I really like Madrid too. What are you interested in? Florence is wonderful, but do you really have time for more destinations?

hey don-

have you done easy cruise before? is it the a better/efficient way to see greece on a limited time schedule?

@kelli — no, I have not done Easycruise, just passing it on as a possible cost-effective option for your itinerary.

I have taken one of the cruises, although I did not book it through easy cruise. I would have preferred on-our-own, but the time/logistics did not work any other way. The cruise was “ok” — at least it was only marginally luxurious as opposed to the over-hyped, over-the-top, staff licking your shoes, etc. that’s the norm in the cruise industry.

I would shop around for a cruise. Numerous travel agencies offer the same cruises. We got a great price and great service from http://www.dolphin-h… but you may find a better deal elsewhere. i would also suggest serious research about the ports of call so you can decide whether on-your-own is a better deal than the official shore excursions. For example, I would recommend renting a car on Rhodes instead of the shore excursion.

If you do the cruise thing, I highly recommend picking a cruise that includes Kusadasi, Turkey. Take the shore excursion or find your own way to Ancient Ephesis — it beats anything you’ll see in Athens by miles.