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Paris -- Florence -- Geneva or Vienna -- Copenhagen
Thu, 02/04/2010 - 17:14
orrl2006
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I am traveling from Paris to Florence on Friday, March 12th; then to Perugia, Italy on March 14th or 15th. I will leave Perugia to head to either Geneva or Vienna on Thursday, March 18th. (The choice between Geneva and Vienna is dependent upon my friends’ arrangements/ class schedules as well as price and ease — any suggestions?) I will leave Geneva or Vienna on Sunday (possibly Monday), March 21st (or 22nd) to head to Copenhagen until I fly back to the States on the 25th.

Any recommendations for transportation? I’d like to book my travel based on ease/ best experience/ price/ time constraints.

Would a 3 or 4 country Eurail pass take too much time? I could take the Eurail from Paris — Florence — Geneva/ Vienna and then fly to Copenhagen?

If the Eurail pass is a bad idea, where can I find reasonably priced one-way flights? And which cities should I be flying in to? (I’ve been told that Pisa is much cheaper to fly in to than Florence, for instance.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Spring break '10
I am leaving from Columbus, OH and traveling for 21 days
London, Tours, Paris, Florence, Perugia, Geneva, Copenhagen
Requesting help with Transport, Hostels
Thu, 02/04/2010 - 21:54
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oldlady
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For this fairly far-flung itinerary, I’d look for flights first. Use www.whichbudget.com to see which low fare airlines fly which routes and check our “cheap flights” forum for more suggestions and maybe some help.

Once you figure out the legs where flying makes more sense, then I’d use the railsaver tool (under the bookings tab or in the Trip Planner) to see which, if any, railpass makes the most sense.

My transportation preferences for this would be:

Paris to Florence: fly or overnight train if I couldn’t find a cheap flight.

Within Italy, or if you end up flying to Pisa — definitely take the train. I don’t think a railpass will save any money.

Florence to Geneva or Vienna: fly or overnight train if you can’t find a cheap flight
Vienna or Geneva to Copenhagen: fly or overnight train

I doubt a railpass will save money as you can often find cheap on-line specials, which include the required reservations (not covered by the railpass) for overnight trains.
Try looking for specials on the national rail company websites: www.sncf.com for France, http://fahrplan.sbb….? for Switzerland, www.trenitalia.com for Italy, http://www.oebb.at/e… for Austria.

If you decide on a railpass, you have plenty of time to get it. Most websites ship the passes within 1 or 2 business days and standard shipping is 5 business days. Overnight shipping is usually available for an extra fee.