Use www.whichbudget.com to see which low fare airlines fly which routes and check our “cheap flights” forum for more links, tips and help. On a two week trip, you shouldn’t have to check more than one bag and if you pack light, you may be able to get by with just a carry-on.

Another option to save time would be the direct overnight train leaving Paris Bercy at 18:52 and arriving in Florence at 7:13 the next morning. Check the French http://www.sncf.com/… and Italian http://www.ferrovied… national rail system websites for advance purchase specials on the day you want to travel. The single ticket should be considerably less expensive than a railpass — looks like 117 euros in a 6 berth couchette.

Thanks for such a rapid and detailed response, I appreciate it. I looked on both of those national rail sites and they seemed to give me far more expensive prices on one way tickets; around 130 euro one way, while the Eurail pass is around 200$, so maybe I’m just looking in the wrong place or something. Flying seems much better, but I feel like the bag I’ll be carrying will be too big and too heavy to carry on one of those LCC’s like EasyJet.

Did you already book your open-jaw (multi-city) flights? If not, then be sure to shop around, as $500 difference surprises me for this itinerary. Cfares, Kayak, Flights, and Expedia have good multi-city flight searches.

If you need more flights help, please post that in our Cheap Flights forum next door.

Thank you, Don. I did some more research and I found some cheap fares on Cfares, but I haven’t booked them yet. So now the real pain is figuring out the cheapest way from Paris to Lucca. I was thinking of Eurail, but there might be an easier way like oldlady said, but I’m not sure how to do it with inter-country national rail companies. Any ideas?

You might be able to buy the ticket on-line from the national rail company in either the country of departure or the country of arrival, but you can always just buy your ticket at the train station.

Ah, I was wondering if those national rail systems actually go between two countries, for example a French train company having a train from Paris to Lucca

Borders are pretty much non-existent while you’re on the train — it’s like going from state to state for the most part. The actual train will be operated by one or the other of the countries involved and it won’t necessarily be all that clear which one as it doesn’t matter. The only problem is buying the ticket on-line. Some national rail companies don’t sell “international” tickets on-line and sometimes only the company actually operating the train will sell the ticket. It’s never a problem to buy the ticket at the station, although there’s occasionally a separate (and signed) “international” ticket window.

Oh ok I see. So I’d have to buy it in Paris then? Do you have any idea how much it would cost?

I can’t get the SNCF website, but you can book Paris to Florence, Milan, or Geno(v)a online and they’re all 110€-120€ for Artesia overnight trains.

Oops, meant it won’t let me book Paris-Lucca.

110euro? I think it’d be cheaper to fly at that point. I was hoping a train would be a little cheaper honestly. Hmmm

While my 1st choice would probably be a flight if I could find a cheap one, 110 euros fo an overnight train might save money as it saves a night’s lodging costs. It also saves “travel time” since you’ll be sleeping through most of it. Time to get to/from airports, check-in requirements, security time, added to flight time means your flight will take at least 5 hours and if it’s during the day time it will shoot an entire day for sight-seeing. Be sure to add taxes, costs to get to/from airports, baggage fees, and any of the various misc. fees to your flight cost calculation.