UK to Italy via Germany

[Halsebee]

I'm planning to travel from UK to Brussels on Eurostar, then want to meander from Brussels to Verona via Cologne and Munich next summer, 2 adults, 2 children, one way only.
I am OK booking separate tickets for the various legs, but wonder if anyone knows of any flexi passes,rover type tickets, etc available for all or part of this type of journey. Are "anytime" type tickets available in Germany, to break a journey as you see fit?
Lastly, thanks, are there any sleeper trains over this route?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[WestCoast]

There are many, many offers available on German trains. However, many limit you to regional trains (basically everything except the fast/limited stop InterCity and InterCityExpress services). For just 36 euros up to 5 people can travel around the country on all regional trains for one day, but only at the weekend. It's an option, but it would be very slow.

What I suggest you do is visit the DB website, plug in your proposed route and enter stopovers. See what it comes up with. You can get standard fares with stopovers in Germany, so say from Aachen to Munich with a 24 hour stopover in Cologne could all be done on the one ticket. Although, that can get expensive so look at the saving fares.

 

[philjo]

It might be worth checking out http://www.interrailnet.com/

They seem to have changed it to either a global ticket for all EU contries or a single country ticket.

We used one to go to Italy in 2004 which was a zonal ticket covering France &Italy. We went on the Paris-Venice sleeper. I think there is a DB sleeper service to Venice which might suit you - or one to Milan where you can change.
Supplements were payable on the High Speed Eusostar services in Italy & on the TGVs in France (for which reservations were also compulsory) plus for the sleepers - I assume the same would apply in Germany.

Details of european rail services & sleepers etc available here:

http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm

 

[blackfive460]

For just 36 euros up to 5 people can travel around the country on all regional trains for one day, but only at the weekend. It's an option, but it would be very slow.

There's also a similar ticket for weekdays with similar validity. Look for the Quer-durch-Land ticket on DB's website. 42 Euros for one person plus 6 Euros for each additional person up to a total of 6. Only valid on S-bahn, RE & RB so yes, meandering would describe it well!
There's nothing similar for Austria as far as I know. No idea about Italy.
There's always the Interrail Global pass but that would be quite expensive.
If you can plan to use specific trains I'd suggest starting with a DB London Spezial to get you to Köln (from 49 Euros but only valid on the few ICEs from Brussels) then book DB Sparpreise (from 29 Euros) for the legs through Germany. I think both Austria and Italy do similar train specific fares.
You can book the DB tickets on-line with print at home and the fares quoted above are available 92 days in advance. As in the UK, you need to get in quick.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[tony_mac]

The cheap DB online tickets (including London Spezial) allow you to break your journey twice, and specify up to 48 hours for each.

If booked in advance, and you play with the connection times, you can get London to Munich with, say, 2 days in Brussels and 2 days in Cologne for €49.

(You can also usually get it to give you a single break of up to 4 days by specifying a short double-back as one of the legs)

 

[stut]

I think both Austria and Italy do similar train specific fares.

Indeed - and the Austrian fares are rather wonderfully cheap (€9 for Vienna to Graz/Linz is very easy to come by).

It can be the case that international fares (e.g. from Germany to Salzburg or from Vienna to Venice) can be cheaper than domestic fares, due to availability, so it's worth checking those out too.

There are also EURegio tickets, which are valid as very cheap cross-border return tickets around central Europe. Worth a look.

For the larger German states (e.g. Bavaria), it can also be worth looking at the Laender-tickets - see http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml - as local rover tickets.

 

[TCDD]

One option (one that I’ve done in various forms) is to buy a London to ‘Any Belgian station’ ticket from Eurostar, then go to www.sncb.be and buy a ticket (about €4 single) from Hergenrath (last station in Belgium) to Aachen, then a ‘Europa Spezial’ from Aachen to Verona via the Munich to Italy Citynightline sleeper. The journey itself is interesting, starting with the loco-hauled IC train from Brussels to Liege (a monumental station worth seeing in itself), an ancient EMU from Liege to Aachen (sit behind the cab as the driver often leaves the door open!), then a double deck regional train to Cologne. From there you can either travel on the ICE via the high speed line, or on the IC/EC via the scenic Rhine Valley. Then onwards from Mainz/Frankfurt via ICE to Munich. The Citynightline is good, especially in a sleeper berth (well worth the extra as the couchettes are rock hard). The whole trip can be done in around 24 hours, if need be.
An alternative, though slightly longer trip is via the Harwich – Hook overnight ferry. A single from any NXEA station to ‘any Dutch station’, followed by a ticket from Venlo to Kaldenkirchern (the hop over the border), then a ‘Europa Spezial' to Italy as above. This all connects fairly well too.

 

[gordonthemoron]

I thought E* didn't have the 'any Belgian station' option anymore?

 

[lemonic]

I thought E* didn't have the 'any Belgian station' option anymore?

It does. You just have to pay a bit more for it compared to just travelling to Brussels.

 

[Zamracene749]

This ticket may be of use to you in Austria-

http://www.oebb.at/en/Tickets/Groups/Einfach-Raus-Ticket/index.jsp

again, IC services are excluded but still seems pretty good value.

 

[Sophiesoleil]

I did this trip last year on the 10 day interrail ticket. We started in London and got the eurostar to Brussels. Spent a night there and then went on to Freiburg (where going to go to Luxemburg but thought the accommodation was too expensive). From Freiburg we went to Lindau where we spent 3 nights. Beautiful place in the summer. Absolutely love Lake Constance! From there we went onto Venice via Milan. From Venice we went back through the mountains to Slovenia and then came back through to Bologna the day after. Random detour but worth it. The journeys through the mountains are great and the interrail ticket covers the Post buses as well.

I love Interraila and recommend it to EVERYONE!