Assistance in planning air/rail component - US, London, Amsterdam, Cruise, Italy?

[stephenson]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone has already executed something like our plan for Sep-Oct of this year.

We want to sandwich a river cruise between a quick visit with friends who live an hour south of London, and connecting up with another couple in Monopoli, IT. Our itinerary would look something like:

- Depart from Pensacola, FL or Dallas (children live there)
- Arrive London area (more flight options with LHR, but LGW is closer to our friends house - four nights or so there
- Depart London area via air or rail to Amsterdam (we love rail travel (7 hours) but looks like would need to go back into London to catch Eurostar?) - LGW is close and likely has lots of flights to Amsterdam, I think
- We join the boat in Amsterdam and a few days later get off in Basel, then bused to Lucerne for a couple of days as part of the cruise
- Depart Lucerne (air options?) to get to Brindisi (closet airport to Monopoli) and take train or bus to Monopoli area?
- Couple of weeks around Monopoli then probably drive to Naples
- Depart from Naples via air back to US, or perhaps train to Rome for better connectivity?

No airline can put all this together, and even if they did it would be a bit clunky?

Absolute cost is not a factor - so, could do things like train from Naples to Rome, stay at the Hilton (airport) a night and walk to the terminal.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[tulak]

The train from London to Amsterdam might be a bit too long, even though going through the chunnel is a fun experience.

I suspect that flying will be easier, especially from Lucerne to Italy.

I’ve had great luck with low cost European airlines. I would spend some time with Google flights to see what’s available for your dates. I suspect it won’t be too hard to piece together a few one way flights for your trip.

 

[Sunset]

How about a Transatlantic cruise for the return trip ?

Could possibly leave from Rome (actually the port near it, that I cannot spell). or some other IT port ?

 

[SecondCor521]

I'm finding more and more that round trip tickets are rather pointless.

I would piece it together as a bunch of sets of one way tickets.

Doing it piece meal also will get you a better overall price, for two reasons: First, most airlines are not very accommodative of multiple stop overs (like you would have in London and for the cruise and in Monopoli. Second, when using Google Flights or any similar search engine to do such a multi-city route, Google Flights will limit itself to a carrier who can provide service on all segments of the route.

If you split it up, you might find that United or American or Delta can get you across the ocean to London pretty well, but you'll probably find (like another poster mentioned) that the intra-European transfers can be done cheaply on RyanAir or similar.

Also, I love Rome2Rio for things like this. You can try it for the transatlantic route too, but be aware that it will use budget airlines which are bare bones service. Many here would not be OK with no checked bags, a 10kg carryon, and essentially basic economy type service. Anyway, R2R will probably give you very good info on the European legs.

Rome2Rio will also give you varying combinations of cheapest, fastest, and "best", while listing all travel mode options (train, ferry, bus, air, etc.).

 

[tulak]

I'm finding more and more that round trip tickets are rather pointless.

I agree. More often than not, I look for the cheapest non-stop round trip ticket to get me to Europe and then buy separate tickets when there. Usually that means I’m flying into London, which is a great jumping off spot to other places in Europe.

 

[DrRoy]

You could try https://www.eurotravelcoach.com/. It's run by my sister and her husband. They do all that.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

If you've never taken the Eurostar train, it is a wonderful experience.

You do have to go into London and the security/border set up post Brexit is a mess. It would almost certainly be faster and cheaper to fly LGW to Amsterdam.

But from a YOLO perspective, the Eurostar is really cool. We've taken it four times over the years and every time I find it very pleasant and am glad we did it. Ours were short routes, 3x between London and Paris and once between London and Brussels.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[brett]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone has already executed something like our plan for Sep-Oct of this year.

We want to sandwich a river cruise between a quick visit with friends who live an hour south of London, and connecting up with another couple in Monopoli, IT. Our itinerary would look something like:

- Depart from Pensacola, FL or Dallas (children live there)
- Arrive London area (more flight options with LHR, but LGW is closer to our friends house - four nights or so there
- Depart London area via air or rail to Amsterdam (we love rail travel (7 hours) but looks like would need to go back into London to catch Eurostar?) - LGW is close and likely has lots of flights to Amsterdam, I think
- We join the boat in Amsterdam and a few days later get off in Basel, then bused to Lucerne for a couple of days as part of the cruise
- Depart Lucerne (air options?) to get to Brindisi (closet airport to Monopoli) and take train or bus to Monopoli area?
- Couple of weeks around Monopoli then probably drive to Naples
- Depart from Naples via air back to US, or perhaps train to Rome for better connectivity?

No airline can put all this together, and even if they did it would be a bit clunky?

Absolute cost is not a factor - so, could do things like train from Naples to Rome, stay at the Hilton (airport) a night and walk to the terminal.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I would be temped to fly to Gatwick. Then catch a flight to Amsterdam. We prefer Gatwick. Less busy. We avoid LHR like the plague IF we are changing planes/terminals. LHR, in our experience, seems to have more security alerts....delays.


IF you select Gatwick , and need to stay overnight (early flight, etc,) we recommend the Premier Inn The one that is right beside Gatwick terminal. across the road and attached as I recall. Pays to book in advance. We always get the dinner and buffet breakfast combo option that you can buy when booking.

Train into Amsterdam direct from AMS airport. Extremely convenient.

You may need to go to Zurich for air to Monopoli BUT I might choose a slightly longer rail trip if I liked rail and the schedule worked.

Luzern to Milan! Or some other destination like Venice, Rome. ryv/ Then air to Brindisi. A day or two in Milan, Venice, Rome, etc would not go amiss. So many great options available to you.

Take a look at rome2rio.com. For iItalian rail try Trenitalia. Don't book rail on any of those third party shyster sites that look official but inflate fares.
Book direct with the in country railway.

So many options once you are in Luzern. Try to spend some time in Luzern. One of our fav. cities. Visit Mt. Pilatus and/ or cruise the lake to Kastanienbaum, etc. Or go into Zurich for the day..a very short train ride. And for jewelry stores.....walk through Bucherers!

Sounds like a great trip. Pack light. If you are on Italian rail keep a close eye on your bags and be leery of any little station helpers who offer to help you on to the train with your bags.

We go to Europe fairly often. We seldom buy return tickets to the same airports. Not unusal for us to fly into Athens and then direct home from London or Paris or some other gateway that has good scheds/pricing. We are in the middle of pricing air to the Azores and Lisbon. Then air to Morocco. And home through Paris. We will only book the Azores and the Paris return. The other flights will be done on the fly so to speak. We are fairly spontaneous travellers. We know two things. When we want to leave, and when we want to come home. Everything in between is subject to change during oru 7 or 8 week trip.

 

[audreyh1]

DB is based in Amsterdam and always flies when he needs to be in England.

 

[stephenson]

Our friends to the south of London have recommended leaving for the cruise boat a day earlier - be in Amsterdam night before - if taking train. Apparently they are always concerned about train strikes. Gives enough time to try and find another way.

Interesting question - anyone have an idea what happens if one misses their boat departure for river cruise? Just need to get the next stopping point to pick it up?

Anyone stay overnight in London near St Pancras - recommendation? Could train from near our friends' place, spend the night and take early (a bit about 6 am) Eurostar.

 

[audreyh1]

Amsterdam is a lovely city so spending an extra day or two there can be very rewarding.

 

[stephenson]

Yes, it is.

We've spent about five days there, previously.

Kuekenhof, canals, even the Concertkebouw - pretty incredible!

 

[audreyh1]

Wish I had visited the Concertgebouw. We were in Amsterdam for 2 months even. I missed a chance to see these guys (Dutch brothers), but that particular day shortly after our arrival was very very complicated.

 

[Sunset]

Our friends to the south of London have recommended leaving for the cruise boat a day earlier - be in Amsterdam night before - if taking train. Apparently they are always concerned about train strikes. Gives enough time to try and find another way.

Interesting question - anyone have an idea what happens if one misses their boat departure for river cruise? Just need to get the next stopping point to pick it up?

.....

For any cruise I like to be in the same city the night prior.

As for missing the boat on a river cruise, didn't happen to us, but we were told if it did happen to phone them and then get to the next stop down the river.
Kind of reassuring for when we went off exploring.

On our river cruise the boat started in a city, but stayed overnight as some people arrived the 2nd day, we didn't leave the starting city until after supper.

 

[FlaMariner]

Check out the overnight ferry from England to the Netherlands.....Save on hotel, get a nice cabin and you can rail to Harwick....and rail from Hook of Holland to Amsterdam to get on/off the ferry.

https://www.stenaline.co.uk/routes/harwich-hook-of-holland

Also, someone mentioned a trans Atlantic cruise for one way across the pond. We've done that several times and it's the greatest way to depart or arrive in Europe....In our opinion.

Enjoy

 

[audreyh1]

Maybe, but my Amsterdammer relatives laughed at the idea of the ferry when I mentioned it once. They probably thought it took way too long and was more expensive than flying which was super cheap.

 

[brett]

Why waste your time and a day of your vacation on a ferry from the UK to Holland when you can fly?

Fly. Save money, save time. Spend that time in Amsterdam, Luzurn, etc.

 

[stephenson]

Getting tighter in the schedule desires!

We just added a Navy airplane reunion in Maine, so:
- Fly Florida to Boston
- Drive to Maine and stay give days
- Drive back to Boston and maybe Jet Blue to LGW?
- Stay in UK with friends for five days who live about 30 min from LGW
- Train into London and stay overnight prior to departure on Eurostar
- Eurostar to Amsterdam the day prior to cruise departure
- Cruise departure from Amsterdam
- Cruise arrival Basel
- Bus to Lucerne for two nights (part of "cruise")
- Train to Zurich and stay close to/at airport - we lived the Hilton to Rome Intl walk into terminal ... anyone done this in Zurich
- Fly Zurich to Brindisi to join friends in Monopoli (rent car maybe)
- Couple more stops including three nights in Naples
- Train to Rome for better connections to US than from Naples? (friends returning from Naples, but they have better connections to Denver)

Thoughts? Recommendations on flow?

 

[braumeister]

- Train to Zurich and stay close to/at airport - we lived the Hilton to Rome Intl walk into terminal ... anyone done this in Zurich

I happen to like Zurich, so I would plan a night or two there. It's only 10 minutes from the Bahnhof to the airport.

 

[Ian S]

If you are staying in Naples, I'd seriously suggest a day trip to Capri. Maybe wait in line for the Blue Grotto or take the chairlift to the top of Mount Salerno. Getting to Rome from Naples by high speed train is fast and easy. Besides Trenitalia, there is also Italo which has high speed service. High speed rail from Naples to Rome Termini takes about 70 minutes. Our Italo train was cruising part of the way at 300 km/hr! Remember that white taxis from Roma termini have a fixed rate to FCO of only 50 euros.

 

[matjung]

Travelling to Basel by boat from Amsterdam sounds like a good idea.
I would forget the bus to Lucerne.
The Swiss travel by train.
Lucern - Milano: 3 hours by train
Lugano - Milano: 1 hours 15 min

Lugano - Rome - 5 hours by train
Lugano - Naples - 7 hours by train
The flight is the fastest, but not CO2 friendliest option.
(A cheap flight may cost less than an expensive train)
In case you never went to Venice, one could think about a stop over in that region, too.
There are many interesting cities between Lucern and Naples.
Depends a bit on your interests.
(No real need to visit Zürich)
With one ticket from Lucern to Naples one should be able to make multiple stop overs along the train line.

 

[brett]

Our advice...

Forget any notion of a train, or worse still a ferry, to Holland. Do yourself a favor and fly from Gatwick. Save that all that train or ferry time for time will spent in Amsterdam. Eurostar is just a train that goes through a long tunnel.

Add two more weeks to your vacation. Spend more days in Switzerland. Train to Italy, stopping at various areas along the way. Take your time.

Don't rush from place to place. Pick a spot like Florence. Spend a day or two, then rent a car for five or six days and do some touring in Tuscany/Umbria. One way rental. Drop it off in a smaller city that has access to the train. Orvieto.

The possibilities are endless. Grab a book, Ric Steves or something similar and do a little research. We have been to Italy multiple times. Our one learning is don't try to see everything at once. Better to spend quality time in one or two areas.

 

[stephenson]

matjung,

We need to be in Monopoli to meet friends, so flight to Brindisi is likely our only option.

brett,

Exactly! Previously been to Firenze and Rome. This trip is to meet friends in Monopoli. Next time may combine Sicily (our fav part is Marina de Ragusa) and Cuomo area ... probably back to Portugal in Spring 2024, though - still like Nazaré!

 

[Surewhitey]

We just returned from Spain and Portugal and Italy 6 months ago. Initial flight was non stop to Madrid & Rome. All train in Italy, but utilized Ryan & Tap for flights & train/bus in Spain and Portugal. All worked out well for us.

It's just a bit tiring planning everything without incorporating an extra day for flights (my comfort zone).

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

The trains are great but the Eurostar is notoriously expensive. I'd just take a flight on EasyJet or something like that. Even a cheap Ryanair flight from London to Eindhoven might be a good option, followed by a train up to Amsterdam. That way you'd truly get to see the more "Dutch" areas of the Netherlands too.