savannah_boy

Hi everyone, I will be travelling with my wife & 2kids from Milan-Geneva-Paris next summer via train and wondered

(i) if advance rail booking gives discounts or not, how reasonable are walk up fares and what the difference in 1st/2nd class seating was.

(ii) Has anyone taken a local bus from Cagliari on Sardignia to Costa Rei & cost?

Also any other tips (and websites) on cost saving
cheers me dears! grazie mille
Andy

37100

One of the best sites for international rail travel is the German one.
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

The Italian one is:http://trenitalia.it/homepage_en.html

Sorry can't help with Sardinia.

Patty

I do know that you can't go on the TGV (the french fast train service) without a prior reservation. Usually the further in advance you book the better deal you can get. they offer different discounts so take a good look before buying. You can book on either the trenitalia site or the french 'SNCF' site too.

37100

Patty did you see - no more fast trains between Turin and Paris? It's back to the overnight train.

Patty

Oh no What a palaver - I'd just got used to my nice train journey - not so sure if I like the idea of an overnight sleeper train ! Its all to do with the disagreement between the ruddy French and Italian train companies - like kids in a playground !!

37100

The train companies have thrown in the towel. Too difficult to get the trains running on two different tracks. How do the others manage? The Milan to Paris should still be running. For 2012 there will be a 3/4 slow trains a day to Lyon. I took the overnight train loads of times and TBH, I must have been mad. It wasn't the safest of trains, but it was sooo convenient. Midnight-ish out of Turin and into Paris by 7a.m. Look on the bright side Patty. At least there will be a train or maybe you will be able to arrange a lift to Modane or some where convenient to continue the journey.

P.s. There was an article about it in Friday's or Saturday's Stampa.

Patty

Poor Hubby - he had to take me to Modane this year cos the day we were supposed to leave there was an italian 24 hour strike and I was rather hysterical ! Its not ideal though - cos you have to pay about 40€ just to go through the Frejus I just might shock myself one day and do the trip in the car (trouble is I dont know how to change a flat tyre)

Capo Boi

(ii) Cagliari to Costa Rei. Around 5 euros one way. Roughly six buses a day in summer. Journey takes about an hour and a half.

savannah_boy

wow thanks ! it seems really cheap, I heard a taxi was 110euros for that trip?

TestaRossa

Quite probably - you can't compare the bus to a taxi....Most public transport here is reasonable. Some of the trains are pricey but if you book ahead and get family tickets etc you will make savings. It's all on the trenitalia website. The best info is all in Italian though, don't expect to find details of cheaper tickets on the English version. Also if you do use the site, in English, you have to use the English spelling for places and things, so Florence, not Firenze and airport not aeroporto or it won't find them.

37100

And quite often, even if you use Italian on the Italian version, it won't find them.

TestaRossa

Lol! I know what you mean! I've often found breaking a journey down in to very small pieces helps, so when I put in Florence to Pre-St Didier nothing came up but when I broke it down into stages I could do Aosta to Pre-St Didier. All very odd....

Capo Boi

Savannah, taxi is around €130.