Travel in Europe Advice on hotels, transport and border crossings

Hi Mark, of course it’s possible to cross the Alps by train.. it’s a wonderful trip, actually! To find out the timetables for the Geneva – Milan trip, please consider the German Railways (DB) website

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

I know that Geneva is in Switzerland and Milan in Italy, but DB covers almost every european train timetable..

For what concerns the accomodation in Milan: http://www.zumbinirooms.com/en/index.htm That’s not located in the very downtown, but it’s not bad at all (Milan is very expensive, unfortunately). I’m not very keen on Trieste :(

Driving from Trieste to Split will take you about 5 hours. Dunno abt the train… An other good resource to plan a trip with is http://www.viamichelin.com

Let me know if I can help in any other way…

Hi Emanuele
Thank you for the links and advice.

I was not sure if it was possible to cross by rail. I have done it by road via the Mont Blanc tunnel from France a while back. The plan is to spend a day in Milan(My son is football crazy and want’s to see the San Siro)so I will try and find something central, ideally close the main railway station.

Are there direct trains from Milan to Trieste? Are the trains expensive in Italy?
This will be my first trip to Italy and I am really looking forward to it.

I have discovered there is a ferry from Trieste or Ancona to Split, but I would prefer to go down the coast of the Adriatic.

BTW Thanks for your comments regarding the Karen presentation. I have been really busy since I made that presentation I’ve not had a chance to ammend the audio.

Cheers

Mark

Mark,

It looks there is a good connection between Geneva and Milan according to this SBB site: http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm. While I have done a lot of rail travel in Europe, I have not done this route, and it looks more sensible to go to Milan from Geneva, rather than from Zurich which I have considered.

If you take one of EC trains from Geneva to Milan, there is no change of trains involved and there is a special car/carriage for families with children. The duration of the trip is 4 hours and a half and they run every two hours. It must be a popular route.

Your travel plans fascinated me and I used the DB site to look for rail connections to Athens. The major trouble you will see in looking up on the German rail site is that not everything is in English. By rail, it seems possible to go from Trieste Centrale to Zagreb Glavni Kolod, from Zagreb to Beograd, from Beograd to Sofia, from Sofia to Thessaloniki, finally to Athenes. The coastal route might be possible, but it seems there is no rail direct connection to Split from Trieste. You have to go through Zagreb to get there.

I think we discussed the coastal routes from the Italian peninsula on this forum before because I participated in it.

Hey Mark, you’re welcome.. I can understand your son’s wish (even if I’m an anomalous italian… don’t like football that much!), just try to avoid those cheap 2 stars hotels close to the train station (Stazione Centrale is the main one), since they’re a bunch of brothels..

This one should be pretty neat

http://www.hotelstazione.com/en/

Search also the expedia database, there’s plenty of special offers (Milan in summertime is kinda desert, so there might be some discounts on normal fares).

As far as I’m concerned, there are no direct trains running from Milan to Trieste. You have to change in Mestre (actually the station before Venice, on the continent).
Train fares in Italy are alligned to the european ones. I remember that in UK the fares were much higher than here.

Why don’t you guys go for an Interrail pass? If you really plan to travel by train.. that would be a great way to save money

http://www.interrail.net/index2.php?language=en

and

http://www.interrailnet.com/

Once more, I really like and respect your Karen work. Best,

Emanuele

PS: at your disposal to show you around the city :)

According to my SBB search%, there is one train IC going directly from Milano Centrale to Trieste Centrale. No need to change trains in Mestre.

yep, there’s one train… shame on me! This is the italian railway system website:

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/ferrovie/util/inglese.jsp

Mark,

How old are your children?

I have one suggestion to make. Although I`ve never been there, there is a picturesque town of Bled, the lake and the Julian Alps in Slovenia. It is a long way to Athens, and depending on the ages of your children, it is too much. I would shorten the trip and stay at interesting places longer to absorb different cultures and scenics from London.

So much good info. Thank you Emanuele and Tomoko.

Tomoko the general consensus is that we will probably stay on the Adriatic coast in Croatia. Probably hire a car once in Croatia because as you say there are no rail connections along the coast and the coastal road is supposed to be spectacular. The Athens leg has been scrapped.

The plan is to do some excursions into Montenegro and possibly Kosovo. I made this trip approx 10 years ago during the war in Kosovo and the journey into Montenegro is stunning. I really want to go back.

The drive from Pec in Western Kosovo to Podgorica is absolutely amazing.

Emanuele if your in Milano while we are there I would be happy for you to be our unofficial guide. I’ll buy lunch!

Been in the sand and dust for the last 12 days, I really need a holiday!

Thanks again

Mark

You are welcome, Mark.

For curiosity, I googled Split Slovenia Croatia, and found this page, describing the route from London to Split overland by train.

Since I do travel often by train to Bad Gastein, Austria which is on route to Slovenia, I have been aware of this possibility. I once shared a train compartment with several Slovenians and maybe Serbians on my way to Bad Gastein. I remember having a conversation in German with a doctor, either Slovenian or Serbian, who was returning home from a language training in German in Germany. He wanted to be able to treat German-speaking patients. The train must have originated from Munich, and I must have changed to this train in Salzburg.

I like train travel because of this type of unexpected encounters with strangers.

this is good for train info

http://www.seat61.com/