Travel options for Europe

[santoshlv426]

I've been pondering this and have decided to seriously try and do this sometime over the next 12-18 months ie. a European vacation. Cities I'd like to see are Vienna, Munich, Bern and Nice and when I checked it out I see that they're close relatively speaking. To put it in context, the distance between Johannesburg and the nearest coastal city in South Africa is 600km and most of the cities aboove are ~ 350km apart.

what I'd like to know is how feasible/easy difficult would it be to simply hire a car and travel via road to these cities and sine Milan and Venice is on route between Vienna and Nice, might as well see those places.

Are the freeways toll roads or better to use trains ?? I don't know. I've only been to Paris, Graz and Franfurt and those were all business trips via plan.

Thanks guys !!

[steviegtr]

You need to wash your mouth out with soap Mr. You have a thunderous 5.0 V8 Jag.

[Dan_Veluwe]

A lot of things depend on ; do you travel alone or with [ small] children ? Only adults make is it easier as then a train can come into the sceme.
Trains tend to go from centre to centre and since you aim for those, not a difficult choice. Driving is a good option between the cities, but hiring
a car AND paying to park the car in these cities is a waste of money in my opinion.

But if you want to enjoy the drive : you fly to Bern, drive to Nice. Then along the coast to Naples, then to Milan. From Milan to Venice.
Go due north until you reacht the Alps, then drive west through the highest regions untill you head north again to return the car.

The best time to do this is september and october. Until june I found many passes still closed for snow or avalanche risk. From june to early
september there are swarms of tourists there. So I guess, get there mid september. So almost a year to plan the trip !

Then make sure you book hotels with secure garages, which is a hassle. Took me a lot of time for my 'alpine tour' in spring to prepare.

[santoshlv426]

Hey guys thanks.
@ Stevie - yep it would be great to have the Jag there, but alas that won't be an option.
In terms of timing, it will probably be no less than a year - if I decide to take the plunge for the trip. The tips on flying to Bern and driving to Nice, Naples sounds interesting.
I"ll be alone. I don't really want the shlep of sorting out car parking etc. so the train may be the way to go.
Which websites can I visit to check the train service and schedules.
any recommended websites for hotel accomodation (3 star). I stayed in a 3 star hotel in Paris and it was fine. Small but very pleasant and the folk's were most friendly
Santosh,

[TopCat]

These may be useful

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/

https://www.seat61.com/

[Dan_Veluwe]

To find connections between cities : just enter begin/end in google and click on the 'train' option..
Also your flights work that way..

You could investigate for an 'europe train pass' . Many years ago this was a way to travel relatively cheap througout europe..

[santoshlv426]

Got it, thanks guys