Im going to be flying into Italy around march. Where, and how can i easily get to major cities in europe?

Im planning a trip for 8-10 days..probably 3 days in venice to begin. Id like to travel to rome, and outside of italy to anywhere else in europe. Im 26 and will be with my girlfriend. Im checking eurorail and a few other train options, but just cant get a definite route planned out. Im obviously going to have to book hotels along the way, but id rather have it all set up before hand. Maybe 3 nights in venice, 2 in rome then a few somewhere else. I dont want to go too far, because financially it seems to make sense to fly out of venice back to the US on a round trip ticket..so id have to get back to venice at the end of our trip . Can anyone with experience please help me figure this out?? I havnt been to europe before so im a little overwhelmed. ThanksIm going to be flying into Italy around march. Where, and how can i easily get to major cities in europe?
It's most convenient to travel Italy by rail, although given the short period of time that you'll be travelling, I wouldn't advise buy any train passes. Train tickets in Italy are relatively cheap, and train passes are only of good value if you intend to be on the move constantly and nearly on day-to-day basis. Moreover, if you intend to travel on high speed train, you're likely required to make reservation ahead on top of paying a supplemental charge.



There are a lot to do and to see in Italy that you don't have to go out from it for another European country. A simple itinerary in Italy could look something like the following:



(All the train prices here are based on searches I'm doing right now, per person, on 2nd class carriage, in Euro)



1) Venice : 2 days; then travel to Verona and stay there on the second night because it's cheaper than to stay in Venice; take a Eurocity (EC) train (standard adult price 11.50, "Amica" price 10.00) and the journey time is about 1h 15mins on the EC (regional train would take additional half and hour or so, and the ticket price is half of the EC's)



2) Verona : it's not a very big city so give it a day to enjoy, add an extra day if you want to use Verona as base to travel to/fro Lake Garda, which is just outside of the city (about 15 minutes on the train)



3) Florence : there's a lot to see in Florence so give it 2-3 days; train from Verona directly using Eurostar (ES) (standard adult 26.60, "Amica" 21.30) of which journey time is about 2 hours from Verona. You can also take expresso (E) train and that would take 3 hours but again the price is half of the ES train. There are other non-direct trains but considering the time spent in making a little saving on the ticket (just a few Euro) it's not worth it.



4) Rome : 3-4 days, because this city is full of history and places to go, things to see. ES train takes about 1h 40 mins (standard adult 36.10, "Amica" 28.90) or the Intercity Plus (IC Plus) which takes an extra hour (standard adult 26.50, 21.60 "Amica").



5) Back to Venice : the trip on ES takes 4h 30mins or so (standard adult 56.10, "Amica" 44.90). Alternatively, there's night train from Rome at 10:50 pm that arrives in Venice at 5:30 the next morning. A berth costs 56.50 ("Amica" 45.20) and this may be saving in comparison to paying for another night of hotel/accommodation.



This itinerary alone will take up the 8-10 days of your holiday time, and take about 4-5 train "travelling days" if you purchase a Eurail pass. The cost for the pass, if you get one, would be between 鈧?36 to 鈧?52 per person, not including any fast train supplement. If you look at the prices I've provided above, those are tickets for fast trains, and the total would be cheaper especially if you avail yourself of the Amica price.



If you need any other help let me know and I'll try to see what I can do. I know it's overwhelming, there really is a lot to do in Italy alone as it is, least to say in Europe. Otherwise, happy travelling!Im going to be flying into Italy around march. Where, and how can i easily get to major cities in europe?
BUY a 2 week EURAIL PASS it's the cheapest.. and while you are at it BUY a copy of EUROPE BY EURAIL and BUY a copy of Thomas Cook's EURAIL TIMETABLES