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Hi Everyone,

 

I have recently purchased a Eurail pass and also done my reservation for Paris to London. However, I would be traveling to the below cities.

 

Starting: Rome to Milan

while staying in Milan I am planning to do a one day visit to Venice and then come back to Milan on a same day

Next Stop: Milan to Zurich

Next Stop: Zurich to Paris

Next Stop: Paris to London

 

I have two questions related to the above plan. 
 

  1. Do I need to reserve for all these routes in advance as I was told to book Paris to London one in advance considering you don’t get a seat.
  2. If you look at my plan, the number of days of travelling will be counted from the day when I will travel from Rome to Milan so according to my calculation, the total number of days to the destination are 5. Am I correct? Since Venice is a single day trip from morning and then come back before midnight. However, I do have to reserve a seat for that. Please advise 
  3. I don’t want to run in a situation where I don’t have days left for my final destination which is London so that is why I asked reserving Venice for a single day should only be considered as one day so in total I will be visiting 5 stops excluding Rome as it is my starting point where I will land via plane

Yes you need 5 travel days.

Seat reservations for Italy can (and should) be bought on tickets.oebb.at (add Interrail/Eurail as a discount and select one-way tickets). No booking fee compared to eurail.com

- 13€ Frecciarossa trains

There is often availability the day before (unlike Paris - London)

Milan - Zurich can be done reservation-free :

- hourly RE Milan - Lugano

- any train Lugano - Zurich

Otherwise it is 11€ for the direct EC train (use tickets.oebb.at).

Suggestions :

- Bellinzona - Zurich on IR46 (or IR26 via Arth-Goldau). This train takes the Old Gotthard Railway : much more scenic than the 57-km Gotthard Tunnel.

- longer route but extremely scenic : Bernina Railway

- regional train Milan - Tirano

- Tirano - Chur either direct Bernina Express train at 14:24 (sit on the first reservation-free carriages)

- Chur - Zurich

Zurich - Paris : avoid the direct TGV, it has a 37€ seat reservation fee (2nd class) or 70€ (1st class). Itinerary that doesn't take much longer :

- Zurich - Basel - Mulhouse/Strasbourg reservation-free trains

- TGV Mulhouse/Strasbourg - Paris limited 10€, then 20€ until the train is full


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