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Hi Community!

We are going to Amsterdam for 4 days in February, and Rome for 4 days also.  We luckily have 4 days in-between!  Feb. 23 to Feb. 27.  Our current itinerary had us going back to New York, but we would rather make the trek between by train.
Here is our thought process, but please advise if anyone has some better options!

We are going to get a Global Pass for 5 days.  
Feb. 23 - early train to Brussels.  
Spend the day in Brussels (Feb. 23)

Feb. 23 - Night train to Berlin

Feb. 24 - Day in Berlin (Overnight in Berlin)

Feb. 25 - Day in Berlin - Night train to Munich

Feb 26 - Day in Munich

  -  Here is where we need some help

Feb 26  ..  ideally we would do a night train Munich to Pisa..  but I don’t think there is a route?

 

We would prefer to make a stop in Pisa without losing an entire day - is that possible, or should we try to find a night train directly to Rome?  Our check in is Feb. 27 

Is there a Better way to see as many countries as we can in between Amsterdam and Rome in these four days?  We don’t need to do any of these countries, this was just the first plan that we planned.  Should we focus on flying rather than train?

 

Thanks for any help!!




 

I will add my personal 2 cents :)

Honestly Brussels and Berlin aren't the cities I'd visit the most in February. Grey, dull, cold, etc.

Also note that there are night and night trains. The former with couchettes and sleepers (extra costs on top of the pass), the latter with daytime seats, light, announcements, plenty of stops -> rough times ahead. Berlin - Munich would fall in that category

There is indeed no night train between Munich and Italy at the moment due to works in an Austrian tunnel. You could catch the Vienna services from somewhere in Austria though.

My personal itinerary would be to avoid the Berlin detour and spend more time in Italy. Less tourists there in winter than in the midst of summer! Also adding a beautiful railway along the way.

Though from Canada snowy landscapes might not be too unusual, the Bernina Line is truly a stunning feat of engineering. So something like…

23th February: ICE to Cologne, ICE to Basel, IC3 to Chur.

24th: Bernina Express* to Tirano, R to Milan, Frecciarossa to Florence

25-26th: full days in Florence (20x better than Pisa).

27th: easy 1h30 high-speed journey to Rome.

Feel free to ask anything!

*panorama carriages have a 36 CHF reservation fee, regular carriages at the front are free. There are also hourly regional trains along the same tracks.

Some useful links:

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/bernina-express.htm

Side note: it might be cheaper to get tickets rather than a pass.

For example DB (German railways) can sell you an Amsterdam-Tirano ticket. By tweaking the website (adding a 14h stopover in Chur) you get a single through ticket including the morning Bernina Express. How perfect.

For 89.90€ (2nd class) or 103.90€ (1st class, good value) -> you can do on 23-24th Feb:

- ICE Amsterdam Centraal - Mannheim Hbf 07:46 - 12:39

- ICE Mannheim Hbf - Zürich HB 12:46 - 16:00

- IC Zürich HB - Chur 16:38 - 17:52 -> you should catch the last sun rays along stunning Walensee

- overnight stop (hotel)

- Bernina Express Chur - Tirano 08:17 - 12:49

That 6 min connection in Mannheim is tight but you have 2 choices: adding beforehand a 30 min stopover for peace of mind or if the connection is missed simply get on the following one to Switzerland 30-60 min later at no extra cost.

Then Italian trains are really cheap. 12.50€ to Milan (fixed price) and 20-30€ high-speed train tickets by booking ahead.

Again, all questions welcome.

This is great information!

Thank You thicabe

I just noticed what you posted - Night trains are something completely different than what I’m finding!!  Changing trains for 2 hours in the middle of the night does NOT sounds like fun!

We’ll definitely check out the route suggested.  

Yea..  and coming from Canada in Feb. it would be nicer to see less gray, rather than more!!

 

So, with this in mind, we would be spending 2 days in Zurich?  

That would be a blast too!!

You'd spend 1 night in Chur -> not too far from Zurich but already more in the Alps to start day 2.

Then 3 nights in Florence = 2 full days to explore this beautiful city. It won't be as touristy as June-September for sure.

Obviously this plan could be tweaked, for example staying the first night in Zurich, then one along Lake Como (say Varenna) and 2 in Florence.

To add my personal note on Brussels, the city seems indeed grey in february, while the chances of fair weather are indeed slim. It has a bit of a gray and uncharming shell, true, but you need to dive into it discover it. It’s much more than the few streets around the grand-place. But I actually think this an ideal destination in february for a city trip.

 What happens in the city is the absolutely opposite of bland and gray. It’s a city that has a super vibrant cultural life, with dozens of museums, cinema, exhibitions, concerts, architecture, food and drinks... Personally I’lld find it much easier to fill 4 days in Brussels, than in Amsterdam, so maybe you can tweak your itinerary a bit. 

https://www.visit.brussels/en/like-a-local

 

For the rest I’m totally agreeing with ​@thibcabe ‘s suggestions :)

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