Hello YVR community!
Our family of two adults and two teens are spending the month of July in Europe (London, Switzerland, Italy, France - 9 cities) and would like to hear recommendations and experiences with travel between the countries and cities.
Is training
or flying
better/cheaper/etc? If training, how far in advance should we reserve?
We are not interested in driving

TIA

I just booked my train tickets for a short trip between Paris and Amsterdam in July today. Many of the coach seats for popular times were gone already and so limited to other times or more expensive seats. Book now! I just bought indiv tickets but you may want to buy a pass first. Seat61.com has lots of advice for Europe train travel.
SEAT61.COM
The Man in Seat 61 | The train travel guide

Linda seat 61 is an excellent resource! DB Bahn was my favourite booking site

I booked direct with Thalys but a different company might be better for you because you are going to different countries. So inexpensive and much less hassle than planes, also less carbon footprint.

We rented a car from France and drove country to country and just beware that the monuments are better on TV, I didn't like Paris and would never go back, we took a train into London, did a lot of hop on hop off, we stayed in cheap hostels, we used Ryanair I forget from where to where but it's cheap

Nothing like the high-speed trains there, like the TGV in France. You can travel by night as well, sleep in a bunk, save on a night’s hotel bill.

Ron thats our plan for next year travel as much as we can by night in train

Ron that’s what we did- travelled at night and saved on accommodations

Flying for sure. Unless you have lots of time. Use a travel advisor, they will save you a ton of time and money. Or do a small group guided tour. You will make the most of your time and maximize what you get for your money. Way less stressful. Check out cosmos / globus

Since you have a month, why fly and miss everything in between places? Use the time and see the countryside from a comfortable train seat, arrive in the city centre and skip the airport hassles and long transfers. Don't travel in some group, do your own thing, cheaper, less stress and YOU decide!

Christer i agree. Paris to CDG airport is a nightmare! City centre trains are awesome.

Definitely trains and buses! Book major routes ahead through Romr2Rio. Great site!

Train in France and Switzerland, but fly out from London to Italy for obvious reasons. Bus too if travelling within a country

https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/bestseller-10-days
10 days of unlimited train travel
Travel on as many trains as you like from midnight to midnight on each of your travel days. Spread them out or use them back-to-back – you choose.
2 months of adventure
You can use your travel days any time within 2 months of your start date. Activate your Pass when you want to start traveling, then just start adding journeys to your Pass as you go.
Extra benefits and discounts
Save as you travel with discounts all across Europe on everything from top attractions to ferry trips and hostel stays with our 100+ partners.
EURAIL.COM
Meet our bestseller

I agree - use trains as much as possible, and if you can stay near the stations which are often located in the most historical areas of cities, you can make getting in and out so much easier.

Trains are great and reasonable

We flew from city to city because often it’s cheaper and you don’t lose as much leisure time but we only had carry on bags which didn’t cost anything at the time to bring on board thereby saving baggage fees. We used Easy Jet quite often.

Consider flying between countries further apart to save time, and train between cities.
The Italian train system, although extensive, can be a bit confusing and they don't always run on time. Make sure you write down all the information to make traveling more smooth (platform, train number etc). Have you heard of Kacie Rose? She's an expat living in Italy and has great food/travel tips (Instagram).
It can be much cheaper to book trains ahead of time, they get more expensive closer to the travel dates, especially for speed trains.
The budget airlines in Europe can be super cheap to fly, but it helps if you only have a carry on as luggage can be a bit expensive. I also recommend booking flights earlier as they get more expensive closer to travel.
I've done a few overnight buses/day buses as well. Overnight you never get any sleep, so you end up being so tired the next day. The day buses can be a more economical option, but tend to take a bit longer.
I often googled recommendations for how to best travel between countries + cities.
I spent a year living in Spain / traveling around Europe so I've done my fair share of planes, trains and buses. No experience driving.

Definitely a combo. The Eurostar is fantastic between London and Paris (and also Amsterdam or Belgium). We flew into the major cities with low cost carriers otherwise, and took the train between cities in the same Country. Our last itinerary was
YVR-Amsterdam
Amsterdam-Hamburg (train)
Hamburg-Venice (fly)
Venice-Verona (train)
Venice-Paris (fly)
Paris-London (train)
London-Amsterdam (train)
Depending on your itinerary, the ICE trains are so fast, and you don’t need to get there really early. As a bonus, they take you directly into city centre and save you potentially lots of time and money going from the airport to your hotel. Well worth looking into those as an alternative to flying. That being said, for longer routes flying totally makes sense

Or

Check out Man in Seat 61 - have used the website for Europe and Asia. https://www.seat61.com/index-mobile.htm so much info
SEAT61.COM
The Man in Seat 61 - the train travel site

Highly recommend travel by train in Europe Linda. I use the Rome2Rio website for train travel. If you need connect ting trains, which I'm sure you will,I always ask at the train station to confirm stops and the timetable. The only times I book in advance are for 3+ hour trips in first class. Not that much difference in price and well worth the price. Leave yourself 30 minutes between trains as you'll need to change platforms and it can be a tad stressful if the timing is too tight. Enjoy!!