Originally Posted by mikebe
As I said in my previous post, LCC fares are low, but the airport and fuel taxes probably make it the most expensive way to travel.
If your travel is from city to city, there is simply no better way than going by train.
There may be some truth in that, but since I rarely stay at these places, I can't say for certain. What you are leaving out, however, is that these hotels are often outside the ring road of cities in isolated areas along the side of a highway and are very inconvenient if your goal is to explore the city.
Yes there is. If you are non-European, you can buy Eurail passes with a special discount for two or more travelers. For example: a Euro Selectpass for eleven days of travel in four countries (which would probably suit the OP) costs $625. However, if two or more buy the same ticket, it costs $530.
Not if you take the train! In my city, a train accessible inside the airline terminal to the central station costs about €3.50 (IIRC) and take about 12 minutes. A taxi costs about €40 and takes half an hour, assuming there is no traffic (i.e., the middle of the night
).
Thanks for the info about Eurail passes.
11-day train passes you mention are $530 per person, so that is 1060 for two people for just 11 days. But what about for this situation where they are going for nearly 4 weeks? Are these passes otherwise limited geographically or by operator?
For the "inconvenient" hotels outside the city, many of these are located near airports from which public transit into city centers is often cheap and reasonably good. So one stays at hotels near the airport, along the road to the airport or on the outskirts -- and then park the car at the airport for the day if driving into the city center is not one's cup of tea -- and then head into/around the city center by public transit. Then when done with one city take the car and go to the next city or country.
I know if I relied on rail in many countries of Europe, I would miss half the beauty of the places -- e.g., the coasts along the Med and the foothills and mountain driving just get missed without a rental car in most countries (or involve major inconveniences in most).