Nice/Monaco Rail or Air?
May 26, 2009, 4:02 pm
#1
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Nice/Monaco Rail or Air?
Hi-
My partner and I are catching a cruise the end of August in Monte Carlo. My dilemma is the following, we're already booked on CO to ZRH, but will change it to either GVA or MXP and connect on to NCE or Monaco. Here are the following scenarios, any advice or comments are appreciated:
1) Fly into MXP and connect at Milano Centrale for a train to Monaco. Change fee is minimal and the First Class Rail Ticket is reasonable. Approximately 2.5 hours connecting time (please remember our flight is arriving from EWR <cough><cough> EWR + August = DELAYS. I realize there is no train service to Milano Centrale and the connection to the station will have to be either via coach or taxi.
2) Fly into GVA and connect with Easy Jet to NCE. Approximately 6.5 hours connection time. Easy Jet has an OK price. Will just head into town and have a cup of coffee with some friends.
3) Looked into connecting at CDG with AF, but the add/collect on our fare is pretty steep. If I booked the ticket independently, the fare is still pretty high. Easy Jet does not offer a good connection at CDG, would have to wait approximately 12 hours.
4) No connections from MXP, AMS or FRA (if so, fares are pretty high).
Any thoughts? Rail (hedging we'll do this) or just wait in GVA?
Thanks for your help.
-Jim
My partner and I are catching a cruise the end of August in Monte Carlo. My dilemma is the following, we're already booked on CO to ZRH, but will change it to either GVA or MXP and connect on to NCE or Monaco. Here are the following scenarios, any advice or comments are appreciated:
1) Fly into MXP and connect at Milano Centrale for a train to Monaco. Change fee is minimal and the First Class Rail Ticket is reasonable. Approximately 2.5 hours connecting time (please remember our flight is arriving from EWR <cough><cough> EWR + August = DELAYS. I realize there is no train service to Milano Centrale and the connection to the station will have to be either via coach or taxi.
2) Fly into GVA and connect with Easy Jet to NCE. Approximately 6.5 hours connection time. Easy Jet has an OK price. Will just head into town and have a cup of coffee with some friends.
3) Looked into connecting at CDG with AF, but the add/collect on our fare is pretty steep. If I booked the ticket independently, the fare is still pretty high. Easy Jet does not offer a good connection at CDG, would have to wait approximately 12 hours.
4) No connections from MXP, AMS or FRA (if so, fares are pretty high).
Any thoughts? Rail (hedging we'll do this) or just wait in GVA?
Thanks for your help.
-Jim
May 26, 2009, 11:07 pm
#2
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Your options all sound miserable. I guess I'd do #1, because in August it can be a real schlep from NCE to Monaco, but I'd really love a CDG connection in this instance...or, even better, a JFK-NCE flight.
May 27, 2009, 4:49 am
#4
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The only advice I can give here is that, if you're travelling via Italy, be very careful about your destination.
You will be travelling to "Monte Carlo".
The Italian work "Monaco" refers to the German city of Munich - and there's plenty trains that end up there!
You will be travelling to "Monte Carlo".
The Italian work "Monaco" refers to the German city of Munich - and there's plenty trains that end up there!
May 27, 2009, 4:58 am
#5
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Solution
I started to check CO's EU destinations and found Easy Jet flies from BRU to NCE. Good connection 3.0 hours (just in case of a delay) <check that> of course we'll have a delay from EWR. EWR flight arrives at 0745 and the Easy Jet connection departs at 1045. Better than sitting on a train for 5 + hours.
-Jim
-Jim
May 27, 2009, 6:18 am
#6
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I started to check CO's EU destinations and found Easy Jet flies from BRU to NCE. Good connection 3.0 hours (just in case of a delay) <check that> of course we'll have a delay from EWR. EWR flight arrives at 0745 and the Easy Jet connection departs at 1045. Better than sitting on a train for 5 + hours.
EasyJet's baggage rules are strict and they mean it. It costs money to check in bags, and there's a weight limit, too: Each passenger is permitted one piece of hand baggage to maximum dimensions of 55x40x20cm, and up to 8 pieces of checked-in hold baggage to a maximum combined weight (even though they charge EUR 11 for each bag) of 20kg. A fee per kilo for excess weight is charged at the airport prior to departure (and in BRU, that means EUR 12 per kilo or part thereof - unless you preebook, for a massive 25% discount i.e. EUR 9 per kilo, in increments of 3 kgs).
May 27, 2009, 7:23 am
#7
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Just a reminder if you're going on a cruise vacation.
EasyJet's baggage rules are strict and they mean it. It costs money to check in bags, and there's a weight limit, too: Each passenger is permitted one piece of hand baggage to maximum dimensions of 55x40x20cm, and up to 8 pieces of checked-in hold baggage to a maximum combined weight (even though they charge EUR 11 for each bag) of 20kg. A fee per kilo for excess weight is charged at the airport prior to departure (and in BRU, that means EUR 12 per kilo or part thereof - unless you preebook, for a massive 25% discount i.e. EUR 9 per kilo, in increments of 3 kgs).
EasyJet's baggage rules are strict and they mean it. It costs money to check in bags, and there's a weight limit, too: Each passenger is permitted one piece of hand baggage to maximum dimensions of 55x40x20cm, and up to 8 pieces of checked-in hold baggage to a maximum combined weight (even though they charge EUR 11 for each bag) of 20kg. A fee per kilo for excess weight is charged at the airport prior to departure (and in BRU, that means EUR 12 per kilo or part thereof - unless you preebook, for a massive 25% discount i.e. EUR 9 per kilo, in increments of 3 kgs).
Thanks for the info. I remember flying EasyJet from LGW/GVA a couple of years ago and we were quite diligent on the weight.
This is our 23rd cruise, so we have the packing down to a science.
Will definitely utilize a reliable scale prior to our departure to confirm the weight of each bag.
-Jim
May 27, 2009, 9:55 am
#8
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MXP and rail....
MXP to Milan's Central Station is served by regular and convenient motor coach service, big buses with baggage lockers beneath, discharging in a drive just outside the station's main entrance, but badly served by ramps for rollaboards, IIRC. "Train" service from MXP is to a suburban station with an easy transfer to Milan's CS.
The trip by rail from Milan to Monte Carlo is scenic and interesting, and likely just as comfortable in 2nd Class as in !st (and cheaper). Planning the portability and "liftability" of your baggage is the key issue. If it don't roll, it needs to sit atop and be attached to a bag that rolls, and both man and bride need to be able to pull and tote. I haven't been in MC's rail station in decades, but recall it as a modest "through train" sort, often requiring descents to and ascents from below ground corridors from outside tracks (and with my luck, my trains always run on outside tracks, never adjacent to the station platform). No problem, as long as elevators/escalators are working, more likely in MC than is cities of lesser renown.
The entire evolution will be simpler and easier upon mind and body, than would be the proposed alternatives or other adventures in travel.
MXP to Milan's Central Station is served by regular and convenient motor coach service, big buses with baggage lockers beneath, discharging in a drive just outside the station's main entrance, but badly served by ramps for rollaboards, IIRC. "Train" service from MXP is to a suburban station with an easy transfer to Milan's CS.
The trip by rail from Milan to Monte Carlo is scenic and interesting, and likely just as comfortable in 2nd Class as in !st (and cheaper). Planning the portability and "liftability" of your baggage is the key issue. If it don't roll, it needs to sit atop and be attached to a bag that rolls, and both man and bride need to be able to pull and tote. I haven't been in MC's rail station in decades, but recall it as a modest "through train" sort, often requiring descents to and ascents from below ground corridors from outside tracks (and with my luck, my trains always run on outside tracks, never adjacent to the station platform). No problem, as long as elevators/escalators are working, more likely in MC than is cities of lesser renown.
The entire evolution will be simpler and easier upon mind and body, than would be the proposed alternatives or other adventures in travel.
May 30, 2009, 4:18 am
#10
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this is not exclusively about rail travel in europe - please follow this thread in our more general europe forum. thanks for your understanding
regards,
chrissxb
moderator
european rail forum
regards,
chrissxb
moderator
european rail forum
Jun 1, 2009, 11:01 am
#11
Join Date: Nov 2000
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I haven't been in MC's rail station in decades, but recall it as a modest "through train" sort, often requiring descents to and ascents from below ground corridors from outside tracks (and with my luck, my trains always run on outside tracks, never adjacent to the station platform). No problem, as long as elevators/escalators are working, more likely in MC than is cities of lesser renown.
Jun 1, 2009, 9:45 pm
#13
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Visited Monaco last year via Nice. Station underground, though the area is perched on a hillside. You can take escalator or elevator up to various levels. There's a long, marble-lined passageway (w/ airport-style peoplemover belts) which terminates within a few blocks of the harbor.