I'm trying to plan a vacation to the UK and Germany but it is a pain trying to sift through all the flight and train options, different dates, etc.

Is there a good site that can pull this together or am I better off getting a travel agent?

Travel agents can help, but you can totally do this yourself. First, pick your arrival and departure cities (cities with the biggest airports like London or Munich) and then plan the trip around that. If you've never been to the UK, London is an obvious first stop. From there it's pretty easy to train around the country. If you have enough time I would definitely suggest hitting Scotland. From there you can jump on a plane to any big city in Germany.

Unless we (travel agents) go through a tour operator or local vendor, it is all piece-meal. It can definitely be a pain in the butt, but doing things individually certainly saves money over going to one company that will do it all for you, there is definitely a premium in it. I know a lot of agents who only will go through a vendor as it can take forever. I haven't used a company to do it all yet as I struggle with the price hikes, but on the flip side, there isn't any money in flights/rail for the most part, and sometimes hotel commission is super low. I've actually listed on my quotes that I am going to charge fees (not much, like $100-$200) but actually haven't done it yet.

As mentioned above, its definitely best to start with your main flights. Rail is pretty easy between countries. Rail Europe is a great place to start with rail.

I have been using kayak to seach for flights to various locations on different depart and return dates. From there I have used Ryan air and Rail Europe to look at options for inter-europe travel. All of these on different dates too.

I have a spreadsheet I collect all of the data into and from there start trying to put different itineraries together to compare prices.

I was wondering if there was a site that might be better to try that can pull data from different places. Maybe not.

Cibalo said:

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I have been using kayak to seach for flights to various locations on different depart and return dates. From there I have used Ryan air and Rail Europe to look at options for inter-europe travel. All of these on different dates too.

I have a spreadsheet I collect all of the data into and from there start trying to put different itineraries together to compare prices.

I was wondering if there was a site that might be better to try that can pull data from different places. Maybe not.

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Look at easyjet. Rail can usually just be a "show up that day and get on" unless you're doing a LONG train. In that case, just fly.

Focus on your arrival and departure airport
There are tons of train options each day so don't focus on that until the flights are set

Thanks I will take a look.

Train from London to Frankfurt is about 7hr and $350 for all 4 of us.
A flight is about 3 hr and over $800 once you add in all the fees.

Cibalo said:

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Thanks I will take a look.

Train from London to Frankfurt is about 7hr and $350 for all 4 of us.
A flight is about 3 hr and over $800 once you add in all the fees.

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Bigger question, why Frankfurt?

The trans country trains can be a little more tricky. Some are express, some have lots of stops. DB (German) trains has a good website to search

Unfortunately, rail booking is disaggregated from my experience vs air travel booking.

Like others have said, focus on what cities you want to do, then look at the travel route, then back into activities.

Some could be all day travel, some just a few hours.

Leave plenty of time at European airports. It's nothing like being able to show up 30 minutes before boarding and blast through TSA precheck in the states.

Also, don't count out bus travel if you're trying to save some money.

Because Frankfurt is a major transportation hub.

My goal is getting to Nuremberg for the start of the Christmas Market.

Just trying to decide if I should bite the bullet and fly straight there. Or if can break up the family trip with a few days in London and then either go by train or plane to get my final destination.

In general I assumed flights from London to Frankfurt would be cheaper and from there I could catch a train.

Munich is closer to where you're trying to get to and has just as good or better service from the US on UA/LH as it is a major LH hub. London is going to be the tough part since it's not exactly close to central Germany. Vienna, Bratislava, or Prague would all be much easier for your second city.

Also, it's worth noting that the England is not a Shengen country, so that's one more headache to deal with.

jh0400 said:

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Munich is closer to where you're trying to get to and has just as good or better service from the US on UA/LH as it is a major LH hub. London is going to be the tough part since it's not exactly close to central Germany. Vienna, Bratislava, or Prague would all be much easier for your second city.

Also, it's worth noting that the England is not a Shengen country, so that's one more headache to deal with.

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This x100.

Go to Munich first. They have great markets too and Nuremberg is a short ride. Prague is also close enough. We trained and it was ~5 hours on a Czech train with lots of stops. But cheap ($30 I think).

You could ski Garmisch, no Neuschwanstein, Salzburg, Vienna, etc.

I lived outside of Nuremberg for a year and been back a few times. Know the train system pretty well too.

Just trying to look at all my options when traveling with a 4 and 6 year old.

Finding it a pain as the flight can differ by over $2000 for the 4 of us depending on what date I leave and my destination. One day Frankfurt is cheaper, the next day it is Munich, other day it is Nuremberg a few days London is half the price of any destination in Germany.

Again was just asking if there was a good site that can pull multi-day date involving flight and rail. If not then I will just keep entering it one at a time into my spreadsheet.

If you take the rail out of it, will google flights work for what you are needing?

Yes, try google flights.