Hi there,

I'll be travelling in from South Africa to Paris and Italy in October.
1. Do i need visas?
2. How do i travel from Paris to Italy on a saturday (i arrive on the sat morning 5:55 and need to be in Padova by 16:00pm.Please advise me. I will be travelling with my husband and my budget is tight. We will be spending a week in padova but want to go to Venice, Florence, Milan and Rome

Thanks

I dont really know if you need a visa, perhaps you should check out the French Embassy in South Africa. And here are the phone numbers for the French Consulates in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Perhaps someone with a current 2008 Eurail Pass Rail Schedule can tell you how to get there on time, but usually trains like that start leaving at 7am.. I'm not sure if you'd have time for that... but if it takes too long you could try out any low cost airline.

Thanks, i appreciate the help.

I would say your best bet would be to just take a cheap airline if you really need to be in Italy by late afternoon. Trains can always get delayed...or as it's your first time it's easy to muck up and miss them, especially if it's a tight schedule and you don't speak the language. Go with the flight, you wont regret it. Then you can relax on your way back

Hi!! Yeah, you will need a visas...that link Florencia gave has all the info.
Where in South Africa are you from?
I cant give much advice about Paris and Italy, but im going to both places in 2 weeks so should have loads then!!

I'd recommend hopping a flight from Paris to Venice and then taking the train from Venezia to Padova...try skyscanner.net for cheap flights within Europe, and trenitalia.it (http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/fer...il/inglese.jsp) for train schedules in Italy.

Good luck!

Thank you all
 

I appreciate all the valuable info. I am from Johannesburg and look forward to the trip.