MrSherm
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 10 years ago
Hi everyone,
Currently planning a 2 week stint using only trains, starting in Lisbon and then following the coast around to Italy, so going through Spain and the South of France. The current route I've got so far is: -
Flight to Lisbon
Madrid
Barcelona
Perpignan (or skip)
Marseille
Toulon (or skip)
Cannes
Monaco
Rome
I'm aware the number of places over 14 days might be a tad ambitious, which is why I'm here, hoping you guys can give me some advice. 4 guys are going on this trip, so we aren't looking for any romantic hotspots.
If you know of any decent places to stop in Italy, before reaching Rome then please share, I'd rather see a bit more of Italy than just head to one part of it.
Any idea on the costs involved of using the trains for this route? Would it be more beneficial to just get an interlink pass? Or is there a specific train company I am better off dealing with? Ideally we'd prefer to use night trains in order to maximise our time.
Any help/advice is much appreciated.
Cheers.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
On most routes in Europe there are no competing operators, so you can not choose between different companies. Whether or not an InterRail pass is worth the money or not depends on how flexible you want to stay during your trip - prebooked tickets can be cheaper, especially since you would need to purchase the Adult InterRail pass, but you would be bound to the train you booked and have only limited possiblities of refund/exchange of tickets.
The 5in10 IR pass [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-global-pass[/u] would be a possible choice, your trip could then look like this:
Lisbon - Madrid: night train, book single tickets in advance: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/lisbon-madrid-th-335/72[/u]
Madrid - Barcelona: first travel day with your IR 5in10 pass; night train available or during the day by high speed train AVE (10€ reservation): [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/madrid-to-barcelona[/u]
Barcelona - Marseille: second travel day; direct AVE high speed train available, no overnight option
Marseille - Cote d'Azur: third travel day, stay at one city (Cannes, Nice,...) and make day trips from there to other places using single tickets bought on the spot
Cote d'Azur - Genova/Milan/Florence: fourth travel day; from Genova you could continue to Cinque Terre; from Florence you could also make a day trip to Siena, Lucca,...if you still have enough time
Genova/Milan/Florence - Rome: fifth travel day, using either a high speed train (10€ reservation) or slower InterCity trains (3€)
To compare fares use the following links:
[ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/renfe[/ux] (via the webshop of our partner ACP Rail, supporting railcc with your purchase) or renfe.com (not supporting railcc) for travel to and within Spain
[ux]https://rail.shop/sncf[/ux] for Barcelona - Marseille and Marseille - Cote d'Azur (official SNCF website; also supporting railcc with your purchase)
[ux]https://rail.shop/omio[/ux] (via the ACP webshop) or trenitalia.com (not supporting railcc) for travel within Italy
Flo 8)
MrSherm
Traveller
2 comments
Hi Flo,
Thanks for the links etc
Very helpful, the only problem is that we intend to stay in most of these places for longer than 1 night. I like the idea of buying that ticket from Madrid though. In terms of price there is very little difference between buying an open ticket now, for a specific time, and buy this 5 in 10 thing.
Do you know anything that has been on a similar route? I some of the towns further down my list appear to be a little more difficult to reach by train, i.e. not so direct, less frequent etc.
Once again, thanks for your help.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well it is no problem to stay longer at each place and I didnt suggest to do so. ;)
[quote]
Do you know anything that has been on a similar route? I some of the towns further down my list appear to be a little more difficult to reach by train, i.e. not so direct, less frequent etc.[/quote]
Sorry, cant really follow you...which cities do you mean exactly?