FabMon
Traveller
62 comments
Posted 9 years ago
Hello again
I´m planning on a second Interrail in September/October so i still haven´t bought anything for this journey .
You may remember me from this topic: [u]https://rail.cc/en/paris-geneve-wien-venice-ancona-patras-istanbul/f9002[/u]
It was a completely different journey i made from my initial plans but this time since i´m going at the end of summer/early fall i want to go down south europe to get good weather and less crowds.
I still have some doubts regarding some train connections since bahn.com doesn´t show up the same information as in your website and i will explain why below:
My travel plans are these:
[b]16Sep[/b] - Lisbon - Madrid(Lusitania Express) 21:18 - 08:40
[b]17Sep[/b] - Madrid - Barcelona - My 1st doubt here. There´s an AVE train at 10:30 arriving in Barcelona at 13:15 but it seems Renfe only sells tickets about two months in advance. Can i expect AVE trains going regularly every day on this route to the end of the year?
[b]18Sep[/b] - Barcelona
[b]19Sep[/b] - Barcelona
[b]20Sep[/b] - Barcelona
[b]21Sep[/b] - Travel to Annecy via Lyon arriving at 16:07
[b]22Sep[/b] - Annecy
[b]23Sep[/b] - Travel to Basel arriving at 12:53
[b]24Sep[/b] - Colmar
[b]25Sep[/b] - Florence
[b]26Sep[/b] - Florence
[b]27Sep [/b]- Florence
[b]28Sep[/b] - Florence
[b]29Sep [/b]- Rome
30Sep - Rome
[b]01Oct[/b] - Rome
[b]02Oct[/b] - Napoli
[b]03Oct [/b]- Napoli
[b]04Oct [/b]- Napoli
[b]05Oct[/b] - Napoli
[b]06Oct[/b] - Venice
[b]07Oct [/b]- Venice
Now my major doubt in my plans, is that i would like to go to Granada and Monte Carlo but how far is this doable? I have two options but if it is not possible than i will just get onto the Thello to Paris and onto Barcelona-Madrid and finally Lisbon.
Here´s the 3 options:
[b]Option 1[/b]
08Oct - Travel to Nice
09Oct - Monaco
10Oct - Travel to Barcelona and night train to Granada
11Oct - Granada
12Oct - Madrid and then night train to Lisbon
bahn.com shows the night train to Granada running until 24Apr only. I guess the schedules are not yet updated so should i expect this train to work in Sep/Oct? Also, the arrival in Barcelona is at 19:28 provided i go on the faster conection from Nice via Montpellier for a 32m transfer to the night train that leaves at 20:00. Seems short though?
[b]Option 2[/b]
07Oct - Thello from Venice to Paris arriving at 09:30
08Oct - TGV to Barcelona arriving once again at 19:28 via Nimes and then Granada
09Oct - Granada
10Oct - Granada
11Oct - Madrid
12Oct - Madrid and then night train to Lisbon
[b]Option 3[/b]
07Oct - Night train to Paris
08Oct - Travel to Madrid
09Oct - Madrid
10Oct - Granada
11Oct - Granada
12Oct - Travel to Madrid and then night train to Lisbon
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hey, good to see you again! :)
Dont worry about the AVE connections, these will continue to run frequently between Madrid and Barcelona with at least one train every hour.
Also, the night train should continue to run, I havent heard anything about it being withdrawn. It is probably not yet available in the database as RENFE often is rather late with updating their information.
Regarding your route, there are a few things I would change:
You could go first to Granada from Madrid; there are two direct trains leaving Madrid at 0905 and 1705. Maybe also think about starting via Faro - bus to Sevilla - train to Granada.
From Granada you could then take the night train to Barcelona and continue from there to Perpignan. If the night train is on time you could travel via the Petit Train Jaune [u]https://rail.cc/blog/little-yellow-train-video/[/u] or directly via Girona - Portbou to Perpignan. You could also go to Collioure instead of Perpignan...then in the evening take the night train to Colmar: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/cerbere-strasbourg-icn-4850/195[/u] However this train runs on certain days only so you would have to plan accordingly.
Then travel from Colmar via Basel to Annecy. From Annecy you could then continue to Italy; the direct way would be via Geneve - Brig - Milano (there are direct EC trains from Geneve to Milano but with 11€ compulsory reservation), instead you could also cross the border with regional trains.
Then travel around Italy: Venice - Napoli - Rome - Florence; from Florence travel back along the coast via Genova - Ventimiglia - Monte Carlo.
If you also make a short stay in Marseille you could then take the direct AVE train from Marseille to Madrid and get the night train back home from there.
Of your originial options I would take option 1 but would make an overnight stay in Barcelona and think about travelling there using regional trains only (the cross border AVE/TGV trains between France and Spain are rather pricey).
Option 2 is hugely expensive as you only get a 25% discount on the regular fare on the Thello night train and also the Paris - Barcelona TGV will be about 25€ reservation.
Option 3 makes even less sense IMO as travelling from Paris to Madrid within one day will be even more expensive, let alone you are making a huge detour if you travel via Paris.
Flo 8)
FabMon
Traveller
62 comments
Hi flow, nice to see you again :)
Oh and thanks for the great information as always. I took a little bit to answer your post because it is the end of the semester and university called.
As far as some of your suggestions go, i don´t think i have the will to go on a bus all the way from Faro to Seville. I can probably go from Madrid to Granada instead of Barcelona first and then catch the night train Granada-Barcelona...thats a option i will have to think.
The reason i wanted to go on the Thello train was to get to Granada faster than if i would go from Florence-Nice-Barcelona-Granada. These journey would take 2 days and a few hours, the one Venice-Paris-Barcelona-Granada would take 1 day and a few hours.
I always try to maximize travel times even if i don´t mind paying more for that but i will keep both options open since i´m still trying to raise money for the journey and don´t know how will my finances be in September.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
OK. :)
Madrid - Granada - Barcelona would be a good option as well of course (personally I am not really keen about bus travel too).
Another option to get back to Barcelona rather quickly would be the ferry from Livorno (or Civitavecchia, depending on your final route): [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-ferry/livorno-barcelona/italy-spain/24[/u]