Conny
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 2 years ago
Hallo,
ich möchte im Herbst ein bisschen rumgondeln und hatte eigentlich vor, von Biarritz aus Richtung Lissabon zu fahren, über Bilbao oder La Coruña. Aber da finde ich absolut keine Verbindung. Stimmt das? Kein Zug vom französischen Atlantik über die Grenze? (Und das gleiche für von Spanien nach Portugal?) Ich hab schon gelesen dass die Nachtzüge wegen Corona eingestellt worden sind, aber das so gar nichts geht find ich echt seltsam.
Vielen Dank für alle Antworten :)
Conny
nltrainer
Traveller
1334 comments
NO, there are some tiny trains, but not all are covered by IR. That old darling of me-the Thomas Cook Europe Timetbale shows it (some years ago this was sold by DB as its AuslandKursbuch in a germen DB cover, english text.
I am now on an IR that was cancelled last year and sit in Bordeaux. I kind of made this journey some years ago: the system is named FEVE in Spain, means narrow gauge. There are routes like FR border-San Sebastian-Bilbao (these are NOT FEVE anymore, but Basque Rails=ET-you have to pay for them but its quite cheap)- Bilbao-Santander-Oviedo-Ferrol. FEVE has been merged to RENFE the big spanish state railway some toime ago and IR is accepted on these lines now, but if you have the x days in M type, it may be cheaper to simply pay on the way.
Now the bad news: it takes Days long, is very slow, its more like an old fashioned tram and just 2-3 trips/day. Any sensible spaniard uses the BUS-on busy sectors these run hourly or more. On some parts the scenery is quite nice, but mostly not so much.
From Ferrol its-also not very often- RENFE trains (need reservation!!) along the coast also with more changes.
You should be able to find more info on the REnfe site but have to click many more buttons to reach it.
nltrainer
Traveller
1334 comments
In the mean time I had breakfast in this hotel and this is what I thought afters:
1.you can order that timetable by amazon.de, for around 20 eur-it used to come out every month, by now mostly ev. 2-3 month. NOT all timings will be 100% right, but its very usefull for general planning.
OR see if there is an older one on ebay or similar sites for lower price or post a request.
IF you definitely think about this trip-there is also a more inland line by FEVE from Bilbao to Leon-this is much more scenic but has just 1 train/day in the late afternoon-arr. in the evening. Not much use when its dark early in autumn/winter.
There is also another railsite very dedicated to using trains in this world-not specific InterRail, run by an englishman who always try to get 1 specific seat on reserving (starts with 6), but in the past when there were 2 fora-rail.cc, the editors were somehow reluctant to name it. Google is a good friend for that