Interrail - Seville - Madrid - Valencia - Barcelona

mash7
Traveller
2 comments

Posted 15 years ago

OK So I've already posted this on a few forums and got some very negative, and some very positive feedback. Me and my girlfriend are looking at buying a 1 month global pass. We've tweaked it today a little but here goes:

Day 1: (Sept 28th) Fly Bristol to Seville
Day 2: All day in Seville
Day 3: Train Seville to Madrid
Day 4: All day in Madrid
Day 5: Train Madrid to Valencia
Day 6: All day in Valencia
Day 7: Train Valencia to Barcelona
Day 8: All day in Barcelona
Day 9: All day in Barcelona
Day 10: All day in Barcelona
Day 11: All day in Barcelona
Day 12: All day in Barcelona
Day 13: All day in Barcelona then Ferry
Day 14: All day in Rome
Day 15: Daytrip to Naples, Sleep in Rome
Day 16: All day in Rome
Day 17: Fly Rome to Athens
Day 18: Ferry to Santorini/Mykonos
Day 19: All day on Santorini/Mykonos
Day 20: Ferry Santorini/Mykonos to Naxos
Day 21: All day on Naxos
Day 22: All day on Naxos
Day 23: Ferry Naxos to Athens
Day 24: Fly Athens to Gatwick

We won't be spending all that time in Barcelona, probably just 3 nights, but like I say we tweaked it and now are a bit undecided. We originally planned to rail through southern France, from Barcelona to Nice, then Nice to Pisa before hitting Rome. But we soon realised that Barcelona to Nice isn't quite as straightforward as it looks, and can take 9 hours or more! So we then looked into going through the Pyrenees and taking the scenic route, staying somewhere between Barcelona and Nice (like Toulouse, Perpignan, Arles or Nimes) and doing it that way. THEN just to make sure we had explored every avenue we checked flights and ferries. The ferry on most days that week from Barcelona to Rome is £40 odd each, thats for the airline style seat and is overnight, because its with Grimaldi we would get 20% discount which makes our seats about £32 each, bargain! So we're looking at doing that now and cutting out France altogether.

Also in the original itinerary was Naples. Spending two days there after Rome, then railing across to Bari and jumping on the ferry to Patras, before railing/bussing to Athens. That is ALOT of travelling in one go and so we would really want to sleep on the overnight ferry (as you are probably aware is 15-17 hours). However with the free deck passage this is not guaranteed, and the cabins or seats are very expensive. So we have found £20 flights each day that week from Rome to Athens, and have decided to cut Naples down to a day trip, to see Pompeii and/or Vesuvius. This will give us an extra day to laze at the end of our trip on Naxos! Also, with the extra days (that we've allocated to Barcelona for now), we were thinking of heading to Cordoba or Granada, both being on the way (well, Granada sort of) to Madrid from Seville.

We are looking to budget £60 per day each, thats including a hostel which is coming in around £20-30 (for a double/twin room). We are looking at hotels though because they are mainly coming out cheaper at around £20 for a double room ensuite and with more facilities, although we want to stay in some hostels to meet other travellers.

What I want to know is...

1) Is this a realistic and good/bad itinerary? Isit do-able but quite hectic or just ridiculously ambitious?
2) Should we buy a 1 month or 22 day global pass? Baring in mind we will be ferrying around the Cyclades in the last 5/6 days, and won't have realised a Bluestar/Superfast ferry crossing between Italy and Greece, so won't be entitled to ferry discount, and certainly won't be railing!