christun
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 13 years ago
Hey, I am travelling across Europe this Summer and have a few questions please.
First we are going to fly to Murcia to visit a friend and stay there for a couple of days.
1) our first trip will be to Madrid
2) then to Barcelona
3) then to Rome
4) then to Vatican City
5) then to Pompeii
6) then to Bari
7) then to Corfu
8) then to Athens
9) then to kusadasi
I was just wondering if this was possible with the interrailing ticket, and if the ferry was free or if these ones have a charge? The ticket I am buying is the 10days in 22days. Will this be ok?
Also, if you have a better option on how to travel from Corfu to Kusadasi that would be really helpful.
We really wanted to go to Santorini but by looking up on the Internet this doesn't seem possible with using up loads of travel time.
Would really appreciate any help, recommendations of other routes etc
Thanks.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
I've read your other post as well but only found the time now to answer so here we go:
The 10in22 is ok for this trip. Depending on how you go to Kusadasi you might even have some travel days left which you could use until you get to Bari.
The trip from Barcelona to Roma is quite long and a bit complicated. You have three options:
- Go with the direct expensive Elipsos night train from Barcelona to Milano and then continue to Rome
- Go with the ferry
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/barcelona-to-rome[/u]
- Or you make one or two stops in between. Within one day the farthest you can get is Nice. Then you could just stay overnight and immediately proceed to Rome or spend one or two days here and then continue.
If you want to just stay overnight, remember that this will then cost approx 30€ for the hostel plus maybe some extra € for train reservations depending on what connections you choose (slow+free or faster+with reservations) and that you wont save much money compared with the night train option via Milano (which costs at least 60€ depending on accomodation) but you will lose a lot of time.
The Vatican City is within Rome so you actually wont need to go there by train. Some extra stops I could offer:
- Paris (a little bit of route but doable)
- Petit Train Jaune ( :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/latour-de-carol-to-villefranche-de-conflent[/u] on the route from Barcelona to Nice)
- Swiss Alps (also a little off route but doable)
- Sicily
- Cinque Terre
- Firenze and Pisa
Bari - Corfu with Superfast Ferries is included in InterRail (fuel and port taxes/surcharges to be paid separately) however it operates only during summer (which should be a problem for you)
Also, the Ancona - Corfu - Patras ferry is included so it wont be a problem to include Corfu and then go the Greece mainland.
Note that your IR pass still has to be valid and you need one travel day to use the ferries.
From Patras you can get to Athens via Kiato (change there from bus to train, both included in IR). Then the tricky bit.
To get to Kusadasi I think you have to options:
- Go around the Aegean Sea, preferably by direct bus to Istanbul. There are no international train services to/from Greece at the moment so going by train would be a bit complicated. You could go somewhat close to the border at Alexandrupoli/Plithio/Dikea cross the border by bus and then either continue by bus or train but the direct bus certainly is a better idea. From Istanbul you then would have to take an overnight train to Izmir, and then you are almost done. From Izmir you would get as far as Söke by train and would then have to make your way by bus to Kusadasi. :)
- However, a probably more convenient option would be to go from Piräus by ferry to Chios and then from Chios to Cesme, from where you should be able to go to Kusadasi by bus.
Hope this helps for a start. If you want to support our work at railcc we would be happy if you would get your tickets from our partner. Thank you. :)
Flo 8)
christun
Traveller
3 comments
This is amazing help!! Thanks very much.
Whenever I get it all sorted I will definitely buy the tickets from here.
I am a long way off though.
Took your advice and we will probably go to nice after Barcelona although train times are not very convenient for a one day stay there.
Our itinerary now is as follows.
Fly from Manchester to Madrid
1) Train to Barcelona
2) Train to Nice
3) Train to Rome - Vatican City
4) Train to Pompeii
5) Train to Bari
6) Ferry to Corfu
7) Ferry to Patras, bus to kiato, train to Athens
8) Ferry from Piraus to Santorini
9) Ferry to Piraus then to Chios then Cesme then bus to kusadasi.
About your advice on Paris, after these 22days travelling we are staying in Kusadasi for a week then travelling around Eastern Europe for three weeks.
However, so far we only have Istanbul, Croatia (16 lakes), Krakov, that we know of. We are ending with Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. Any suggested routes?
I know the ticket is an inter(rail) ticket but is any of the ferrys free of charge? It's just if they aren't we are going to have to think of something else because we need to be careful with money to keep us going until the end.
Thanks so much with your previous answer.
Hope to hear from you again.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej,
always great if we can offer some help. And thanks for supporting us. :)
Humm..if you want to stay overnight in Nice to continue to Roma the following day, the option with night train to Milano and then onwards to Roma probably would be more convenient.
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/barcelona-to-rome[/u]
Bari - Corfu with Superfast Ferries is included in InterRail - port and fuel taxes are to be paid separately
Corfu - Patras is included with Minoan Lines - port and fuel taxes are to be paid separately
For Piräus - Santorini you get a 30% discount with BlueStar Ferries/Superfast Ferries
Santorini - Chios - Cesme: no discounts (apart from a possible general student discount)
On the way back you will have to start from Istanbul - however you can get there either with bus or with InterRail via Izmir - Eskisehir
From Istanbul you have two options: either direct night train to Belgrade or to Bukarest. From there, you can continue to Budapest, then Krakow with overnight train
From Krakow you have one daily train to Berlin and then during the day to Amsterdam and finally to Paris
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/amsterdam-to-paris[/u]
If you need more details, especially regarding train routes, just ask. :)
Flo 8)
christun
Traveller
3 comments
Sorry for asking another question.
I am soo confused about how to get from Athens to Kusadasi?
Been looking at different sites all day and can't see anything.
Do you have a link to help?
Cheers
christun
Traveller
3 comments
Preferably I could use my interrail card or be as cheap as possible.
Is the direct bus you mentioned included?
Thanks again. You have been brilliant help.
Am just not very good at this. :(
if there is not a way to get from athens to kusadasi for free/quite cheap is there a good route i could get from corfu to kusadasi instead?
Cheers
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej,
sorry for the late reply, was rather busy the last days and could not reply immediately...
So...Athens to Kusadasi.
1a) By bus to Istanbul (not included in IR), then by train to Eskisehir, change there to an overnight train to Izmir (reservation required), then to Aydir and finally Söke. Söke - Kusadasi by bus.
Depending on the timings of the bus and connections this will take ~24h roughly
1b) Same as above, but you could go to Thessaloniki by train (included in IR but supplement payable) and from there by bus to Istanbul and proceed as above.
2) By ferry from Piräus to Chios by ferry and change there to another ferry to get to Cesme. Not included in InterRail but student discounts available. Cesme - Kusadasi by bus
In general, all Greek islands are well connected by ferry services, but most of them are not included in InterRail. Only the ferries to Italy are free, on some domestic services you might get a certain discount but they are not free.
Regarding rail services in Greece. They are of course included in IR, but on long distance trains (Athens - Thessaloniki) usually a supplement is payable. All international services (to Beograd, Sofia, Istanbul) are currently suspended so if you want to cross one of these borders you have to do it bus which is not included in InterRail.
Flo 8)