London - Paris - Lisbon - Madrid - Sevilla - Rom

Hetman
Traveller
364 comments

so many days in Barcelona is OK if you want go to the beach.

and instead of Sewilla I propose you Granada. Also has night direct connection with Barcelona.

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

Hi Hetman!
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not really keen on lying at the beach, I rather hope to pick up some bits of the Catalan flair and admire what Gaudì has done with L'Eixample and his famous Parc Güell. Granada has the Alhambra to offer, or am I mistaken?

Hetman
Traveller
364 comments

yes, exactly - Alhambra is, in not only my opinion, more interested than Sewilla. Dont forget that in July the south of Spain is hot like skillet.

and in Barcelona is also worth to see the Montjuic hill where you can find not only great views but also Olympic stadium and other places related with the Olympic games (this year is 20th anniversary)

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

That's right. I'm really looking forward to Barcelona!

Still, I'm switching my timetable back and forth - there is no ideal starting point, so I have lots of possibilities. Unfortunately, most of the trains require a supplement. I was able to stretch out the journey by placing Paris in the front and Rome as the ultimate stop, which gives me a few more days to travel. Together with the flight all fees - excluding the Rail Pass! - will total at € 200 or so. ||

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

I'm more or less content with what I've done now, although the supplements are almost killing me. For the sake of simplicity, I append the schedule as an image.
[img:2ehz4r7a]http://www.abload.de/img/irailschedulecnjlb.png[/img:2ehz4r7a]

Is there anything speaking against this timetable? Am I hopping around too much? Is there any method to avoid a night in Perpignan, thus half a day?

Thanks in advance. :)

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

Sorry, I really don't want to rush, but seeing that some members can give great advices on route planning I was hoping to get one too. :)

In my never-ending stream of both confusion and new ideas, I've come up with yet another proposal. The amount of permutations is just incredible. :D

[img:1svbk1jx]http://www.abload.de/img/interrail_2z3y3q.png[/img:1svbk1jx]

Still, the issue with the Pyrenees crossing bothers me. Would it be better to visit Avignon and Bordeaux first, and then go with the Litte Yellow Train from Barcelona after the whole tour through Spain? Is there any evening connection from Perpignan to Milano or Nizza I don't have to pay > € 20 for?

Once again, thanks in advance.

tnowacki

€: I also am fluent in German, just in case someone from the German-speaking forum reads this. ;)

Flo
Traveller
10725 comments

Hej,

sorry for replying late, I was busy at university during the last week. I'll have a look at your current proposal. :)

1) Paris - Petit Train Jaune - Barcelona; personally I would prefer to travel on the Petit Train Jaune in the other direction: Paris - Latour with the night train, then with the Petit Train Jaune down to Villefranche and on via Perpignan - Portbou to Barcelona. This would take a little bit longer as you would arrive in BCN at 1839 but you could sleep a bit longer on the train and then enjoy the Petit Train rattling from the top of the route down to the Valley of Villefranche. If you are lucky you will also be able to go with one of the open carriages of the old trains (unfortunately I do not have info which trains are run with old and which with new trainsets).

2) Barcelona - Granada - Sevilla - Madrid; nothing to add, I did it the other way round two years ago. :)

3) Personally, I would add an extra day to Lisbon...it's just a fine city!

4) Lisboa - San Sebastian - Paris: If you want to sleep a little bit longer, go to Irun and leave the train there, then travel back to San Sebastian with the Cercanias suburban trains. If you want, you could also stay on the train until Hendaye, but you would then have to use Euskotren to travel back across the border to Spain, needing an extra ticket (~1€).
On the way to Paris, take this in mind as you will have to use Euskotren to get into France. The trains running from Spain into France all require a reservation and it isnt worth getting one for just some 30 minutes. So, go San Sebastian - Irun with Cercanias and across the border with Euskotren. You could also go directly from San Sebastian to Hendaye with Euskotren although it will be a little bit more expensive than the first option.

5) When in Bordeaux, you could think about a day trip to the Dune de Pyla close to Arcachon. :)

6) Bordeaux - Avignon...there should be an Intercité (ex TEOZ) running at 0935 if the TGV is too early. You would have to change in Nimes as well to get to Avignon and of course need a resevation but it could be a nice alternative. The train is not listed on HAFAS since SNCF tends to announce many trains at rather short notice due to massive track works throughout their network.

7) Avignon - Milano :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/interrail-from-france-to-italy/[/u]
If the situation does not change until the summer months (we will try to get updates on this issue) the best alternative would be to travel along the Cote d'Azur via Nice - Ventimiglia - Genova. This would of course take much longer but you will be able to reach Milano from Avignon within a day.
An interesting alternative could be Avignon - GAp - Briancon - Oulx - Torino - Milano, although this would require a bus between Briancon and Oulx...but no other reservations.

8) Milano - Firenze - Venezia - Roma: Not much to say, maybe swap Firenze and Venezia which would make a cleaner route without going Firenze - Venezia twice.


Flo 8)

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

Hi,
thanks for your very quick and detailed answer! Please don't feel stressed, I am fine waiting patiently. After all, this is a free and wonderful service you offer here and it's absolutely normal that you have other tasks to do.

I was looking for the night train Paris - Latour before, but could not find it. So your idea sounds great! I didn't know about the Cercanias, that sounds sensible indeed. Although I usually don't need much sleep. ;) If I have calulated correctly, I still have 2 days left that I can put in between - one for example, for Lisboa.

The information in 7) rescued me from a great surprise. The Cote d'Azur route sounds nice, would you recommend a stop in Genova? The swap sounds very reasonable!

Another idea that comes into my mind is to go Paris - Avignon - Bordeaux - San Sebastian ( backwards ) - Barcelona - Petit Train Jaune - ? - Milano - There, however, is the question how to get from Perpignan to Milan without the € 50 night train.

When would you recommend booking the reservations (of course, as far as possible, via railcc)? I'm a kind of aperfectionist, so I don't mind having a completely fixed schedule. The whole journey is an attempt to soak up as much culture and education from these cities as possible. :)

Once again, thank you!

tnowacki

Flo
Traveller
10725 comments

Hej!

- Along the Cote d'Azur. Until Nice, the route is obvious: Avignon - Marseille - Toulon - Nice (best done by frequent TER Intercités from Marseille which dont require a reservation). If you want/have time left, you could go along the coast to Marseille, leaving the main line in Miramas and stopping in Martigues or any small village along the way, maybe in Niolon. :)
From Nice, you could either proceed along the coast via Ventimiglia to Genova and then up to Milano; or go through the Maritime Alps via Breil-sur-Roya - Cuneo - Torino to Milano.
Personally I like the area around Nice quite much and I never have been to Genova (apart from the station, haha)...so cant really give you advice where to go.

- Going Paris - Avignon - Bordeaux seems rather awkward since you would pass Avignon anyway on the way from Spain to Milano (unless you opt for the expensive Elipsos night train, that is).
The only two reasonable options to go from Perpignan (or SW France in general) to Italy is either via the Cote d'Azur or via Briancon - Oulx. Of course you could also go via Lyon - Geneve - Brig - Milano but that would require at least a reservation for a TGV plus the EC to Milano, or a stopover along the route in Switzerland.

- Regarding reservations...it depends on whether you need to get a certain train, or if you have alternatives in case a certain train would be fully booked.
You can book reservations either via railcc or as well at any larger railway station (eg Berlin Hbf,..). Due to shipping and handling it can be cheaper to get them at the station than via our partner.


Flo 8)

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

Okay, that sounds good - that way I also get to see some of the Cote d'Azur. On second thought, going Paris-Avignon-Bordeaux seems ridiculous indeed. It think I'll stick to the last proposal and modify it with your helpful suggestions. The only thing that bothers me is that I don't get to travel with the TGV on one of the LGVs, but hey.

I thought it's not possible to order reservations for, say, RENFE, outside of Spain? If it is possible, it would be wonderful, for Berlin Hbf is just a 20-minutes' ride away. Still, I want to support this great website. :)

I'll try to implement your suggestions and will come back with a finished version.

tnowacki

Flo
Traveller
10725 comments

Hej,

well, if you take a TGV between Paris and Bordeaux you will travel the first third or so from Paris to Tours on the LGV Atlantique with 300 km/h. If you want to go with 320 km/h you will either have to travel on LGV Est Européenne on the way to Paris or LGV Méditerrannée between Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

You can usually get reservations for RENFE outside of Spain, but sometimes RENFE can block them. Reservations for domestic travel in Portugal can only be made in Portugal.

If you want to support railcc, best would be to order your ticket plus some reservations (maybe for the first part of your trip) in one order. Thanks. :)


Flo 8)

tnowacki
Traveller
9 comments

I've booked my ride to Paris (Europa-Spezial, € 39) and my Interrail ticket (from railcc, of course). Can't believe this is actually going to happen!

Flo
Traveller
10725 comments

Great! Thanks for supporting us. :)