madsen93
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hello, me and my friend are planning to go on a 2 month trip this spring (april and may) and would like to hear if our plan is impossible or actually do-able.
We don't want to plan and lock too much of the trip, but our overall plan is to take a plane from Denmark to either Portugal or Spain, and then go to Istanbul (1 month), and then from Istanbul through eastern europe to Denmark (1 month).
We're thinking about leaving Portugal for another time, and fly to either Alicante or Barcelona to save time, what do you think, having in mind we're going all the way to Istanbul and then up to Denmark???
Also we're planning to travel from Ancona to Patras with ferry, and get to Istanbul that way around, but we've read in some other posts here on railcc that the railway is temporarily down in Greece, because of the economically situation , so how would you get to Istanbul from there? Is there any ferries from Greece to Turkey, or would we have to go by bus to Thessaloniki and then another bus to Istanbul?
In eastern europe we're thinking about visiting the following cities: Istanbul - Sofia - (Option 1: Montenegro - Mostar - Zagreb or Option 2: Beograd) - Budapest - Bratislava - Vienna - Prague - Berlin - Denmark.
Which option would you recommend, or do you have any other suggestions for eastern europe?
Cheers from Mads and Stephan 8)
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi Mads and Stephan.
Two mounts are good to do the whole trip by train.
From [b]Denmark down to Spain[/b] by train is easy... for example first to Hamburg, then by direct night train to Paris ([u]https://rail.cc/en/train/hamburg-to-paris[/u]).
From Paris by French night train to the Pyrenees - crossing them by the Little Yellow Train down to Barcelona ([u]https://rail.cc/blog/little-yellow-train-video/[/u]).
[b]Train connections in Spain[/b]: [u]https://rail.cc/en/search-train-route[/u]
From Spain travel along the [b]French coast[/b] in direction of [b]Italy[/b]. Have a stop in Nice or just before Marseilles at the Côte Bleue ([u]https://rail.cc/blog/de/zug-cote-bleue/[/u]).
[b]Ancona to Patras[/b] by ferry is no problem and a nice trip: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-ferry/ancona-patras/10[/u]
From Patras you can use a bus (not more than EUR 10) to Athens.
[b]Greece[/b]: in Greece national trains usually run. But international connections are cut - but it seems to get better again. We will update the information here on railcc as soon as we have more details.
Otherwise use the direct overnight-bus from [b]Athens to Istanbul[/b] (ask your hostel in Athens, they know where to book): [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/athens-to-istanbul[/u]
For [b]Eastern Europe[/b] there are already several topics... the cities listed are definitely nice - and as you have the time, I would include the trip to Montenegro. Also think about Krakow (Poland), a nice and historical student city! :)
Easy to do by night trains for example.
[b]And if you like to support the railcc project[/b]
- buy your rail passes here on the recommended website: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
- add locations of your hometown (bars, nice places, ...)
Thank you. :)
Peter :)
madsen93
Traveller
1 comments
Thank you for the answers, just to make it clear, we're flying from Denmark to Spain to save time. Glad to hear that 2 month is enough for our trip and we would certainly consider visiting Montenegro. Maybe adding ibiza/mallorca and santorini in Greece, too.
If i find some time, I'll try to upload some pictures and descriptions of my town and country!
andrewtrain
Traveller
20 comments
Hi, here are some suggestions :D
If your thinking of flying to Spain/Portugal, you could always fly to Oporto in Portugal, and then take a train to Lisbon, and then the night train to Madrid, that way you would get to see the two main cities in Portugal, both very beautiful.
If on your way back from Istanbul your thinking of going Sofia-Montenegro-Mostar you could go on to Dubrovnik-Korcula-Split (the Dalmatian coast it's amazing and breath taking xD and tickets aren't very expensive: I'm not exactly sure if this is right but i think the Mostar-Dubrovnik bus costs about 15 €, the Dubrovnik-Korcula Catamaran (not ferry) is about 12 € and the Korcula-Split Catamaran is around 7 €) and then a night train to Zagreb and either see/stay in Zagreb or take a directly to Budapest.
Hope you enjoy your trip,
ANDREW