We hope to spend next April in Europe. Arriving in Milan or Pisa, then after Cinque Terra and Tuscany, by rail with stops along Provence, into eastern Spain, up the Pyrenees to Bilbao, across and up western France winding up perhaps in Brest before ferrying to the Channel Islands, then on to England, over to Ireland and then returning home. A month's worth give or take. We want to see the "off the beaten path" smaller places. We've been to the larger cities and want to see the country and meet the people. If it sounds like a wine tour, well so be it. I'd appreciate insights on point to point train systems as well as local rental car opportunities and pitfalls. Lodging on the fly with options to spend more than one night if a place particularly intrigues us. While stationed in Germany in the early 80s with the military, we often lodged in small pensions rather than hotels and hope that's still a possibility.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
That sounds like way more than a month to me, but perhaps you are just moving fast. That argues for rail, in many cases, since you won't have time to drive anywhere.
If you'd like to post an itinerary that includes days, it will be easier for people here to make intelligent suggestions about transportation logistics. If you are spending one night in Provence you don't need a car there; if you are spending a week it would be a good idea.
In general, rail is a good deal, and it is not hard to rent cars serially in the places where you'd like to have one. However, the best auto prices involve reserving in advance, which locks you in to an itinerary, though in my experience these reservations can usually be modified at no additional charge.
Another constraint is that there are generally large drop-off fees for returning a rental in a country other than the one where you got it. So if your idea is to drive from Barcelona to Bilbao, for instance, and then up the French coast, you probably want to drop the Spanish car in Spain and rent another in France.
Is this the sort of thing you want to know more about? There are lots of little things to know about the trains (validate your ticket, reservations needed or not, German rail site for schedules etc.) but there are whole websites that lay that out, and perhaps you know it already.
Posted by
1229 posts
That sounds like a lot to me too. We spent 5 weeks in Europe last summer and I think our stops totaled 10, the longest 2 were 5 nights, and the shortest was 2. We used a rental car and train. Car for places that don't have easy access throughout by train (where it would be less time efficient to sight-see via train, like the Dordogne and Provence), and train for others, like all of Italy (we did not go to rural Tuscany, where a car would be better). I agree with Adam that you will get better advise when you post an itinerary, and you will get a better idea for how you imagine spending your time (and where car or train would be more efficient to make the most of your time)
Jessica
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
At a pace far quicker than I would travel at, I had reached a month well before you mentioned the Channel Islands etc, particularly if you want a more rural aspect and therefore a slower pace.
You will be travelling over school Easter holidays, so I would want to book accommodation in popular places covering the 2-3 weeks that the children are not in school.
Posted by
OP
Arlington, TX
20 posts
Appreciate the comments. Agree that 5 or 6 weeks might be required. Let's say we fly into Pisa, rent a car, spend 5 days seeing some of Tuscany and cinque terre, then take the train to Marseille, rent another car, spend 5 or 6 days between Aix, the Luberon, and Arles, take a train to Andorra, rent a car for a week of eastern Spain headed north. Take a train from Bilbao to Bordeaux, rent a car there and wander north for at least a week. See Normandy beaches before heading for 3 to 5 days on the channel islands. A week in southwest England, a jump across to southern Ireland before winding up in either Dublin or Limerick for our return.
Posted by
Washington DC
27929 posts
I don't really think that's a 5- or 6-week trip, either. You need to research the travel time between each pair of bases. In most cases it will be a full day unless you fly--in which case you still need to allow at least 5 hours to deal with airports. So it's not just a matter of adding up 5 days + 6 days; you must also add a day in transit. My overall suggestion is to start reading guidebooks to the areas you want to visit. I'm sure you'll find that there are many other interesting spots you're planning to skip over. You could fill as much time as you have with much less time in a car or on a train.
Andorra has no train service. But you really shouldn't bother going there anyway. The capital city, by all reports, has turned into an outlet mall. The fairly nearby Spanish town of La Seu de Urgell is very pretty, and there are lots of interesting places in the Cerdanya Valley. I used Puigcerda as a base there.
I like the Channel Islands. I spent 5 days on Jersey last year. I have had very bad luck with channel ferries. Two of my five ferries (over two trips decades apart) were canceled--one of them for three days in a row. I recommend that you consider the option of flying, or at least research back-up possibilities so you'll be prepared.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
Ten locations in just one month - that’s just 3 nights at each !!
Cinque Terre
Tuscany
Provence
Catalunya
Basque Country
Bordeaux
Brittany
Channel Islands
England
Ireland
Five or six locations would seem a better way to go. Perhaps a Paris round trip.
Paris >> Provence >> Catalunya >> Basque Country >> Bordeaux >> Brittany >> Paris