I'm a first-timer schlepping to Europe for 3 wks in April. After starting in Sevilla, I'll be spending a few days in Al-Andalus and on to S France. I plan to Eurorail the whole way, but want to see some lesser known spots in both S Spain & S France (e.g. cathedral ruins at Montsegur and Voillon, France). Is this feasible to do without an auto?
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
If the train runs there, it can be done, but expect delays if you're heading for places off the beaten {rail) path. Montségur, for example, doesn't get train service,...the closest is at Lavelanet, and dyou have to go thru Toulouse to get there. From there, a taxi, I guess, but that might get kind of expensive. You may want to consider checking to see if they have tours to the Cathar ruins out of Carcassonne and take one of those....that may be your best way to see these sites. That goes for some of the excellent Roman, Visigoth, and Moorish sites in southern Spain...very difficult without a car. You can check rail connections at the German national rail system, Bahn.de
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Update to that....Lavelanet is only via bus....not many rail connections in the Pyrenees.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Bill...if he used a bike....he wouldn't cover all that territory in 3 weeks ! ;) The only fly in the ointment is that he'll have to pay an arm and a leg for a flight from anywhere in Spain to Montpellier. The only air link I know of is from Madrid via Iberia...165 Euro for a 90 minute flight, if he books well in advance.
Posted by
San Leandro, CA, USA
632 posts
Kent,
You can easily see Andalusia with a car (allow about 1 week)...then a quick flight to the south of France (Montpellier) where you pick up another car...the best way to see this part of France is with a car and a GPS....I would say that your trip would be diminished if you were to take other forms of transportation...(an exception to this might be a bike if you are so inclined).
Posted by
San Leandro, CA, USA
632 posts
Norm, I didn't price the flights, but I think you are correct...no cheap way to fly, unless you fly from Andalusia to Barcelona, then catch the train to Perpignan or Narbonne. With respect to cycling through the south of france, I have not done it, but I have friends who have, and they say you can cover most of the area between Narbonne and the Bay of Biscayne in 2 weeks...but they are hard core riders. I would not attempt to cover all of Andalusia in 1 week on a bike...maybe Seville, Jerez and the hill towns.
Posted by
natick, ma, usa
55 posts
By all means, if possible, try and see the town of NERJA on the coast south of Granda. Quaint and awesome!
Posted by
San Leandro, CA, USA
632 posts
Donna is right...Nerja was a great stay...we did Andalusia in about 8 days (7 nights) beginning with 2 nights in Sevilla, 2 nights in Granada, 2 nights in Nerja and one night in Arcos de la Frontera. There is a lot more to see but we started a week earlier in Barcelona, went to Madrid then followed Arcos de la Frontera with a week in Portugal.
Posted by
OP
Louisville, KY, USandA
6 posts
All,
Thanks for the input, appreciate it. Sounds like a rental auto is the way to go (unfortunately not enough time for the biking tour).
Follow-up question: Does anyone know if you can rent the car in one spot (e.g. Cordoba), do a driving tour for a few days and return the car to, say, Madrid? (which is my next stop) I wasn't planning on doing rentals, so am pretty ignorant about doing such in Europe.
Thx, KG
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Sure, there's no problem with that...you shouldn't encounter an extra drop-off charge if you stay within the same country. I used carjet.co.uk and get consistently low rates, but there are many other agencies out there. Were you planning to train between, say, Madrid and the south of France?
Posted by
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
172 posts
From Sevilla, if you want a day trip to several Andalusian hill towns, get in touch with Paul McGrath in Sevilla (in Rick's Spain book). We took his tour last March and he was great, very knowledgable about the area, and he knows the best (ie. most scenic) routes. Highly recommend him. He would also do Granada if you got ahold of him in advance. We found the Carcassonne area frustrating without a car - all those area ruins to see and because we hadn't any intention of driving on that holiday we had left our driver's licences at home!!
Posted by
OP
Louisville, KY, USandA
6 posts
From the White Towns, I'll be off to Madrid (3 days), then Barcelona (1-2 days), then the Cathar ruins, working my way up to Voiron, then Paris.
In Andalucia, unfortunately my time is limited here and I have at most 1 day for the White Hill towns in addition to the one day to see the Mezquita & Alhambra. At this point, Arcos seems like the quintessential choice, but after reading about the Pileta Cave near Ronda, I definitely have to see the original paleolithic cave paintings (as opposed to the replicas at Lascaux & Altimira).
Appreciate the tip about the guided tour (can't seem to find that in the Spain book); are these day trips or several days?