TRAIN ISSUE! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

echohaze · 09-05-2006, 08:10 PM

Brace yourself, this might get tricky:

I will be in Europe for 56 days (just shy of 2 months) and I was wondering how much of my time will be spent on trains (I have never actually been on a train...). My Itinerary (excluding Ireland and the UK) is: Brussels (maybe), Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Venice, Bern (maybe), Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon. Plus all the little cites in between. Should I skip or change some of the cities? I am backpacking primarily to see architecture and scenic countrysides, hole-in-the-wall seaside towns, and little cafes. Mellow things like that.

Would a Eurail Flexi Youth be adequate to fit my travel demands?

And, back again to my main question, is it probable that I'd be able to travel from country to country (of the list above) over a 12 hour nighttime period? Once again, I don't really know how fast trains can go...

**florencia9699** · 09-05-2006, 09:17 PM

To see how fast the trains go, visit www.eurail.com. On "Travel Information" --> Travel by Train click Time table information . There's a table there you can danload to your computer, and I belive it's the same that you get once you've purchased the ticket. That table is really good and it tells you what train leaves at what time, what cities it goes through and at what time you arrive in your next destination. This comes really handy when your calculating days on your trip.

In my opinion: I would do all of those cities,you will have time in two months to get the best out of each one!!

Hope it helps!

**omisan** · 09-05-2006, 09:28 PM

Yeah, best to study the timetables to get a feel of how long it is between cities.

Note that between Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Cologne there's the high-speed Thalys service, and there's high-speed TGV (France), AVE (Spain), and ICE (Germany). Most of these high-speed services have a small surcharge (6 euro or so?) on top of the ticket price, as well as a possible reservation fee, but if time is of the essence, it's a small price to pay.

If you're more into sightseeing than nightlife, there are always overnight trains for the longer hauls, but then you'd be missing the scenic countryside you mentioned, which I feel is one of the great benefits of train travel.

**space virgin** · 09-05-2006, 11:07 PM

FYI-- the "high speed" trains in Spain are, well, not.

The TGV and Thalys, however, really ARE in certain areas. It's pretty sweet.

**tumblezweedz** · 09-06-2006, 05:47 AM

Another great tool for calculating train schedules, times and routes is the German rail site, www.diebahn.de. The information is available in English, and covers almost all of Europe, so you should be able to get a very clear picture from them. Price info is generally not available on trips outside Germany, but for your purposes, it should work.

If you want to get to hole in the wall seaside towns, you'll have to work on getting out to the coast - with the exceptions of Amsterdam and Lisbon, most of your itinerary is pretty far inland. Belgium has some interesting coastal communities, that might be of more interest than Brussels. You could hit Brugge, and then head out to Oostend, then take the special coastal tram all the way down the coast, visiting half a dozen different towns en route. In France, Mont St. Michel is a wonderful experience, reached by some pretty scenic countryside.

Just a couple of thoughts...

Good luck with the planning. Oh, and one other thought. Is there a train anywhere near where you live? It might be a good experience to take a trial run, even just to the next town, to get the general hang of things, before you start trying to deal with stations in foreign lands. The procedure is never exactly the same, but there is a general similarity, which might make you feel a little more at ease before you go.

echohaze · 09-06-2006, 10:43 PM

thanks for all the advice!

and no, there are virtually NO trains near where i live. I live in Los Angeles, which is terrible with public transportation.

**omisan** · 09-07-2006, 12:28 AM

Echo - you can take the Metrolink down to San Diego County to see what it feels like.. or Amtrak up the coast

There are trains, we just never hear of 'em!

**tumblezweedz** · 09-07-2006, 06:16 AM

Yeah, you can definitely get a train from LA. If you're really up for an adventure, head inland. My husband was stationed at Edwards during the big earthquake (what was it? 92? 93? 94? - I forget) and told me that there were extra trains running to take people in from Lancaster and surrounding areas into LA, but instead, everyone got up four hours early so they could sit in traffic jams for three hours to get to work. Ahh, the freedom of driving one's own vehicle.

**MeTurk** · 09-07-2006, 09:01 AM

I can remember is it takes aprox 12 hours to get from Barcelona to Paris on the high speed train. The one from Paris to Amsterdam was 3 or 4 hours I think. Most the trains I took where high speed for some reason, their great trains more like sitting on an airplane you can barely feel them moving. Big difference from the clickidy clack rubbish we have in this country.

Quote:

FYI-- the "high speed" trains in Spain are, well, not.[/b]

The ones I went on where, I think there fairly limited but there brand new. I was amassed at how good their train system was. The one from Seville to Madrid was fairly milling it anyway.

The high speed trains are direct between major cities so they won't be able to get you to those coastal towns.

**omisan** · 09-07-2006, 09:44 AM

Yeah, the new AVE trains in Spain actually *are* fast. For instance, you can get from Madrid to Seville in just around 2.5 hours. Or Madrid to Barcelona super-super-quick. I was really hoping there'd be one along the coast, but no such luck... Malaga to Barcelona? 14 hours with 3 changes! Yikes.

**TheWills** · 09-09-2006, 11:24 AM

Man, those TGV and ICE are quite a thrill your hitting in some parts 300km/h now thats fackin fast, I remeber thinking like whoooohooooo all we need is some asshole to put a nice little metal bar or something on the track and we airborne. Truist trains are the way around Europe, for most trips your gonna be looking at about I would say average of 4 hours....some will be longer some will be shorter. We did a day trip to Amsterdam from Frankfurt Germany and I think that took only 4 hours hehe I cant remeber

rousseau5550 · 09-10-2006, 12:01 AM

Between Brussels and Amsterdam, the train is sooooo slow! But then again, the train line cannot go faster than a regular train for safety reasons. Special lines, for example, between Charles de Gaulles airport and Brussels are allowed for high speeds (you'll notice a parameter fence around high-speed lines).