Me and my girlfriend are planning on interrailing through Spain, France, Italy and Greece. Here is our itinerary so far:
Day 1: (Sept 28th) Fly Bristol to Seville
Day 2: All day in Seville
Day 3: Train Seville to Madrid
Day 4: All day in Madrid
Day 5: Train Madrid to Valencia
Day 6: All day in Valencia
Day 7: Train Valencia to Barcelona
Day 8: All day in Barcelona
Day 9: All day in Barcelona
Day 10: Train Barcelona to Perpignan/Toulouse/Somewhere between Barcelona & Nice
Day 11: Train to Nice
Day 12: Train Nice to Pisa
Day 13: Train Pisa to Rome
Day 14: All day in Rome
Day 15: All day in Rome
Day 16: Train Rome to Naples
Day 17: All day in Naples
Day 18: Train Naples to Rome, Fly Rome to Athens
Day 19: Ferry to Santorini/Mykonos
Day 20: All day on Santorini/Mykonos
Day 21: Ferry Santorini/Mykonos to Naxos
Day 22: All day on Naxos
Day 23: Ferry Naxos to Athens
Day 24: Fly Athens to Gatwick
It seems gruelling, with a few days relaxing in the Cyclades at the end, but with the exception of a few days heavy travelling, most rail journeys are 2-4 hours, so they don't take up most of our day.
Parts of the route we are unsure of are Day 10 and 11, where we were originally hoping to get the train from Barcelona to Nice, but from what we can gather online this takes up to 9 hours, and there isnt an overnight train. So it looks like we are going to have to stay somewhere inbetween, then travel to nice the following day. At the moment we are looking at staying in Perpignan or Toulouse, and taking the yellow train through the Pyrenees (although its been difficult to find information on this, how often the trains run from Barcelona etc), or staying further west in Arles of Nimes. We really just wanted to pass through France, because we are way more interested in seeing Spain and Italy, but would prefer not to fly, especially if we are flying from Rome to Athens later on.
Another part of the itinerary that is unclear is day 18, flying from Athens to Rome. We originally planned to rail from Naples to Bari, then use our free interrail pass deck passage on the ferry from Bari to Patras. However, we have found it difficult to find a hostel/budget hotel in Patras, and so looked at sleeping overnight on the ferry, and getting straight onto the bus from Patras port to Athens. This would mean alot of time constantly travelling though, as the train from Naples to Bari is 3-4hours, the ferry is 15-17 hours, and the bus from Patras to Athens 3-4 hours (there is also the ferry fuel supplement and the bus fare). It would be vital that we had some sleep whilst on the overnight ferry, and with only a deck passage it would not be assured. The cabins are way too expensive for us at over 150Euro each. That said we have found £20 flights from Rome to Athens any day of the week, so are considering getting the train back from Naples to Rome, then Rome to Rome Airport to fly to Athens, which would cut out a hellish trip.
We haven't travelled like this before just 1-2 week holidays so are a bit inexperienced but we want to plan everything properly. We understand it will be a hectic few weeks but it will be worth it to see so much and cover so much ground. We can relax then with 3-4 days in the Cyclades, either just on Naxos or on 2 of the islands. We also understand that we are not going to see alot of each place in the time allocated, but we just want to get a flavour of what each place is like, spend a day walking around, looking at the architecture, museums, sights, soaking up the culture. Trust me, we would love to have triple the time to do a trip like this, but our jobs do not permit it. I'm very lucky I got 22 days off!
We are budgeting £60 (70 EURO) a day each, that will include a hostel (or hotel which seems to be working out cheaper as we will want a double room). There will be days that we spend less and days when we spend more so it should be about right.
What do you think? Are we mad? Is this a ridiculously ambitious itinerary? Do we have enough time and money?
Thanks in advance and sorry about the essay but we're really stuck!