seniorsit

Hey everyone..I'm going to Madrid & Barcelona in November for a weekly (homestay) and then I want to visit Portugal for around 10 days (before heading back to Spain for more must-sees and then I head home to Oz..)I'm quite happy travelling on buses/trains/donkeycart or shanks pony ..will I have any trouble getting budget accommodation in November and will it be easy for me to get around to the 'must sees' or should I hire a car (which I'm not really that keen about because I really enjoy interaction with local towns and folk)..your advice would be very welcome..thanks everyone..regards Elly in Oz

NEDSIRELAND

G'day Elly in Oz:
As far as I know, the railbed upgrade for Madrid-Badajoz has not been completed; so the overnight Lusitania Exprés is your only rail option.

There's an overnight Bus Barcelona-Porto-Lisbon and several day runs between Madrid & Lisbon. I think the former goes via Salamanca

No problem getting budget accomodation Nov. in Lisbon - it's not what you would call peak tourist season

Nikki

The least expensive way from Madrid to Lisbon may well be to fly. I flew on the budget airline Vueling (www.vueling.com) and it was far less expensive than renting a car.

GeoffHamer

As Nedsireland says, the only train from Madrid to Lisboa is the overnight hotel train.
Another option is to get the AVE high-speed train to Sevilla, then a bus to the Algarve.
Public transport in Portugal is pretty good, and cheap accommodation is plentiful.

thursdaysd

Sorry to high-jack the thread, but does anyone know if there's a bus from Evora to Seville? I can find Lisbon to Seville via the Algarve, and Evora to Madrid, but not Evora to Seville unless I spend hours hanging around Badajoz.

lreynold1

Nikkis is right that Vueling is a lot cheaper than the train. I'm going from Lisbon to Madrid on Sept. 25 and the flight is 30E, compared to probably 90 or so on the trenhotel.

But I have a question about the Trenhotel. I have ridden the one from Salamanca to Paris and was delighted to find that the cabins of four berths were sex segregated. Is that also true for the Lusitania?

GeoffHamer

These are four-berth sleeping compartments, not couchettes, so are single-sex if shared with strangers. The train also has one- or two-berth compartments with or without a shower and WC.