Still playing with the itinerary for our summer 09 trip. Just wondering, is there a train from Munich to Athens? If so, how does it run?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm playing around with things and looking at the global pass. Certain countries between Germany and Greece are not part of the "alliance", so I'm wondering if you still train between the two countries as part of the pass or perhaps have to go to Italy and ferry over.

Thanks

dave

Flying is best, it's a long haul otherwise. Use www.skyscanner.net and www.whichbudget.com - not sure about schedules this far ahead, though.

By train, Italy and ferry is certainly preferable, from Bari or Ancona.

www.ricksteves.com spells out just which ferry lines honor the passes -

www.ricksteves.com/rail/italy.htm#greece, also has good general and specific info about passes etc.

Training all overland down through the Balkans could be the backbreaker of all backbreakers, unless you have a week, to stop, and to take those slow local trains in that less-than-fully-developed region. But I can't bring it up on any train sites, that would be a job for a travel agent who specializes in train travel. Quite a challenge I would think - just look at the map and think about the places it would go through. An adventure, for sure.

http://seat61.com/Greece.htm

Scroll down to the section "London-Athens by train all the way". You'll take a train from Munich to Budapest first; then you'll follow what's described in that page. Basically, there's a sleeper to Thessaloniki; then switch to an intercity day-train to Athens.

xxx

I see them on seat61, but I don't see them on the Hungarian train site http://elvira.mav-start.hu/elvira.dll/xslms/ nor on the German site http://bahn.hafas.de (click on English) or at http://tinyurl.com/5jfq8e.

So I wonder if the Seat61 info is current?

I see departures:

From Budapest at 1:20PM, takes 22:48 hours to Thessaloniki, gets there at 1:08PM the next day, runs not every day, schedule says nothing about sleeper, has
Comments: Please reserve (Budapest-Keleti pu --> Thessaloniki)
Non-smoker train (Idomeni --> Thessaloniki)
Bordrestaurant (Budapest-Keleti pu --> Beograd)

From Budapest at 11:25PM, via Sofia, takes 29 hours, has a sleeper from Budapest to Sofia (arr. 6:15PM the next day, then it is a regular train through the night, says nothing about sleeper, gets into Th. at 5:24AM the next day (on Day 3).

So I would suggest to email the guy who runs the Seat61 site at [email protected], or ask a travel agent to find out if the Seat61 suggestion is still running. Or see if your local library has (or can get you) the Thomas Cook Timetables?

The "adventure" part is kind of what interests me. I actually already have really cheap plane tickets from Munich to Athens and then from Athens to Paris. But we have a substantial amount of time and no required itinerary.

I was thinking it might be kind of cool to train through the Balkans, kind of reviving my youthful adventures (living on the Amazon for 6 months, sailing solo across the Atlantic).

I saw the info on seat61 and also found an article of a young woman that did it last spring. I would assume then the global pass doesn't cover the non-affiliated countries.

Anyone else tried this?

dave

Global Pass only covers Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia in the Balkans (as well as Greece) - so really would cover much if not most of the route except Bulgaria (not sure which way the train goes)

The Eurail Select Pass however would cover the routing in full i believe and is cheaper than the Global Pass (but you get less days). For pass info i always refer to two great sites - www.ricksteves.com (who may also have info about buses in that area) and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - both sites have lots of objective info and not just the pass prices like many. That said train travel in those countries is still very cheap so compare fares. Lonely Planet's Guide to the area usually gives local transport info and fares as does Let's Go Europe Europe (or whatever they call the book covering Balkans)