saul

Can someone give me information on travel from spain to greece. I want either eurail or preferable auto. does anyone know of a rent it here and leave it there auto rental agency. Looking for inexpensive travel! thanks

elvira

Trains to Greece have to go through what's left of Yugoslavia or Albania. Ditto driving. Thomas Cook Timetable from a couple of years ago strongly discouraged this trip. I would imagine that auto rental agencies would be unhappy with this trip also, and might not allow you to take the car into that area. Consider driving or taking a train to Italy, then taking a ferry to Greece. The train schedule from Spain to Italy is very ugly, and could take you almost two days. <BR>My strong recommendation is to check into a flight from Spain to Greece, and splurge on this. <BR>Auto rental for one is far more expensive than train travel. Gasoline is about 4x the cost in the U.S.

Ben Haines

Fodors <BR> <BR>The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. The map on pages 46 and 47 shows the main international lines. If you can't get a Yugoslav visa a suitable route is Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Venice, Budapest, Brasov or Bucharest, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Athens. Each of these tripsis about twelkve hours and you make them by day or night. By day you see the landscape, such as the Riviera, the Slovenian Alps, Lake Balaton, the forested mountains of Transylvsania and the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. But ida train travel makes for a long journey. I prefer overnight travel, and pay a supplement of 20 US dollars a night for couchette berths in western Europe, and of 50 dollars a night for sleeper berths in the Balkans. Couchettes are six to a compartment, while seepers are less crowded, at three to a compartment. Couchettes are mixed-sex, so you stay dressed. Sleepers are divided by sex, so you sleep in pyjamas. <BR> <BR>You want a recent Cooks Timetable. Through trainsrun t Greece from bothy Belgrade and Budaprest, and Cooks rightly issue no warnings about any of them. Your problem with Belgrade is getting a visa, and dullness. Thre are no trains through Albania, only trains ithin Slbania. As I say, trains to Greece go through Romania as well as vthrough Yugoslavia. <BR> <BR>As to security in any country, the consuls of four countries hear of new scams, thefts, and dangers, so give good advice. This is found <BR>from Australia on http://www.dfat.gov.au/consular/advice <BR>from Britain on http://193.114.50.10/travel <BR>from Canada on http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/menu-e.asp, under "Travel Reports" <BR>from the USA on http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html <BR>Some experienced American travellers find the American site over-cautious. It is therefor useful to check all four sites. For example, Madeleine Albright issued a ttravel warning for evetywhere in December that fasting Moslems were around with bombs. None went off. Recent notes on Lonely Planet for East Europe say that being American in Yugoslavia is no problem: people there welcome you to see their country for yourself, not through western media which many in Serbia see as untrue -- I don't agree, but's that's said to be a common view in Belgrade. <BR> <BR>Some basic second class one-way fares are these <BR>Madrid to Barcelona about 40 US dollars <BR>Barcelona to Venice 120 dollars. <BR>Venice to Budapest 71 dollars <BR>Budapest to Bucharest 86 dollars <BR>Bucharest to Athens about 100 dollars. <BR>So you may find a railpass a better buy: see http://www.railpass.com. But I' never found a railass with lower costs in Hungsary, Romania, and Bulgaria than the ordinary point to point tickets. <BR>On day trains you add five dollars or so per day for most international trains. <BR> <BR>If you can get a Yugoslav visa you can cut some distance: Venice, Zagreb, Belgrade, Skopje, Thessaloniki, Athens. The basic fare Belgrade to Athens is 98 dollars. But you miss some fine cities and countries. If you can't be bothered with visas you can travel Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Rome, Brindisi, 16 hours by boat, Patras, 4 hours by bus, Athens. But this misses all the interest (and low prices) of Romania and Bulgaria. If you're a mountains man you can divert north a bit: Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Geneva, Vienna or Venice, Budapest, and onwards. <BR> <BR>Indeed, Europe's your oyster. How about Helisinki and Tallinn on the way ? <BR> <BR>I'm sorry I'm no help on motoring. I should have thought it would be both boring and tiring, but I don't believe in strong recommendations, at my age. Please write if I can help further, for example when you've a route and stopovers in mind. If you do that please would you say where you are now and whether your library has the timetable: that helps me to advise you. I have on disc a note on night trains in Europe: shall I copy it to you ? Welcome to Europe <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR> <BR>

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Saul, The train will take you about 3 <BR>days and driving will be about 4 days. <BR>Flying is the only good option. Are you <BR>sue you want to do that--Greece does not <BR>fit with the rest of Europe.

chris

saul, i made the same trip in 1992 by Eurorail. I took my time, stopping in monte carlo 2 days and spending 10 days in Italy. From italy i took a ferry to corfu and stayed there a few days. then i took the ferry to mainland greece, and then a train to Athens. That was the most crowded train I have ever been on. <BR>The whole trip was great, but I couldn't Imagine making the trip from spain to greece all at one time. If you have the time, i would suggest doing it like i did because it is probably the cheapest way, otherwise i would suggest flying or taking a car. If your only goal is to get from point A to point B, then fly. If you would like to see italy and france, then i suggest driving.