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Hey everybody 🙂 I’m trying to have a nice week of hiking in early May, and I was thinking of the French Pyrenees (I’m traveling from up North so Spain adds a lot of travel time), the French Alps, or maybe Austria.

I’m having a hard time narrowing down my options! I would love to hike from hut to hut, and if possible walk through both forests and mountainous terrain. Staying a hut or hostel from which day hikes are possible would also be a perfectly agreeable option.

Does anybody have any advice? Much appreciated :)

This is rather a train forum so I'll ask a few questions:

How are you planning to get to Toulouse (example)? Train tickets? Interrail Pass?

There are a few holiday weekends in early May and some trains are already sold out (especially on Amsterdam - Paris). Definitely book ASAP for travel around this time. What would be your travel dates?

There are a few (cheaper) alternatives than Eurostar/ex-Thalys but they take longer.

Hey thanks for your quick answer! So yeah I was planning on taking either the tgv to Bayonne and then onwards to Pau, or a TGV/sleeper train to Toulouse. I am coming from the Netherlands, but I was planning to leave on Monday the 6th. Not sure if that would make things easier. I haven't booked yet because I'm not sure that I'll have the dates off but maybe I should just get that over with.

 

Travel dates would be Monday 6 until Sunday 12 peferrably. Not as long as I would want but it's some old travel dates from an earlier interrail trip :)

There aren’t that many train lines in/ through the Pyrenees. You can see them on Open Railway Map

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=42.39506551565123&lon=0.54656982421875&zoom=8

If you’re planning hut to hut routes, you’ll probably find that bus connections will be more useful.

Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees, by Cicerone is a good guidebook, and has info on transport to/ from the trailheads. I’m sure there’s info online too.

6th May isn't an issue but still book early.

On the other hand crossing France on 12th May is hardly possible. Everything is fully booked with little exceptions. It's the end of the long Ascension weekend...

Could you come back on 13th May to make things easier? Otherwise I'll try to suggest something.

Also, worth knowing that the sleeper train to Toulouse carries on to Latour de Carol, near Andorra. 

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