Planning a 1 month travel

Thanks BrendanDB, 

Concerning the &st and 2 nd questions, I struggle with the number of countries I should visit to fully discover them ? I had in mind 7 countries in a month so that I can dedicate few days to properly explore each country. 

What do you think ? 

If some of you have travelled from South to North in a month with the Global pass please let me know, to get in touch with you. !!! 

Thanks ! 

It’s entirely up to you, but IMHO you can never “fully” visit a country, especially bigger ones like Germany or Sweden.

The trick is to strategically choose a location to stay for a couple of days, and do some day trips.

E.g. If you stay in Utrecht (NL), it’s very centrally located to explore the rest of the country, while not having to put up with the hassle of taking your luggage everywhere.

Less is usually more and try to see the journey on the train as part of your travel. Especially in the north and mountainous region, it’s good to do a bit of research and go for some (slower but) very scenic routes instead the quickest option from A to B.

When will you be travelling? If you will be travelling soon, days are very short here in Sweden and above the Arctic Circle, there is night all day. On the other hand, if you will be travelling during the summer, you will have the sun shining all night above the Arctic Circle in the beginning of July. 

You can fit in many stops in a month and it would be entirely up to you how much time you spend travelling and staying in each stop.

As an example I spent 10 days (5 travel days) covering UK- Sicily (cheap flight), Salerno, Bologna, Nuremberg, Brussels and back to the UK. So treble that and you can see how far you could travel .

Realistically you should try something like a 3 day cycle travel - stay 2 nights - travel - stay 2 nights. This usually gives one evening and then a full day touring the city/region you are staying  in. Quite relaxing,

I am happy with between a 4 hour and 9 hour travel day, but I do go First Class.

Thanks everyone for your answers back ! 
 

I’d like to visit 7 countries from North and South ( Islande, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy. 
I don’t really know which way should I take to be fast while travelling and have time to visit natural landscapes.

‘’talking about that, do you know if the train goes to beautiful and natural landscapes ? 
and do you have natural landscapes to advise me in these different countries ? 
 

thanks ! 

It will be quite hard to visit Iceland unless you fly. On the other hand Sweden would fit nicely between Norway and Finland.

Some journeys will take quite long : for example don't expect to travel from Norway to Switzerland in a day. Stop in Copenhagen or Hamburg enroute. Reliable timetables are available on DB Navigator app, bahn.com.

Pretty much any route in the Alps is scenic. The Stockholm - Narvik night train is quite famous, go from south to north to have the best views in the morning. Book well in advance.

Have a look at the mandatory reservations (extra cost) in some countries : https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

Remember that you can only travel on 2 days in your own country so you might have to buy a ticket at some point.

You can go where you like, but getting from Iceland - Finland/ Norway - Switzerland - Portugal. Those are some long journeys taking in three of the four furthest corners of the continent!

There’s a ferry between Iceland and Hirtshals (Denmark), taking 2-3 nights. Or of course you can fly.

Since you are in France, perhaps you could leave Spain and Portugal for another trip? Spain isn’t great with a Eurail pass anyway, it’s often better just to buy tickets.

One more question, I’d like to start my travel mid-january, can I activate my global pass at that moment or I have to do it at the beginning of the month ? 

Yes you can activate it at any point : for example 15th January - 14th February.

Hello again, 

Can you share with me your opinion ? 
 This is the context, my companion is from Crete ( Greek island) and I am from France. We will travel together during a month, to several countries ( Norway, Finland, Iceland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal )

according to you from where should we depart ? 
should I join him Or the opposite ? 
Should we meet in one of the northern countries or the southern countries ?

any idea ? 
 

If your friend wants to travel by sea, you might meet him in Italy. He can get a ferry to Piraeus (Athens) then another from Western Greece to Bari, Ancona or Venice. On the Adriatic coast.

https://www.seat61.com/Greece.htm#london-to-athens-by-train-and-ferry-via-bari

Or he can pick a cheap flight to somewhere in your target countries

It will indeed be hard to do the whole trip without flying. Check fares to/from Iceland and book in advance, price will only increase.

You'll also have to take into account the 2 days limitation in France. Either buy a ticket, take the ferry from Rome (Civitavecchia) to Barcelona or... fly.

We've already said it but it might be worth leaving Spain and Portugal for another trip : no need to worry about mandatory reservations, France/ferry/flight. 

You could meet up in Venice or Ancona and then slowly make your way up north. At the moment daylight is very limited (inexistant) in ths north but it will be better in February. Something to have in mind in my opinion.