Glad to hear you’re flexible…do you do a lot of yoga? Bordeaux the city is not that great…there’s a wine museum there but not much elese of interest. If you’re really into wine you coul use Bordeaux as a your base and then take a guided bus tour to the local wineries (St. Emillion is probably the most picturesque village)

Perhaps a 15 days in 2 months global Eurail pass? I see that’s what the trip planner recommends, and that’s the best general recommendation you’re going to get. Unless you are willing to 1) search the individual national rail company websites (the links are in a sticky at the top of this forum or under “transportation” on the travel tips tab) and 2) commit to exact dates and times and buy non-refundable and often non-changeable tickets in advance, you are unlikely to beat that recommendation. This is not necessarily very easy as…. Not all tickets are available on-line from the national rail companies and some national rail companies don’t accept non-European credit cards. Many of the specials don’t go on sale until 60 days in advance and sell out very quickly so you may have to be checking and buying over a period of several weeks to take advantage of the specials.

Ha ha funny you mention that finnegan- Yoga is all the craze down here in Australia at the moment! As you’ve mentioned, there isn’t a lot to do in Bordeaux which i’m aware of and subsequently, have been contemplating visiting Provence instead. The aforemention was luring because i’m an avid wine appreciator! As you seem to know about Southern France, what could you recommend for me on my way through to San Sebastian? Yes i’m 21 years old but i’m not exaxtly looking to ‘party’ my way through Europe as many are- i want it to be culturally relevant.

As for the global Eurail pass, that’s what i’d originially anticipated on doing but so many people on different forums suggest that your better or purchasing point-to-point or flying :S. I have no concerns in purchasing the pass but it’s the additional reservation and booking fees that concern me. Point-to-point tickets are easy to purchase at stations, yes? Hypothetically, if i arrive at the station and a point-to-point is cheaper than the marginal cost of using my ticket on that trip, i could book on the spot? As for planes, do you propose that i use them on any of the legs on my journey?

Thank you both for you help, it’s fantastic. If anyone else has information on amending my journey or anything else you consider to be useful, please do comment.

As I said, the best recommendation short of doing hours of work on line on your own is what you get from railsaver — what’s in the trip planner. Whether or not you have to pay for a reservation depends on which specific train you choose to take, not how you pay for the ticket. If you choose to take a train that requires a reservation, you’re going to pay for that reservation. If you use a railpass to cover the standard ticket fare you have to buy a reservation. If you buy a ticket for that train it will cost more than standard fare because the ticket will include the required reservation. Yes, generally. Sometimes you have to stand in line. Yes, this is generally a good idea — of course you’ll already have paid for the railpass by the time you get to the train station. I’d fly to/from Spain — unless I couldn’t find a cheap flight. Plan B would be an overnight train. You might also look for a cheap flight to Copenhagen.

Is there a reason you’ve chosen Zurich and Vienna? Also, Scandinavia might be a little expensive for your budget.

Thanks, i hope your being comepnsated for this because you do an excellent job! As for Zurich and Vienna, i haven’t choosen them for any specific reason. I am infact considering substituting my stay in Zurich for a visit to Gimmelwald. Are there other locations you think i’d enjoy more so than the aforementioned??

Another concern i was having is whether to visit Greece and Croatia. Do you think, given my current itinerary it would be practical to venture that far South considering i intend on heading North to Scandanavia? You’ve mentioned that it’s expensive here- i’m not staying there for an extensive period of time so i’m hoping that my short stay wont cost me to much…

Also, having been advised that there are better places in the South of France for me to visit, i’ve been trying to find an alternate to Bordeaux. My concern at the moment is that all of those places i’ve read about and seem great are in the south/east. Does anyone know whether i’ll be able to visit these on my way from Paris to San Sebastian? What cities would be most suitable?

Thanks in advance

Ha — I think even the administrators here are volunteers…. A good choice. IMO, you don’t visit Switzerland for the cities… Vienna is a good visit for a couple of days, but I found it kind of stuffy and dull. Others will disagree. Greece and Croatia are good visits. However, you want to check the travel time involved in getting to/from them. I would not spend the time and money to get to Greece if you only end up with enough time for a couple of days in Athens. IMO, the islands (which involve ferries, so even more travel time), not Athens, are the reason to visit Greece. Croatia takes some time and money to get to and some time to get around. Zagreb is a very nice city, but the coast, not the capital, is the reason to visit Croatia.

On your way from Paris to San Sebastian? What about a few days in the Loire Valley visiting some french chateau. Most of the chateau (Blois, Chambord, Chenonceau, etc) are close together and easily accesible by train or bus (or rent a car). Use places like Blois or Tours as a base. The area also produces some excellent white wines (vouvray region)

Hi guys,

I couldn’t help but notice in ‘trip advisor’ it says that the Global pass is suited to my trip. However, it then says i should expect to pay an additional $90 for each city-to-city trip. Does this sound right??

I’m not sure which routes they recommend a point to point for — perhaps that’s an estimate of what you’ll pay on Eurostar to get from London to Paris.???? That’s roughly the price of regular youth fare.

We just returned from our Europe trip and spent two nights in Bordeaux as a stopover between Madrid and Paris. Initially we had people suggest we not go there and I do understand why, however for us it ended up being a highlight of the trip.

Bordeaux has a boardwalk by the river that teemed with people in the evenings walking, playing in small impromptu bands, rollerblading and picnicking. There is a fountain in Place Quincones that is as impressive as many others in Europe. There is also this really cool water feature along the boardwalk that is really difficult to describe but pretty cool nonetheless. Bordeaux has one of the longer pedestrianized streets that we found with good shopping, pretty cheap eats and incredible character.

We also did a day trip to St Emilion and that was incredible. The village houses the only monolithic church in Europe as far as I know. It was entirely carved out of the limestone hillside. Also underneath the village there are nearly 18 kilometers of caverns that store wine from throughout the region. St Emilion is a UNESCO world heritage site. We spent a full day there and enjoyed every minute of it.

Just needed to speak up for Bordeaux… don’t discard it too quickly. It really was a great spot.

Hi Revyd,

Thanks for the heads up- i’m still having trouble deciding where to go in the South of France. At the moment it looks as though i’ll decide when the time comes but thanks to your comments i’ll definately keep Bordeaux in mind.

To all the others that have commented, thanks again! It has been of much assistance. To anyone else that comes along this thread, keep the posts coming

sweet, im also looking at doing a couple of night in bordeaux, going from the riviera up to brittany, and it looked like a nice place to check out