By Rail from UK to Algarve ???

Anyone know if its posible to travel as a family to the Algarve by rail from
the UK please ??, I wish to start traveling to Europe for family hols but
dont want to drive or fly .

Cheers R

On Sun, 9 Nov 2003 11:03:07 -0000, "The Rifleman"
wrote:

Anyone know if its posible to travel as a family to the Algarve by rail from
the UK please ??, I wish to start traveling to Europe for family hols but
dont want to drive or fly .

Cheers R

I guess you could take the Eurostar to Paris for starters. Then there
is a train link from Paris to Lisbon, and in Lisbon you could get a
regional rail link to wherever in the Algarve you want to go. But this
will be much more expensive than flying - if you can bring yourself to
fly, I think EasyJet (I think it's EasyJet, maybe it's one of the
other budget airlines) has regular flights to Faro.

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"The Rifleman" wrote in message
...
Anyone know if its posible to travel as a family to the Algarve by rail
from
the UK please ??, I wish to start traveling to Europe for family hols but
dont want to drive or fly .

Cheers R



Technically its possible BUT its a LONG journey.
Basically you go Eurostar to Paris, Paris to Hendaye/irun
and then catch an overnight train to Lisbon getting there
the next morning around 10AM. Not only is it long its
expensive too.

You can get details at

http://lonelyplanet.raileurope.com/

Keith

In message , The Rifleman
writes
Anyone know if its posible to travel as a family to the Algarve by rail from
the UK please ??, I wish to start traveling to Europe for family hols but
dont want to drive or fly .

Well, sure it's /possible/ to travel by train to most parts of Europe,
but it's not a terribly attractive journey - about 25 hours from London
to Lisbon, including a couple of hours to get your family across Paris
from Gare du Nord to Montparnasse, for example:

London Waterloo Int. dep 10:12 Eurostar 9016
Paris-Nord arr 13:53

Metro line 4 direction Porte d'Orleans

Paris Montparnasse dep 15:55 TGV 8543
Irun (Spanish border) arr 21:32

Irun dep 22:00 E 313
Lisboa S.A. arr 10:53

It's the sort of journey I would have done when I worked for BR and
didn't have to pay the basic fare, only extras like sleepers or
couchettes! These days even rail staff from this country tend to take a
cheap flight to Portugal and ride the trains once they get there, since
it's so much quicker and cheaper.

See http://reiseasukunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/d for rail enquiries in
most of Europe, http://www.cp.pt/horarios/e_horarios.html for Portuguese
Railways timetables.

--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/

"Arwel Parry" wrote in message
...
In message , The Rifleman
writes
Anyone know if its posible to travel as a family to the Algarve by rail
from
the UK please ??, I wish to start traveling to Europe for family hols but
dont want to drive or fly .

Well, sure it's /possible/ to travel by train to most parts of Europe,
but it's not a terribly attractive journey - about 25 hours from London
to Lisbon, including a couple of hours to get your family across Paris
from Gare du Nord to Montparnasse, for example:

London Waterloo Int. dep 10:12 Eurostar 9016
Paris-Nord arr 13:53

Metro line 4 direction Porte d'Orleans

Paris Montparnasse dep 15:55 TGV 8543
Irun (Spanish border) arr 21:32

Irun dep 22:00 E 313
Lisboa S.A. arr 10:53

It's the sort of journey I would have done when I worked for BR and
didn't have to pay the basic fare, only extras like sleepers or
couchettes! These days even rail staff from this country tend to take a
cheap flight to Portugal and ride the trains once they get there, since
it's so much quicker and cheaper.

See http://reiseasukunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/d for rail enquiries in
most of Europe, http://www.cp.pt/horarios/e_horarios.html for Portuguese
Railways timetables.

I'd guess that a return fare per person would be over £300, when you can fly
to Faro from around £100, and less in low season. Easyjet is the only
bargain airline from London to Faro, but there are also loads of charter
flights, with convenient regional departures.
If you insist on rail travel, investigate some kind of family deal with a
pass or railcard.

Alec

Many T^hanks to all for their time and effort to reply to my question, I am
in your collective debts.
R

"Alec" wrote in
:

I'd guess that a return fare per person would be over £300, when you
can fly to Faro from around £100, and less in low season. Easyjet is
the only bargain airline from London to Faro, but there are also loads
of charter flights, with convenient regional departures.
If you insist on rail travel, investigate some kind of family deal
with a pass or railcard.

Alec

Or investigate a closer destination for your family "hols"

"The Rifleman" a écrit dans le message
de ...
Anyone know if its posible to travel as a family to the Algarve by rail
from
the UK please ??, I wish to start traveling to Europe for family hols but
dont want to drive or fly .

For the current options, see URL :
http://www.seat61.com/Portugal.htm
(Algarve info at the foot of the page)

And if you don't mind waiting until about 2010, you may be interested by:
Portugal and Spain agree to create four high-speed rail links - November 8,
2003

http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/...5&ChannelId=16

Portugal and Spain have agreed to build four high-speed rail links between
their two countries, including one that will connect Lisbon and Madrid in
under three hours, a Portuguese diplomatic source said.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso and his Spanish
counterpart Jose Maria Aznar will outline the details of the project at a
press conference at this seaside resort on Saturday at the end of a two-day
annual bilateral summit, the source added.

"It is very important that Portugal not be isolated from the rest of
Europe," the source said on condition of anonymity.


The first high-speed rail link between the two neighbours will be completed
in 2009 and will link Portugal's second city Oporto, in the industrialized
north, with Vigo in northern Spain.

The link between Lisbon and Madrid, which will connect with high-speed rail
connections in France and beyond, will be completed one year later.

rest SNIPPED