I don’t really like flying, or rather, I don’t like booking plane tickets and I don’t like the hassle you have to endure at airports. Apart from the fact that flying is so bad for the environment.
For me, that is the biggest disadvantage of living in Portugal. And since I love to visit my family in the Netherlands every 3-4 months, I have to accept this.
Or, I wondered;
are there any alternatives to flying between Portugal and the rest of Europe?
Since the pandemic, all international train connections to and from Portugal have been canceled. No dates have yet been communicated for the reopening of these lines.
I searched for an alternative for a hypothetical journey, to arrive in Rotterdam around 16 June 2022.
Traveling schedule Cinfães, Portugal – Rotterdam, The Netherlands
June 14, 2022
07:23 train Mosteirô, Portugal
|
08:01 Penafiel, Portugal
09:40 bus Penafiel, Portugal
|
17:35 Valladolid, Spain
June 15, 2022
11:50 train Valladolid, Spain
|
17:35 Irun-Hendaya
18:12 TGV Hendaye, France
|
22:56 Paris Montparnasse
June 16, 2022
06:13 Thalys Paris Gare du Nord
|
09:02 Rotterdam Centraal, The Netherlands
WOW! That is not what you call an alternative. That is a road trip, with two overnight stays!
There are some other alternatives, but then you have to travel via Madrid and Barcelona by train. Or you take a bus from Portugal all the way up to Bordeaux or Paris. Both are rather uncomfortable.
I remember that, before the pandemic, you could go by train from Rotterdam to Mosteirô within 30 hours with an overnight train through Spain. Probably, I just have to wait for the international train connections to work again.
É a vida…
PS: The best website to find your train connection in Europe is Die Deutsche Bahn
https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de