Monday, February 13, 2012

The Lisbon-Madrid Sleeper

You would think Lisbon to Madrid and vice versa is a popular rail route, no?  I mean, Lisbon to Madrid sounds as important to business travelers, locals, and tourists as, say, Paris to Brussels or Florence to Rome, don't you think?  Well, you and I think wrong.  There is only ONE train a day between Lisbon and Madrid, and it is a night train, a sleeper.  Huh?!  This is how business people travel between two bustling capital cities?  They all take an 11 hour long sleeper-train ride?  I don't think so.  Maybe they all fly easyJet?  Maybe they all drive?

I was hoping for a nice little train ride out of Lisbon towards Spain with maybe a stop in between in some cute little town along the way.  It just doesn't exist.  Looks like it's time to introduce our kids to sleeping on a train!
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8 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 13, 2012 at 4:07 AM

    Enjoy the journey, even if it is on a sleeper train. :-)

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  2. Preparing for TakeoffFebruary 13, 2012 at 9:08 AM

    I love the sleeper train and so did my kids! We thought of it as an activity all by itself. Although maybe bring some ear plugs...

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  3. SteveFebruary 13, 2012 at 11:00 AM

    I'm with you, that doesn't seem like the kind of route that would only have one train a day. Hope the trip goes well for you.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2012 at 12:49 PM

    That sounds fun!

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  5. Mary @ The World Is A BookFebruary 13, 2012 at 11:13 PM

    It sounds like an adventure. We actually looked at the Easyjet "cattle call" flights when we were in Madrid for Lisbon and they were going for about $40RT. It was so tempting but Paris won out. Good luck with your plans.

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  6. LisaFebruary 17, 2012 at 10:26 AM

    Sleeping on a train sounds like an adventure - in theory at least!

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  7. AnilaJanuary 11, 2013 at 4:18 AM

    I think the problem is that a lot of visitors to these places don't know about the sleeper options. For example back in Dec 2012 two trained romantically called the Pau Casals and salvador Dali running between Barcelona and Zurich and Barcelona and Milan stopped running. Imagine departing sunny Spain and waking up in Switzerland! Sad days!

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    Replies
    1. SonjaJanuary 11, 2013 at 9:43 AM

      They were both night trains and stopped running? That's a shame, of course, because night trains can save a lot of time. In my Lisbon-Madrid example I was just really surprised a night train was the ONLY option! Thanks for stopping by!

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