4 January 2012. Train times valid from 11 December 2011
to 9 June 2012
UK to Portugal by train?
Why not? It's easy to
reach Portugal by train from London, taking a morning Eurostar from
London to Paris, an afternoon high-speed TGV from Paris to Irun on the
Spanish frontier, then the famous 'Sud Express' overnight to
Lisbon, with sleeping-cars, restaurant & bar,
the civilised way to reach Portugal! Or you can take
Eurostar and the overnight 'trainhotel' to Madrid, spend a
day exploring the Spanish capital, then take the 'Lusitania Trainhotel' overnight to
Lisbon. This page will
tell you train times, fares, and the best ways to buy
tickets.
This is the direct option between London, Paris & Lisbon,
using a mid-morning Eurostar to Paris, a high-speed TGV to
the Spanish frontier, then the modern incarnation of one of Europe's famous trains,
the Sud Express, overnight to Lisbon. The Sud
Express is now a 'trainhotel' featuring a restaurant,
cafe-bar, and cosy sleepers including some 'gran clase'
sleepers with private
toilet & shower.
Travel from Paris to Irun on the Spanish
frontier by high-speed TGV, leaving Paris Gare Montparnasse at
14:29
and arriving at Irun at 20:30. A café-bar is
available. At Irun, it's an
easy change across the platform to the waiting Sud
Express. Note: Occasionally,
engineering work can affect this train, so check your
dates using the recommended online systems. If no
Paris-Irun train appears, try booking Paris-Hendaye, or
try phoning Rail Europe.
Local trains link Hendaye and Irun every half hour.
Travel from Irun to Lisbon overnight on the famous
Sud Express, leaving Irun at 22:20 and arriving at Lisbon's Oriente station
(for connecting trains to Faro) at
10:22 and Lisbon's Santa Apolonia station (for the
city centre) at 10:31 next morning. In
March 2010 the Sud Express was upgraded to become
an articulated Spanish 'trainhotel', with 'Gran Clase' 1
& 2 bed sleepers with private shower & toilet,
'Preferente' 1 & 2 bed sleepers with washbasin,
'Turista' shared 4-bed sleepers, 'Turista' class
seats, a cafe-bar with full-length bar & bar-stools, and
an elegant restaurant car. The Preferente fares
include breakfast, the Gran Clase fares include a
3-course dinner with wine in the restaurant and
breakfast. Does not run on 24 or 31 December.
Map of Lisbon showing Santa Apolonia
& Oriente stations.
See panorama photo of 4-berth tourist class sleeper.
Train times
Lisbon ► London
Travel from Lisbon to Hendaye on the Sud Express,
leaving Lisbon Santa Apolonia station daily at 16:30
or Lisbon Oriente station at 16:38 and arriving
Hendaye at 07:10 next morning. In the northbound
direction interchange between Spanish and French trains
happens at Hendaye on the French side rather than Irun on the
Spanish side. It's an easy transfer across the
platform to the waiting TGV train to Paris. In March 2010 the Sud Express became an
articulated Spanish 'trainhotel', with 'Gran Clase' 1 &
2 bed sleepers with private shower & toilet,
'Preferente' class 1 & 2 bed sleepers with washbasin,
'Turista' class shared 4-bed sleepers, 'Turista' class
seats, a cafe-bar with full-length bar & bar-stools, and
an elegant restaurant car.
Map of Lisbon showing Santa Apolonia
& Oriente stations.
Travel from Hendaye to Paris by
high-speed TGV, leaving Hendaye at 07:40 and arriving in Paris
Gare Montparnasse at 13:40. Cafe-bar available.
Cross Paris by
métro to the Gare du Nord.
Travel from Paris to London by Eurostar,
leaving Paris Gare du
Nord at
16:13 and arriving London
St Pancras at 17:36.
On board Eurostar from London to Paris:
See the Eurostar page
for photos & information about on-board facilities.
On
board the TGV from Paris to Irun on the Spanish frontier...
The TGV has
1st & 2nd class seats, with a cafe-bar serving drinks and
snacks. Most TGV trains
from Paris to the Spanish frontier have been refurbished featuring chic new
designer interiors by Christian Lacroix.
On board the Sud Express from Irun on the Spanish frontier to
Lisbon...
In March 2010 the Sud Express became an articulated
Spanish 'trainhotel', complete with restaurant car, cafe-bar
and cosy sleepers, including some 'gran clase' sleepers with
private toilet and shower. In Irun (and in Hendaye
northbound) it's a simple cross-platform change from the French TGV
through a quick security check onto the Sud
Express sleeper train for Lisbon...
See panorama photo of 4-berth tourist class sleeper.
The Sud Express, about to leave Irun on the Franco-Spanish frontier, bound for
Lisbon... Photo courtesy of Ron Baker.
See panorama photo...
Gran Clase sleeper, in evening
mode with the seats folded out...
...return from dinner to find the
attendant has made up the beds...
The full-length
bar on a trainhotel, similar to that on the Sud Express...
The
Sud Express arrives in Lisbon: The Sud Express
has just arrived at Lisbon's
new Oriente station. Change here for InterCity
trains to Faro & the Algarve, remain on board for
the final stop, Lisbon's original Santa Apolonia Station
for Lisbon city centre. Photo courtesy of
Ron Baker...
UK residents can book all these trains online at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
although booking the Sud Express on Rail Europe can be a bit temperamental,
especially in the return eastbound direction so you may need
to book the Sud Express part of your journey at
www.renfe.com. Here's how to book online:
French train
bookings open 90 days in advance, although the Sud Express
opens for bookings 60 days ahead. You can't book
until reservations open.
Make a rough
note of each specific train you want to book, and the date
you want to book it, using the train times above.
Step 1, book the Eurostar from London to Paris & back.
Add it to your basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 2, now book the
TGV from Paris to Irun as a one-way trip, add it to your
basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 3, now
try and book the overnight Sud Express from Irun to
Lisbon & back. Add it to your basket and click
'continue shopping'.
It will in
fact book Paris to Lisbon all in one go, but won't then
allow you to mix and match classes, so you cannot have
2nd class TGV and 2-bed sleeper on the Sud Express.
So you're better off splitting the journey.
If you have
any problems booking the Sud Express using
www.raileurope.co.uk
(or if you want Gran Clase sleepers with shower which Rail
Europe can't book), simply use the
Spanish Railways website
www.renfe.com
instead. For a one-way trip, book from Irun to Lisbon,
for a return trip book from 'Irun/Hend' to Lisbon & back,
as 'Irun/Hend' gets you an outward trip starting in Irun,
with the return trip going to Hendaye. With
www.renfe.com,
you simply print out your own ticket, and the fares may be
cheaper than Rail Europe, too.
See this step-by-step advice on how to use renfe.com in
English. Tip: If you encounter a
problem booking sleepers in the English version of the
renfe.com website (there seems to be an error with a
drop-down box at one stage in the process in the English
version), try booking in Spanish as this error then
doesn't occur. If you still encounter any
problems booking the Sud Express, book it by phone with
www.spanish-rail.co.uk
in London by calling 020 3137 4464 .
Step 4,
now book the Hendaye to Paris TGV using
www.raileurope.co.uk.
Add it to your basket, go to checkout and pay for all your
Rail Europe bookings as one transaction.
One thing to
bear in mind:
www.raileurope.co.uk
can only sell the one-way fare for the Sud Express,
it cannot sell the discounted return fare. So for a
return journey you'll pay for two one-way fares, which
costs more than the return fare shown above. You may
prefer to book both outward & return Sud Express tickets
using
www.renfe.com
or by phone from www.spanish-rail.co.uk
so you can benefit from the cheaper return fare, then book
your Eurostar & TGV tickets online at
www.raileurope.co.uk
so you can benefit from the cheap fares through France
available on that website.
Non-UK
residents can use
www.eurostar.com to book London-Paris,
www.tgv-europe.com to book trains from Paris to Irun &
Hendaye to Paris, and
www.renfe.com to book Irun to Lisbon & Lisbon to
Hendaye.
www.tgv-europe.com will in fact book Paris to Lisbon &
back all in one go, but it won't let you mix 2nd class seats
on the TGV with 2-bed sleepers (classified as 1st class) on
the Sud Express, unless you split the journey into two
bookings, one Paris-Irun, the other Irun-Lisbon.
How to buy
tickets by phone...
In the UK, call
www.spanish-rail.co.uk on
020 3137 4464 (lines open 09:30-17:30 Monday-Friday),
or www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083. If you live overseas, call or
email www.europeanrail.com
on +44 20 7387 0444, they can send tickets overseas
for a small fee.
Top tip:
By all means ask the agency to book all your tickets (in
other words, the London-Paris-Irun tickets as well as the
ticket for the Sud Express), but it's worth checking the
prices for London-Paris & Paris-Irun trains online at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
as you can then see exactly what cheap fares are available
for yourself. If the agency won't sell you the same
cheap deals as you can see online (or wants to charge you
another hefty booking fee for these!), book London-Paris &
Paris-Irun online at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
and just use the agency to obtain your Sud Express tickets.
Tailor-made travel & hotel arrangements...
If you want a compete tailor-made
trip with all your rail travel expertly booked for you and
good quality hotels arranged, UK residents can call
www.railbookers.com on 020 3327 0761. US
residents can call them on (646) 770 2894 (please
quote seat61) and Canadian residents on (416) 800 0732
(please quote 'seat61'). Australian residents can call
their Australian office,
www.railbookers.com.au on 02 8096 0550. Just tell them
what you want, and they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you, hassle-free. They get
very positive reviews and take good care of their guests.
Browse suggested holiday itineraries &
prices (they can arrange train travel to Portugal both
ways, just ask).
Traveller's
report...
Traveller Nick Stone reports:
"...Instead of flying to Lisbon to join friends, earlier
this month for sightseeing in the city, I took the train and
what a marvellous trip it was. Bought a return £69
Eurostar ticket from London to Paris, than a Prem's 43 euros
TGV ticket from Paris Montparnasse to Irun. It would
have been 25 euros if I'd travelled on a day other than a
Friday. From Irun, it was a £72 ticket for the Sud
Express from Irun to Lisbon. I paid for a shared cabin
but ended having it to myself!
Included in the ticket was breakfast the next morning of
orange juice, coffee and toast. The Sud Express is
highly recommended, especially the scenery the next morning
through Portugal."
You can also
reach Lisbon travelling via Madrid. This takes an
extra night, but gives you a day in the Spanish capital.
The trainhotels between Paris & Madrid and Paris & Lisbon
also offer 'gran clase' sleepers with private shower &
toilet, as well as a restaurant and bar, making this option
a good choice.
Travel overnight from Paris to
Madrid on the excellent 'Elipsos trainhotel' with sleepers (some
with private toilet & shower), restaurant and bar, leaving
Paris Austerlitz at 18:53 and arriving in Madrid Chamartin
station at 09:10.
See the London to Spain page for more
details. See
www.elipsos.com for a virtual tour of the trainhotel. You can then spend
the day exploring Madrid.Left
luggage in Madrid.
On what days does the
trainhotel run? From 11 December 2011 to 17
March 2012 the trainhotel will only run on Monday, Thursday,
Friday and Sunday nights (and additionally on 24, 31
December, 11, 18, 25 February and 3 March, but not
on 17 or 25 December or 1 January). From 18 March
to 15 October 2012 it will run every night of the week,
except for 31 March, 7 or 9 April, 1, 8, 17 or 28 May. On the days when it's not running, don't worry,
an
alternative train service is available.
Take the equally excellent
overnight Lusitania Trenhotel from Madrid to Lisbon, leaving
Madrid Chamartin station daily at 22:25, arriving next
morning at Lisbon (Oriente) at 07:30 and Lisbon (Santa
Apolonia) at 07:41. The Lusitania Trainhotel is
identical to the Paris-Madrid trainhotel, with sleepers,
restaurant & bar.
The Lusitania Trenhotel leaves Lisbon
(Santa Apolonia) daily at 22:30 and Lisbon (Oriente) at
22:38, arriving in Madrid Chamartin station next
morning at 09:03. Sleepers, restaurant & bar
available. You can then spend the day exploring
Madrid.Left
luggage in Madrid.
The Madrid to Paris trainhotel
leaves Madrid Chamartin at 19:00 arriving in Paris at 09:03
next morning. Sleepers, restaurant and bar available.
See the London to Spain page for more
details. See
www.elipsos.com for a virtual tour of the trainhotel.
On what days does the
trainhotel run? From 11 December 2011 to 17 March 2012
this trainhotel will
only run on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday
nights (but it will also run on 17 December, 7 January,
11, 18, 25 February and 3 & 10 March). From 16
March to 15 October 2012 it will run every night of the
week, except for 24 & 31 March, 6, 7 & 8 April, 1, 8, 17
& 28 May. On the days when it's not running, don't worry,
an
alternative train service is available. See
the London to Spain
page for an alternative on these days.
A
Eurostar leaves Paris Gare du
Nord at 11:13 and arrives London St Pancras at 12:30.
See the London
to Spain page for full details of the Madrid to London
journey.
£54 each way. You must occupy the whole compartment.
10%-22% higher fares apply
mid-June to mid-September & at Easter (e.g.
£68 becomes £86).
*Special fares: In Tourist Class the £66
fare (£83 in summer) is called 'Prems', book at least
14 days in advance, non-refundable, non-changeable.
In 1st Class & Gran Clase 2 people must travel
together & either the higher
price (Duo) or if you're lucky, lower price (Mini
à Deux) will be available on any given date.
Mini is non-refundable, non-changeable, limited
availability. Duo is refundable, exchangeable,
usually available.
** Child = 4-11 years old;
Youth = 12-25 years old; Senior = anyone over 60.
***
Fare includes breakfast. **** Fare includes
evening meal with wine in the restaurant & breakfast.
Children under 4 go free, as long
as the parents have sole use of a compartment.
**** With private shower & toilet.
Fare includes evening meal in restaurant car with wine &
breakfast.
How to buy tickets online...
UK residents can buy
tickets for all parts of this
journey online at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
in both outward and return directions. This is the
cheapest way to book as there's
no booking fee and all the cheap deals are there for you
to see.
When you've
added those tickets to your basket, click 'continue
shopping' and book from Madrid to Lisbon and back,
selecting an evening departure. You can pay for all
tickets at the end of the process, as one transaction.
Note:
www.raileurope.co.uk
currently only offers 4 berth and single-berth sleepers
on the Madrid-Lisbon train, but not 2-berth sleepers or
Gran Clase sleepers with shower.
If you have any
problems, either book by phone with
www.spanish-rail.co.uk or book online at
www.renfe.com
instead, see the paragraph below.
Alternatively, you can now book the Madrid-Lisbon &
Lisbon-Madrid 'Lusitania trainhotel' online at
www.renfe.com.
You simply print out your
own ticket. But before going to renfe.com,
see this step-by-step advice on using it. Note
that renfe.com appears to show cheap 'Web' and 'Estrella'
fares for this train, but it's reported that this is a
website glitch, and that only 'general tariff' fares are
in fact available on this train.
In the UK,
call
Rail Europe on 0844 848 5 848 (lines open 09:00-19:00 Mondays-Fridays,
09:00-18:00 Saturdays, closed Sundays, £8 phone booking
fee) or
www.spanish-rail.co.uk on
020 7224 0345 (lines open 09:30-17:30
Monday-Friday).
Follow the directions for
London to Lisbon shown above, but
get off the Sud Express at Coimbra B (when it calls there on its way to Lisbon) at 08:19.
A fast
modern Alfa Pendular train
leaves Coimbra B at 08:45 and arrives Porto
(Campanhã station) at 09:46. Seat reservation
required.
Train times Porto ► London
Take the 16:52
air-conditioned InterCity train from Porto (Campanhã
station) arriving at
Coimbra B at 17:58. Seat reservation required.
The Sud Express leaves
Coimbra B at 18:53 overnight to Hendaye on the
French frontier, with connections for Paris, see the
Lisbon
to London section above.
Fares & how to
buy tickets...
See the London to Lisbon section
for an idea of fares and how to buy tickets. If you
have any problems getting an agency to book the final
Coimbra to Porto section, either try booking online at the
Portuguese Railways website,
www.cp.pt or
simply buy this ticket at the station when you get to
Coimbra.
You can easily reach the Algarve by train from London,
either by train all the way via Lisbon (as shown below), or by
train to Seville then bus (further
below). Train service from Lisbon to the Algarve
has just been dramatically improved. The line from
Lisbon to Faro has been electrified and speeded up, and
air-conditioned InterCity trains now run direct from
Lisbon's new Oriente station, crossing the Tagus by bridge
instead of requiring passengers to take a ferry to Barreiro
station across the river from central Lisbon.
Train times London ► Albufeira, Lagos, Faro
Travel from London to
Lisbon as shown in the
London to Lisbon section, but alighting at Lisbon Oriente station at 10:22.
Travel from Lisbon to the Algarve by modern
air-conditioned 'InterCity' train, leaving Lisbon Oriente
station at 14:20 and arriving
in Tunes at 17:20, Albufeira 17:28, and Faro at 17:50. There are a range
of trains daily between Lisbon and the Algarve, see
www.cp.pt
for the complete timetable and fares.
For Lagos, change at Tunes. A connecting train
leaves Tunes at 18:02 arriving Portimao at 18:37 & Lagos
at 18:56.
Above: Modern air-conditioned
InterCity trains
link Lisbon with Faro and the Algarve several times daily.
Photos courtesy of Luisfer
Train times Faro, Albufeira, Lagos ► London
Leave Faro by modern air-conditioned 'InterCity' train
at 09:47, calling at Albufeira at 10:09, Tunes at 10:16
and arriving Lisbon (Oriente) at 13:10.
Coming from Lagos, leave Lagos at
09:00
or Portimao at 09:19 arriving Tunes at
09:56. Change trains, departing Tunes at 10:16 by
InterCity train arriving Lisbon Oriente at
13:10.
The fare from Lisbon to Faro is about £16 one way, £32
return in 2nd class, £23 one-way, £46 return in 1st
class. For fares London to Lisbon, see the
Lisbon section above.
How to buy tickets...
See the Lisbon section to buy
tickets from London to Lisbon
Travel from Seville to Faro by
bus, a 3 hour 40 minute trip. Buses run from Seville
Plaza de Armas to
Faro twice daily at 07:30 & 16:15,
and from Faro back to Seville at 08:20 & 15:35.
The fare is around 16-18 euros each way. The bus service
is run jointly by Damas & Eva-Bus,
www.damas-sa.es &
www.eva-bus.com, and there may be additional buses
in July & August, although you may find
this unofficial British-run website more helpful in
explaining Seville-Faro timetables. You can book
one-way or return journeys from
Seville to Faro online at
www.movelia.es, or one-way or return journeys
starting in Faro at
www.rede-expressos.pt. Another company,
www.alsa.es,
also has two daily buses Seville-Faro, with online
booking in either direction.
A weekly summer ferry service started in 2008, linking
southern Portugal (Portimao in the Algarve) with Funchal on
Madeira. The ferry crossing takes 24 hours. For
train service between London, Paris & Portimao, see the
London to the Algarve section above.
A complete journey from London St Pancras to Madeira by
train & ferry takes 3 nights, including 1 night on a sleeper
train, 1 night in a hotel in Portimao, and 1 night on the
ferry.
Outwards
to Madeira: The ferry leaves Portimao (Portugal)
at 13:00 on Sundays, arriving Funchal (Madeira) at 11:30 on
Mondays.
Return
from Madeira: The ferry leaves Funchal (Madeira)
at 10:30 on Saturdays, arriving Portimao (Portugal) on
Sundays at 08:30.
Fares
from 83 euros each way in a reclining seat, 155 euros each
way per person for two people in a double cabin, 310 euros
each way in a private single-bed cabin. See
www.navieraarmas.com for sailing dates, times, fares and
online booking.
Portimao has a railway station on
the line to Lagos. So see the London
to Lagos train times above - the connecting train from
Tunes to Lagos mentioned in that section calls at Portimao about 15 minutes before
arriving at Lagos.
Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Winter/Spring 2011/12 edition (Dec 2011 to June 2012) or
(when available)
Summer/Autumn 2012 edition (June to Dec 2012)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
Make
sure you take a good guidebook. I think the best ones out
there for the independent traveller are the Lonely Planets and
the Rough Guides. Both books
provide an excellent level of practical information and cultural
and historical
background. You won't regret buying one of these!
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe
based on this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", is due to be published in June 2008, and Amazon
will let you pre-order now.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Other hotel sites worth trying...
I'd also suggest trying these three sites:
www.tripadvisor.com is one of the best places to browse
independent travellers' reviews of the main hotels.
www.booking.com is my own preferred hotel booking system
(Hotels Combined being a search/comparison system). It
has a simple interface, a good selection in most countries
worldwide, useful online customer reviews of each hotel, and
decent prices, usually shown inclusive of unavoidable extras
such as taxes (a pet hate of mine is systems that show one
price, then charge you another!).
www.venere.com
(Lisbon,
Porto, or
Algarve pages): The price you see is the price you pay, no hidden extras, and you simply pay the hotel when you get
there. After you've booked, you can change or cancel
your reservation in line with the hotel's own change and
cancellation policy.
Backpacker
hostels...
www.hostelbookers.com: If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget about the backpacker hostels. Hostelbookers
offers online booking of dorm beds or ultra-cheap private
rooms in backpacker hostels in Paris and most other European
cities at rock-bottom prices.
Travel insurance & health card...
Get travel insurance, it's essential...
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself).
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome. Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a spare credit card, one designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card
to save on mobile data and phone calls...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
In
the UK, try
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, try
If you live in the USA or Canada, try
