Europe

5 of Our Top Tips for Driving in Portugal for the Best Time

When we decided to visit Portugal, we knew we would rent a car to drive around the country to explore as much as possible. We went into it assuming that driving in Portugal would be a lot like in other European countries we’ve driven in, like Italy and Iceland- that is to say, crazy at worst or covered with speed cameras at best.

As it turns out, driving in Portugal was incredibly easy, and apart from a few key issues worth highlighting we really had no problems at all. In this one, we thought we’d share more about what you can expect when picking up a car to explore here!

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Why You Should Book a Plitvice Hotel and Stay In the Park

Before we even started our RTW trip, we knew that Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia was one of our must-see stops. The logistics of planning a trip to this remote location were slightly trickier, however.

At first we considered visiting the park on a day trip from Zagreb. With only a few hours in the park, we wondered if the trip was worth the cost ($50+/person).

Our next thought was to stop at Plitvice on our way from Zagreb to Zadar, but the bus schedules still would have only allowed us a few hours in the park and it would have cost about the same as a day trip.

We finally realized that in order to see the whole park we’d have to spend a night there, and that meant booking a Plitvice hotel.

After researching accommodation options we found that there were a select few more expensive hotels within the actual park, and cheaper options farther from the park. 

So to help you make the best choice for your stay in Plitvice, we’re summarizing them here and including information we did not find online and only learned after our stay at the national park.

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4 Tips for How to Buy Train Tickets in Spain on Renfe

Madrid, Spain

For those who have tried to buy Spain train tickets on the booking website Renfe, you are probably cringing in recollection of your experiences.

For those who are heading to Spain in the future but have yet to purchase tickets, you probably have heard the rumors about how bad the service is.

For those who do not know what I am talking about, you’re about to have an eye opening experience.  Buying tickets on Renfe is quite possibly one of the worst travel experiences one can have, and after several frustrating purchase attempts for our vacation in Spain we figured out 4 great tips to help make your purchasing experience a breeze! 

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How to Make Eurail Reservations with a Eurail Pass

For our stay in Europe, we purchased a 10-segment Eurail Select Pass that was valid in 4 countries (France, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy) over a period of two months.  

Our research into this topic showed that our route was cost effective for the ten most expensive rail segments out of the fourteen we were planning to take. However, since purchasing our rail pass we realized one little error that we did not account for in our first analysis, and that it is the major headache (and cost) that comes with making Eurail reservations for seat assignments ahead of time. 

After making our reservations, we realized that there are a lot of subtle intricacies required when booking reservations with a Eurail Pass. Since the need for reservations and their corresponding fees aren’t necessary for everyone, this guide was born. For those like us who are traveling during peak season or are uneasy with winging it for popular rail routes, this one is for you.

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