Vacation Travel

Trains

For travel within Spain, investigate Spanish national rail passes or buy individual tickets from town to town. For travel outside Spain, check out Eurail passes, which permit travel throughout Western Europe for various periods at reduced cost. Eurail passes must be purchased in the U.S. InterRail passes may be purchased by academic year students who can show proof of official legal residence in Spain of six months (by showing their student residency cards).

Bicycles

Madrid is not an entirely bicycle-friendly city quite yet, but there are lots of bike-lanes and developments to make the city more bike-friendly. WIP students have enjoyed rewarding cycling experiences in more rural areas of Spain. The city now has an initiative called BiciMadrid in which bicycles can be rented throughout the city. Several docking stations can be found on the University campus and there are many around the city’s parks and tourist areas. You can rent bicycles by the hour, day, or purchase a monthly subscription for unlimited rides.

However, extreme care must be taken since there are many occasional accidents because of the carelessness of car drivers unaccustomed to “watching” for bikes. For recreational cycling, various

Planes

Commercial air travel within Europe is expensive; but there are many low- cost operators with flights to most major European cities. You must be careful to read the fine print since many charge for baggage, and additional fees apply when you don’t have your ticket printed out beforehand, etc. The most popular operators are Ryanair and EasyJet.

Youth Hostels

Youth hostels provide clean, inexpensive, albeit spartan accommodations throughout Western Europe. You can book hostels through the hostel’s website, by calling a hostel directly, or through sites like hostelworld.com or kayak.com.