Interrailing/Eurailing Advice Superthread (IMPORTANT: FAQ at start)

anyone who has been interrailing before, does it matter if a few of you won't be 18 by the time you go?

Reply 181

KingofSpades

Original post by spacepirate-James

anyone who has been interrailing before, does it matter if a few of you won't be 18 by the time you go?

probably depends where you go and what clubs you go to. It wouldn't (doesn't) matter in places like Spain or Portugal. Probably doesn't matter in Eastern/Central Europe (Prague, Krakow, Vienna). You can drink in Germany at 16, but can only club till midnight. where you goin?

Reply 182

miranda-ae

Original post by amyshaw7

Switzerland (Interlaken/ Zurich?)

Go to Interlaken, its really, really nice there. My uncle has a house in Riggenberg and we go every year. Swim in the lakes, there is nothing more refreshing. If you don't have any family there though it might get a little dull, so maybe just take a day trip from Bern?

Speaking of that though, a really, really great day is to (if you are staying in Bern), get the train to Thun, buy/hire something inflatable, go to the Aare river, get in your inflatable whatever, then let the Aare take you all the way back to Bern. Take some beers and suncream and chill.

Reply 183

miranda-ae

Hi guys, me and my (male) friend are going travelling for two weeks round Europe, and our schedule is pretty tight as he has to back on the 18th August, and I don't get back to England until the 25th July. We fly out to Istanbul on the 1st, and then we are planning to do -> Plovdiv -> Sofia -> Belgrade -> Budapest -> Bratislava -> Vienna ---> Bern and I'm going to stay with my family there after my pass runs out. We will probably play it by ear and maybe do some smaller towns in between. What is everyones opinions on this route, reckon it is feasible? /Good?

We booked our flight to Istanbul today, and we wanted to book two nights accomodation as well, any suggestions? Hostel, <£10pp/pn?

Reply 184

Can anyone help with night trains in Italy? From what I've seen you pay a small charge to get a seat on a nighttrain in addition to the interrail ticket, and you pay more for whatever type of bed you want. Is it easy to navigate your way through without speaking any of the language?

Reply 185

Poppyxx

11

Hey,

This sounds like a stupid question but is interrail.net the best place to buy tickets? As in the official place?

The passes on STA are more expensive - is that their mark up?

e.g. 22 consec days is £294 versus £259

Also, how early do we need to book hostels? Friends who travelled before booked hostels in the most popular places prior to leaving the UK (and prayed their plans remained pretty much in tact), but is that the case everywhere?

Basically a group of 6/7 of us are interested in interrailing this summer. Starting with a break in Ibiza (we went last year and want to go back), then begin travelling from Barcelona. Not all planning on staying together for the whole time - a couple of us have a yearning to see Central/Eastern Europe, whilst others are more focussed on Central/Western Europe. So separating for parts, then reuniting. We might stick together the whole time, but plans are in their very early stages now!

x

Reply 186

Sonic Sensei

Original post by Poppyxx

Hey,

This sounds like a stupid question but is interrail.net the best place to buy tickets? As in the official place?

The passes on STA are more expensive - is that their mark up?

e.g. 22 consec days is £294 versus £259

Also, how early do we need to book hostels? Friends who travelled before booked hostels in the most popular places prior to leaving the UK (and prayed their plans remained pretty much in tact), but is that the case everywhere?

x

I brought my ticket off interrailnet.com, not sure how many other places sell them though. I went away for 2 weeks and never booked a hostel, but half the time I was by myself and half with one other friend. This was in September too, so its at the tail end of the season. If you're gonna go in the summer you'll probably best book in advance, especially with a group that size.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 187

Formerly LieDown

Original post by Colbert

Can anyone help with night trains in Italy? From what I've seen you pay a small charge to get a seat on a nighttrain in addition to the interrail ticket, and you pay more for whatever type of bed you want. Is it easy to navigate your way through without speaking any of the language?

We managed to book two regional trains through Croatia plus the overnight to Venice in a town in Croatia, so it can be managed yes! Usually a lot of pointing goes a long way, and if you book in a big enough town/city they're usually used to having tourists wanting to book supplements for night trains with an interrail ticket, so they just get on with it and write it all down for you if there is a language barrier. We found supplements cheaper than they said on the Interrail website so don't be put off by getting a bed, although obviously we were going from a cheaper country, but we were going into Italy.

Reply 188

Original post by Formerly LieDown

We managed to book two regional trains through Croatia plus the overnight to Venice in a town in Croatia, so it can be managed yes! Usually a lot of pointing goes a long way, and if you book in a big enough town/city they're usually used to having tourists wanting to book supplements for night trains with an interrail ticket, so they just get on with it and write it all down for you if there is a language barrier. We found supplements cheaper than they said on the Interrail website so don't be put off by getting a bed, although obviously we were going from a cheaper country, but we were going into Italy.

Thanks muchly :h:

I have since realised that only one journey is even worthy of a nighttrain as most of the cities are a few hours away from one another :colonhash:

Still, getting a nice sleep and waking up in Sicily should be nice :awesome:

Reply 189

Problem.

How do we persuade two of the group's members respective parents to allow their children to go to Eastern Europe. They seem to have that irrational, stereotypical fear, and we need to change their minds.

:colonhash:

Reply 190

mr-breaker

7

Original post by spacepirate-James

Problem.

How do we persuade two of the group's members respective parents to allow their children to go to Eastern Europe. They seem to have that irrational, stereotypical fear, and we need to change their minds.

:colonhash:

1) define "Eastern".
2) watch the Simpsons episode "Bart on the Road". They can take the Bart/Martin/Milhouse route (lie) or take the Nelson route (present a fait accompli and wish them well.

Reply 191

Original post by mr-breaker

1) define "Eastern".
2) watch the Simpsons episode "Bart on the Road". They can take the Bart/Martin/Milhouse route (lie) or take the Nelson route (present a fait accompli and wish them well.

Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Poland

Not that eastern tbh. :colonhash:

Reply 192

adam_zed

16

Original post by spacepirate-James

Problem.

How do we persuade two of the group's members respective parents to allow their children to go to Eastern Europe. They seem to have that irrational, stereotypical fear, and we need to change their minds.

:colonhash:

People can be so irrational over what they do not know. My Mum has told me that when she tells people that I want to go to the Balkans they are surprised that she is letting me (as if she can or even would try to be some over-protective parent considering my age) because there was a war in the area over 10 years ago. Maybe get some books and websites together that show them how embarrassing their fears over Poland and Hungary are.

Original post by Colbert

Can anyone help with night trains in Italy? From what I've seen you pay a small charge to get a seat on a nighttrain in addition to the interrail ticket, and you pay more for whatever type of bed you want. Is it easy to navigate your way through without speaking any of the language?

I stayed there for 10 days and for about 4 of those days I only knew "Vorrei una Birre" and "Sono Inglese" and I still managed to have decent nights out as a fair amount of the locals spoke English.

It takes 10 hours to get from Venice to Naples so I doubt you will have many night journeys. Whatever you do, dont try and wing it thinking you can sleep. On night journeys it is likely that nearly all people will have reserved seats so you will keep getting woken up until you end up in the corridor as you move from seat to seat desperately trying to avoid the gaze of the passenger who has just walked into the compartment with a ticket.

Reply 193

mr-breaker

7

Original post by spacepirate-James

Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Poland

Not that eastern tbh. :colonhash:

Nelson route it is then........ :biggrin:

Reply 194

Original post by adam_zed

I stayed there for 10 days and for about 4 of those days I only knew "Vorrei una Birre" and "Sono Inglese" and I still managed to have decent nights out as a fair amount of the locals spoke English.

It takes 10 hours to get from Venice to Naples so I doubt you will have many night journeys. Whatever you do, dont try and wing it thinking you can sleep. On night journeys it is likely that nearly all people will have reserved seats so you will keep getting woken up until you end up in the corridor as you move from seat to seat desperately trying to avoid the gaze of the passenger who has just walked into the compartment with a ticket.

Good to know :top:

How much is it to just get a sleeping compartment booked at the station on top of the interrail ticket though? The websites are ridiculously confusing :colonhash:

Reply 195

adam_zed

16

Original post by Colbert

Good to know :top:

How much is it to just get a sleeping compartment booked at the station on top of the interrail ticket though? The websites are ridiculously confusing :colonhash:

I read 20 euros somewhere. On its own I have heard it is like 69 euros or something! I havent ever slept on a sleeping compartment but I can imagine that that bar the comfort of sleeping horizontally, you will still struggle to get decent sleep so I personally would just reserve a seat and to try and find a comfortable position on that.

Reply 196

Original post by adam_zed

I read 20 euros somewhere. On its own I have heard it is like 69 euros or something! I havent ever slept on a sleeping compartment but I can imagine that that bar the comfort of sleeping horizontally, you will still struggle to get decent sleep so I personally would just reserve a seat and to try and find a comfortable position on that.

Hmm more costly han I anticipated to be fair. Probably worth paying a few quid to reserve a seat and then hoping you can grab some sleep along the way.

Reply 197

Caulfield

Me and my friend are going interrailing on 6th March, getting a flight from London Gatwick to Budapest, then...
Pecs
Sarajevo
Ljubljana
Bled
Salzburg
Munich
Prague
Krakow
Berlin
Hannover
Amsterdam. Then a flight back to Manchester :smile:

We've booked all our hostels with 10% deposits on http://www.hostelworld.com and meticulously planned every train journey through http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

I can't wait!

Reply 198

Original post by Caulfield

Me and my friend are going interrailing on 6th March, getting a flight from London Gatwick to Budapest, then...
Pecs
Sarajevo
Ljubljana
Bled
Salzburg
Munich
Prague
Krakow
Berlin
Hannover
Amsterdam. Then a flight back to Manchester :smile:

We've booked all our hostels with 10% deposits on http://www.hostelworld.com and meticulously planned every train journey through http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

I can't wait!

This sounds awesome! How long are you going for in total and how much do you think you'll end up spending in total on flights, trains and hostels overall?

Reply 199