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

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A friend and I (both 18 and male) are planning on setting off around Europe in a week or so. We haven't booked anywhere. The idea is to just head off into Europe with an interrailing pass and see what happens. We intend to stay until we run out of money or find ourselves really not enjoying it.

We have a vague plan of going from London to Amsterdam to Berlin to Prague to Bratislava to Budapest to Zagreb to Munich to Cologne and then back home. This is most likely going to change though and we'll probably add other destinations.

I have a few questions:

We'll both have £2000-£2500. How long do you think this will last? (We'll be going out pretty regularly but may do some cultural things as well)

Is it an extremely bad idea not to book anything?

Is it possible to book trains very last minute with an Interrail pass?

Any other advice would be very much appreciated. Cheers :smile:

The further east you go, it will last you months! Myself and a friend are doing this but just in France (which is possibly the most expensive country in Europe/second to UK) and we're backpacking around for a month, booked accom, flights, major transport.. and including spending/living costs i think well manage in about a grand. 2-2.5k would last us atleast 3 months in france.. so as your going to some western (expensive) and eastern (much cheaper) countries with a budget of 2-2.5k its plenty to last you all the way through this summer with cash to spare probably. (this is provided your doing everything on cheap like us, with budget hostels, cooking cheap meals with nice meals out/buying a meal maybe once a day, doing cultural things, going out maybe every other day or every third day with lots of predrinking (cheap). Good luck and have fun!

Reply 1181

neddricofthetenth

Original post by cvarley

Live like a King on that in hostels. As long as you don't spend it all in Amsterdam haha

Reply 1182

gemini89

Original post by neddricofthetenth

ok, this is my last question.
I will be in mainly eastern European states that do not use the euro. Though I may venture into Albania and Kosovo. What is the best pre-paid card to use? Is it the FairFX or the Caxton FX.

Leave two weeks today

If you're not planning to spend much time in countries using the Euro, I'd go for the World Traveller Caxton card. If you use the Euro one you'd get changed two sets of 'mark-up' fees.

I had such a good time in Albania last summer, it's so different to anywhere else in Europe...indeed it doesn't feel like you're in 'Europe' at all!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1183

.Scout.

Original post by neddricofthetenth

Just to warn you, although the fairfx website said it would take 7-10 working days, my card took much longer to arrive. So sort it out asap! :h:

Reply 1184

tpxvs

Heeey everyone, how much did/do your rucksacks weigh??

Reply 1185

neddricofthetenth

Thanks for all the advice. I've went for the Caxton Global. Here is hoping it arrives before the 5th of July

Reply 1186

tpxvs

Original post by tpxvs

Heeey everyone, how much did/do your rucksacks weigh??

Also, what kind of footwear are you packing? my options are complete extremes - bulky running shoes that are SOO comfy and i think il pack a pair of flats/dolly shoes and flipflops for hostel shower usage.. is this too much? Will it look too ridiculous to wear denim shorts/cotton skirts with bulky trainers?

Reply 1187

TheRandomer

Hey, how much are you guys budgeting for each day, roughly? I'm travelling in pretty expensive countries Berlin, Prague, down through Austria to Italy and ending the trip in Valencia.. I just want to make sure I have enough money out of my savings account to cover it. So excited now, going in 12 days but I feel completely unprepared!!! Aaaah! :biggrin:

Reply 1188

Nomolos

Original post by TheRandomer

£50 a day

Reply 1189

.Scout.

Original post by tpxvs

Hey, I took converse, a pair of dolly shoes (that screwed up really small in my backpack) and flipflops for hostel showers.

Just take whatever you will be comfiest in...I wore my converse every day (even with shorts and summer dresses!) and only really wore my dolly shoes for nights out.

Reply 1190

TheRandomer

Original post by joshgoldman

£50 a day

Is that including accomodation? Or just for spends?
I've booked all our hostels already.

Reply 1191

Nomolos

Original post by TheRandomer

Is that including accomodation? Or just for spends?
I've booked all our hostels already.

Just spends, our average accommodation outlay was around £25pn

Reply 1192

.Scout.

Original post by TheRandomer

Is that including accomodation? Or just for spends?
I've booked all our hostels already.

I guess it depends on what you plan on doing while you are there. I found that in Berlin and Prague I could get by on relatively little as food and even drinks on nights out weren't that expensive. However Austria was hellishly expensive and if you want to do all the touristy things, you will need quite a lot of cash.

Reply 1193

TheRandomer

Woah! £50 is a hell of a lot! I was thinking more like 20-30 per day, just for the metro if needed, drinks, snacks and then we're not going to go on many big meals/nights out or anything. Eek! I think I'll have to budget carefully..

Reply 1194

scotland369

Hey guys, I need help!

I'm stuck between these two routes:

Rome - Florence - Geneva - Munich - Prague - Berlin - Hamburg - Amsterdam - Paris - Nice (With a 10 in 22 day pass)

OR

Rome - Florence - Munich - Budapest - Krakow - Prague - Berlin - Hamburg - Amsterdam - Paris - Nice (With a 30 day pass)

We (my bezy and I) were originally going for the first option but I thought it would be a shame to only see Western Europe. Also, route one doesn't leave much in way of flexibility seeing as we are using up every travel date available. On the other hand, the second route would, thanks to its greater length, be significantly more expensive.

We've tried to work out budgeting ourselves but we'd really appreciate some wisdom from this forum regarding costs ie. food, accommodation tourist **** etc. Does anybody have any input as to accurate the Raildude calculator is? For us, it claims we'd need £42 a day (each) but this doesn't include the pass cost (£340), flight costs and, with us being Scottish, the substantial alcohol budget we'd need... :cool:

Reply 1195

takethyfacehence

Original post by .Scout.

Eeep I love Berlin so much, so jealous that you are there now! Enjoy the rest of your trip - where you off to next?

I miss Berlin! I also had to leave halfway through the match last night as well, just as Greece scored to make it 1-1. I'm not even a big football fan but it was a lot of fun to get into!

I'm in Prague now, arrived a few hours ago. I highly recommend Orangeways coaches (never slept so well on public transport) and my hostel here in Prague is already looking fantastic. My trip sort of starts in earnest here, since I unexpectedly got to hang out with a friend in Berlin, and now I am a lone traveller! Looks like I should get some awesome sight-seeing done and will probably go out with people from my hostel.

Does anyone feel strongly about how amazing Wroclaw is? My plan is/was to go from Prague to Wroclaw to Krakow, but now I am wondering if I should just spend a couple more nights in Prague and go straight to Krakow (probably on the overnight train, I think, is the best way?). I can't really remember any of the things I looked up about Wroclaw and I may be able to see a friend from home coming out here to Prague if I stay the couple nights longer. At the moment I'm just waiting to see if he is coming or not so I can book everything that doesn't include Wroclaw.

Reply 1196

tpxvs

what are you guys doing for travel insurance? Is the one that you buy with the flight sufficient?

Reply 1197

sophiemay20

43 days to goo! Been looking more into Budva in Montenegro, Mostar/Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Belgrade in Serbia.. think they're going to be 'must-visits'.. anyone been to any of these? Oh well, just gonna see how it goes!

Original post by tpxvs

what are you guys doing for travel insurance? Is the one that you buy with the flight sufficient?

I want to know this too! Though I think I'm going to end up just getting annual insurance for Europe only.. any recommendations on good a good company to use?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1198

.Scout.

Original post by scotland369

If I were you, I would choose the second route but that's mainly because I would MUCH rather spend time in Budapest than Geneva. I went to Budapest last summer and loved it so much: friendly people, great nightlife, loads of stuff to do and everything was stupidly cheap. But I guess that's just my personal preference.

I would say £42 a day would be cutting it fine. Last year I found that I was paying 15 E a night (ish) for accomm in eastern Europe but in places like Paris, Vienna, etc it was MUCH more expensive (25-30+ on av). We didn't book anywhere in advance though so you probably could snag beds in cheap hostels if you booked before you left. This then doesn't leave you with any flexibility but you would be saving quite a bit of cash. Obv if you're going in August it wil;l be more expensive then, too.

In Budapest - Krakow - Prague - Berlin I could get by on little cash as food, nights out, general touristy stuff was cheap.