Interrail
Me and a couple of friends are considering Interrailing this summer after our exams (we're in year 13, so we have the long holiday).
Just a couple of questions for anyone who's done it/knows about it:
- Do you do much planning beforehand, or do you just go with it? We know a couple of places we want to go to - but do we plan travel times and accommodation beforehand, or just face each day as it comes.
- How much did it cost? I've been working for a while now part time, so money shouldn't be too much of an issue, but it will be interesting to know.
- What and where did you eat - restaurants and fast food or supermarkets?
- Finally, and most importantly - what did you do? Seeing landmarks and town etc. will be good, but what did you do the rest of the time?
Thanks in advance
Posted from TSR Mobile
Just a couple of questions for anyone who's done it/knows about it:
- Do you do much planning beforehand, or do you just go with it? We know a couple of places we want to go to - but do we plan travel times and accommodation beforehand, or just face each day as it comes.
- How much did it cost? I've been working for a while now part time, so money shouldn't be too much of an issue, but it will be interesting to know.
- What and where did you eat - restaurants and fast food or supermarkets?
- Finally, and most importantly - what did you do? Seeing landmarks and town etc. will be good, but what did you do the rest of the time?
Thanks in advance
Posted from TSR Mobile
I've done extensive travelling and interrailing. I spent £1100 over 5 weeks, not including the price of the interrail ticket, and couch surfing in some places.
Main advice: DO NOT try to do too much. I would recommend at least 3 nights in each place - it is SO much more fun and rewarding, I promise. I know it's hella tempting just to try to see everything, but Europe is close and you can easily go back and see more. Please heed this, because you will be totally wiped out if you aim to spend 1-2 nights in each place with lots of night trains. Night trains are great timesavers, but they are tiring and you should aim at least 3-4 recovery days between each.
I did lots of planning beforehand, but it really depends where you're going. Places like Paris and Vienna are really expensive and if you haven't arranged hostel or couch-surfing accommodation in advance you can be caught short and end up spending a lot of money. Other places it is easier to organise accommodation when you get there. Train-wise, what I did was to go to the ticket office as soon as I arrived in a destination and booked my ticket/seat reservation out for a few day's time. I would advise a planned but flexible itinerary with a mixture of advanced bookings (for more expensive places and night-time arrivals) and leave other bits flexible.
We ate in a mixture of fast food places, restaurants, and supermarkets. In places like Poland and the Czech Rep you can get a restaurant meal for about £5-7 (not in main tourist spots though) and in France and Switzerland we ate mostly out of supermarkets.
My itinerary for 5 weeks was Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Krakow - Budapest - Bratislava (wouldn't bother again) - Vienna - Munich - Interlaken - Bern - Paris - Bruges - Amsterdam. In retrospect I think that was a bit too much, and next time I would probably be tempted to skip Bratislava, Vienna, and Bern - and I would possibly leave Paris for a trip with a bigger budget. I could help you plan an itinerary if you want to PM me. My favourite places by far were Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, and Budapest.
I would recommend staying in hostels (in dorms) as you meet loads of people - in Bern we actually stayed with someone who we met in a hostel in Budapest, in their family home, where they cooked for us every day! Couchsurfing is highly recommended as well. I would advise you be careful about who you choose to stay with. In Vienna for example we stayed with a girl who took us out to some amazing parties, and we are still in touch and visit each other now (4 yrs later!)
So to recap - DON'T try to do too much - if you allow yourself 4 days for each place then there's plenty of flexibility to visit destinations around your main city and to plan the next part of your trip. I would also advise to buy local sim cards if they are easily attainable - having access to 3G internet is a BRILLIANT bonus for travelling, and is not an unnecessary luxury as some people may argue. It saves loads of time researching, and can give you great tips for events, restaurants, etc.
Any more questions just ask.
Main advice: DO NOT try to do too much. I would recommend at least 3 nights in each place - it is SO much more fun and rewarding, I promise. I know it's hella tempting just to try to see everything, but Europe is close and you can easily go back and see more. Please heed this, because you will be totally wiped out if you aim to spend 1-2 nights in each place with lots of night trains. Night trains are great timesavers, but they are tiring and you should aim at least 3-4 recovery days between each.
I did lots of planning beforehand, but it really depends where you're going. Places like Paris and Vienna are really expensive and if you haven't arranged hostel or couch-surfing accommodation in advance you can be caught short and end up spending a lot of money. Other places it is easier to organise accommodation when you get there. Train-wise, what I did was to go to the ticket office as soon as I arrived in a destination and booked my ticket/seat reservation out for a few day's time. I would advise a planned but flexible itinerary with a mixture of advanced bookings (for more expensive places and night-time arrivals) and leave other bits flexible.
We ate in a mixture of fast food places, restaurants, and supermarkets. In places like Poland and the Czech Rep you can get a restaurant meal for about £5-7 (not in main tourist spots though) and in France and Switzerland we ate mostly out of supermarkets.
My itinerary for 5 weeks was Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Krakow - Budapest - Bratislava (wouldn't bother again) - Vienna - Munich - Interlaken - Bern - Paris - Bruges - Amsterdam. In retrospect I think that was a bit too much, and next time I would probably be tempted to skip Bratislava, Vienna, and Bern - and I would possibly leave Paris for a trip with a bigger budget. I could help you plan an itinerary if you want to PM me. My favourite places by far were Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, and Budapest.
I would recommend staying in hostels (in dorms) as you meet loads of people - in Bern we actually stayed with someone who we met in a hostel in Budapest, in their family home, where they cooked for us every day! Couchsurfing is highly recommended as well. I would advise you be careful about who you choose to stay with. In Vienna for example we stayed with a girl who took us out to some amazing parties, and we are still in touch and visit each other now (4 yrs later!)
So to recap - DON'T try to do too much - if you allow yourself 4 days for each place then there's plenty of flexibility to visit destinations around your main city and to plan the next part of your trip. I would also advise to buy local sim cards if they are easily attainable - having access to 3G internet is a BRILLIANT bonus for travelling, and is not an unnecessary luxury as some people may argue. It saves loads of time researching, and can give you great tips for events, restaurants, etc.
Any more questions just ask.
Wow! Thanks so much for such a good reply! This is still very early planning, but how did you decide a route? We were looking at quite well known cities, just out of interest of seeing them - Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome (and other Italian cities), Geneva etc., but we will really have no idea. What did you choose?
I had travelled quite widely in Italy before and that's why I chose not to include it in my itinerary. We just looked at a map and designed a logical route which encompassed all the things we wanted to see. It's also worth considering where you're flying into/out of. You can either do a straight line, flying in at one end and out at the other, or do a circular route like we did, flying in and out of the same city. From what you are describing, you could fly into Berlin and out of Rome...
Berlin - Amsterdam - Brussels - Paris - (long way through south of France/Switzerland - Nice/Toulouse/Geneva) - Milan- (Venice or Pisa) - Rome
How long are you planning to go for?
Berlin - Amsterdam - Brussels - Paris - (long way through south of France/Switzerland - Nice/Toulouse/Geneva) - Milan- (Venice or Pisa) - Rome
How long are you planning to go for?
Not really sure to be honest - it depends on everyone else. Not really sure if it will go ahead at the moment, but I think I'll go regardless. I plan on getting a full month pass, and going from there. Thanks for all this btw. I'm curious now as to your experience - what did you think of it. Best and worst bits?
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
Definitely do it, interrailing in Europe is one of the easiest and most rewarding travelling experiences you can have. The best bit was definitely Berlin (have been back three times), worst was probably Paris (got stranded there due to train strikes and spent a fortune while waiting for a train out!) And also Bratislava was boring as hell. But it was a great trip.
When I went interrailing my friends and I made a list of places we really wanted to visit, places we'd be interested in visiting and places we weren't really fussed with. Then, we looked at where we were starting (that was a set place for us) and worked out where we could go and how long it would take via train so that gave us a few options which we pinned down. We needed to be quite specific about our route so we planned it thoroughly but you don't necessarily need to do that.
With the bigger cities it's probably a good idea to book your accommodation before you get there to avoid traipsing around looking for rooms or being left out in the cold. That's pretty miserable! We just booked for the next city on the day we arrived at the city we were staying at before. Hostelbookers is a good website which we mostly used.
As for food - you might want to do something like having one posh eat out meal in each city and then eat out of takeouts/cook in the hostel/buy from street vendors for the other nights. It's also easiest to buy picnic lunches and breakfasts out of a supermarket but try to be a bit authentic and buy typical food for your region. Alternatively, you can get cheaper lunch menus so you could try eating out for lunch and then going for cheaper evening meals. It really depends on your budget.
In general, the countries you listed are going to be more costly but you will save money by getting the interrailing train between them. In eastern europe you find that the train isn't very good, and you're wasting your money by buying an interrail ticket because the trains and coaches are super cheap. It is much more convenient though.
One more thing, I would suggest getting a good guide book, you can get region ones, city ones or country ones. They're really valuable to make sure you see all the important bits and are handy as they have things like phrase guides in them etc.. I like the 'rough guide to...' series and the lonely planet series the best.
With the bigger cities it's probably a good idea to book your accommodation before you get there to avoid traipsing around looking for rooms or being left out in the cold. That's pretty miserable! We just booked for the next city on the day we arrived at the city we were staying at before. Hostelbookers is a good website which we mostly used.
As for food - you might want to do something like having one posh eat out meal in each city and then eat out of takeouts/cook in the hostel/buy from street vendors for the other nights. It's also easiest to buy picnic lunches and breakfasts out of a supermarket but try to be a bit authentic and buy typical food for your region. Alternatively, you can get cheaper lunch menus so you could try eating out for lunch and then going for cheaper evening meals. It really depends on your budget.
In general, the countries you listed are going to be more costly but you will save money by getting the interrailing train between them. In eastern europe you find that the train isn't very good, and you're wasting your money by buying an interrail ticket because the trains and coaches are super cheap. It is much more convenient though.
One more thing, I would suggest getting a good guide book, you can get region ones, city ones or country ones. They're really valuable to make sure you see all the important bits and are handy as they have things like phrase guides in them etc.. I like the 'rough guide to...' series and the lonely planet series the best.
Thanks guys, this is all brilliant stuff Out of interest, how did you organise it? How did you find places to stay or what trains you need. It sounds great - just need to make the step from thinking about it to doing it
Out of interest, how did you organise it? How did you find places to stay or what trains you need. It sounds great - just need to make the step from thinking about it to doing it Original post by NinjaSheep
Thanks guys, this is all brilliant stuff Out of interest, how did you organise it? How did you find places to stay or what trains you need. It sounds great - just need to make the step from thinking about it to doing it
Out of interest, how did you organise it? How did you find places to stay or what trains you need. It sounds great - just need to make the step from thinking about it to doing it Did it in the summer and had the time of my life... definitely do it!
- Do you do much planning beforehand, or do you just go with it? We know a couple of places we want to go to - but do we plan travel times and accommodation beforehand, or just face each day as it comes.
We planned before and booked hostels before we went but it doesn't really matter either way. There were 5-7 of us though so obviously it'll be a lot easier to do it on the fly if there's just 2 of you. I'd recommend booking a few of the places you really want to go and any awesome hostels at various points in the trip then just fill in the rest as you go.
- How much did it cost? I've been working for a while now part time, so money shouldn't be too much of an issue, but it will be interesting to know.
Not including interrail ticket and flight, about £800-£900 for 3 weeks. Ate out a lot though and went clubbing every night apart from one so could have been cheaper if we wanted it to. Equally, we went to quite a few eastern places which were cheaper so if we were in expensive countries we would have spent a lot more.
- What and where did you eat - restaurants and fast food or supermarkets?
All the above. Cooked ourselves at hostels a couple of times too.
- Finally, and most importantly - what did you do? Seeing landmarks and town etc. will be good, but what did you do the rest of the time?
In big cities, renting bikes and seeing the whole place is a lot more fun than you'd imagine. Saw landmarks etc, went to weird little cool places we wanted to go and obviously partied a lot! Being in an awesome city with awesome people is awesome though and you can do whatever you want and have fun
I went interrailing for 2-3 weeks during summer 2010, it was the best thing I've ever done! We booked it so we spent 2 nights in the first and final cities, and 1 or 2 nights in all the middle ones. Sometimes we travelled by overnight train instead of forking out for a hotel - I'd absolutely do this again! It wasn't that difficult to sleep even if you weren't booked into a sleeping carriage, just a regular seat, since everyone else is keen on getting some sleep too. You get woken up by border control every now and then, but it's generally fine. Also, I think we survived the hectic schedule because we weren't going out drinking and spending all evening in bars and clubs - we usually got to sleep pretty early so we could spend the whole day sightseeing.
Itinerary: Dubrovnik - Budapest - Krakow - Warsaw - Berlin - Prague - Bratislava - Vienna - Munich
We planned it all out beforehand. First thing we did was see where the cheapest flight could take us (Dubrovnik) and bring us back from (Munich) - and then planned a route around that. We'd never seen any of eastern/central Europe before so weren't fussed about seeing particular places, just fitting as much in as possible! We booked all our accommodation online before we went, staying in a mixture of friends' apartments, hotels, youth hostels and guest houses. We tried not to stay in youth hostels two cities in a row, just in case one of them was awful and we hadn't managed to get a good nights' sleep! It worked out pretty well, and to be honest our favourite was an amazing guest house in Dubrovnik. The owner cooked us breakfast every morning and gave us fresh bread to take out with us during the day! We also meticulously planned travel times between cities. I made sure we had printed off timetables in case we missed a train or had any issues, but fortunately we didn't.
We ate a good mixture of nice restaurant food, cheap pub grub and supermarket meals. Supermarkets, especially the Polish ones, were generally a lot cheaper than in the UK and we'd always have a picnic lunch from a supermarket. Baguettes, meat, cheese and fresh fruit is easy to find wherever you are. Top tip - blueberries are insanely cheap and delicious in Poland! We'd try and eat out at an authentic restaurant at least once in each country, but sometimes we'd grab a cheap bottle of wine and a takeout pizza to enjoy back at our accommodation instead. We never used the cooking facilities in the youth hostels, as we weren't really in one place long enough to buy food to prepare ourselves.
Once we'd sorted out our route and accommodation, we got lots of guide books and checked out Wiki Travel and this forum for the best things to do in each city we visited. We also made the tourist information centre our first port of call in each destination, and filled out days with sightseeing! There wasn't a lot of time for anything else, although we did enjoy hanging out at the beaches, parks and river banks, chatting to the locals whenever possible and just trying to absorb as much of each different culture as possible.
I'd recommend keeping a diary and taking as many photos as possible, as when you're seeing so many different places they can easily all blur into one. I still enjoy reading over the diary I kept, it holds such fantastic memories. I'd love to go again one day!
Itinerary: Dubrovnik - Budapest - Krakow - Warsaw - Berlin - Prague - Bratislava - Vienna - Munich
We planned it all out beforehand. First thing we did was see where the cheapest flight could take us (Dubrovnik) and bring us back from (Munich) - and then planned a route around that. We'd never seen any of eastern/central Europe before so weren't fussed about seeing particular places, just fitting as much in as possible! We booked all our accommodation online before we went, staying in a mixture of friends' apartments, hotels, youth hostels and guest houses. We tried not to stay in youth hostels two cities in a row, just in case one of them was awful and we hadn't managed to get a good nights' sleep! It worked out pretty well, and to be honest our favourite was an amazing guest house in Dubrovnik. The owner cooked us breakfast every morning and gave us fresh bread to take out with us during the day! We also meticulously planned travel times between cities. I made sure we had printed off timetables in case we missed a train or had any issues, but fortunately we didn't.
We ate a good mixture of nice restaurant food, cheap pub grub and supermarket meals. Supermarkets, especially the Polish ones, were generally a lot cheaper than in the UK and we'd always have a picnic lunch from a supermarket. Baguettes, meat, cheese and fresh fruit is easy to find wherever you are. Top tip - blueberries are insanely cheap and delicious in Poland! We'd try and eat out at an authentic restaurant at least once in each country, but sometimes we'd grab a cheap bottle of wine and a takeout pizza to enjoy back at our accommodation instead. We never used the cooking facilities in the youth hostels, as we weren't really in one place long enough to buy food to prepare ourselves.
Once we'd sorted out our route and accommodation, we got lots of guide books and checked out Wiki Travel and this forum for the best things to do in each city we visited. We also made the tourist information centre our first port of call in each destination, and filled out days with sightseeing! There wasn't a lot of time for anything else, although we did enjoy hanging out at the beaches, parks and river banks, chatting to the locals whenever possible and just trying to absorb as much of each different culture as possible.
I'd recommend keeping a diary and taking as many photos as possible, as when you're seeing so many different places they can easily all blur into one. I still enjoy reading over the diary I kept, it holds such fantastic memories. I'd love to go again one day!
Once again, thanks for all the replies - I had been concerned it wouldn't be that enjoyable, but you guys have quashed that fear. Particularly the last post, since I don't drink that much so I wasn't too interested I the whole party scene. This got far more responses than I had expected, though if anyone reading still wants to share their experiences, I would love to read them!
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by eggs_and_bacon
I've done extensive travelling and interrailing. I spent £1100 over 5 weeks, not including the price of the interrail ticket, and couch surfing in some places.
Main advice: DO NOT try to do too much. I would recommend at least 3 nights in each place - it is SO much more fun and rewarding, I promise. I know it's hella tempting just to try to see everything, but Europe is close and you can easily go back and see more. Please heed this, because you will be totally wiped out if you aim to spend 1-2 nights in each place with lots of night trains. Night trains are great timesavers, but they are tiring and you should aim at least 3-4 recovery days between each.
I did lots of planning beforehand, but it really depends where you're going. Places like Paris and Vienna are really expensive and if you haven't arranged hostel or couch-surfing accommodation in advance you can be caught short and end up spending a lot of money. Other places it is easier to organise accommodation when you get there. Train-wise, what I did was to go to the ticket office as soon as I arrived in a destination and booked my ticket/seat reservation out for a few day's time. I would advise a planned but flexible itinerary with a mixture of advanced bookings (for more expensive places and night-time arrivals) and leave other bits flexible.
We ate in a mixture of fast food places, restaurants, and supermarkets. In places like Poland and the Czech Rep you can get a restaurant meal for about £5-7 (not in main tourist spots though) and in France and Switzerland we ate mostly out of supermarkets.
My itinerary for 5 weeks was Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Krakow - Budapest - Bratislava (wouldn't bother again) - Vienna - Munich - Interlaken - Bern - Paris - Bruges - Amsterdam. In retrospect I think that was a bit too much, and next time I would probably be tempted to skip Bratislava, Vienna, and Bern - and I would possibly leave Paris for a trip with a bigger budget. I could help you plan an itinerary if you want to PM me. My favourite places by far were Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, and Budapest.
I would recommend staying in hostels (in dorms) as you meet loads of people - in Bern we actually stayed with someone who we met in a hostel in Budapest, in their family home, where they cooked for us every day! Couchsurfing is highly recommended as well. I would advise you be careful about who you choose to stay with. In Vienna for example we stayed with a girl who took us out to some amazing parties, and we are still in touch and visit each other now (4 yrs later!)
So to recap - DON'T try to do too much - if you allow yourself 4 days for each place then there's plenty of flexibility to visit destinations around your main city and to plan the next part of your trip. I would also advise to buy local sim cards if they are easily attainable - having access to 3G internet is a BRILLIANT bonus for travelling, and is not an unnecessary luxury as some people may argue. It saves loads of time researching, and can give you great tips for events, restaurants, etc.
Any more questions just ask.
Main advice: DO NOT try to do too much. I would recommend at least 3 nights in each place - it is SO much more fun and rewarding, I promise. I know it's hella tempting just to try to see everything, but Europe is close and you can easily go back and see more. Please heed this, because you will be totally wiped out if you aim to spend 1-2 nights in each place with lots of night trains. Night trains are great timesavers, but they are tiring and you should aim at least 3-4 recovery days between each.
I did lots of planning beforehand, but it really depends where you're going. Places like Paris and Vienna are really expensive and if you haven't arranged hostel or couch-surfing accommodation in advance you can be caught short and end up spending a lot of money. Other places it is easier to organise accommodation when you get there. Train-wise, what I did was to go to the ticket office as soon as I arrived in a destination and booked my ticket/seat reservation out for a few day's time. I would advise a planned but flexible itinerary with a mixture of advanced bookings (for more expensive places and night-time arrivals) and leave other bits flexible.
We ate in a mixture of fast food places, restaurants, and supermarkets. In places like Poland and the Czech Rep you can get a restaurant meal for about £5-7 (not in main tourist spots though) and in France and Switzerland we ate mostly out of supermarkets.
My itinerary for 5 weeks was Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Krakow - Budapest - Bratislava (wouldn't bother again) - Vienna - Munich - Interlaken - Bern - Paris - Bruges - Amsterdam. In retrospect I think that was a bit too much, and next time I would probably be tempted to skip Bratislava, Vienna, and Bern - and I would possibly leave Paris for a trip with a bigger budget. I could help you plan an itinerary if you want to PM me. My favourite places by far were Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, and Budapest.
I would recommend staying in hostels (in dorms) as you meet loads of people - in Bern we actually stayed with someone who we met in a hostel in Budapest, in their family home, where they cooked for us every day! Couchsurfing is highly recommended as well. I would advise you be careful about who you choose to stay with. In Vienna for example we stayed with a girl who took us out to some amazing parties, and we are still in touch and visit each other now (4 yrs later!)
So to recap - DON'T try to do too much - if you allow yourself 4 days for each place then there's plenty of flexibility to visit destinations around your main city and to plan the next part of your trip. I would also advise to buy local sim cards if they are easily attainable - having access to 3G internet is a BRILLIANT bonus for travelling, and is not an unnecessary luxury as some people may argue. It saves loads of time researching, and can give you great tips for events, restaurants, etc.
Any more questions just ask.
hey
, would it be alright if you could help me plan out my itinerary as well please haha really kinda stuck on sorting outQuick Reply
Related discussions
- Interrailing
- gap year 2024-25
- Traveling abroad during gap year advice
- Interrailing
- i feel like im missing out
- Kiwi considering the UK - fellow NZers?
- gap year
- How much money should I start uni with?
- Gap year
- Night trains - interrailing
- Gap year travel
- Should I keep seeing my 'friends'?
- solo travelling 2024
- How many countries have you been to?
- LGBT+ Chat XIII
- Haz's boring thread.
- Medicine 2023 entry for resit / retake / gap year applicants
- Peterhouse (Cambridge) Students and Applicants
- UVM Kosice
- Mental Health Support Society XXI
Latest
Trending
Last reply 7 months ago
Train ticket inspector said I’d have to appear in court but didn’t take my details?Trending
Last reply 7 months ago
Train ticket inspector said I’d have to appear in court but didn’t take my details?
