anyone been interrailing?

Hi, I'm not taking a gap year but i'm going interrailing this summer for a month. Anyone who's done it got any tips regarding budget or anything u think i should really know? I'm starting in France then going East...

Reply 1

Geogger

13

Franibal

Hi, I'm not taking a gap year but i'm going interrailing this summer for a month. Anyone who's done it got any tips regarding budget or anything u think i should really know? I'm starting in France then going East...

I think Blissy did this.... find one of her posts and click onto her website, I think its on there

Reply 2

**R**

1

Franibal

Hi, I'm not taking a gap year but i'm going interrailing this summer for a month. Anyone who's done it got any tips regarding budget or anything u think i should really know? I'm starting in France then going East...

iv not been myself, but a good few of my friends have, and one of my friends from uni did give me in-depth stories about her travels.

i think most important is to have it well planned out, and be prepared in case things go wrong, all in all my friends had great times, although over 6 weeks they did run into one or two problems and hassles, especially b careful for thieves on trains. one of my friends friends got credit card, passports, everything stolen while sleeping on a night train.

but dont worry they had great time, with so many funny and weird stories at the end of it , i only wis i had gone with them. hope u have a great time

Reply 3

blissy

15

Geogger

I think Blissy did this.... find one of her posts and click onto her website, I think its on there

Oh I did! And I went in the same direction as you hope to. Link in sig.

Lost my diary in France and only got it back last week and it's so funny :smile:

Am in the process of typing it up as well.

Reply 4

viviki

14

Are you going alone or with people?

Reply 5

AT82

I kind of have I went I will list my journey rather than describe it.

1. Train to London from Manchester.
2. Eurotunnel train to Paris (stayed in Paris 2 nights)
3. Paris to Lille (stayed in Lille 1 night)
4. Train to Brussels.
5. Train to Amsterdam (stayed in Amsterdam 2 nights)
6. Train back to Paris (stayed in Paris two nights).
7. Eurotunnel to London
8. Train back to Manchester.

Reply 6

viviki

14

Can I bump this, How much would 15 days interrailing cost roughly?
I'm planning on getting a one zone rail pass to make it cheaper but how much spending money do I need do you think, and are there any good websites that recommend hostels etc.

I don't spend alot anyway but are certain areas more expensive than others.

Reply 7

blissy

15

I've added some extra stuff to my site now. A bit in the ticket and route planning section and I added my diary (as I finally had it returned to me!) My big moan is about Italy. Don't go to Italy viviki, the trains are partly privatised and the interrail ticket only applies on the scarce regional trains. We spent so much in supplements! So if you're going to have one zone, don't go for the zone including Italy!
http://www.raileurope.co.uk/inter-rail/ 1 zone, 16 days for the under 26 is £145. I would put a good £500 aside for costs. They vary, I read somewhere you should budget about £40-50 a day (incl accommodation) in more expensive countries and £30-40 in less expensive countries (more eastern ones - although capitals are just as expensive as anywhere else it seems!) I was told by someone when on the trip that Scandanavian contries cost a fortune to visit.

edit: I used www.hihostels.com ALL THE TIME on holiday - it is such a good site.

Reply 8

viviki

14

Yeah I've looked on that site I quite like it.
Cheers for the finance information, it all adds up doesn't it. I'm definitely going to have to finance plan before hand.

Reply 9

Howard

5

AT82

I kind of have I went I will list my journey rather than describe it.

1. Train to London from Manchester.
2. Eurotunnel train to Paris (stayed in Paris 2 nights)
3. Paris to Lille (stayed in Lille 1 night)
4. Train to Brussels.
5. Train to Amsterdam (stayed in Amsterdam 2 nights)
6. Train back to Paris (stayed in Paris two nights).
7. Eurotunnel to London
8. Train back to Manchester.

That's awfully short! I got as far as Moscow.

Reply 10

viviki

14

I want to do 15/20 days but I don't want to go that far because I want to spend time decently looking at things and not all day every day on the train.

Reply 11

AT82

Howard

That's awfully short! I got as far as Moscow.

Yes but I had £500 for the entire week including railway tickets. We also stayed in hotels rather than hostels, but the hotels were some times slightly out of town, however it did mean we in proper Paris and not the touristy bit.

I traveled a bit by railway in Northern Spain last year, but it was more random and we didn't really get that far, we also go to spain by Plane.

Reply 12

AT82

viviki

I want to do 15/20 days but I don't want to go that far because I want to spend time decently looking at things and not all day every day on the train.

You can soak up quite bit of culture just on the train though, like when we went to Amdsterdam we got to see a lot of Holland on e the train. I know what you mean though, you still have to have time to see things, we only had four days in Paris in total and it was not enough time at all.

Two days was enough in Amsterdam though, the city can get boring after a while.

Reply 13

blissy

15

AT82

Two days was enough in Amsterdam though, the city can get boring after a while.

We spent ten days in Amsterdam the first time we went and I've been back since! There is absolutely loads to do aside from drugs and sex shows!
Here is some of the stuff we did:

- Van Gogh Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Troppenmuseum
- Hortus Botanicus
- Artis Zoo
- Kattenkabin
- Tushinski Theatre
- Cannabis College & linked things!
- Red Light District
- Flower Market
- Flower parade
- Diamond Factory
- Jewish History Museum
- Anne Frank's House
- Parks and Memorials
- Lovely restaurants and cafes (not coffeeshops necessarily!)
- Madam Tussauds

And there are hundreds of amazing shops; ones that sell only toothbrushes, shops full of produce from other parts of the world, some very very cool design shops, wooden toy shops, art shops, markets etc. etc!

The city is beautiful and so nice to walk around - Herenstraat was lovely, Museumplein is nice too! You just need to get on a tram or sneltran, plan your trip

Reply 14

viviki

14

You've made me really want to go to Amsterdam now

Reply 15

Zebrastripes

13

Amsterdam is amazing, you should definatly go. I was camping in Amsterdam, just to the north of the main city. Was really nice and took about 15/20 mins to get to the centre, and was much cheaper. And the bathrooms had the UV lights. Blissy mentioned the shop that just selled toothbrushes, but not the one that just selled condoms. =P I suggested getting the Time Out guide for Amsterdam, is the best one around and very funny.

I went around France too, Nice was great, not much to do there. Bordeaux was so very cheap. We stayed for £7 a night in a room with a great view onto the square, sky tv, fridge, safe and ensuite. Paris was good, also found another cheap nice hotel. Brussels, not so good, pretty boring actually. I only did France and the Netherlands to save up for Asia. May do Eastern Europe this summer if i don't go to Spain.

Reply 16

rah2

6

I did Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and lots of Greece if you want any info about them :smile:

Only spent about £400 over 23 days, greece is very cheap!

Reply 17

viviki

14

cool where did you go in France Holland Belgium please. Did the £400 include rail or is that spending money. Which hostels are best?

Reply 18

Ziggy Stardust

I'm interested in this too, what did you blow your 400 on, that seems incredibly cheap for accom and interrailing?

Dan

Reply 19

rah2

6

Ahh right let me think,

£25 train/ferry to amsterdam
£225ish on Interrail ticket, 2 zones, 22 days
£30 flight back from Bari, Italy

Ahh okay, thats your main travel expenses, about £300. You'll also want an ISIC card for £8 and to join HI for £18(?). Plus French and Italian trains often charge supplements, only a couple of euros but i guess it adds up.

Then hostels are around 15/20 euros a night (20 is the max we paid) in Holland/France, 13ish Italy and 9ish in Greece (yay greece). I think we had a budget of about 20 euros a day which was pretty stingy, you realistically want about 30 imo. But when you consider you'll only need one meal as breakfast is often included this isn't too bad, it's very possible to do it on 23 a day.

If you want even cheaper then take a tent with you, most big cities had camp sites near only cost about 8 euros for the pitch, supreme bargain.

Hmm I guess I spent more than I thought, about £600ish but that was for 24 days.

anyone been interrailing?

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