Interrail 2010!

Who's planning on going interrailing in 2010?

Thought it'd be good to have a thread where we could share our ideas/get advice etc.

I haven't booked my tickets yet, but I'm hoping to go next Spring or early Summer. I'm starting to plan my route but it's so hard deciding where I want to go!

I'm going to be going alone too, which is pretty scary... :eek:

Reply 1

Sid.xo

I'm going, still have to plan my route too!
Can't wait though!

Reply 2

irish88

3

Would recommend:
Paris
Barcelona
Rome
Prague
Amsterdam
Krakow

Avoid:
Bratislava
Berlin
Brussels (most boring city in Europe)

Reply 3

claireythepinkfairy

I went interrailling this summer, was awesome, I went by myself and it was fine, so don't be scared! If I can gather the funds I may travel around eastern Europe for a bit this summer too :biggrin:

Reply 4

xoxo_GossipGirl

11

I went interrailing this summer too, my route was

Paris
Interlaken
Gimmelwald
Venice
Salzburg
Vienna
Budapest
Krakow
Berlin
Amsterdam

and I would recommend them all!! If you have any questions or want any details about any of those places just let me know, same if you have any general interrailing queries.

I didn't go but a lot of people I met went to Cinque Terre and absolutely loved it. I heard good things about Innsbruck too, and it does look beautiful.

Reply 5

apocalipse117

12

xoxo_GossipGirl

I went interrailing this summer too, my route was

Paris
Interlaken
Gimmelwald
Venice
Salzburg
Vienna
Budapest
Krakow
Berlin
Amsterdam

and I would recommend them all!! If you have any questions or want any details about any of those places just let me know, same if you have any general interrailing queries.

I didn't go but a lot of people I met went to Cinque Terre and absolutely loved it. I heard good things about Innsbruck too, and it does look beautiful.

excellent, i'm planning on interailing in the summer. thinking about:
Salzburg
Vienna,
Budapest,
Zagreb,
Split,
Rome (on ferry from split!)

anyone been to any of these before? any good?

Reply 6

claireythepinkfairy

apocalipse117

excellent, i'm planning on interailing in the summer. thinking about:
Salzburg
Vienna,
Budapest,
Zagreb,
Split,
Rome (on ferry from split!)

anyone been to any of these before? any good?

I'm been to Budapest and Rome, both awesome cities.

Budapest has a lovely relaxed atmosphere, I loved just wandering around the streets, definitely head over to Buda to the castle and palace if you head up to one of the highest points you can see over the river to pest, its an amazing view. Also don't miss our on the Terror House if your into your museums, its all about Hungary during the nazi regime as well as during the communist era, was one of the best museums I've been to. has a really good nightlife as well.

In Rome, there is just sooooo much to do, all of it awesome. I particularly recommend you go to the Colosseum and the vatican. Also see the trevi fountain at night as well as in the day, its sooo beautiful when its all lit up :love:

Also definitely buy some gelatti while your there, it will be one of the best things you'll taste in your life. The only downside to Rome is how expensive it is and the night life isnt as good as a lot of other cities.

Ahh I could literally go on an on but I wont bore you :p:

Reply 7

apocalipse117

12

claireythepinkfairy

I'm been to Budapest and Rome, both awesome cities.

Budapest has a lovely relaxed atmosphere, I loved just wandering around the streets, definitely head over to Buda to the castle and palace if you head up to one of the highest points you can see over the river to pest, its an amazing view. Also don't miss our on the Terror House if your into your museums, its all about Hungary during the nazi regime as well as during the communist era, was one of the best museums I've been to. has a really good nightlife as well.

In Rome, there is just sooooo much to do, all of it awesome. I particularly recommend you go to the Colosseum and the vatican. Also see the trevi fountain at night as well as in the day, its sooo beautiful when its all lit up :love:

Also definitely buy some gelatti while your there, it will be one of the best things you'll taste in your life. The only downside to Rome is how expensive it is and the night life isnt as good as a lot of other cities.

Ahh I could literally go on an on but I wont bore you :p:

no really, the more i know, the better :biggrin:

Reply 8

lovers in japan

2

Me and my TSR friend clozet are thinking of going this August... planning on travelling around SE Asia in July and then back to Europe, so excited :biggrin:

We haven't planned a route yet though.

Reply 9

Wild182

I'm planning on going in July with 3 friends, we've talked a lot about it and are all excited, shame its 6 months away! :frown:

We've planned a rough route but don't know whether we are being too ambitious but theres so much we want to see so we've tried to cram alot in.

Question for people that went, how much did you take/spend? As this is something we are all disagreeing about lol

aa

irish88

Would recommend:
Paris
Barcelona
Rome
Prague
Amsterdam
Krakow

Avoid:
Bratislava
Berlin
Brussels (most boring city in Europe)

Why avoid Berlin, out of interest (and I guess Bratislava, too)? :holmes:

Reply 12

miml

17

We did
Amsterdam
Berlin
Prague
Vienna
Budapeset
Split
Venice

Reply 13

Wild182

alanfookes

i'm planning my route at the moment

so far we are thinking

stockholm
copenhagen
hamburg
amsterdam
brussels
paris
marseille
montpellier
perpignan
barcelona
murcia
malaga
seville

it's just so difficult as we're on a limited budget. do you think it would be a good idea to book all the hostels in advance; or as we arrive? it's just i fear that if we book too late, everything will cost to much...

also i'm worried about how long all the train journey's cost, and whether we would have to book all those in advance. ARGH

I wouldn't worry too much about hostel prices, I don't think it makes much difference whether you book in advance or when you turn up, I dont THINK Hostel prices flutuate as much as hotel ones do, but not sure? Might be worth getting the opinion of someone whose been, our plan was to just turn up at a city and find one there and then.

Reply 14

claireythepinkfairy

Wild182

Question for people that went, how much did you take/spend? As this is something we are all disagreeing about lol

I went for 5 weeks and I spent a fair bit, in total with my interrail ticket and eurostar there and unplanned flight home as well as all the stuff like my backpack etc that I bought before I went, it was nearing on 2 grand, remember this summer the exchange rate was really bad :p:

the euro and pound were nearly the same so that's why my trip was so expensive.
You can probably spend a lot less than I did, if you budget, and cook for yourself in the hostels etc and dont really spend money on alcohol and going out (this is where i spent a fair bit of money :p:

).

alanfookes

i'm planning my route at the moment

so far we are thinking

stockholm
copenhagen
hamburg
amsterdam
brussels
paris
marseille
montpellier
perpignan
barcelona
murcia
malaga
seville

it's just so difficult as we're on a limited budget. do you think it would be a good idea to book all the hostels in advance; or as we arrive? it's just i fear that if we book too late, everything will cost to much...

also i'm worried about how long all the train journey's cost, and whether we would have to book all those in advance. ARGH

How long are you going for? That's a lot to fit into one month, If you want to enjoy a place properly I recommend you spend approximately 3 nights in each place, its what I did and for most cities was the right amount of time to get a good feel for the place and see most of the major sites. Any less and your trip will feel to rushed and you wont enjoy it.

Also, the hostel prices don't really vary so you don't have to book them to far advanced if you dont want to. What I did was when I arrived in a place, booked the hostel for the city I planned on going to next. I did this because I was travelling alone and didn't want to turn up in a city with no where to stay, but many people do and have no problem finding somewhere eventually. It all depends really on how flexible you want your trip to be.

Reply 15

Wild182

I'm the same as alanfookes, our planned route so far is really long, though theres just so much and so many places we want to go, theres nowhere we really want to cut down, we've spoke alot about it and all seem happy we could manage the long route and travelling, but sure we'd change our mind once we get there and have to do it for real.

Reply 16

Amelia31

1

I really want to go interrailing next summer, not sure who I'd be going with yet, may end up just being me, and I have a list of places I want to go but nothing definite yet. Its all a bit vague :tongue:

but thought I'd post for inspiration haha.

Reply 17

Wild182

After lots more discussion we've cut our route down to 10 destinations, allowing 3 nights at each, although some train journeys are long inbetween. Our new planned route is.

Milan
Trieste
Ljubljana
Split
Budapest
Kosice
Krakow
Prague
Munich
Innsbruck
Paris

Flight into Milan, we planned 3 nights everywhere except Milan and Paris, 2 nights in Milan and One night in Paris (ha) where we've planned to get the Eurostar home.

A few more questions for those that have done this before.

We're under the impression you can buy your Interrail ticket about 3 months in advance (from looking on the website thye let you buy if you've planned to go up til March) Once you've got your ticket are you free to use it whenever you want in a timescale and your 30 days start from your first journey?

What are night trains like? How much are the couchettes, we've got some long journeys so looks like we might have to take quite a few night trains.

Also, looks like reservation fees could make it quite expensive, some places like 5 euros to reserve your seat, how many lines is this actually on? Or is it only on select ones like high speed

cheers

Reply 18

claireythepinkfairy

Wild182

We're under the impression you can buy your Interrail ticket about 3 months in advance (from looking on the website thye let you buy if you've planned to go up til March) Once you've got your ticket are you free to use it whenever you want in a timescale and your 30 days start from your first journey?

What are night trains like? How much are the couchettes, we've got some long journeys so looks like we might have to take quite a few night trains.

Also, looks like reservation fees could make it quite expensive, some places like 5 euros to reserve your seat, how many lines is this actually on? Or is it only on select ones like high speed

cheers

Yeah its 3 months in advance you can order it but they don't post it out (well they didnt for me) until a couple of weeks before. If your buying a month interrail pass when you order it you choose a start date and then it lasts for 1 month, so if you go in a month with 30 days you get 30 days of travel and if you go in a month with 31 days you get 31 days of travel so basically you want your pass to start on the day you leave Milan :smile:

I wasn't a big fan of night trains tbh but I think this is because the both times I was hungover, which probably made them feel worse than they were, but for some journeys they aer necessary. Normally your in a compartment of 6, the seats turn into bed like things but aren't that comfortable really. IT is also REALLY hot in summer, sso even with the window open its uncomfortable and because the window is open its very noisy so its pretty hard to sleep well. You also want to check the check-in times for the hostel in the city your arriving in, because normally you arrive in they city fairly early in the morning 7/8/9 so if you cant check in you will have to pay for a locker at the train station which can be quite expensive. On the plus side, it means you save on the price of a hostel that night(the price of a couchette varies from 7 euros to 20 euros) and you arrive in the city with a whole day of sightseeing.

You normally have to pay supplements/reservation fees for the faster trains which sometimes are unavoidable. Here's a list of the trains where you have to pay extra:
http://www.interrail.net/english/supplements.php
(the whole website is really good actually, lots of helpful information)
I also recommend you get a Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable book when the new one comes out next summer, I found it really helpful to plan out routes that avoid supplements.

Reply 19

Ludwig Wittgenstein

17

I'm looking into interrailing at the minute. Getting one of those 10 days within 22 days passes.
Not sure at the moment but I am tempted to go by myself. The idea of a lonesome journey of self and world exploration is quite attractive :awesome:

Journey would be...
England to:
Calais ->
Amsterdam 3 nights
Hannover or Hamburg 2 nights
Berlin 3 nights

From either going to Poland - Auchwitz sort of direction or
Prague 2/3 nights

Then down to Vienna 3 nights

Rome 3 nights
Milan 2 nights
Barcalona 3 nights
Paris 1 night

Home :smile:

Interrail 2010!

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