interrailing places to go things to see and hostels to stay in

blocparty

myself and my friends are currrently planning our interrailing trip. we were thinking of going at the end of august until the middle of septemeber. so i was looking for advice on where to go and what to see there and what hostels to stay in in those places.

we have made a very general plan but i know its not going to be stuck to really and i think having flexible plan is prob the best way to do things. so heres our plan

amsterdam 2/3 days
cologne 2 days
munich 2 days
prague 3 days
krakow 2 days
budapest 2 days
zagreb 2 days
split 3 days??? is it worth going to?
venice 2 days
nice 2 days
and then home


we really dont know if split is worth going to so any advice would be handy.

also are there any festivals/gigs on during this time of the year?

also if there are places that we should consider going to then please tell me

cheers for the help

breadmonkey

see my reply in the other thread

Lisapeep

My first thoughts looking at that list are that it looks like alot of cities. I would probably consider heading somewhere more relaxing about halfway through the trip so that you don't get too tired out. My experience of interrailing is that cities can be tiring and it's nice to include somewhere to go to chill out too!

Nice, by the way, is a great place to conclude your trip. You'll have lots of fun there by the beach and I'd highly recommend you fitting in a day trip to Monaco, Cannes or St.Tropez too while you're staying in Nice!

adrian522

If possible I'd try to include dubrovnik in your route, not sure if you can get a train there though.

$lattman

We stayed in Split for 3 nights, it's a nice enough place but quite small and there's little or no nightlife as most people just use it to get boats out to the islands which are great! i'd definitely recommend staying on one of the islands like Hvar instead, the boat from Split is very cheap! Theres great nightlife in Hvar with mostly rich Italians and Americans with yachts! There's a festival on in Budapest some time in August on an island in the Danube, its meant to be class, I think its called Sziget or something...

blocparty

hey guys thanks for the replys.

lisapeep - is there anywhere you would reccommend that would be a good place to just chill for a couple of days. I never really thought to factor that in cause i know half way through we will become lazy and tired of travelling and a chillin place would be cool to just chillax in for awhile

Adrian522 - ya ive had a few people telling me that dubrovnik is worth a visit but the only thing im concerned with is the time travel down there. the trains in croatia are meant to be fairly bad so a lot of my friends are wary of spending so much time there

Slattman - how long is the train journey from zagreb to split? ya one of my friends said we should go to one of the islands alrite as there as supposed to be amazing. cant remember the name but its not the one you mentioned. and thanks for the heads up about the festival ill have to keep a look out for it

blocparty

bump

hiberno

Zagreb is a really cracking city and lots to do, very big, accessible and clean. The train down to Split can be overnight or with a stop over along the way. Trains are as reliable as in Ireland (if that's any help) and while Split is beautiful (by the sea) and is worth a day's viewing, it's quiet at night. There are no trains to Dubrovnik and like Split a day and you're done, the biggest problem is that it's in the backside of nowhere and you're talking at least an 8 hour round trip by bus!

If you have the inkling stop off along the way in one of the Croatian towns, I can give exampls of Knin and Split (I live in the former) and there's enough to do in both to enjoy a day or two. In and around Knin there are castles, waterfalls, historical sites, it's cheap and also you can visit some sites from the Roman wars up until the last war (91-95). Sibenik is pretty, cheap and near to it a hopping resort with great nightlife, and very cosmopolitan (Srima-Vodice).

Only suggestions, but I hope it helps!

Faltermyer

Just a comment - have you factored in travel times? I assume youre doing the 22day pass - some of those trips are quite lengthly - worth checking out.
Oh, use www.bahn.de to check train times all over Europe (just click English on the left. Its a German website but accurate times for all of europe, will really help when there isnt a direct train from A to B - you just type in A to B and it will tell you where to change and it even gives you all the conditions of the train - i.e. so you can check the codes at the back of your interrail pass and see if you have to reserve the train or pay a supplement - beats the living ****e out of struggling with a Thomas Cook guide!!


Split does have nightlife - but its not in the City centre.
Its down by the beach in an area known as "Bacvice" (pronounced "Batch-vitsay" as far as I remember). Though I wasnt mad on it, good but not really the best atmostphere - though with a decent sized group it would be better.

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik Dubrovnik Dubrovnik Dubrovnik!
I cannot recommend it enough. I think it was about a 4-5hour bus ride from Split at a cost of about €20 each way from memory(possibly cheaper if you buy return). Dubrovnik still has its medieval old town and castle walls intact - somehow survived WW2 and the early 90's bombings relatively untouched - so you walk in over a moat basicly over a permanent drawbridge, and the main street of the old town is marble, all the buildings are cream/white stone and lit up at night, theres loads of small side streets off that with bars/restaurants etc.

However, in peak times Dubrovnik will be more expensive than other parts of Croatia, though still significantly cheaper than here.
We stayed about 20-30mins walk from the old town area but our landlord was also a taxi driver and part of our price was that he would drive us in or out of town whenever we wanted! Ill try to dig out a number for him if you want? He had a few apartments in a new development up on a hillside from the town, which meant a beautiful view, especially for sunset/sunrise.


Some photos of Dubrovnik:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/Faltermeyer/Faltermeyers_Rambling_Ways/Dubrovnik/IMG_0671Large.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/Faltermeyer/Faltermeyers_Rambling_Ways/Dubrovnik/IMG_0633Large.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/Faltermeyer/Faltermeyers_Rambling_Ways/Dubrovnik/IMG_0634Large.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/Faltermeyer/Faltermeyers_Rambling_Ways/Dubrovnik/IMG_06661.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/Faltermeyer/Faltermeyers_Rambling_Ways/Dubrovnik/IMG_06321.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/Faltermeyer/Faltermeyers_Rambling_Ways/Dubrovnik/IMG_0646Large.jpg




Other suggestions - Spend 3days in Budapest and make sure to try the Thermal Baths - try 2 different ones though - The Szeichney(sp?) are the biggest but the Gellert(sp?) are a bit hotter I thought. Its basicly small swimming pools at different temperatures (28,32,34,36 and 38degrees) aswell as unbelievable saunas(~72degrees celcius) and steam rooms(~50degrees celcius). The perfect way to detox after a night out.
You pay a certain fee to get in but the quicker you leave the more money they give you back.
Also as mentioned above - there is a huge music festival in Budapest around the 9-16th of August or so, I arrived into Budapest on the last day of it last year with no ticket though - so if you maybe do some googleing and find out who's playing then try to arrange tickets in advance.

ferdi

if your looking for a nice town in holland to chill in i hightly recommend Utrecht, i'm going back for my 3 visit in a few weeks. if possible stay in www.strowis.nl its a deadly hostel - cheap, clean, friendly...a great set up....easily one of th most chilled out places in the world

is well worth getting out of amsterdam - its rude and tacky after a few days, utrecht is local, picturesque and friendly...so many pople just go to amsterdam which is a great disservice to holland, utrecht is great.