Inter-rail or Inter-road

Vorak

Thinking of renting a 5-birth camper and hitting the continent this summer with a couple of lads. Anybody got any advice on means of travel? Camper-vans are a lot more expensive to rent than i had thought, about 175 euros a day between July and August...

breadmonkey

Firstly, at that rate you would be better off buying one.

Petrol is very expensive these days and I think you need to get a decent estimate of how much that is going to cost before you decide on a road trip.

aquestionmark

Inter-railing is the only way to do Europe. Did it 3 years ago and was the best holiday of my life. Just buy your inter-railing ticket in USIT or somewhere, get a European rail timetable book from any book shop, and a cheap flight to somewhere like amsterdam or munich and your set. It will work out cheaper than a camper because hostels are from €10-€20 a night max. Also, when your getting the train you dont have to worry bout drink-driving.

jackbhoy

aquestionmark wrote:

Inter-railing is the only way to do Europe. Did it 3 years ago and was the best holiday of my life. Just buy your inter-railing ticket in USIT or somewhere, get a European rail timetable book from any book shop, and a cheap flight to somewhere like amsterdam or munich and your set. It will work out cheaper than a camper because hostels are from €10-€20 a night max. Also, when your getting the train you dont have to worry bout drink-driving.

I concur

jetsonx

Sounds like a great idea over a pint but in theory its kinda messy...first off, insurance will cost more than the van itself ( if your buying second hand) toll roads in Europe can be expensive, somebody has to do the driving, alot of campsites in Europe are very boring places (most campervans are owned by retired people), parking will be a huge issue in the cities - lastly do you really want to spend a month in a sweaty van with 5 other people.

The IR option where you get delivered from city-centre to city-centre for next to nothing is the way to go.

Vorak

Ya thanks guys. It's just the hassle of phoning ahead/ booking hostels, carrying bags from train to hostel to train, buying food from day to day instead of being able to stock up in one place, being able to drive off the beaten track at will etc, but mainly, i think the Inter-road would be better than the Inter-rail from an experiential point of view, because you can see, stop and experience the 'in-between' places. Instead of going from Bratislava to Riga in a couple of hours, you could make a three day trip of it, and see a whole lot more than two cities.

Having said all that, i imagine you could meet like-minded types in Hostels, make friends, share stories and all that.

TBH unless i find a free camper-van, i think we'll probably be forced by our meager budgets, to go inter-railing.

bazzer06

Inter-rail is definitely the way to go if you're going for up to a month - otherwise, ya may only get good value from it if you're going to countries like France, Spain and Germany in particular - in italy and Portugal, for example, train travel is really quite cheap and so i think you could go without.

If you're travelling mostly in Eastern Europe I'd say dont bother with the interrail ticket at all - in most countries you wont get the full value out of it coz its so damn cheap to travel, and coz in a lot of countries (croatia being one very good example) the trains dont really go where you want to!!

The thing i didnt like about interrail is the fact that once you've started using your ticket, you always feel under pressure to be on the road (for want of a better phrase obviously!) and so if ya really like a place you cant just decide to stop for a while. But if ya wanna whizz around western europe for a couple of weeks and see the major sights then it is the way to go! Otherwise, stick with buses (if you can handle them - and not an option in France btw) - cheaper and often quicker in the east

check out http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com - great place to ask for tips etc.

Good luck anyhoo and have a great time!

breadmonkey

For the love of God don't stress yourself out ringing hostels ahead of time!