Inter railing Europe Summer 09

rachelryan29

Hi..

Myself and two girls are thinking of Inter railing Europe this summer, probably 2/3 weeks... not sure of where to go and really not sure of that the sceal is with organising it.. any ideas or opinions on where we cannot afford to miss???... Where do I buy an inter rail ticket from?

Any help would be gratefully received.
Thanks in advance

Dancor

This website has all the info you need on tickets and stuff http://www.interrailnet.com/

This site is great for train timetables http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

Best off getting a cheap flight to wherever you want to start from and the same coming home.
In regards to where you cant afford to miss I would say Ljubljana, lake bled, Budapest, Prauge, Berlin and Amsterdam.
Places that are nice would be Paris, lake garda in Italy, About an hour from Milan, Krakow and Brugge.

rachelryan29

Thanks very much Dancor.. I'm really hoping it works out

any more replies gratefully received!!!!!!!

Barrys-Tea

You can get your tickets in any usit office as well, once you bring your passport..

4 of us are heading at the end of june for 4-5weeks.. Starting in amsterdam heading east & want to end up in croatia (split or hvar) for a holiday at the end.. Is there anything in between Amsterdam & Berlin thats well worth a visit or should just we go straight to Berlin? Anyone any ideas on how to get home from croatia on the cheap..? We were thinking a ferry back across to italy but then would have to fly to london then back to dublin so its not so cheap after all...!

Swaine55

Im going for 3 weeks for my 6th year holiday. stockholm copenhagen amsterdam paris berlin krakow prague slovinia and munich. just make sure the last place you go to flys with ryanair, and you will get home cheap.

Planning these trips takes ALOT of work, unless your willing to go without a specific route.

Beau

What are peoples opinions on not getting an inter railing pass? We're traveling from Venice, Ljubljana, lake bled, Maribor, (possibly) Budapest, (possibly) Brataslava, Wien, (possbly) Krakow and to Prague.

We know a couple that did it for 8 weeks without one and were happy with it and said they were probably better off. So far from our research it looks lke without (and without the destinations in brackets) a inter rail ticket it'll cost €200. Its important as money is tight enough at €1500.

One other question, should we definitely book return flights now? (We'd like to remain flexible enough, the above is a plan to get us going)

sternn

Beau wrote: »

What are peoples opinions on not getting an inter railing pass? We're traveling from Venice, Ljubljana, lake bled, Maribor, (possibly) Budapest, (possibly) Brataslava, Wien, (possbly) Krakow and to Prague.

We know a couple that did it for 8 weeks without one and were happy with it and said they were probably better off. So far from our research it looks lke without (and without the destinations in brackets) a inter rail ticket it'll cost €200. Its important as money is tight enough at €1500.

One other question, should we definitely book return flights now? (We'd like to remain flexible enough, the above is a plan to get us going)

Im not going to buy a ticket either. It works out cheaper not buying a ticket for the places we want to go, and also takes out the risk of losing the ticket.

Regarding flights, we are booking the 1st journey about a month in advance. Then about a week to go before we leave, we are booking the return journey. Booking a little in advance will save money, so I think that is the best way to do it. If you are going for longer than 4 weeks, you could book while on your travels. You will have a lot of time to decide where to go home from (long train journeys and all that!)

Valmont

If you have the money, a good first trip would be straight through Germany, Austria, and Italy. Plenty to see and do there.

Valmont

Swaine55 wrote: »

Planning these trips takes ALOT of work, unless your willing to go without a specific route.

I wouldn't say a lot, you just have to give it the attention it needs and it shouldn't discourage anyone from doing it. All you have to do is book flights, hostels and get your interrail pass and after that it's whatever you want to do. If you think interrailing is a lot of work, try fill out the paperwork for a J1!

sin-blu

Im headin on friday for 4 weeks-getting pretty stressed out trying to get my final preparation done. the rough plan is to go to budapest prague poland germany netherlands paris italy and austria....Anyone got any tips for packing or things to do there?

mconigol

Berlin...such a cool city,i'd highly recomend going on the "alternative berlin" free walking tour (not the newberlin alternative one!), meets outside starbucks under the tv tower everyday at 11am and 1pm(I think), takes around 5 hours and they take you around loads of cool hidden spots (beach bars,squats,grafeti etc...) you'd never find on your own. Best thing I did in Berlin :cool:

Also I'm going to Prague tomorrow so anyone with any ideas what to do there that'd be great...!

ScumLord

sternn wrote: »

Im not going to buy a ticket either. It works out cheaper not buying a ticket for the places we want to go, and also takes out the risk of losing the ticket.

I didn't even know about them when I did it a few years ago, I just went with no plans, I didn't bother booking hostels either and it only went against me once in Amsterdam but I used campsites as a fall back. You can get student discounts at the train station anyway most the time they just ask you if your under 24 or 25 and give you the discount at your word.

breadmonkey

sin-blu wrote: »

Im headin on friday for 4 weeks-getting pretty stressed out trying to get my final preparation done. the rough plan is to go to budapest prague poland germany netherlands paris italy and austria....Anyone got any tips for packing or things to do there?

Take it easy, there's no need to be so stressed!

A rough plan is all you need; you're never going to get stranded!

The golden rule for packing? Be as light as possible! Max bag weight should be 10kg imo.

BaRcOe

We heading Brussels first cuz of a cheap flight we found.
What can you expect in Brussels? Any places you reccomend. Things to do?
Any good pubs/clubs?

One other Thing about Inter railing End of July 3weeks.- August.

What music Festivals might we catch around Europe?
We're talking around Berlin, AMsterdam Area. Any Festivals going on From July 28th -> whenever?

ScumLord

I'll be in Brussels in about two weeks I'll let you know how it goes. I might be spending the bulk of the two days in Bruges though.

BaRcOe

ScumLord wrote: »

I'll be in Brussels in about two weeks I'll let you know how it goes. I might be spending the bulk of the two days in Bruges though.

Nice one, thanks for that. Enjoy it, its really great over there.
lol i joke.

:cool::P

Antisocialiser

Ill be flying into brussels on wednesday so ill post the pro's and con's when i get a chance

tracie101

Myself and two friends are going interailing, leaving on Friday. It recommends that you book alot of trains in advance.

Can you get by without reserving or what trains are essential to reserve?

Also is hostel booking necessary?

We are not 100% sure of our route yet so it may be difficult to get get them booked in time. Were are flying into Eindhoven then maybe onto Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Munich, Florence, Rome then onto Greece.

Any advice appreciated!

BaRcOe

tracie101 wrote: »

Myself and two friends are going interailing, leaving on Friday. It recommends that you book alot of trains in advance.

Can you get by without reserving or what trains are essential to reserve?

Also is hostel booking necessary?

We are not 100% sure of our route yet so it may be difficult to get get them booked in time. Were are flying into Eindhoven then maybe onto Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Munich, Florence, Rome then onto Greece.

Any advice appreciated!

Hey I was in Bratislava with my football team a couple years ago.
It was great, I think its worth stopping there. There was a couple CLubs and Strip Clubs that we accidently found lol. Just watch the Taxi Drievers if you go there and be careful of the Hookers, One Fat Hooker tried to get it on with my friend it was hilarious.
Anyway yeh, Bratislava, ull have a laugh, theres a couple Irish bars too and that

Just thought about it, there was some weird currency there so eh maybe its not worth the hassle in gettin your money changed. It was nice and cheap for beer though. Ah well lol

sprigget

hi everyone,
Iv got six weeks to do nothing and was thinking of going interrailing in the next few weeks.(yay!)

Problem is all of my friends are working with no free holiday time so I think Ill be going alone. I dont mind my own company, and I generally find it easy to make friends on the go - just wondering if there are any girls out there who've travelled alone before.

Id love to hear your experiences _ my main concern is safety - am I foolish to even consider travelling alone?

N1njapirate

dancor wrote: »

This website has all the info you need on tickets and stuff http://www.interrailnet.com/

This site is great for train timetables http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

Best off getting a cheap flight to wherever you want to start from and the same coming home.
In regards to where you cant afford to miss I would say Ljubljana, lake bled, Budapest, Prauge, Berlin and Amsterdam.
Places that are nice would be Paris, lake garda in Italy, About an hour from Milan, Krakow and Brugge.

Rofl, I'm going to all those places.. Flight tomorrow morning.. Very excited!

Up-n-atom!

Id love to hear your experiences _ my main concern is safety - am I foolish to even consider travelling alone?

Hi Spriggit, I would totally recommend travelling alone - just got back from 5 weeks interrailing on my own, was bricking it beforehand but it was fine once I got there. Went to Barca-Nice-Florence-Ljubljana-Bled-Zagreb-Split/Brac-Mostar-Sarajevo-Budapest-Krakow-Berlin. Worst thing that happened was hostel in Krakow mixed up my booking and I had to go elsewhere, which really wasn't that big a problem at all, just unexpected stress. As a girl on her own I found that people were nicer to me and a bit protective - I got dinners cooked for me, help with lifting bags on to the luggage racks, people giving me their seats on trams etc. It's also so easy to meet other travellers, particularly other people travelling alone or in small groups (I found bigger groups less social outside their group, unless it was with other groups).
One thing I would say that the hostels made a big difference in terms of meeting people. Some of the bigger fancier hostels had no proper common room/kitchen, and that made it harder to meet people other than those with whom you share your room. It's also a good idea to keep busy, don't be afraid of going out and about on your own, but at the same time be flexible and be open to hopping in on other people's plans if you get the chance.

ScumLord

I ended up not stopping off in Brussels, I was there for about 2 hours waiting for a train over to Brugge, had a few drinks. You can smoke in the pubs. That's about all I know of the place.

sprigget

thanks for the reply up-n-atom,
great to know it worked out for you!
I know loads of fellas who've travelled alone but I wasn't sure if it was okay for girls to do the same.
Definitely dont fancy sitting around Ireland for weeks when I could be off around Europe.
Wouldnt say no to anyone helping me with my bags either - maybe the whole damsel in distress thing might work for me if I start to feel a bit sorry for myself!:D

Becky_Boo

Hey, I'm heading interrailing around Europe with a few girls for 3 and a half weeks and I'm wondering if we should book all the hostels now before we leave. It would mean we wouldn't have to worry about it whilst travelling from city to city, giving us a sense of security but at the same time it means that if we really like a place and want to stay an extra night or two we might feel the need to leave so that we won't be wasting money on the hostel we've booked in the next city...can anyone shed some light on it from their own experiences?

StephenRM

BaRcOe wrote: »

We heading Brussels first cuz of a cheap flight we found.
What can you expect in Brussels? Any places you reccomend. Things to do?
Any good pubs/clubs?

One other Thing about Inter railing End of July 3weeks.- August.

What music Festivals might we catch around Europe?
We're talking around Berlin, AMsterdam Area. Any Festivals going on From July 28th -> whenever?

I'm going in just under three weeks: amsterdam, berlin, prague, vienna and budapest. Gonig to Sziget festival in budapest, its on an island on the river danube 8 days long sounds unreal....http://www.szigetfest.co.uk/

Anyone any ideas for smaller towns/places near big cities to go to???

heard of a place near prague called cefky krumlov, typical small czech place meant to be good, looking for other places like it along the way!

BaRcOe

StephenRM wrote: »

Gonig to Sziget festival in budapest, its on an island on the river danube 8 days long sounds unreal....http://www.szigetfest.co.uk/

sziget! yeh we're going there, Prodigy Pendulum, b party, snow patrol ...etc
Gonna be Good and its only like 40 quid for 1 day!

StephenRM

Only going for a day? missing out...

sprigget

Im off next week, starting in Paris - really nervous now as I dont know what to bring or book in advance. I havnt got an interrailing ticket yet as im only going for three weeks and iv heard theres no need to get one as the savings dont add up in such a short time.

iheartthailand

a few have asked about booking trains and hostels...we never booked trains and we only pre-booked our hostel in berlin which is where we flyed to. other than that we would book somewhere the day before or the day we were heading to that place, never had any problems finding anywhere or had any terrible hostel experiences. there was 6 of us travelling together and we only once had to split up into two different rooms(and that was just for one night) other than that we always found a 6 bed dorm so we wouldnt even have to share. booking all your hostels in advance means your on a strict itinery and cant stay longer in a place or change your plans. along the way you'll talk to people who will recommend places to go and part of the fun of travelling is not being sure where your gona end up next!!! this is my experience anyway (i went 2 years ago).

errlloyd

Hey guys, I am posting this from 1 week into my interrail trip right now in Munich. I realise I am wasting time, but I am waiting for a train to Hamburg. Lol.

My advice for interrail is you can wing it, but it might not end well. We went without a plan, and two nights now have ended up without a bed. Once on a train (tonight) and once just in Paris.

My other golden rule is hang out in the hostel bars, the best info floating around is free and from other travelers.

If you want to read about what I did just check the blog in my sig, it has a day to day on my movements, I am doing a lot of sightseeing, staying out of clubs cause of price, but spending a lot of time in bars. You want anything else, or if your going to be somewhere we are, message me.



This is just general answers to questions.

Traveling alone...

This is not an issue, you won't be alone for long. I am with a mate and the only time we need two of us is when we are sleeping rough and want someone to watch the bags. Otherwise its kinda handy that we borrow cash off one another, but not a necessity.

Booking in advance...

We didn't, but its not been too cool sometimes. We didn't get a room in Paris (it was Bastille day), and we don't have a bed on tonights train, just a seat, otherwise its not an issue, just shop around for hostels. (www.hostelworld.com)

Security

Bring a padlock, most hostels have lockers in the rooms, but you need a padlock, not too small not too large.

Price.

Your doing well to go under 40 a day average if your sightseeing, I guess if your just drinking you can live cheaper.

Cities.

I am in love with Munich, if you come here, there are 3 hostels on the street very near the station, Jaegers, Euro Youth Hostel and Wombats. They are all amazing, if you come the bar in Jaegers is the place to be, oh and do the free bike tour, one guide Joey is Irish the other two Alex and Jamie are English, took us for beer and cocktails. (1 lt, 21% 5:50 at happy hour). Paris was maybe too big and too expensive, Strasbourg was beautiful.

deisedolly

Going inter railing for the month of August with my boyfriend and we're starting to book some of our hostels in advance atm.

I know alot of ye say that booking in advance takes away the freedom and excitement but I just think I would be so stressed out and pissed off arriving in a city and having to trek around looking for hostels only to find out their full/only minging ones/expensive ones left - particularly as we're traveling during the busiest month!

We are starting in Venice and need to be up in Belgium for the 19th of August (meeting friends and going to Pukkelpop) so staying extra days, going a different route is not really an option anyway!

We are, where financially possible, trying to get private double/twin rooms in hostels that also have dorms and a common area/bar. We hope to combine privacy with meeting new people and having the craic.

I just need some reassurance:
Are we mad to book everything in advance, even if it does provide peace of mind to us both?

Are we mad to think that we can still meet as many people and have as much craic when staying in private rooms?

Only have a few things booked here and there so advice would be appreciated before I book things I may regret :-)

errlloyd

Your not really mad to book in advance, if you need to you can probably cancel the bookings anyway.

You should be able to have the craic from private rooms, its not the most relevant thing. I am trying not to generalise, but I have noticed that couples aren't as social in dorm anyway...

My advice is that the hostel is far far more relevant than the way you stay in it. I am in a hostel in Hamburg called Memmingers, that you might be tempted to book because the rooms are nice and its highly rated, don't if you want the social craic. Its an amazing building, but its full of families and business men.

milkado

I think you should definitely book in advance, I did and I got the best hostels in best locations etc, you're only gonna get that if you take the time to read the reviews and all, otherwise you're just gonna have to trust the tourist office people! Also it can be good to stick to a plan because then you get the most out of your month and see what you want to see instead of spending ages in one place then wishing you hadn't when you see the next place is even better! I'd say to go for the double rooms, me and my boyfriend did a mix of privates and dorms and dorms are seriously just annoying after a while! You still have the common room and organised nights out and all to meet people, we made great friends in the places where we stayed in private rooms! Look for the hostels that say they organize nights out and stuff, definitely the most fun! Krakow and Budapest are great for them!

Up-n-atom!

I would say book as you go along a few days in advance - that way you have the best of both worlds: you're free to change your plans, but you always have somewhere to go when arrive in a new place (and you can decide when you get there if you want to extend/cut short your visit and go somewhere else).

I booked everything before I left Ireland when I went interrailing in May/June just coz I was alone and didn't know what to expect (and had to get the maximum out of my itinerary!), but if I went again I'd wing it a bit more and a bit more flexible in my plans

BaRcOe

We booked most of our hostels, Brussels, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Krakow, Budapest (Sziget Festival!!!) Prague....etc

Hostel in Berlin looks fairly good, called Generator, Only 20 quid a night 4 nights, there being 6 of us and it looks like a great place to meet people.

As someone said already theres no Stress when you book in advance cause you're booked in, no worries in finding a place and you know its in a good location.
Of course its risky the place may be a kip but thats all part of the fun

milkado

BaRcOe wrote: »

We booked most of our hostels, Brussels, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Krakow, Budapest (Sziget Festival!!!) Prague....etc

Hostel in Berlin looks fairly good, called Generator, Only 20 quid a night 4 nights, there being 6 of us and it looks like a great place to meet people.

As someone said already theres no Stress when you book in advance cause you're booked in, no worries in finding a place and you know its in a good location.
Of course its risky the place may be a kip but thats all part of the fun

the generator is cool but not the best for meeting people because it's so huge! It's basically like a hotel! The bar is great though, at happy hour everything is half price!

dory

sprigget wrote: »

Im off next week, starting in Paris - really nervous now as I dont know what to bring or book in advance. I havnt got an interrailing ticket yet as im only going for three weeks and iv heard theres no need to get one as the savings dont add up in such a short time.

Best of luck! I went around South America and Asia alone (as a 21yr old girl). Was totally fine. I've done a bit of Europe too alone. Remember 99% of people in this world just want to mind their own business and get on with their life. Good luck avoiding the other 1%, I'm sure you'll be fine!

jamtart

how much money would you need to bring for 3 weeks?

errlloyd

I spent about 50 a day average. Aimed for 45 but unforseen charges always screwed me.

Book everything in advance to make it cheaper.

sin-blu

it really depends on where you go what you want to do etc. I spend less than 1500 in nearly 5 weeks