Interrailing this Summer

sternn

Anyone interrailing this summer? Im just in the middle of planning it, and am thinking august (and getting the 10 journeys in 22 days). Anyone with any experience with this?

purplefighter

I don't have any experience in inter-railing but am like yourself looking in to doing it this summer. I was thinking of a one month continuous pass for prob August time too. I'm a little confused about the whole flexibility thing though! Does a one month CONTINUOUS pass mean you get a ticket and are let loose, hop on and off trains as you please?? Or is that my wishful thinking??

mconigol

I'm going at the beginning of June. Hardly planned a thing, just a very basic route and see what happens! Think the main thing is to be flexible. I'm going on my own so that shouldn't be a problem. First timer too!

Does a one month CONTINUOUS pass mean you get a ticket and are let loose, hop on and off trains as you please?? Or is that my wishful thinking??

Just pulled this off interrailnet.com:

If you have a 22-day or 1-month continuous InterRail Global Pass, you can travel as often if you want within the InterRail Pass's overall period of validity. http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-faq-what-does-flexi-mean

So I assume this means you can take as many trains as you like...don't know about hopping on and off though! As far as I can make out you need to make reservations for most trains...please correct me if i'm wrong on either count!

KarlNedCarew

Did this last year and i'm going again this year (I shouldn't be, not exactly in any financial state to), and it was a case of getting on trains for us last year.

However we did travel at night and had to pay €14 each to get beds , which is more than a bed in a hostel, almost twice as much in some cases.

This might classify as making a reservation as mentioned above though

KarlNedCarew

Found these two pages on the official site

http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-special-trains

http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-reservations-international-trains

The ones in the 2nd link are fairly easy to avoid, and not too sure about the accuracy of the ones in the first link, I don't recall paying extra while in hungary for example.

But then I don't recall much from that holiday:D

Brimmy

*pfft* beds. The real way to do it is just show up and sleep on the floors as we did sometimes. If you want a carage on the train you might need to pay 5 euro each as it counts as a reservation otherwise you can just rob an empty one and hope that no one shows up but there's usually someone down for them most times.

The continuous pass means continuous, as many journeys as you like in the time frame. That's what we got and it was a life saver when we missed our train from Paris to Milan and ended up having to get 6 other trains over the course of the next 24 hours to get there (no direct train for 2 more days). Be careful if you're getting one of the 10 in 22 or the others like them as if you go on the train over night it counts as 2 of your days.

KarlNedCarew

It only counts for two days if you leave before 7pm.

And as mentioned above by brimmy be prepared to sleep anywhere, empty apartment (belonged to one of my buddies parents but had nothing but a toilet, sink and shower).
Slept on a matress of clothes with a towel for a blanket and my rucksack as a pillow for those nights. It was a damn sight more comfortable than some of the beds I slept in out there.

Moral of the story: Bring a sleeping bag...

i suppose you could just organise it instead

ThunbergsAreGo

interrailing is phenomenal

Have been Italy andEAstern Europe a few times doing it.

Pick decent hostels if you can and dont shop in tourist areas!

Was thinkin of doin it around Spain myself this year

Any one have any experience with that area?

sternn

Its so annoying, im going with two girls. They dont want to go to the places where they have heard bad stories about...ie Poland, Italy. Also, no night trains. Im thinking of just going on my own, but would so much prefer to be with people. Hopefully they will pull themselves together!

The majority of people seem to start in amsterdam, so I guess thats where we will be too

breadmonkey

For God's sake don't do 10 journeys in 22 days!

ThunbergsAreGo

sternn wrote: »

Its so annoying, im going with two girls. They dont want to go to the places where they have heard bad stories about...ie Poland, Italy. Also, no night trains. Im thinking of just going on my own, but would so much prefer to be with people. Hopefully they will pull themselves together!

The majority of people seem to start in amsterdam, so I guess thats where we will be too

If its where you want to go go, youll meet people there anyways

sternn

breadmonkey wrote: »

For God's sake don't do 10 journeys in 22 days!

Whats wrong with that?!

ThunbergsAreGo

If you think you can do it go ahead.

Its alot of travelling in a short space of time though.

youd be looking at spending one/two nights in places.

Unless yoou are thinkin of taking night trains?

p to the e

A good piece of advice is to book your plane fro a few days before your interrailling ticket starts so you have a few days extra at the start destination and maybe the same for the end. when we did it we started in Oslo and worked our way down through Sweden denmark and Germany then hit a load of Eastern European places which were miles cheaper. If you have any more questions give me a PM. it's a brilliant experience and you'll be amazed the amount of backpackers you meet especially in August

breadmonkey

sternn wrote: »

Whats wrong with that?!

naughtb4 wrote: »

If you think you can do it go ahead.

Its alot of travelling in a short space of time though.

youd be looking at spending one/two nights in places.

Unless yoou are thinkin of taking night trains?

^^^This.

I don't know if you've ever been backpacking before but if you travel every two days then that's all you'll do. You'll spend your whole time on trains/planning what time to get trains/looking for accommodation/getting your bearings. It's stressful and tiring.

I honestly believe that for 22 days you should pick 5 places MAX and buy your tickets as you go.

I've been guilty in the past of not taking my own advice on this matter because I always want to see/do everything but trust me, you don't want to move shop every two days.

Terry Cotta

I went a few years ago on my own with no maps or guidebooks. Best thing I ever did.

I found myself moving nearly every two days. I would get really itchy feet and wander into a station, look up at the board for the departures in the next five minutes and think: that place sounds interesting, I'll go there. An hour later you're on the Riviera chillin out.

That being said I'm sure I missed a lot without a guide book. I didn't know what half the ruins in Rome I was looking at were.

Not that it will eat into your budget but be aware that a lot of trains you have to reserve a seat on a train. At most it would be about E10. But you could pay more if its a non daily train.

Anyway Enjoy......All this talk makes me want to go again.....

sternn

So if im going for 3 weeks, and maybe make 6 journeys, would it be better value to get an inter-rail ticket or buy the tickets at the station?

Are student tickets available or do you have to pay full whack?

Bakharwaldog

Nah 10 days in 22 is grand....i done it and you dont have to use all 10 days and 2 or 3 days is enough for some places....i think a month open ended ticket is pointless unless your going to be traveling more than 10 days in the month. Its a waste.

Night trains are good crack aswel, you save money on a hostel and dont waste a day they have to be booked in advance tho. We just went drinking on the train and met these americans and got kicked out of the bar carriage for singing.

Something we did with our ticket aswel was take a ferry from vencie to corfu. It only cost about 5 or 6 euro for an overnight ferry with a pool, nightclub, bars restaurant etc on it. we did have to sleep on the floor but that was part of the experience.

FuttBucker

Didn't want to start up a new thread so thought i'd just post a few Q's in here. Thinking of going interrailing this summer and I am starting to plan now.

What would the average hostel cost?

I'm a student so think cash will be relatively low, could someone set a rough guideline on how much would be needed in total for say 3-4 weeks??

Bakharwaldog

really depends on where your going and what standard of hostel your staying in. If you are willing to share a room with 8 or more people you can get a cheap hostel almost anywhere. The times i went interailing i generally spent less than 20 euro a night on hostels, sometimes a lot less sometimes slightly more depending on the city and location of hostel. We tried not to skimp too much on the hostels and went for the ones that had central locations and seemed to be good crack. check out hostelworld.com sort by rating and by price and you will get a good sense of how much you will have to pay. also check out http://www.famoushostels.com/ iv stayed in a few of these hostels and they have all been pretty sweet

ThunbergsAreGo

c_k_m wrote: »

really depends on where your going and what standard of hostel your staying in. If you are willing to share a room with 8 or more people you can get a cheap hostel almost anywhere. The times i went interailing i generally spent less than 20 euro a night on hostels, sometimes a lot less sometimes slightly more depending on the city and location of hostel. We tried not to skimp too much on the hostels and went for the ones that had central locations and seemed to be good crack. check out hostelworld.com sort by rating and by price and you will get a good sense of how much you will have to pay. also check out http://www.famoushostels.com/ iv stayed in a few of these hostels and they have all been pretty sweet

Pretty much agree with all of the above.

How much you spend totally depends on where your going. should be fine with a grand

breadmonkey

naughtb4 wrote: »

Pretty much agree with all of the above.

How much you spend totally depends on where your going. should be fine with a grand

I think €1k for a month's travel in Europe is going to be pretty tight, regardless of where you go.

ThunbergsAreGo

breadmonkey wrote: »

I think €1k for a month's travel in Europe is going to be pretty tight, regardless of where you go.

Well he did say 3-4 weeks

Say hostel 15 x 22 = 330

Then spending of 600 say is 30 a day, well capable in Eastern Europe

It really does depend on the type of holiday you want to have however

FuttBucker

naughtb4 wrote: »

Well he did say 3-4 weeks

Say hostel 15 x 22 = 330

Then spending of 600 say is 30 a day, well capable in Eastern Europe

It really does depend on the type of holiday you want to have however

Plan is 22 days- Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Krakow,Prague (in no particular order)

Then to Athens, getting ferry to Ios for a week
Type of holiday is to drink lots lol

TheCardHolder

Hey guys,

Those of you who went before, where did you get your info from? Where is the best places to go for a couple of 18year old guys? Basically I just want a fun partying holiday and to see some cool sights

Bakharwaldog

FuttBucker wrote: »

Plan is 22 days- Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Krakow,Prague (in no particular order)

Then to Athens, getting ferry to Ios for a week
Type of holiday is to drink lots lol

Sounds pretty sweet although barecelona is gonna be hard enough to get to cos its so out of the way but its an unreal city and i highly recommend going there.

Check out the interail website cos u can get discounts on loads of ferries and other things. we got a ferry from venice to corfu for about 5 euro or something crazy like that. Thats for an overnight ferry with a pool and a jacuzzi and a nightclub, we did have to sleep on the ground but meh

zolons

An interrailing holiday around Europe is one of the best holidays you can go on as a student. Went a couple of summers ago for about a month with 2 mates. Dont go with a group bigger than 3!! I almost decided to write a very long reply here but il try nd be brief. Id say i could giv pretty decent advice on anything to do with interrailing so ask if uve any more q’s...

In terms of routes, id recommend to start in northern Italy or anywhere around there although most start in Amsterdam or Germany but I think its better to finish closer to home. I flew to Treviso for nothing with Ryanair, popped down to Venice for a day nd then really started travelling. Its all about winging it so we only had a rough plan. Ended up going Ljubliana, Lake Bled, Budapest, Vienna, Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam nd then booked a cheap flight home from Brussels durin the last week.

Id leave the likes of Barcalona for a weekend trip or somthin. As for Greece and Croatia you could spend a month in each of them island hopping and whatever so id do them separately aswel.

I got the 30 day continuos ticket which suited us as we wanted maximum freedom to go wherever. The 10 travel days in 22 is over a hundred cheaper and better for most id say because ul prob stay in ur first and last place for a few days so itl do ya for a month. You can get cheaper tickets if you confine yourself to pre set zones in Europe but friends we met went outside the zone they had tickets for an individual train tickets cost a fortune so make sure u hav the tickets ul need for where ur going.

It costs money to reserve seats on any train, we didn’t book any seats or beds on night trains and i wouldn’t really recommend wasting money on it. Ul know urself after the first couple of trains.

Book your hostel for maybe your first two stops before u leave home and then just book the rest a few days in advance online. Staying in the best hostels is the most important thing for making your trip as good as it can be. Ask if you want to know bout the best hostels I stayed in and the ones I stayed in to avoid.

I spent almost 2000 euro in just less than a month including flights, interrailin ticket an accom. That included drinking every single and spending 120 on a festival ticket. (Sziget in Budapest is a must if ur there at the time its on, even plan your route around it.) Cirrus and Maestro work in the ATM’s everywhere but id definitely recommend someone in your group or you if your travelling alone (definitely worth doing) have a Mastercard as ul need it to book hostels online or for anything else unexpected.

Sorry got on a bit of a run typing there nd theres plenty more if anyones interested.

Bakharwaldog

Pretty much agree with everything zolons has said here. Goin to a festival is also a good idea while your there a nice start or finish to the holiday thers loads around europe, we went to rock werchter in belgium which was pretty sweet.

Regarding greece, croatia and spain i think they are unreal places to end a trip. The weather isnt always gonna be great so its nice to get some sun and beach in at the end. Last time i was interailin we ended in crfu and the time before we ended in spain, spending a few days in barcelona then heading to pamplona for the bull run (cant recommend this highly enough, best part of the trip).