Going InterRailing in 2 weeks

Lainey89

Myself, 5 guys and 1 other girl are heading of to Europe in 2 weeks. We have the 10 days within 22 days train tickets and flights home from Croatia booked. The rough plan is Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Budapest and then about a week or so in Croatia. Two people in the group have booked most of their hostels in advance while the rest of us are going to wing it.

Anybody have any advice/tips for interrailing?

mconigol

Don't really have any advice for you unfortunately, I'm also going in two weeks for the first time and following a pretty similar route though, Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Munich-Ljubljana-Zagreb, then spending a while in croatia (split,hvar,dubrovnik) and then maybe over to italy if i've time. Not booking any hostels in advance but i'm going on my own so it'l probably be easier to get somewhere on short notice for one person as opposed to 5! (I hope!) Theres an interrailing thread going here at the moment: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055568534

Tusky

I'd make sure you get a good few days in Berlin - its a great city, especially if you like clubbing. Its also much cheaper than the likes of Paris and Amsterdam. If you do want to check out some clubs in Berlin I recommend Watergate and Panorama Bar. The best way to book hostels is to use hostelworld.com and sort hostels by 'rating' - then just scroll down to the one that is within your price range.

Lainey89

Maybe we'l run into you at some stage during the trip even

mconigol

maybe so!...keep an eye out for a lanky irish guy hangin around bars on his own Tusky...yeah i've heard Berlin is brilliant, definitely going to spend 3 or 4 days there!

Lainey89

Likewise if you see 6 tall guys and 2 girls rambling around looking lost : D

Terry Cotta

Lainey89 wrote: »

Likewise if you see 6 tall guys and 2 girls rambling around looking lost : D

There's a joke in there somewhere.......

Lainey89

Terry Cotta wrote: »

There's a joke in there somewhere.......

Made worse by the fact 3 of us are engineers...

mconigol

I don't get it...!

Lainey89

mconigol wrote: »

I don't get it...!

It's my failed attempt at some engineering humour:(

mconigol

ah...an engineer...that explains it!

Lainey89

We're the cool engineers! ...just don't get them started about their electronics. Those conversations never end!:D

On another note when are you starting your trip?

mconigol

oh rite "the cool" engineers...thanks for letting the rest of the world know! flying into amsterdam 3rd June, so that's technically my start date, although i'm staying the first night in a hotel and going out with a few lads from work so i'm not sure if that counts!

Bakharwaldog

To be honest id book some hostels before you go or at least a few days before you want to stay in them.

Your going to be traveling in a busy period and in my experience (been interrailing last 2 summers) a hostel can make or break a city.

If you dont mind overpaying for a hostel which might not be in the best location or have best facilities then your grand but most o the good hostels fill up fast.

It does kind of take some of the spirit out of it but the best way to see a city is from a good hostel. where you can meet people and hang around with them or thats in a central location. If you leave it too late, especially in amsterdam and the likes you could end up paying way too much.

Just my opinion, others will probably say your best to do it as you go but i dunno if thats possible anymore

Lainey89

We're all booked into a hostel for the first 3 nights in Paris and we have an apartment for the last week in Dubrovnik.
Is it not a bit to structured to have everything booked in advance before we even leave the country? Seems to me theres too many variables with InterRailing to be able to say "I will be here on this date at this time etc"

Bakharwaldog

Lainey89 wrote: »

We're all booked into a hostel for the first 3 nights in Paris and we have an apartment for the last week in Dubrovnik.
Is it not a bit to structured to have everything booked in advance before we even leave the country? Seems to me theres too many variables with InterRailing to be able to say "I will be here on this date at this time etc"

ya i know what you mean, but still i found it good to have booked a few days in advance. or if you know your probably gonna be in amsterdam on sucha date u may as well book it. I dunno we did the whole arriving in a city and lookin for a place to stay and it worked out alright most of the time but we ended up staying in some dives. But ya, definately dont book the whole thing but sometimes if you know were your gonna be its handy to have it booked. Even if its only 3 or 4 days in advance.

We ended up sleepin on the streets once or twice because we couldnt find a hostel, that was in barcelona tho and we had to catch atrain early the next morning and were gonna be drinking all night anyway. only really slept for a couple of hours. in the middle of a roundabout at the end of las ramblas and it was grand cos it was warm. Also had to rough it at the running of the bulls in pamplona cos everything was booked out or extremely expensive.

Lainey89

I agree with the booking 2 or 3 days in advance if we know we are definatly going to be in a place. More of the group seem to be wanting to book it all in advance now, and they may have gone and done it already, leaving me and 2 of the guys to find our own place to sleep.

As for sleeping rough, it sounds like one of those things that at the time seemed bad, but it hindsight was an interesting life experience and makes for some good stories to tell

Bakharwaldog

Ya sleepin rough didnt bother me, worked out perfect for us, just some people mightnt like it. If your friends have hostels booked thats sound, jus get them to sneak ye in if ye get stuck lol

Lainey89

Lol. the people who have booked do seem to like their creature comforts so I don't see sleeping rough sitting to well with them! I do like the sneaking idea tho if we're really stuck:D