interrailing 2012

maccerrs

hello, i'm maccerrs and this is my first post.
I am going interrailing and to euro 2012 this summer with 3friends.
a bit of information on us, we'll all be 20 or 21 at the time, are looking for places with great nightlife but we also want to see some of the culture.
i know there are plenty of threads about interrailing but i was hoping to get some feedback and tips about my specific trip.
I would really appreciate anyone who has experienced interrailing or similar trips to give me any feedback/tips/ideas you have.

here's our provisional plan:

• fly to berlin on june 6th (3nights)
• over to Poznan, poland (3nights seeing ireland vs croatia)
• up Gdansk (3nights seeing Ireland vs Spain)
• thats it for us at the euros and now interrailing, first to Krakow (2nights)
• then Budapest for 2nights
• Zagreb (1night)
• Split (2nights)
• Zrce beach,Pag Island (2nights)
• Ljubljana (1night)
• Lake Bled (2nights)
• Munich (2nights)
• Finishing in Prague (2nights then fly home)

what do you think of that route? too much? not enough time in certain cities? are we leaving out any great cities? we are open to any suggestions!

we are thinking just over 2000euro everything included should get us by, bearing in mind we don't mind cooking our own meals, staying in cheaper hostels, drinking the cheapest beer ha etc...

we would really appreciate any help you could give us

5eanf

Hi Maccerrs,

I went interrailing a couple of years ago, similar route to yourself.

Warsaw
Krakow
Prague
Bratislava
Budapest
Zagreb
Split
Ljubljana
Venice


Must sees are Krakow and Prague... avoid Warsaw and Bratislava.

I found the best thing to do when arriving in a city was to book into the biggest room you can find (8/10 bed dorm) in a hostel. We met loads of people this way which made for some great nights out!

As for the route all we did was book a flight over and back, we had a very rough idea of where we wanted to go in between that. It gives you great freedom to stay as long as you want if you like a city. Then whenever you get tired all you need to do is pick a city, book a hostel online and go!

The Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable book comes in very handy too. It gives you every train time that you will need, great for planning trips the night before.

Great experience overall... well worth it!

maccerrs

thanks for the advice 5eanf,
how long did you go for?
and what was split like? i've seen loads of people mention it in forums like this but i had never heard of it

5eanf

We went for around 4 weeks.

We actually spent our time around Split in a small town called Trogir, it was a nice town about 20 mins away but there wasn't many tourist around. It was the relaxing beach part at the end of our trip.

poozers

wow sounds great!!! how much is your trip costing you ? (if you dont mind me asking, if you'd rather not say, no worries) but i am mad to travel before next september, and interrailing through europe would suit me just fine!

Purple_Delish

I'm thinking about going post LC this year. My question is, is it at all maneagable with a large group? I mean 8 or 9 people. I'm very concerned it will ruin the trip but I can't see how we could cut numbers any further, it just doesn't seem possible.
Is it even worth going with numbers like these?

2. Should I opt for the 22 day ticket our the 10 within 22 days ticket? My gut says the full 22 day ticket but could we get by on 10 days of trains?

3. Is booking hostels in advance, from web cafes, etc. convenient? Would I require a credit card? What are the odds we will be unable to fin a hostel any given night?


Any help is appreciated

maccerrs

poozers wrote: »

wow sounds great!!! how much is your trip costing you ? (if you dont mind me asking, if you'd rather not say, no worries) but i am mad to travel before next september, and interrailing through europe would suit me just fine!

we're looking at around 2000euro everything included ie flights, accommodation,spending money, food and drink. the days in poznan and gdansk will be more expensive when we're going because the euros will be on. after that we'll be stating in cheap enough hostels and probably cooking our own food. hopefully 2000euro should be enough

maccerrs

Purple_Delish wrote: »

I'm thinking about going post LC this year. My question is, is it at all maneagable with a large group? I mean 8 or 9 people. I'm very concerned it will ruin the trip but I can't see how we could cut numbers any further, it just doesn't seem possible.
Is it even worth going with numbers like these?

2. Should I opt for the 22 day ticket our the 10 within 22 days ticket? My gut says the full 22 day ticket but could we get by on 10 days of trains?

3. Is booking hostels in advance, from web cafes, etc. convenient? Would I require a credit card? What are the odds we will be unable to fin a hostel any given night?


Any help is appreciated

i've never been so i can't really answer your questions with first hand experience but having done a lot of research i'll try.

1. i know a couple of people who went in big groups and it was fine. only problems were agreeing on places to go and booking hostels on short notice with 8 free beds.

2. we're probably gonna go for the full 22 day ticket as it gives more freedom but again we've never been so not sure which is best.

3. we are going to book hostels the day before, like if we're going budapest on the 17th then we'll book for that on the 16tg.
you won't need a credit card as such but you will need a visa card for booking on hostelworld.com (seems to be the most popular site). get an o2 money card, its basically the same as a visa debit card and its dead handy to set up. that's what i'm using. http://www.o2online.ie/o2/o2-money/

Purple_Delish

Thanks for the info Maccers, although it seems off that website that many hostels are already being booked... Do you think we'd have any trouble finding rooms nearer the time? The last thing I want is to look at that site one day to find that theres only 1 room available in a city and it's €40pps...

maccerrs

I honestly don't know as i've never been before. we just want to a bit of freedom, to be able to change the route as we go.
but i agree, thats the last thing i want as well, hopefully someone who has experienced it will enlighten us

tomwebster23

I am an Irishman working and living in Poznań. I have two big apartment in Poznań and Gdańsk. If You looking for room write or my wife: agnieszkaparzybut@bookingpoland2012.com
Regards

maccerrs wrote: »

hello, i'm maccerrs and this is my first post.
I am going interrailing and to euro 2012 this summer with 3friends.
a bit of information on us, we'll all be 20 or 21 at the time, are looking for places with great nightlife but we also want to see some of the culture.
i know there are plenty of threads about interrailing but i was hoping to get some feedback and tips about my specific trip.
I would really appreciate anyone who has experienced interrailing or similar trips to give me any feedback/tips/ideas you have.

here's our provisional plan:

• fly to berlin on june 6th (3nights)
• over to Poznan, poland (3nights seeing ireland vs croatia)
• up Gdansk (3nights seeing Ireland vs Spain)
• thats it for us at the euros and now interrailing, first to Krakow (2nights)
• then Budapest for 2nights
• Zagreb (1night)
• Split (2nights)
• Zrce beach,Pag Island (2nights)
• Ljubljana (1night)
• Lake Bled (2nights)
• Munich (2nights)
• Finishing in Prague (2nights then fly home)

what do you think of that route? too much? not enough time in certain cities? are we leaving out any great cities? we are open to any suggestions!

we are thinking just over 2000euro everything included should get us by, bearing in mind we don't mind cooking our own meals, staying in cheaper hostels, drinking the cheapest beer ha etc...

we would really appreciate any help you could give us

Brid2012

Hi,
Me and my friends are going inter-railing this summer too.
With regards to booking hostels as you go, it would be great allowing you the freedom to stay somewhere longer if you really like a city. But i have found that a lot of the top rated hostels are booking up already.

We're thinking of doing our route as;
Brussels 4th (for two nights) of June
Amsterdam 6th (for two nights)
Berrlin 8th (for two nights)
Poznan 10th (for two nights)
Krakow 12th (for three nights)
Prague 15th (for two nights)
Vienna 17th (for one night)
Budapest 18th (for three nights)
Lake Bled 21st (for three nights)
Hvar Island 25th (for four nights)
Split 29th (for five nights)

We also wondered if we were skipping any great cities?
We have talked to a good few people who have been inter railing before and they suggested some hostels they thought were amazing;

Berlin - Circus hostel
Budapest - Grandio party hostel
Krakow - Greg & tom hostel
Budapest - Grandio party hostel

Ivona

Euro 2012 – Accommodation in Poland - 60 euro per person

4 double/twin bedrooms available to rent in a modern and spacious house in Poland for football supporters travelling for EURO 2012.

The house is located within 3 hours traveling distance to Poznan and Gdansk. Transport to the stadiums will be arranged for you.

Homemade meals included in the accommodation price.

If you are interested, I can also organize for you excursions and leisure activities so you can visit historic places, do a bit of sightseeing, practice some sport and have great holidays in Poland.

For more information please contact me at ivonnee@hotmail.co.uk

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Ivona

Civilian_Target

Brid2012 wrote: »

Hi,
Me and my friends are going inter-railing this summer too.
With regards to booking hostels as you go, it would be great allowing you the freedom to stay somewhere longer if you really like a city. But i have found that a lot of the top rated hostels are booking up already.

We're thinking of doing our route as;
Brussels 4th (for two nights) of June
Amsterdam 6th (for two nights)
Berrlin 8th (for two nights)
Poznan 10th (for two nights)
Krakow 12th (for three nights)
Prague 15th (for two nights)
Vienna 17th (for one night)
Budapest 18th (for three nights)
Lake Bled 21st (for three nights)
Hvar Island 25th (for four nights)
Split 29th (for five nights)

We also wondered if we were skipping any great cities?
We have talked to a good few people who have been inter railing before and they suggested some hostels they thought were amazing;

Berlin - Circus hostel
Budapest - Grandio party hostel
Krakow - Greg & tom hostel
Budapest - Grandio party hostel

Sounds like a good plan. I'd definitely give yourself a couple more days in Vienna though, it's great. I'd be tempted to stop in Hamburg instead of Poznan on the way east, it's a great party city. Similarly, I'd take one of your weekend Bled days and spend it in Ljubljana - another great town, Metelkova there is definitely worth a visit, and if your into hostels, there's one in an old soviet jail that's supposed to be great

Wiggz

Did something similar in the Summer!

For the cities you have posted;

Munich - Prague (5 hour train)
Prague - Krakow (6 hour)
Krakow - Budapest (11 hour Nighttrain)
Budapest - Ljubjana (11hour train, 1 hour bus from Ljubjana to Bled)


I woud Deeply recommend fitting Munich in Earlier in the trip and to fly home via Zadar or Venice (very close to Bled)

Beware also, that the Budapest - Bled route is literally only 1 train a day, it will take up a whole day! And DO stay more than 2 nights there, It was my favourite city while interrailing and i regret not staying more than 2 days, 3-4 ideal!

stevenf17

Brid2012 wrote: »

Hi,
Me and my friends are going inter-railing this summer too.
With regards to booking hostels as you go, it would be great allowing you the freedom to stay somewhere longer if you really like a city. But i have found that a lot of the top rated hostels are booking up already.

We're thinking of doing our route as;
Brussels 4th (for two nights) of June
Amsterdam 6th (for two nights)
Berrlin 8th (for two nights)
Poznan 10th (for two nights)
Krakow 12th (for three nights)
Prague 15th (for two nights)
Vienna 17th (for one night)
Budapest 18th (for three nights)
Lake Bled 21st (for three nights)
Hvar Island 25th (for four nights)
Split 29th (for five nights)

We also wondered if we were skipping any great cities?
We have talked to a good few people who have been inter railing before and they suggested some hostels they thought were amazing;

Berlin - Circus hostel
Budapest - Grandio party hostel
Krakow - Greg & tom hostel
Budapest - Grandio party hostel

If your going to bled I's highly recommend taking a short tip up to Lake Bohinj and go up on the cable car up the mountains, mind blowing stuff!

http://maps.google.ie/maps/ms?msid=210000107712378830012.0004b898c8244acb28a91&msa=0&ll=46.280885,13.909721&spn=0.104758,0.264187


Couldn't resize the pic!

zvza

I M POLISH AND I COULD ORGANISE THE TRIP TO POLAND FOR 2012.I AM WONDERING HAVE MANY PEOPLE WOULD BE INTERESTED?

lydiac

maccerrs wrote: »

hello, i'm maccerrs and this is my first post.
I am going interrailing and to euro 2012 this summer with 3friends.
a bit of information on us, we'll all be 20 or 21 at the time, are looking for places with great nightlife but we also want to see some of the culture.
i know there are plenty of threads about interrailing but i was hoping to get some feedback and tips about my specific trip.
I would really appreciate anyone who has experienced interrailing or similar trips to give me any feedback/tips/ideas you have.

here's our provisional plan:

• fly to berlin on june 6th (3nights)
• over to Poznan, poland (3nights seeing ireland vs croatia)
• up Gdansk (3nights seeing Ireland vs Spain)
• thats it for us at the euros and now interrailing, first to Krakow (2nights)
• then Budapest for 2nights
• Zagreb (1night)
• Split (2nights)
• Zrce beach,Pag Island (2nights)
• Ljubljana (1night)
• Lake Bled (2nights)
• Munich (2nights)
• Finishing in Prague (2nights then fly home)

what do you think of that route? too much? not enough time in certain cities? are we leaving out any great cities? we are open to any suggestions!

we are thinking just over 2000euro everything included should get us by, bearing in mind we don't mind cooking our own meals, staying in cheaper hostels, drinking the cheapest beer ha etc...

we would really appreciate any help you could give us

This is going to be a long message so here i go:P i honestly wouldnt be too sure that 2000 would be enough especially if your including flights & rail ticket. Prague amazing,great nightlife make sure to check out the pub crawl and the five story nightclub Berlin is brilliant great sights to see during the day and if your just into a decent run of the mill club then i would advise the matrix, if your more house/trance id say the weekend club. the generator is a great hostel in berlin. Lake bled is GREAT, activities there may be expensive enough so budget for it (white water rafting, cannoning) great mexican restaurant there called chilli i think. and as for PAG best place ever, ended my trip here. I suggest you give Pag more time. we did and we were so glad ended up staying for 5 nights... skipped zagreb and had day trip to ljubljana best decision we ever made, you will not want to leave pag. nice appartments cost 20euro ish a night. all day parties on the beach, all night parties on the beach Zrce, cant actually stay at zrce, but novjaila is like a 2euro/10min bus journey away. amazing acts play every year at clubs on zrce Avicii, tiesto, paul van dyke, sweedish house mafia .... hope this was helpful

lydiac

Generator great hostel for berlin, the giraffe in Krakow also great hostel 3 nights in bled could be a lot...aside from the day activities which are expensive there isnt much to do at night time very chilled place

stephenmario

As above the generator is a great hostel. Dubrovnik was my favourite city I've been to but its a bit out of your way as you're not going that far south in Croatia. 2000 seems like it could be a bit tight especially if you're going to the euros as prices for everything will be increased...

maccerrs

lydiac wrote: »

This is going to be a long message so here i go:P i honestly wouldnt be too sure that 2000 would be enough especially if your including flights & rail ticket. Prague amazing,great nightlife make sure to check out the pub crawl and the five story nightclub Berlin is brilliant great sights to see during the day and if your just into a decent run of the mill club then i would advise the matrix, if your more house/trance id say the weekend club. the generator is a great hostel in berlin. Lake bled is GREAT, activities there may be expensive enough so budget for it (white water rafting, cannoning) great mexican restaurant there called chilli i think. and as for PAG best place ever, ended my trip here. I suggest you give Pag more time. we did and we were so glad ended up staying for 5 nights... skipped zagreb and had day trip to ljubljana best decision we ever made, you will not want to leave pag. nice appartments cost 20euro ish a night. all day parties on the beach, all night parties on the beach Zrce, cant actually stay at zrce, but novjaila is like a 2euro/10min bus journey away. amazing acts play every year at clubs on zrce Avicii, tiesto, paul van dyke, sweedish house mafia .... hope this was helpful

thanks for help lydiac, with regards to pag, did you just arrive and find accommodation on the day or book in advance?

lydiac

We just turned up, there doesn't seem to be any hostels there at all... its all apartments and hotels and campsites if you were interested in camping. You could prob do some searches online for apartments to rent though,as it was very busy when we arrived in aug, we just went to the tourist centre in the middle of the Novjalia and they sorted us out but sadly we had to spend our first night in a hotel as there was no apartments available that night!!

lukiej

I am planning an inter-railing trip myself at the moment and looking for some advice, wondering if I'm going to places I shouldn't or am I leaving out some i should be going to?
Also looking for some advice on train tickets? what exactly should I purchase? and flights home.

So heres my planned route:

Attend Tomorrowland festival in outside Brussels for the last weekend in July, from there for the month of August:
Amsterdam
Berlin
Prague
Krakow
Budapest
Ljubljana
Possibly Lake Bled? (heard its a must)
Pag Island
Split

After this Im considering going to somewhere pretty mad for 10 days to finish the whole trip up like Ios or Ayia Napa, was looking up flights from Croatia to some of these places even Ibiza and it said they were 20 hour flights with two stops? Anyone know of an easier route?
Also any advice on the best place to fly home from?
I have a good bit of money already saved for this but would anyone know a rough figure of what id be looking at? 4 weeks in total, maybe stretch to 5.

lydiac

Like i said in previous posts pag island is kind of like ibiza and zante and so on... we choose to end our trip here and spent 5 nights... it was amazing. lake bled is a must...

lukiej

yeah, i did a bit of looking into it, that would be a great way to finish a trip. any advice on other must see/do's?

lukiej

also, where did you fly home from? did u book your returning flights before the whole trip?

lydiac

flew home from Zadar... its about an hour on a bus from pag island and I booked my flights before i went on the trip!! Pag is just a lovely place during the day you can rent scoters cheaply and just drive around the island. lake bled is a must, beautiful place and great activities such as kayaking during the day. Berlin is amazing recently went back there for the second time, lots to see and do, i would advise at least 2 full days there if not more. regarding train ticket i got the 10 days within 22.. i went for 3 and a half weeks and this was perfect for me.

lydiac

Oh also trip cost something like--
300 euro flights return dublin - amsterdam, zadar - dublin.
train ticket i think about 250euro
spent roughly 1,400E in 3 and a half weeks.

lukiej

yeah i think I'm gona take up on what you did, after doing a little more research, Pag seems like a great spot! I might book my flights home now too as they are cheap. thanks for your help!

media101

hey i was lookin at hostels in peg island and they seem very expensive and only two came up. can anyone recommend a hostel which is close to the 'fun' etc and is cheep-ish. budget is around 20 to 30 per day

slatterg

So I'm going to be doing something similar around a couple of Pearl jam Gigs the dates of the ones i am going to are the 26 and 27th of june in Amsterdam 2 of Jul Prague, 4 and 5th Jul Berlin, after these gigs I'm not sure weather to head down through germany and on to italy or maybe go east. i have at least a grand and the concert tickets already bough.

so any recommendations on where to travel in italy and germany after berlin?

geetar

slatterg wrote: »

So I'm going to be doing something similar around a couple of Pearl jam Gigs the dates of the ones i am going to are the 26 and 27th of june in Amsterdam 2 of Jul Prague, 4 and 5th Jul Berlin, after these gigs I'm not sure weather to head down through germany and on to italy or maybe go east. i have at least a grand and the concert tickets already bough.

so any recommendations on where to travel in italy and germany after berlin?

italys expensive. go to krakow and budapest

maccerrs

I know this is really late but i thought I share some of my experiences of the trip, which was the best of my life.

We went for 28days in total.

The route we took was as follows:
-June 6th left Dublin for Berlin
-7th Berlin
-8th Berlin
-9th Left Berlin to Poznan
-10th Poznan
-11th Poznan
-12th Left Poznan and traveled to Gdansk/Sopot
-13th Gdansk/Sopot
-14th Gdansk/Sopot (took a night train to Krakow)
-15th Krakow
-16th Krakow
-17th Krakow
-18th Krakow
-19th Krakow (night train to Budapest)
-20th Budapest
-21st Budapest
-22nd Budapest
-23rd Budapest
-24th Pag Island, Croatia
-25th Pag Island, Croatia
-26th Pag Island, Croatia
-27th Pag Island, Croatia
-28th Ljubljana
-29th Lake bled
-30th Lake Bled
-July 1st Lake Bled (night train/bus to Prague)
-July 2nd Prague
-July 3rd Prague
-July 4th Prague (fly home to Dublin)



Just some details about our trip:

We went to 9 places in 28days and it didn't feel like we were travelling all the time.

We went to two matches at Euro2012 (IrelandvCroatia, IrelandvSpain).

Krakow was my favourite city, really cheap, loads to do during the day and insane nightlife.

I spent a total of €2500, that includes everything. Flights, trains, buses, accommodation (mostly in top 5 rated hostels in city on hostelworld , food (we mostly ate out), drink (we drank heavily almost every night) and activities.

We did a lot of activities from walking tours, an Auschwitz tour to white water rafting and canyoning to a booze cruise and gun shooting.

If anyone has any questions and wants some advice I'd be glad to try and help you out.