Interail Global Pass, anyone used it?

Spanish Eyes

We are two slightly older codgers. We are thinking of a European adventure using the seven days within a month option and treating ourselves to First Class.

The system seems to be a bit old fashioned with a paper diary to fill in :eek:

Anyway I’ve one question that someone might know the answer to. I’m think I know but still..... if there is no First Class option on say a rural service, I presume we can still use the pass.

Only thinking about it but it sounds like something different!

N1i9a9l3l

I done this last year with the 7 days within a month pass. I didnt do the first class option but i can see no reason why you couldnt use the first class pass for second class. Its just a case of hopping on finding a seat and getting the ticket stamped on board.

If you are thinking of doing it i couldnt recommend it enough. possibly the best trip ive ever done.

coleen

N1i9a9l3l wrote: »

I done this last year with the 7 days within a month pass. I didnt do the first class option but i can see no reason why you couldnt use the first class pass for second class. Its just a case of hopping on finding a seat and getting the ticket stamped on board.

If you are thinking of doing it i couldnt recommend it enough. possibly the best trip ive ever done.

Hi I am interested in this type of trip also.
Can you give some details of how much it cost where you went and what you enjoyed about the whole trip
Thanks

munchkin_utd

When you say you'll be using rural services, the one thing that you might want to figure out is whether you need to use a pass at all on those days.
For instance, theres places like the Black Forest region, Bavarian National Park region and states in North Italy where your accomodation might come with a free transport pass for regional trains/ busses and the likes (so even better than interrail for local transport!)
In North Italy in Südtirol (for which the italian occupiers have some name for in italian too that often is used on maps) and maybe other areas where theres a functioning local government, it even works on some cable cars which are in public ownership.
The more days you take the cheaper the pass is, for example 7 days in a month 2nd class works out at €47 per day, 15days in 2 months barely more than 30Euro a day. So, if only getting it for 7 days you might want to spare days for expensive high speed trains or longer journeys and pay for shorter journeys on regional services on the spot, but if you have it for 15 days then you can use away.

N1i9a9l3l

coleen wrote: »

Hi I am interested in this type of trip also.
Can you give some details of how much it cost where you went and what you enjoyed about the whole trip
Thanks

The trip itself cost around €1200 that was flights, bags, accommodation, the interrail pass and also 2 overnight sleeper trains which are an extra cost on top of the interrail pass. Im not sure how much I spent on food and things to do but nothing was very expensive.

We flew into Munich first and got an overnight train to Vienna. We then went to Bratislava, Budapest, Zagreb, Ljubljana and then another overnight train back to Munich which we flew home from.

Two stand out places for me where Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and Lake Bled in Slovenia. Both are only an hour bus ride from Zagreb and Ljubljana respectively. Both are stunning areas of scenery. If i was planning my trip again i would definitely stay overnight at Lake Bled. It probably tops Plitvice Lakes as my favourite.

munchkin_utd

just regarding the extra cost for the night train, that is true BUT you save on a nights accomodation somewhere so in the end its not a cost.
An added possible bonus is that a night train only requires 1 day of a rail pass the day of departure (used to be slightly different, but irrelevant to anyone planning now), so if on a pass with limited number of days you can travel through the day on day 1 and once you are on the night train before midnight, you can stay on it without need to use a second day.

So if in Munich as per the last post, you could make a day trip to say Nürnberg (lovely city, interesting recent history with Nazi marching grounds) using the expensive but quick ICE high speed trains, and return that evening to hop on a night train, all for the cost of 1 day on the rail pass.
From Munich, you could then wake up in Rome, or Venice, or Budapest, or Zagreb

Heres a map of the current night train network, much curtailed from a decade or so, but thanks to Austrian Rail it was rescued a couple of years ago from dissapearing altogether and looks to have a reasonably bright future
https://www.nightjet.com/en/dam/jcr:6a8041cb-0131-4ad3-84fd-25154548e5dd/nightjet-streckennetz.pdf

tricky D

This website is a good resource for Interrailing.

https://www.seat61.com/

CelticRambler

Pay heed to munchkin_utd's advice! My last true Interrailing journey was under the old rules (that bit of paper was wonderful :pac: ) but I did the American equivalent last year, and your valid "travel days" can be greatly increased with careful planning and a strategic use of local/regional transport options. Even without the added bonus of free or discount accommodation, you can get some good special offers if you keep an eye on the national service's website, e.g. I've recently booked a first class trip in July to Paris from provincial France for 20€.

Even without that kind of economy, long distance rail travel is a really great experience!

Spanish Eyes

Hi and thank you all for the great info.

looking forward to planning our trip, that’s usually the best bit! Joking, but it is a big part of the adventure.