Interrailing

Anarchy Rules!

A couple of friends and I are planning on going 'interrailing' during the summer next year. Essentially it's a ticket which gives unlimited train travel within almost all european countries.

I was wondering if anyone else had done this or anything similar and had any tips. Also does anyone have any suggestions of what to visit? I'm pretty aware of western europe locations, but it gets hazy beyond germany and anywhere in Scandinavia

corcorigan

I have a friend buggering about central/eastern Europe at the moment. He seems to be having fun.

It gets cheaper the further east and south you go apparently, so head out there. Lots of pretty things to see now that the iron curtain is firmly in the past and it's all in the EU.

Also, Polish vodka is ridiculously awesome.

kaliyama

Railing is one option. The thing is the interrail pass, last I checked, only covers like the EU13...western europe. you're SOL if you want to go further. If you're travelling light, which I think you should be, then a better option in my mind is to use Ryanair or Easyjet - low cost Eire/UK air carriers. They charge a fair bit if you exceed baggage requirements, hence my travelling light comment.

For example, if you get one of the Ryanair low fares in advance, you would only pay 10 pounds to go from London to Barcelona.

corcorigan

It's less exciting flying everywhere, and stressful. You meet a lot of interesting people on trains too, see sights, all that.

Also, you can get interail things that cover different areas (looked into this last year before heading off to India instead).

12gauge

Anarchy Rules! wrote: »

A couple of friends and I are planning on going 'interrailing' during the summer next year. Essentially it's a ticket which gives unlimited train travel within almost all european countries.

I was wondering if anyone else had done this or anything similar and had any tips. Also does anyone have any suggestions of what to visit? I'm pretty aware of western europe locations, but it gets hazy beyond germany and anywhere in Scandinavia

Did it in 2003, we went through Germany(Berlin, Hamburg) up to Kopenhagen, then on our own money (did not buy a skandinavian interrail pass) a little bit through Sweden (two days from Helsinborg down to Malmö with a night in Lund) - from there back to Kopenhagen to Dortmund/Köln/Düsseldorf and further to Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. Back home to Vienna we stopped by in Zürich. Took as about 3 weeks, which was honestly enough (the two other guys started fights with each other). Take an unlocked mobile with you - it's good for emergency calls and if you stay somewhere a bit longer (say 1 week in a country) you can get prepaid cards (I have a whole collection by now).

Now, important lessons: when you know you want to go somewhere and stay overnight - call ahead for a place! We managed to get by without that, but only barely. Apply for a international student card (if you are a student) AND a youth hostel card. Also think about camping (we stayed in paris about 1 km away from Versailles on a camping ground).

Travelling to the east might be tricky, I know my away around poland pretty good and have been to prague and brno - if you need any help there, shoot me a pm.

corcorigan wrote: »

It's less exciting flying everywhere, and stressful. You meet a lot of interesting people on trains too, see sights, all that.

Also, you can get interail things that cover different areas (looked into this last year before heading off to India instead).

Hell yeah, I meant some really interesting people on that trip - I would hate to miss one second of it.