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Interrailing Tips


yourname

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Hey gents,

Im going interrailing round europe this spring and was wondering if you had any tips. I am going on my own with the idea to meet people in hostels on my way around. Also maybe to do some couchsurfing and only having a rough plan and improvising as i go along.

The general route is Bilbao - south of france - Lyon - somewhere - slovenia,croatia,hungary,austria,czech rep.

Has anyone been around this area in a train before/got any recommendations for hostels, good towns etc?

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Don't bother with an interrail pass, they're a rip-off. As you have a route, you'll be able to buy loads of 'advance' tickets for pennies. Loses a bit of spontaneity, but you'll save £100's. All your train info you'll ever need is on seat61.com.

Lyon is pish, I wouldn't bother if i was you. Also not so keen on Zagreb.

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see, i wouldnt i have lyon on my route if it wasnt for that fact that i want to move back to france and i figured id check it out to see if i would want to live there.

I heard that it is cheaper to book things independently in advance but i dont have a concrete route and figured that the extra freedom with the pass would be worth the extra money. I'll check out the price difference though to see whether it is worth it or not.

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If you're starting in Bilbao, the natural path (and the one I'd recommend from spending many weeks/months for much of my life there) is then to San Sebastien, then over the border via St Jean de Luz and Biarritz. The Basque region on both sides of the border is brilliant on the coast and inland (mountains etc).

If you're then heading east toward Eastern Europe then follow the Pyrenees towards the Med and after that..........many options.

Lyons would be a big and unnecessary detour. You'd be better off following the coast towards Northern Italy and across IMO.

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see, i wouldnt i have lyon on my route if it wasnt for that fact that i want to move back to france and i figured id check it out to see if i would want to live there.

You ever been to Montpellier?

Whenever I've been asked whether I'd like to live in any of the places I travelled to, Montpellier always comes to mind.

I was only there for 24 hours (during France'98) but liked it.

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You ever been to Montpellier?

Whenever I've been asked whether I'd like to live in any of the places I travelled to, Montpellier always comes to mind.

I was only there for 24 hours (during France'98) but liked it.

Actually i spent 3 years living there and only left last year. I am passing by there to see friends though. Excellent recommendation and the town must have grown by around 75k people since france 98. You should go back!

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Plan very little, is my advice.

One of the beauties of interrail is hooking up with people by chance, following advice from a bloke in a bar ... or just turning up at a station mid-evening and picking a night train at random, and see where you wake up.

Go east, go south for cheapness. Wouldn't bother much with France. San Sebastian is great, you can't really go wrong in Spain, and Portugal is good too, but only go to the Algarve if you like golf and expat bores telling you Farage has got the right idea. Italy's brilliant everywhere, random small towns can be amazing, Slovenia, Croatia too ... it's all great! Though I wouldn't worry too much about Scandinavia or Switzerland, which are a bit sedate and crazy expensive. Skip England too, it's shite

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Probably best to book most the main routes individually, and then just going as you please once you are into central Europe.

Would not bother going to deep into Eastern and the Balkans, as one you are here its starts taking ridiculously long hours to travel relatively short distances.

Switzerland I would spend no great time in, yet the Milan to Zurich train is fantastic for just sitting back and watching the world go by, with some truly amazing scenes.

Maybe consider Lyon-Milan-Zurich (just passing through, as it is a place with great potential, but seems VERY full of itself, and ridiculously expensive ie Makes Olso looks Eastern European standards) into Austria (maybe consider heading up to Brno, before down to Vienna, across to Bratislava, down to Budapest, and then Zagreb before heading into Slovenia and back into Italy?

Edited by wanderer
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Forget hostels/hotels. Travel overnight on trains.

Like the last poster said, don't plan. Do whatever takes your fancy and travel with a similar outlook. Ignore all comments about cities. Go and make your own mind up. If you're starting in Bilbao head eastwards, stopping in possibly Marseille, then on to northern Italy. Again, as MikeyHead states, you'll find Italy fascinating. The beauty of the Inter-rail card and big countries like Italy and Germany is that you can be in a city in the north one day and in the south on the next day (or vice versa).

I used the Inter-Rail card in 1974, principally for the World Cup in West Germany, but I also travelled to Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

In 1977 I managed West Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland.

In 1980 I travelled mainly in Italy for the European Championships, as I did in 1990 for the World Cup.

I did not use a single hostel/hotel during the latter two trips.

Single country rail passes are also useful, as was the case in France 1984, West Germany 1988 and Sweden 1992 (European Championships) and Morocco in 2010.

You'll be amazed at just how much more money you have available to you for other things, like beer, if you do not go down the hostel/hotel route.

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No offence, but comparing an interrail trip in the 70's to one today isn't particularly useful as they aren't nearly as good value as they used to be. Most overnight trains now also require a supplement on top of your pass.

Also, if you can pin down parts of your trip, you should be able to get (just about) any journey in mainland Europe for < €20.

You also shouldn't rule out busses.

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Forget hostels/hotels. Travel overnight on trains.

Like the last poster said, don't plan. Do whatever takes your fancy and travel with a similar outlook. Ignore all comments about cities. Go and make your own mind up. If you're starting in Bilbao head eastwards, stopping in possibly Marseille, then on to northern Italy. Again, as MikeyHead states, you'll find Italy fascinating. The beauty of the Inter-rail card and big countries like Italy and Germany is that you can be in a city in the north one day and in the south on the next day (or vice versa).

I would say that a degree of "go with the flow" is good, but doing your research is a must.

Get a basic route, planning to see what you really want to see along they way, then let it grow arms and legs.

I would saying knowing about cities is a must..... some cities if you go blind into, might at first appear to be better than expected, and you plan to spend a extra time there (resulting in you kicking your heels by lunch time the following days, and thus eatting into time you could spend elsewhere) while maybe being put off a place and not nearly giving it enough time that it deserves (ie Rome I feel has this factor with fantastic hidden away nooks and crannies here and there!)

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Actually i spent 3 years living there and only left last year. I am passing by there to see friends though. Excellent recommendation and the town must have grown by around 75k people since france 98. You should go back!

We did a mini rail break to Toulouse, Carcasonne, and Montpellier a couple of years ago, and loved Montpellier. Some brilliant restaurants and bars, wee windy streets with lots of great shopping (so says my Mrs), and generally lots of nice people very receptive to a wee bit of effort at le local lingo. Highlight was a wine bar/bistro called Chez Boris. We spent a rainy lunch/afternoon in there and had some outstanding food and accompanying wine by the glass being recommended. Defo going back.

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It doesn't really matter what era we are talking about. The general principle is still the same. For limited number of stopovers use pre-booked discounted tickets. For extensive travel and to see as many places as possible use the Railcard. I'm assuming the original poster is interested in the latter.

For our tour of Germany during the World Cup last year we decided on pre-booked Saver tickets which worked out slightly cheaper than the Railcard. That was only because we had a limited itinerary (Bremen-Frankfurt-Rostock-Cologne-Essen-Berlin-Bremen).

As for overnight trains, supplements have always existed, but I was talking about non-couchette, non-sleeper travelling. In other words really slumming it!

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Yeah i have a rough idea of there i want to go but i really want to be able to take recommendations and go with the flow. I dont really want to come back wishing that i hadnt been so strict with some sort of itinerary and feeling like i missed a lot. Hence the railcard.

like the suggestions and tips though!

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The main advantage of travelling at this time of year (ie spring) is that you don't need to book accommodation so far in advance or at all, so it is rather flexible.

Generally I've found that staying in any city for one night is fine, if it's too boring, you can leave early the next morning.

It doesn't really matter what era we are talking about. The general principle is still the same. For limited number of stopovers use pre-booked discounted tickets. For extensive travel and to see as many places as possible use the Railcard. I'm assuming the original poster is interested in the latter.

For our tour of Germany during the World Cup last year we decided on pre-booked Saver tickets which worked out slightly cheaper than the Railcard. That was only because we had a limited itinerary (Bremen-Frankfurt-Rostock-Cologne-Essen-Berlin-Bremen).

As for overnight trains, supplements have always existed, but I was talking about non-couchette, non-sleeper travelling. In other words really slumming it!

I don't think the railcard is worth the money if traveling in Eastern Europe - tickets can be bought on the day for quite cheap, and a few days before for even less. Hostels are a reasonable price too.

Also depends how well you sleep on a train - I don't mind it all, as long as i'm lying down. The normal seats on these trains are brutal!

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Have a read on www.seat61.com - might help for planing any of the connections between the places you decide on.

One point, it seems that less and less countries are doing overnight trains but I'm sure you'd find this out when planning the routes

I'm sure you'll have a great time, no matter where you end up going :ok:

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