Lisbon - Paris - Berlin - Prague - Vienna - Zagreb - Venice

NatureOne
Traveller
273 comments

Hey,
I try to answer your question :)
[quote]LISBON-PARIS-BERLIN-PRAGUE-WIEN-BRATISLAVA-BUDAPEST-ZAGREB-VENICE-MILAN-TURIM-BILBAO-PORTO

Firstly, can I do this trip starting on Monday to a Friday of the following week? I know that will be exhaustive or maybe impossible, but I want to know as many places in this time period. I don't want to spend many time in a place. Only +/- 5 hours visitng them.[/quote]

That sounds like a lot of stuff. I personally would NOT recommend such a trip in that short time, but for sure it's up to you. I would recommend 5 - 7 cities in such a period as a maximum. But anyway.

Lisbon - Paris:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/nice-irun-icn-4730/141[/u]
Take a local train to Bilbao.

From Bilbao you have to take a train to another big city, e.g. Madrid.
On Thursday you can take the train to Madrid and take a night train to Porto [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/madrid-to-porto[/u] You'll arrive on Friday.

As you see it's possible, but I would not recommend! I think you won't see much of a city. You need to buy food, do washing and catch some sleep. Lot of different impressions and new cities where you need some time to orientate.

[quote]I want to do it without spending a lot of money, so I though about sleeping in train stations (sleeping bag) until the departure to another city or do it in the train, but there's a question. At night, there's only night trains traveling? If I take one of them I need to pay some extra? I read something about fees, but I'm not sure. I'm a newbie!
[/quote]

Mostly you are not allowed to sleep at the train station. But I can't tell you a much about each city. If you want to travel cheap you can use couch surfing. But I think it's not typical just to use couch surfing for sleeping instead of get to know the host a bit. Never used it. Hostels in the most cities are cheaper the hotels. As mentioned you can use some night trains. You need some resevations and pay extra fee. You'll find all information on our website.

[quote]I can pass a day with few food and I don't want to walk so heavy, so buy and restore my supplies in different cities is a good option? Can I find supermarkets easily in those places?[/quote]

Yes it will be easy. But you have to keep in mind the sunday. Mostly you find small shop at the station or in the neighborhood .

[quote]About Hygiene/clothes: publics bathrooms are go to satisfy my needs? (take a shower, wash teeth and some clothes). I just want to take with me 2/3 T-shirts, 1 jeans, 1 shorts, 1sweatshirt, socks, underwear and 1 shoes. [/quote]

I don't know if you'll find showers or public bathrooms everywhere. But you can go to a swimming pool. Keep in mind that you have to dry your clothes. So take some more, if you just travel and don't stay at a place for more than 24hours.


Finally I repeat myself! Don't do this tour in such a short period of time.

HugoMesquitaR
Traveller
1 comments

I knew it would be almost impossible... :/ Well, I will change my plans and see if there's a solution (as you said, less cities).

I'm really really grateful! You gave me a lot of information that I wasn't sure about it.
Now I need some days/weeks to redefine the trip and I will tell you something more! I also need to talk with some friends and then, organized, buy all stuff we need (interrails pass too!)

:D

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

And if you like the information here on railcc and given by NatureOne, support the free information and the forum on railcc. Please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
Thank you! :)

ardeeay
Traveller
99 comments

Hi

Have you considered taking the night trains for your trip? By catching a train each evening and arriving in a different city each morning you can have 8-15 hours to walk around each city before catching a night train to the next city.

You need to be able to sleep well on a train, or night trains are not for you! You also have to accept that there will be a limit to your daylight hours on a train for viewing the scenery, but in August with its longer evenings (and early sunrise) will usually give you some time to gaze out of the widows. Of course you will not be able to take part in many evening activities in the cities, but you will make many social contacts on the night trains themselves!

Of the cities on your list, the following have direct night train access:
Lisbon (via Paris and either Madrid or Hendaye), Paris, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Zagreb, Venice, Milan, Turin (via Rome). You could craft a very interesting itinerary but I would suggest a maximum of only 12 cities in 12 days, although you could see both Vienna and Bratislava in one day but for a reduced time in each. To get to some of your cities only using night trains you may have to add some cities like Munich, Madrid and Rome.

With an InterRail Pass you have to pay a Supplement for night train accommodation.This can vary between 11.50 EUR for a sleeperette/reclining seat through 27.50 EUR for a couchette (in a six-berth compartment) up to 55 EUR for a bed in 3-share-compartment with private washing facility (2nd class InterRail Pass) [or with a private shower + WC (1st class InterRail Pass)] 75 EUR for a bed in a 2-share-compartment, or 115 EUR for single compartment. For complete details see the relevant railcc page. These are the Supplements for the Deutsche Bahn City Night Line services. Other Railway companies’ prices vary.

You will find a supermarket near most stations and during a day’s walk you may find markets and other food shops.

If you go 1st class you will get a most adequate breakfast as well as the private shower, wash basin and WC. You can also wash and dry the day’s clothes overnight, and charge up your electronic devices. The costs of 1st class Pass and the Supplement have to be balanced against the alternative costs of hostels/hotels and breakfast.

If you can wash your clothes each night, you will be able to survive with 3 T-shirts/sweatshirt, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of shorts, 3 pairs of socks and underwear and 1 pair of comfortable walking shoes. I would also take a light-weight waterproof jacket and a jumper. You could fit all that gear into a 7-8 kg backpack (airline carry-on size) and park it every morning in a luggage locker before your day’s walk. Take a small daypack for your jacket/jumper, water and a bit of food for the daytime.

There are luggage lockers or luggage room at all main city stations, and as you will in most cases depart from the same station as your arrival, you will not have to take your spare clothes for a walk around the cities. Stations also have money exchange offices, ATMs and Tourist Information Offices (usually open by 09:00) to set you up for the day.

As you may have noticed I am a great believer in night trains, travelling long distances while asleep and walking around cities for the maximum number of daylight hours between trains. It does cost a bit but when you offset the cost of hostels/hotels, showers and breakfasts there is not a lot of difference.

Happy Travelling

Richard

ardeeay
Traveller
99 comments

Hi again

One thing I forgot to say in my previous post.

Forget the map and work with the timetables from railcc and the DBahn and OBB Route Planner websites. If you use the night trains, the departure and arrival stations have to be far enough apart to get a good night’s sleep.

This means that successive days’ cities will not be close to each geographically but you will zig-zag you way across Europe. Sometimes this presents a mental challenge especially if time-zone changes and different currencies are involved. But that is what stimulating travel is all about!

Cheers

Richard

FabMon
Traveller
62 comments

I don´t think you will get enough memories of the places you visit with just one day in each city.

Part of travelling is to enjoy walking through the streets, going out to a bar with the friends you met in the hostel, learn some phrases of the local language and find that some words are funny to say, relaxing on a street café or taking photos to the city river and sights, eating the local food and drinking the local beer.

Your journey looks like a commute journey through europe with nothing to enjoy, appreciate or give you memories for the rest of your life. Don´t take this as a critic because ultimately it´s your decision and i always defend to stay at least three days in a city to feel it´s pulse, see the sights and meet local people, but only you know why you want to do this.

I can tell that you can see Zagreb in an afternoon and leave the city that evening but you will miss out on a memorable day trip to the Plitvice Lakes which is two hours away from Zagreb and is bookable in almost every hostel.

Feel free to ask more questions :)

ardeeay
Traveller
99 comments

Hi FabMon

I agree with you. A stay of one day in any city is never enough to get to know a city in any detail. A week is just scratching the surface and probably a month is needed to get any real feeling of the place. One day is certainly nowhere near long enough to visit the museums and galleries, if that is what interests you. :D

However with some preparation you can get a quite significant sense of the essence of a city in a 10-15 hour day. Using a decent map and maybe a guide-book you can maximise all the daylight hours available to you. Many memories are gained from a fleeting encounter or a brief view (although of course others are built up over a longer period).

Some of my enduring memories gained in a 40 day/night visit to Europe in 2013 include the following, none of which were specifically pre-planned: going to meet Archbishop Stefan in Skopje, visiting the Roman ruins in Plovdiv, walking through St Peters Square at the end of a Papal appearance, climbing Montmartre with many other visitors, riding a Lisbon tram to the end of the line with visitors and locals alike, walking to and around the Sibelius monument (and the Church in the Rock) in Helsinki, riding a ferry in Oslo with a Chinese gentleman who barely spoke English (and me no Cantonese at all) to see the Kon Tiki and listen to him sing “O Sole Mio” in Italian as we walked together through the streets! These are some of my multitude of memories. Multiply these many-fold and I believe you will appreciate that one-day visits can be very rich in memories and experiences. 8) :)

I was certainly able to enjoy walking through the streets, going out to cafes and small restaurants with the friends I had just met on the train or at the railway station (often as a result of giving mutual help with minor glitches in our travel plans) and during these chance encounters I was also able to “learn some phrases of the local language and find some words that are funny to say!”

Lunch for me was usually found at small local eateries in the centre of cities (rarely at stations), and morning and afternoon coffee was often on river banks, in castle grounds or alongside parks with locals or newly met traveling companions. :D

On the night trains you meet many varied and interesting fellow travelers - mine included a Swedish-born diplomat couple from Budapest going to Jakarta, an NGO worker (formerly British Deputy High Commissioner in Zimbabwe), missionaries from Brazil, English retirees going on a holiday to Granada, Yanks, Aussies, Brits, Kiwis - and the list goes on and on. Some may indeed be from the city towards which you are traveling! Evenings on trains, in the bistro and the corridors can be a really important time for meeting and getting to know other people, just as are hostels used for overnight stays in cities.

A traveller can also return by night trains to any place which excited them on a first visit, or indeed shuttle between two cities (eg Paris and Berlin) if both warrant longer time exploring.

The ability to visit night clubs or bars is not important to me although it may be for others, and for them the night-life may be more important than the experience of travelling through the night and waking in a new city. That of course is everyone’s right to choose. ;)

Far from my journey being “a commute journey through Europe with nothing to enjoy, appreciate or give you memories for the rest of your life” it was one of the most challenging, enjoyable and enriching experiences of my life. The places I visited, the people I met, the meals I shared, the sights I saw, the local customs I took part in and the friendships I made were all woven together very richly and will never be forgotten. Travel by train for me is both a means to an end - moving distances between destinations - and an end in itself to meet and share with other travelers, in a way similar to meeting and sharing in hostels or in 5-star hotels!

I was able to choose “impromptu” to go to Plovdiv (two hours from Sofia), and to the beaches at Bar and Sutimore (one hour from Podgorica), and within each other city to choose whether to sit beside the river (including the flooding Danube), to visit the national historical museum, or to go for a half-day walk through a Latin or Jewish Quarter. All give rise to unforgettable memories. I was able to return to a number of capitals during my 40 days (sometimes because of railway limitations - the only way for me to get from Paris to Madrid and Lisbon by night train was to go through Madrid in both directions) but sometimes as a definite choice (Copenhagen, Paris and London).

I took much more than an afternoon to see Zagreb - and Sarajevo, and Ljubljana- all capital cities of countries that I had come to visit, and although on this visit did not venture into the surrounding countryside, I will return.

So while hosteling and staying in the one place for several days may be the most appropriate way for you, there are other alternatives. The rationale for my like of, and support for, night trains was set out in my previous post in reply to HugoMesquitaR. It offered alternatives to day time rail travel when time is short, and also gives possibilities for maximizing daylight time spent in cities. It is certainly not for everyone, but it does suit me and provides so many lasting memories that I don’t feel at all deprived.

In contrast, two years ago I stayed in each Scandinavian capital for a week each. I did not really like the 4/5 star hotel style (they are not hostels) and did not fit any more into each day (and probably less) than when using the night trains, which I tried this past summer and really did enjoy. Different styles of traveling will suit different people. I will be 70 in two weeks time and am not as active as I used to be and I see that you are. My expectations will differ from yours and many others, and long may the freedom to choose remain!

So good travelling and I trust your memories will be as enduring as mine.

Best wishes

Richard