qqtolene2
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 10 years ago
Hello I would like your help. Me and my friends are planning a eurotrip beginning on the 5th of April. The cities above are the ones that we absolutely don't want to miss. I guess we have to start from Patras ,get by ship to ancona and then use trains until London. We were thinking of the 10in22 global pass (youth).
a) What do you think? Can it work? Would you change anything on that plan?
b)Our main concern is about the budget. What is the minimum amount of money a person needs to do that trip. We will mainly stay at hostels. What about the food? I read somewhere that you can cook. We might do it sometimes but what is our cheapest alternative? Never been to these cities.. Is fast food cheap? We have friends in Parma and London so we won't spend anything for rooms there. In addition how much will we pay for reservations for trains that are not included in the pass ?
c)Correct me if I am wrong. 22 days for 4 cities seems a bit too much but 10 days aren't enough either. What should we do? We were thinking about starting our pass the day we leave Parma. Could we jump to the 5in10 in this way? Does it worth it?
We ve never done this before so be as illustrative as possible with your advices. Looking forward to read your replies!!
Cheers :D
engineer_tom
Traveller
25 comments
I would recommend getting the ferry from Belgium to the UK rather than going for the train as it should be cheaper,
[u]https://rail.cc/en/hoek-van-holland/ferry/c[/u]
A day trip is just 30 EUR, whereas the Eurostar is 75 EUR.
Another way to save money would be to take the night ferry as a cabin on board will be cheaper than accommodation in London or Amsterdam and also you won't be spending time travelling during the day.
Food wise, in the UK fast food is slightly pricey but supermarkets tend to sell cheap ready to eat food, the bigger the supermarket the cheaper the food.
qqtolene2
Traveller
2 comments
Thanks for the reply! I ll do my research.. What about the days that i need to travel to these cities? We would love to see barcelona too. Could it fit in 22 days?
engineer_tom
Traveller
25 comments
To me unless you are going to start or end there Spain is out of the way for example Milan to Barcelona is 18hrs and Barcelona to Berlin is a 24hrs
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/milan-to-barcelona[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/barcelona-to-berlin[/u]
Whereas Milan to Berlin is only 12 hrs
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/milan-to-berlin[/u]
Personally I would fit somewhere else in central Europe in such as Praque as this won't add much travel time to the journey, but that said it is an easily achieveable trip depending how long you want to stay in Berlin and Amsterdam it could quite easily be done on a 5 in 10 pass.
Parma-Berlin 1 day, Berlin-Amsterdam 1 day & Amsterdam-London 1 day.
nltrainer
Traveller
1405 comments
there are NO more ferries BE toward London, only one is Zeebrugge-Hull.
What above is told is from NL. BUT it is of course by far not the cheapest-thats the bus. Try eurolines or megabus-thats without the huts/cabins/beds. The nasty thing is that those determined train-''lovers'' will pay anything for go by train and not know about the cheaper alternatives-they have all kind of excuses for that.
As GR as you must have found out has gone through a drastic crises -as your politicains cheated on joining the EUR long ago- by now in fact most prices in GR are higher as in West-Eur for what you mention-except hi-class luxury restrts. So start budget by looking around in your own Carrefour-those in FR, BE, IT will be cheaper. Same even for Lidl.. Anyway-there is not a very big difference in prices in the whole of EU for basic things. BUT you have to adapt to local cuisine-if you can only eat moussaka and elliniko, then it will cost you dearly.
engineer_tom
Traveller
25 comments
I may have got it wrong by saying Belgium not Holland though it is still the closest crossing to Amsterdam, but on the topic of the bus you will pay more than the £5 you save on crossing the channel just getting to france, to catch the coach, going south from Amsterdam can be extremely tricky without spending a lot of money.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
a) Yeah. :)
b) Check out the links to boking sites that you can find above to see accomodation prices. I would estimate a McDo menu at roughly 7/8€ in Italy, France and the UK...if you have a kitchen in the hostel you can cook which will be cheaper if you stay with simple dishes like pasta etc...but remember that this also takes a bit of time and effort.
I have been to Paris and Rome last week; in Paris I paid 18€ in a Indian Restaurant (curry/rice/beer), in Rome 10€ in a nice little restaurant behind Termini (pasta or pizza/beer).
I would look out for a hostel that has breakfast included, then maybe get something for lunch in the (super)market and have warm dinner in the evening; that way you dont spend too much.
You can also save quite a bit if you walk on foot instead of using public transport.
c) Do the maths. You could try to use the 5in10 from Athens to Amsterdam and then for instance buy a rail and sail ticket for the Hook van Holland - Harwich ferry; or start the 5in10 only in Parma and use regular tickets to go there. However, as the price difference between the 5in10 and 10in22 isnt that huge I am not sure whether this would make sense or not.
If you can afford the 10in22 you might be able to add one or two extra stops along the way, for instance travel across the fanstastic Swiss Alps :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u] go to Prague,...
Flo 8)
qqtolene2
Traveller
2 comments
Thanks for your response :) . Plans changed. We will fly to london on the 3rd april beginning our trip from there . Our will end in ancona. We will buy a 10in22 . I guess with this combination we will be able to see many cities. So what would be usefull now would be your advices about cities that we would enjoy based on your trips etc! (berlin amsterdam are definitely among the cities we will visit)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well...you might visit any of Brugge/Gent/Antwerpen/Bruxelles before heading to Amsterdam - Hamburg - Berlin - Prague - Vienna - Budapest - Belgrade - Zagreb/Ljubljana - Zurich - Bernina Pass - Milan - Parma would make an interesting route then.
Or you head down to Paris or any other city in France at the start; you could also visit Luxembourg...make a short (and expensive trip to Copenhagen/Malmö)...there are many possibilites! :D