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felizardomf
Traveller
1 comments

Posted 10 years ago

Hi! It is my very first post in this forum so I hope I do not brake any rule :D
I'm 20 years Old and I am going for a Interrail in next summer with my girlfriend. However, we need to save money until then because we do not have it by now. So, this thread was created to you make us understand if our plan is or not too ambitious.

So, we are from Portugal and we are going to fly from Lisbon to Paris. We want to spend 2 nights there and then start to use our 10 in 22 days flexi IR pass.

[b]We are planning the following route:[/b] Paris -****- Berlin (3 nights) - Prague (4 nights) - ****- Budapest (3 nights) - Vienna (no nights, only a very short walk during the day)-**** - Venezia (2 nights) - Milano (2 nights) - Tirano - Bernina Express - Zurich (1 night) - Geneve (where we have a flight to Lisbon by the end of the day)

**** - Night Trains

[b]Now, our budget:[/b] We are not willing to have meals at fancy places nor buy many souvenirs. However, we want to have a good breakfast at hostels and at least an acceptable meal (1 dish meal or something) So, we are planning to buy the IR Pass (265€) and then spend 650€ during that trip, including meals and sleep in cheap and secure Hostels.

What do you thing about our plan? Is it doable ? Are we going to spend much more than that?
Thank you so much for your patience! :D

Best Regards,
Márcio

PS: The flights are not included in this budget ;)

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Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

replied 10 years ago

Hi Márcio.
You can travel all connections by trains free of extra fees. Have a look here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]
For the route Italy to Zurich use this free and amazing one: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/milan-to-zurich[/u]
Extra information in the blog posts of Flow:
[u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]

For hostels have a look at [ux]https://rail.shop/hostelworld[/ux] for example. There you will find prices for a calculation. Stay in hostels with a public kitchen where you can cook food bought in the supermarkets - it will save you a lot of money!!!

To 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, Peter :)

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Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 10 years ago

Olá Márcio!

In my opinion you should stay at least one night in Vienna - instead shorten your stay in Prague to three nights which will be sufficient still.
You might also think about making a stopover in Dresden on the way from Berlin to Prague - definitely worth it; the main sights can be done in just a few hours time and you can put your bags in a locker at the station.

Keep in mind that accomodation in Venezia can be expensive during the summer; you might look into accomodation in other nearby cities as well.

Taking the Bernina Route is a very good idea - did you already have a look at my blog posts?
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]

650€ is per person? This would be ~30€ per day which could be roughly enough - you have to look carefully to find cheap accomodation around 20€ max in order to still have enough money left for food etc...
However, in Berlin, Prague, Budapest and also Vienna it is rather easy to find affordable accomdation even in summer; in Paris and Italy it might be more expensive.
Also, take enough food with you into Switzerland so you can save money and not buy anything or just very little there... ;)


Flo 8)

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felizardomf
Traveller
1 comments

replied 10 years ago

Hey!
Yes, 650 for each. We did not knew that post about Bernina and we become even more enthusiastic. Absolutely spectacular!
We know that our budget is little but we are trying to sleep more nights in the cheapest cities of our route (Prague, Budapest and Berlin).
Btw, after talking to my girlfriend and checking flights available, we have decided to:
- Reduce the jurney time by 1 day (only 1 night in Venice);
- Avoid bernina express and use regional trains instead (save 10€ each);
- Increase our budget to 700€ /each so that the average day budget is now 35€/person.

About Vienna, we have already been there so we are visiting it just to take the connection to Venice.

Questions:

[b]Switzerland [/b]- Is it hard to do Milan - Tirano - St Moritz - Chur - Zurich in 1 day after such a trip? (if so, we plan to sleep a night more in St Moritz or Chur and reduce the nights in Milan by one)

[b]Dresden [/b]- Is it a nice city? What are the main attractions? I know that it was an important city WWII but is it worth spending a day there?

[b]Overall[/b] - Do you think we are is really tiring? We don't want to go everywhere and do not enjoy places just because our plan is too ambitious...

Thank you so much ! :D

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Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 10 years ago

Yeah, the line is indeed spectacular! :)
And it is perfectly fine to just use the regional trains on the line - which even has the advantage of carriages with opening windows - some trains even convey open air carriages at the end.

It is no problem to do the whole trip Milan - Zurich within one day, however I would recommend to make a stop along the route if the weather is nice - either in Alp Grüm or on top at Ospizio Bernina. There you can have a short coffee break (if you want to afford it) or just take it the great scenery.

If you want to stay overnight you can do so in Alp Gürm as well as Ospizio Bernina, this will be around 40€/night and person including breakfast. If you can afford it this is quite a special experience - I have stayed twice at Albergo Ospzio Bernina and it was a great.
However, there are also Hostels in Pontresina (directly at the station) and St Moritz (longer walk from the station) which might be cheaper.

:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/milan-to-zurich[/u]
:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/ospizio-bernina/albergo-ospizio-bernina/l1139[/u]

Dresden is really nice in my opinion, even for just a short walk.
Frauenkirche: [u]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/10082307763_bc50f90f08_b.jpg[/u]
Elbterrassen: [u]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5343/10082298263_d416110c01_o.jpg[/u]
Residenzschloss/Fürstenzug: [u]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5446/10082205745_d80f73b98d_o.jpg[/u]
Semperoper: [u]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2836/10461325175_51529bc1fe_b.jpg[/u]
Zwinger: [u]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5482/10082281683_dafd0050c1_b.jpg[/u]