anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 10 years ago
Hi Everyone, this is my first post and first time inter railing so hope i'm not breaking any rules :)
Well me and possibly 2 friends are planning on going around Europe. We're planning or getting the month pass. So we're starting in London and leaving beginning July. Our plan was, wait for it...
London-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam(via Rotterdam, Hague)-Berlin-Prague-Vienna
(From here we wanted to go via Athens but i'm not sure how worthwhile it is time wise.)
So Vienna- Zurich - Milan - Venice - Florence - Rome- Piza- Cannes- Marsailles - Barcelona - Madrid - Lisbon - Paris and back to London.
So I know its kind of long, were planning to do a few hour visits to the smaller places such as Florence, Piza the rest we were planning to stay between 1 and 2 days.
So my question is, is it to ambitious? We think it is possible so if anyone has any tips on long overnight trains to save a day etc Even altering the route as I wanted to go Switzerland and it is RIGHT in the middle and makes everything really long. But any advise is appreciated.
Thanks in Advance.
Ashley
ardeeay
Traveller
99 comments
Hi Ashley
You asked for any tips on night trains. I am happy to share my experience of night trains in summer 2013 and hope you might find it helpful. I had a one-month Eurail Pass and a 10 in 22 day Balkan Flexipass. In 40 days I visited 28 European capital cities (including the side-track to London and Dublin). It would be totally do-able with a one-month pass for the cities you have listed. You could even back-track to go twice to a particular city if you wanted two or more days there.
By my count you want to visit about 20 cities, so with the extra places not served directly by a night train and the places you may want to visit twice, you could do all of that by sleeping on a train every (or nearly every) night for the whole month! 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.
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 language and time-zone changes, and different currencies are involved. But that is what stimulating travel is all about!
With an InterRail Pass you have to pay a Supplement for night train accommodation. On last year’s prices, 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. I understand that prices will rise for July-August this year. [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 need to be able to sleep well on a train, in the type of accommodation you want to pay for, [b]or night trains are not for you[/b]! You also have to accept that there will be a limit to your daylight hours on a train for viewing the scenery, but July 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!
Based on 2013 experience, almost all of the cities on your list have direct night train access (although some may need an early morning exit from a train going on to a further destination). I think there may be changes to the Paris-Madrid-Lisbon night trains in 2014 so check with an on-line Route Planner such as DBahn or OBB or on the relevant railcc page. For Brussels, Rotterdam and the Hague you will probably have to take a day trip from Amsterdam (or if you do go by ferry, you could possibly pick up Rottedam and the Hague on the way into Amsterdam).
You could craft a very interesting itinerary and 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 Munich as many CNL trains terminate there!
For the trip from London to Amsterdam and vice versa, I can recommend the ferry from Harwich to Hoek van Holland. It is convenient and realtively inexpensive. You can pick up Paris on your way to Madrid/Lisbon or en route Munich. See the railcc blog [u]https://rail.cc/blog/from-london-to-amsterdam-with-the-dutchflyer/[/u]. It would make agreat start to your trip and avoid the highly priced Eurostar.
Other Tips:
1. You will find a supermarket near most stations and during a day’s walk you may find markets and other food shops.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
I am currently planning a one-month Eurail/InterRail trip around Europe by the night trains with a friend during summer 2014 and I am really excited by the prospect.
Happy Travelling
Richard
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Thank you Richard,
Must say that really helped me and my friend out in our summer journey. I plan to have a look at railcc website as well as rail companies to check night timetables.
I appreciate the advise since it's my first time inter railing :) Are the lockers a decent size for a big backpack was my other question? Because carrying it around will be a pain whilst leaving it in a locker at the station of departure is a brilliant plan!
Anymore advice from anyone is appreciated and good luck on you 2014 summer trip Richard
Ashley
ardeeay
Traveller
99 comments
Hi Ashley
Lockers generally are available at all major stations (and many smaller ones too) in up to three sizes. The smallest is usually big enough for an average sized back-pack and was always big enough for my 8 kg pack. The next size would take two small packs, one larger one or a medium-sized wheeled case while the largest would take quite a large suitcase. Prices vary accordingly and from place to place. The fine details (sizes/costs) can be searched by following Stations or similar links trom DBahn or OBB Route Planner web-sites. :D
Richard
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Ashley,
for night trains have a look here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]
If you really want to go to Lisbon you should consider going there straightaway at the beginning of your trip: There are just two night trains connecting the country with Spain (plus two trains Vigo - Porto but it is quite time consuming to get to Vigo in the first place) so in order not to get stuck there with trains maybe fully booked on the day you want to leave to get home again it might be better to start your trip there and end in the Benelux area from where it is much easier to get home quickly.
I would not go to Athens as it is much too time consuming - there are no international trains into Greece at the moment so you would have to use a bus from Skopje to get to Thessaloniki, then train again to Athens; on the way back you could use a ferry from Patras to Italy but these take again a whole day...
Maybe it would also help to organise your trip if you would split your route into a few legs and at the end of each leg you would have to arrive in a certain city - that way you do not risk spending too much time at a certain place, forcing you to leave out cities at a latter stage of the trip due to time constraints.
Flo 8)