Userpic

MarianaJM
Traveller
9 comments

Posted 10 years ago

Hi!
Me and some friends are planning our Inter-Rail trip for August this year. We are trying to do most of the trips during the night (Munich – Amsterdam – Berlin – Prague – Budapest; and then Ljubljana - Vienna – Milan)
We are starting in Rome, and then:
– Florence (2 days)
– Venice (1 day)
- Venice to Munich via Innsbruck (1 day)
- Munich (1 day )
- Amsterdam (2 days)
- Berlin (2 days)
- Prague(2 days)
- Budapest (2/3 days?)
- Zagreb – Plitvice Lakes (2 days)
- Ljubljana (1 day)
- Vienna (2 days)
- Milan and lakes (1 day)
We’re planning on taking a flight back home from Barcelona so we’re wandering which is the best route from Milan to Barcelona through Southern France.

In alternative we also thought about going to Amsterdam in the end of our trip (and going to Milan in the beginning of it) and then get to Barcelona via Paris, or something like that, what do you reckon that is better?

Instead of going to Plitvice Lakes and Liubliana we also thought about going to Dubrovkin...in that case from Venice to Rijeka and then to Split would be a good choice? And then from Split to Budapest by a night train?

So we would like you to give us some tips, opinions about our route, if we’re are missing something, if it is too many places, etc. and if possible explain how to make the train reservations, because we’re really struggling on that.

Thank you! :)

Follow this topic
Userpic

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 10 years ago

Hi!

I dont know with how many friends you are going to travel with but keep in mind that on night trains there is only limited space available and you might find some trains fully booked already in summer if you wait too long to make a reservation.
To get an overview on night trains have a look here: [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]

What kind of ticket do you want to buy/how long do you want to travel overall?

Going to Milan in the end seems a bit odd given that you are going to stay in Italy at the beginning of your trip already. You could travel for instance Florence - Milan - Bernina route [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u] - Innsbruck - Munich - Vienna - Ljubljana - Zagreb - Budapest - Prague - Berlin - Amsterdam then go to Paris and onwards to Barcelon, for instance like this: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/little-yellow-train-video/[/u]
When going Milan - Barcelona your only option is going through Nice - Marseille - Narbonne - Perpignan which would require at least one overnight stop along the route.

You can reach both Dubrovnik and Plitvice only by bus. Dubrovnik is nice but rather expensive in my experience.
Venice - Split would be done best via Zagreb, not via Rijeka.

Train reservations can be made at train stations, this is the usual way. There are some reservations available through [ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/reservation[/ux] but keep in mind they can be more expensive than at a station and have to be shipped to you so would have to order them in advance (the best thing to do would be to order them together with your InterRail tickets from [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] to save on shipping costs).
Some night trains, such as CNL trains through Germany can also be reserved at [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] - if you have a look at the night train link above there is an explanation for every night train where this is possible.


Flo 8)

Userpic

MarianaJM
Traveller
9 comments

replied 10 years ago

I'm travelling with 5 friends and we're really worried with that. Are we supposed to do the reservations for August now? Most of the connections don't appear on this sistem: [ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/reservation[/ux]
Can we make the reservations for a train in Croatia or Hungary for instance in our country of residence (portugal) in a main international station?

We're still not sure if we're going to get a 22 days continuous or one month continuous pass, but we will most likely buy the one month continuous.

we thought about going to Milan in the end because we wanted to go to Spain through southern France and to do Innsbruck-Verona (or backwards).. and if we wanted to go to Venice we thought about going to Milan in the end so we wouldn't have to go back to catch the Verona - Munich route. So after Venice we would go to Liubliana, instead of Rijeka - Zagreb - Split, etc. But maybe it doesn't make sense...


On your opinion which one is better: Innsbruck-Verona or the Bernina route?

Sorry for all the questions :)

Userpic

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

replied 10 years ago

Reservations via rail.shop/acprail/reservation are available max 2 months in advance.

As far as I know you can only make a handful of reservations for Spain and France from Portugal.
You should also have alternatives at hand in case you cannot book certain night trains.

Milan - Spain through southern France would be perfectly fine, just keep in mind that you will need at least one overnight stay along the route and more if you also want to visit some places.

Bernina route is definitely better... :)