DenTrekker
Traveller
4 comments
Posted 10 years ago
Hey guys
This summer we're planning to make trip trough Europa, by train of course.
We're planning to use the 10/5 Interrailpass and since this is our first trip, we're a bit in doubt whether the trip is feasible or not.
We're gonne start in Amsterdam (2 days, Monday and Tuesday), getting there without using the interrail pass. That way we save ourself 2 days to get further into Europe.
The first stop we're making with the Interrail pass would be Berlin. There we'd stay 3 days and leave for Praha taking a daytrain on Friday.
In Praha we'd stay till Monday and in the evening we'd take a nighttrain to Budapest.
Budapest would be our place to be for the next 3 days (Tu, Wed, Thu) and on Thursday we'd take a nighttrain to Munich.
Since Munich doesn't interests us that much, we'd only stay there for a couple of hours and than leave for Brussels
Here's a shortversion of the journey:
Mo-Wed: Amsterdam (without Interrail)
Wed-Fri: Berlin
Fri- Mo: Praha
Tue-Thu: Budapest
Fri:Munich/brussels
We only used 4 of the 5 traveling days so we could take it easy in Praha and Budapest, do some relaxed walking and sightseeing.
What do you guys think of this traveling route?
Greets
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
You wont have any troubles on that route, its really easygoing. Reservations would only be required for the night train from Budapest to München, all other (day) trains can be used without reservations on that route.
Anyway, I would recommend to make use of the 5th travel day if possible. For instance, you could skip Munich altogether, and instead take the night train to Switzerland and travel one of the Alpine routes there: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]
Of course this would require that you shorten your stay in the other cities by one or two days; in my opinion it is really worth it to make use of all travel days, but its up to you. ;)
There would be other alternatives to use that 5th travel day as well, for instance you could go to Krakow in between Praha and Budapest, visit Wien... Or, explore some of the smaller cities in Czech Republic or Slovakia (Plzen (best beer), Kosice, hiking in the Tatra mountains...)
Flo 8)
DenTrekker
Traveller
4 comments
Hey Flo, thank for the tip.
Looked at the pictures and it really looks beautiful, but i guess it's somthing to do next year. That way we can take more time for the alpine routes and continue to south Europe 8)
About the 5th travel day, I was thinking to use it for some more nature related visits. 'cause after all these cities, some nature views would be nice for a change I guess.
You guys have any tips about national parks or just some landscapes that are worth visiting in Hungary or Czech Republic?
Loiseau
Traveller
231 comments
Maybe you can use your fifth day maybe in berlin, for a trip to baltic sea - as example to rostock or Stralsund. Or you can go from Budapest to balaton.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Humm...there are the Neusiedlersee National Park in the Austrian/Hungarian border region around Sopron/Neusiedl as well as Donauauen National Park close to Vienna. You could also think about visiting Salzkammergut in Austria (Bad Aussee, Bad Goisern, Bad Ischl, Hallstatt) or the High Tatra mountain range in Slovakia. In the Czech/German border region the Elbe/Labe valley and Sächsische Schweiz might be interesting or the Vltava Dam at Lipno, close to Cesky Krumlov.
DenTrekker
Traveller
4 comments
Thank you, you guys are such a great help for a noob like me :D
In the next couple of days we're going to decide our final route.
After that i'll make sure to buy the tickets and make reservations
via railcc ;) :D
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Thank you. :)
Info: Reservations usually can be bought really easy at train stations along the route; since reservations bought at rail.shop/acprail/reservation have to be shipped to you by post I would only recommend to use this option before you leave at the same time when purchasing the ticket.
DenTrekker
Traveller
4 comments
Oh okay, thanks for the tip. So if i make a reservation at the train station for a train that leaves the same day, it'll be in time?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
This varies from country to country and also between the different types of trains. For many trains it is possible to get a reservation on the day of departure though. But, looking at your route you wont need reservations anyway, except if you want to travel overnight.
DenTrekker
Traveller
4 comments
okay, so only reservations for the night trains, and where do I best make these reservations? Online or at the station in the city of departure?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
At a station (which does not necessarily have to be station of departure; for instance you could make a reservation for the Prague - Budapest night train in Berlin already). For some trains it is also possible online at other websites than rail.shop/acprail/reservation, if so it is described at each night train individually: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]