anuaavamki
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 9 years ago
Hi guys!
So exited, we made an ex tempore decision to go on an interrail with my husband at our summer holiday (which is 16th of July to 2nd of August). We have already booked flights to our first city, Paris.
The whole route is still under construction so to speak, we thought of buying the 5/10 inter rail passes and travel between 20th of July and 31st of July.
The route so far is:
Helsinki - Paris 20.7 (arrive at 7pm)
one night in Paris
Paris - München via Night Train using the 7 pm rule
An afternoon in München
München - Salzburg (still travel day one, using the 7pm rule)
22.7-24.7 in Salzburg
24.7 from Salzburg to Zagreb (?) via Villach by EN Lisinski Route (travel day 2/5)
This part is something I'm not sure of, because we do want to see as much as we can and I'm not sure there's a lot to actually see in Zagreb.. Am i wrong? Would Ljubljana be a better choice?
Anyway, from Zagreb (or where we decide to go) we continue to Budapest, possibly by night train (travel day 3/5)
in Budapest for 2 nights (26.7-28.7)
From Budapest to Krakow (Night Train again?) 28th on July. (travel day 4/5)
From Krakow we either go to Prague or a looooong ride to Copenhagen, to fly cheap back to Helsinki :D
This would then be travel day 5/5.
The plan is to see as much as we can and just enjoy the ride :) I do think we'll book train rides in advance, since we have such a limited time. We want to see places like the catacombs in Paris, Auschwitz and the Eisriesenwelt in Salzburg.. Also churches and old citys like Budapest are close at heart.
I'm still thinking about that part from Salzburg to Budapest.. I'd like to add a place there, Zagreb would be quite nicely on the route but is there a better option? Lakes, mountains and views would the amazing, but are there any that we could visit between Salzburg and Budapest? We are prepared to sleep in trains, sit in trains and just be in trains a lot so no worries there :D :D
Comments, helps, idea are most welcome!! :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
The Paris - München night train has been discontinued since last December, there are no international overnight trains left in Paris (except for the train to Moscow, but Interrail is not valid on that service).
Ljubljana and Zagreb are both a bit off the direct route from Salzburg to Budapest - there would be two hourly direct trains from Salzburg to Budapest.
There is no night train Zagreb - Budapest but a thrice weekly train during summer from Ljubljana: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/koper-budapest-rg1604-g1247/279[/u]
If you decide to go to either of the cities (I prefer Ljubljana personally) you could think of taking the night train from Salzburg to Zagreb, have a look around the city and travel back to Ljubljana in the afternoon.
Budapest - Krakow definitely with the night train. ;)
Krakow - Copenhagen could be done with a night train to Szczecin, the to Copenhagen via Berlin - Hamburg. Or, if you have time and money, think about taking the Finnlines ferry from Rostock or Travemünde to Helsinki. :)
We are official partners of interrail.eu - 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! :)
Flo 8)
anuaavamki
Traveller
3 comments
Hi,
thanks a million for the advice :)
So from Paris it's basically not possible to travel internationally by night? that's a shame! We'll have to think of something else then..
I was thinking we could go from München to Innsbruck via garmisch-partenkirchen line and continue from there to Salzbourg and then to Budapest and Krakow.
Thanks for the info on how to reach Copenhagen, sound like it might be possible to fly from there.. I thought of the Finnlines ferry but it's just too expensive.. :|
So many options and so little time, hah :D
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
The only option leaving Paris by night train would be going to St Gervais and then travelling past Chamonix and the Mont Blanc to Martigny in Switzerland and make your way across Switzerland to Munich - this would be a quite intensive day of travelling though. Also, using the 1900 rule on your first trip you kind of lose the first day of validity of your ticket.
Another rather intense trip would be to go from Paris to Zurich and then continue straighahead to Italy via the very scenic Bernina line: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]
After one day in Milan you could then take the night train to either Munich or Vienna (and get off very early at Salzburg if you want - but I would recommend continuing to Munich/Vienna, spending the day there and getting back to Salzburg in the evening).
The Karwendelbahn via Garmisch is also quite nice but not as spectacular as other railways - but it would be certainly a nice way of going from Munich to Salzburg. From Innsbruck you should then continue with a train via Zell am See which is more scenic than the direct way via Germany.
Yeah, I know, the ferry is rather expensive in summer - back in January I travelled from Travemünde to Helsinki and got a really nice deal (50% off). :)
anuaavamki
Traveller
3 comments
Hi Flo,
So much great info i had to really start writing this down.. ;) 8)
I think we might just use one whole day to travel and leave Paris morning of 22nd/July and head to Zürich. Milan wasn't really target I planned to visit but that train ride you linked looks spectacular! :)) Maybe we'll take you advise there and head from Paris to Zürich and go to Milan with the Bernina Line and after Milan take the night train to Vienna.. Since Vienna is a place I've really wanted to see :) From there to Salzburg - Budapest - Krakow... Sounds like a plan :)
Yeah I was hoping Finnlines would have had some offers for our trip but summer is expensive, so we had to start our journey flying.. Well, next time then the ferry.. ;)
Can't thank you enough, really great ideas for the interrail! :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
You're welcome. :)
Yup, this would be certainly a very nice route.
Please support our aim of giving free support to travellers like you by purchasing your tickets through our partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] - thank you!
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anuaavamki
Traveller
3 comments
Hi Flo,
still one more question about that route from Zürich to Milan.. :)
All other connections are clear and seem quite easy, but from Tirano to Milan I found so many different options I needed to come and ask..
I looked with the interrail timetable, which gives 17 hours from Tirano to Milan. Seemed so weird I looked with ACP Rail (didn't give anything) and Trenitalia (streight regional train 2hours 32 minutes).
Can I trust that the connection that Trenitalia is offering does exist although other sites don't show it?
We're super exited about this part of the trip so thanks again for the tip :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Tirano - Milano is operated by Trenord, a subsidiary of Trenitalia. For some reason they do not put their timetable data into the database used by schedule planners such as [ux]http://plan.rail.cc[/ux] - that's why they show such weird results. You can look up the timetables on Trenitalia or Trenord website and we also have them included here on the website.