anonymous
Traveller
2473 comments
Posted 9 years ago
Hey guys,
I am, with a friend, making plans for our interrail trip to Eastern Europa. We'd like to visit Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia and Istanbul in a month. From Istanbul we fly back to Amsterdam.
Since this is my first interrail trip, I'd really appreciate it if someone can give me a little bit of help. I've got a few questions:
First of all I think my budget will be +- 800 euro (without the interrail ticket and we will sleep in a hostel or in a night train ) do you think that's enough?
Besides that I'd like to know if you think a month is long enough to see enough in all the cities.
And do you have an idea of how much it costs to reserve night trains on the various tracks?
General advices are ofcourse also appreciated!
Thank you for your help! 8)
Flo
Traveller
10725 comments
Hi!
For a full month, 800€ is not really much (= not even 30€ per day), but should be doable. Have a look at hostel rates in each city first as this will be the main part of your budget. I'd calculate with an average of 15€ max per night which would leave you with about 15€ for food, beer, sights etc which is doable. Prague, Budapest, Belgrade and Sofia are rather cheap so you can cover a proper meal plus possible entrance fees etc with 15€ there; the other cities are a bit more expensive in my experience so you might keep costs down by cooking in the hostel kitchen etc.
Also, I would consider if a Interrail pass is the right choice for you if you arent including other cities as well. If you go with Interrail, the 7/month would be the right choice for you: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/interrail-whats-new-in-2016/[/u]
Compare regular ticket fares too:
Amsterdam - Berlin: [ux]https://rail.shop/nsinternational[/ux]
Berlin - Prague: [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux]
Prague - Budapest: [ux]https://rail.shop/cd[/ux]
Budapest - Belgrade: Belgrade Special is available locally at the station for 15€
Belgrade - Sofia: ~20€
Sofia - Istanbul: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/bucharest-sofia-istanbul-train/[/u]
No seat reservations needed on any train; only if you travel overnight in a couchette or sleeper you need a reservation: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]
Use the above links to support our work - same price for you but we get a little comission. Thank you. :)
Flo 8)
ardeeay
Traveller
100 comments
Hi
If you intend to visit only the six capital cities you have listed you could certainly see a great deal of the cities in one month (average 5 days in each). I would suggest that perhaps you should allow and extra day in Berlin, Prague and perhaps Istanbul and one less in Belgrade and Sophia.
Although you will not really be pressed for time, you could save some time and the cost of a night’s Hostel accommodation by taking night trains. Of course the time available for looking at the scenery is a little less, but it may still be light enough in the evenings, and you will meet lots of interesting people on the night trains. If you are OK with overnight seating this could be at very minimal cost (or even free). Unfortunately DBahn has stopped running the Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague CNL night train but you could do something like this:
Amsterdam- Cologne by day (buy local ticket to get to NL border)
Cologne –Prague night train
Prague-Berlin by day
Berlin-Budapest night train
Budapest-Belgrade night train
Belgrade-Sophia night train
Sophia-Istanbul night train (check for part bus replacement)
This would fit into a 7 days in a month InterRail Pass suggested by Flo. Depending on which train you catch from Amsterdam- Cologne you would have the best part of a day in Cologne as a “bonus”.
I hope this helps with your planning.
Cheers
Richard
anonymous
Traveller
2473 comments
Thank you for your response!
We decided to change our route a little bit:
Our plan is to go to Rhodos in stead of Istanbul, we will follow the following route:
Amsterdam - Berlin
Berlin - Prague (night train)
Prague - Budapest (night train)
Budapest - Belgrade (night train)
Belgrade - Sofia (night train)
Sofia - Thessaloniki (night train)
Thessaloniki - Athens
Athens - Rhodos (by ferry)
Rhodos - Amsterdam (plane)
Someone told me we could get some discount on the ferry if we would show our interrail ticket, do you guys know if this is correct?
And if we can get discount, does this count as one interrail day? Because if it does, we'd have to buy the 10 days in a month ticket in stead of 7 days.
Flo
Traveller
10725 comments
Hi!
Please have a look at the list of night trains: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]
There are no night trains from Berlin to Prague nor from Sofia to Thessaloniki.
Amsterdam - Berlin: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/amsterdam-berlin/[/u]
Budapest - Belgrade: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/budapest-belgrade-train/[/u]
Sofia - Thessaloniki: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/from-thessaloniki-to-sofia-by-train/[/u]
Thessaloniki - Athens: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/train-ferry-greece/[/u]
Normally you only get a discount for ferries in Greece if you have booked a crossing between Greece and Italy before.
Flo 8)
ntrain
Traveller
123 comments
SOME domestic GR ferries give discounts-to youth/junior, but often only off-season. Prices are also higher hi-season and then often cost even more as an advance smartly booked flite.