chloe_hand
Traveller
12 comments
Posted 8 years ago
Hello! Me and my boyfriend are going interailing from 13th June this year. Neither of us have done any travelling before and we're getting quite overwhelmed with all the planning! Any help would really be appreciated :D
Our route is:
Barcelona - Nice - Venice - Budapest - Split - Zadar - Zagbreb - Vienna - Krakow - Prague - Berlin- Amsterdam
I just have a few questions:
1) Would this route be possible and do you have any tips (e.g night trains etc)
2) Which way round do you think would be best to do the trip? I'm a bit worried as we're going at the same time that the Euros 2016 are on meaning Nice is expensive at the point in June we want to go, but I'm worried about it getting unbearably busy down South in July!
3) I'm looking at getting a bus from zadar - Plitvice Lakes - Zagreb so we could do a day trip to Plitvice Lakes! Would this be possible?
Thank you :)
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Hi Chloe,
Initially I wasn't really sure what to respond, since it includes a few destinations that I won't visit next month. Anyhow, I'll try to do my best - on which I assume you will be departing Barcelona on June 13th. Furthermore I'll assume you want to keep your travel as cheap as possible, and want to prevent making reservations for expensive trains. Keep in mind that the schedule of trains will change a bit with new timetables in june/july - so plan your trip for example in the month april and expect a few small changes.
1) To get from Barcelona to Nice is do-able in 1 day with only regional trains (so no extra costs!). You'll depart on 07:16 in the morning and arrive in Nice at 20:11 in the evening. I'm not sure what the situation will be in Nice during the Euros 2016, but I hardly think that you won't fit :) . Even more reasons to prevent expensive TGV's due to the limited Interrail seats available.
2) To get from Nice to Venice could be done in a rather short time (high-speed trains), but local trains without any extra costs are also possible: it will take you approximately 7 hours to get to Milano and another 4 hours to get you to Venice.
3) I would recommend to get from Venice to Split first. You can do that by taking the train Venice - Trieste - where you can go with a tram (quite funny) to Villa Opicina, were trains to Ljubljana depart. From Ljubljana a IC Bus (dbahn) departs to Zadar and Split (4.50 reservation costs for interrailers if I recall correctly, but not sure).
4) From either Zadar/Split busses depart to Zagreb (dbahn). I would then recommend to take the train Zagreb to Budapest. Multiple IC's per day depart to Budapest from Zagreb, free for interrailers.
5) The rest of your route seems rather logical: Budapest > Vienna > Prague > Krakow > Berlin > Amsterdam. RailJet's (4 euro reservation costs in Hungary) / EC's (free) will bring you from Budapest to Vienna and Prague. I'm not sure about the situation between Prague-Krakow-Berlin / you have to find out yourselve. Use the Interrail planners / plan.rail.cc but keep in mind that planning in June/July will not give you good results due to missing timetables. [b]Pretend to plan in April/May[/b] and use that as a guideline. Free InterCity's will bring you from Berlin to Amsterdam every 2 hours.
6) I think multiple buses will go to Plitvice lakes from every corner in that area. Check [ux]https://rail.shop/balkanviator[/ux].
Hope this helps you!
Cheers,
Koen
chloe_hand
Traveller
12 comments
Hi Koen!
Thank you so much for your reply, it is so helpful!!
If we were to do the route the other way around (Starting in Amsterdam and then finishing in Barcelona) I'm guessing the information you have given would be relevant but just the other way around? As in it'd be possible to go from split - Venice - Nice - Barcelona?
Also, if the route was flipped round so we started in Amsterdam, what would you say would be the best route that included all of our destinations? (Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Krakow, Vienna, Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Budapest, Venice, Nice and Barcelona)
Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it!! :D
Chloe
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Hi Chloe,
Yes you can also do it the other way around. Then it would be Amsterdam > Berlin > (Krakow > Prague or Prague > Krakow) > Vienna > Budapest > Zagreb > Zadar/Split > Venice > Nice > Barcelona.
Koen
chloe_hand
Traveller
12 comments
Hi Koen,
Thanks again! I've seen that there's an overnight train from Budapest to Split that runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I'm not sure if this would include an extra charge though.
However, would going Vienna > Budapest > split > Zadar > Zagreb > Venice work? I'm not sure about train connections between zagreb and Venice!
Chloe
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Hi, You are absolutely right. There are ofcourse trains between Split and Zagreb (but it depends how you include Plitvice otherwise busses are more handy). You can also plan with a stop if you want to stay in Zagreb a little bit longer.
Nevertheless, hereby the details of the over-night train. You can use the normal seats for free, beds will cost you a reservation.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/budapest-split-g1204-b15800/132[/u]
Runs on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 17 June until 26 August 2016.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/budapest-split-ic818-828-15/488[/u]
Runs on Tuesdays and Fridays from 27 May until 14 June and from 30 August until 30 September 2016
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/split-budapest-b15801-g1205/133[/u]
Runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 18 June until 27 August 2016
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/split-budapest-b15801-829-8/489[/u]
Runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 28 May until 15 June and from 31 August until 1 October 2016
chloe_hand
Traveller
12 comments
Thanks again! Those were the timetables I was looking at before from Budapest -Split so I'm glad they're right :D
But how would you go about getting from Zagreb - Venice? Is it possible?
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Absolutely. There are multiple options but the one that I prefer (although, somebody correct me if I'm wrong). Is to take the train from Venice to Trieste, take the tram from Trieste to Villa Opicina, take the train from Villa Opicina to Ljubljana and transfer to the train to Zagreb.
[ux]http://interrail.eu/plan-your-trip/interrail-railway-map[/ux]
chloe_hand
Traveller
12 comments
ok great! Any idea how long this journey would take if going from Zagreb > Venice ?
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Try to plan yourself if you like! It's a good exercise to make yourself used to the system - plan your route in parts (since the tram won't be in the planner).
railcc.interrail.eu/plan-your-trip
[ux]https://plan.rail.cc[/ux]
[u]http://www.slo-zeleznice.si/en/[/u]
[u]http://www.triestetrasporti.it/index.php?linee-e-orari[/u] (LINEA TRANVIARIA : VILLA OPICINA - PIAZZA OBERDAN)
Or check the detailed map to find more alternative routes. [ux]http://www.interrail.eu/sites/interrail.eu/files/documents/interrail2016map_v9hr.pdf[/ux]
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Another alternative:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/ljubljana-to-venice[/u] (And continue to/from Zagreb)
chloe_hand
Traveller
12 comments
Thanks!
Would it not make more sense to just get one of these trains:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/zagreb-to-venice[/u]
rather than going to Ljubljana first? The trains in the link I've sent take less time.
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
If you click on the details of those trains you'll see that the train goes via Ljubljana, followed by a transfer in Jesenice and a non-train transfer in Nova Gorica. I'm not sure if thats faster than the option via Trieste and Villa Opicina.