Tosterud
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 14 years ago
Hello travelers! :P
Me and my sister are going to buy an InterRail ticket with 5 travel days within 10 days, but we don't really know what would be the best combination of destinations. We definently want to see Rome, Italy, but besides that we don't have any big ideas of where to travel. I'm 17 and she's 16, we just want to enjoy the most beautiful things in Europe, see, touch, do, taste new exciting things. We're from Sweden so we're not sure even if it would be most fun and best for our tight scheme to fly to a European city(perhaps Rome?) and start the train traveling there after 2-3 days or if we should start the train travel up north and perhaps go through Germany and Switzerland.
I've been doing some reading about the diferent contries and their capitals, and about interrail, but i really really would love some advices for the travel of two teenagers in Europe in the end of July now - start of August.
Perhaps whole picture advices, like I think it would be a great idea to take flight to Rome and stay there about 3 days and then take the train to Madrid in Spain, it's a beautiful trip...
Million thanks from us two for replies :!:
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Ok then. :)
It's definitely a good idea to check for cheap flights - spending a few days at ie Rome and only then staring your IR ticket leaves you a bit more time to travel. Otherwise you'd spend most of the trip getting out/back to Sweden.
Let's pretend you'll start in Rome - spend a few days there and then start your IR ticket. Go along the coast up to Genoa and continue along the Ligurian coast to the Cote d'Azur. Stop at Cannes or probably better, Nice.
I'd definitely recommend going to Paris - such a beautiful city with lots of culture, nightlife and other things to explore. :) Easily reachable from Nice by TGV.
From Paris you could make your way to Amsterdam, make a stop in Bruges and maybe Antwerpen in between.
Other possibility would be going from Paris to Berlin by direct night train.
You could even make it to London but then you'd probably have to go back by plane too. :|
So many nice places to visit - so little time. That's the problem most people have. ;)
If you prefer to go through Switzerland you should skip Nice and go via Milano to Zurich. Either via Gotthard or Simplon route - both cross the alps and have spectacular views. Gotthard might be a better choice though as you have direct trains Milano - Zurich there.
From Zurich you have connections to Paris, Bruxelles, Berlin and many other cities.
It's hard to make more precise suggestions since I dont really know what you guys are interested in... ;)
It'd be interesting to from which part of Sweden you come from to be able to plan your route back.
Flo 8)
Tosterud
Traveller
2 comments
Wow ^^ I really do have a great feeling about this travel :P That little plan of yours really sounds nice, cause Rome I think is a great start, Cannes/Nice I've really heard are wonderful places!
Rome - Nice - Paris - London and then flight back home, just that sounds like heaven for my ears.
Fact is we're not really intrested in something special like historical places or anything, we would just love to be out and about in different contries and see and use what each place has to offer. See museums, eat traditional food, dance, meet new people...
But we're both such newbies in traveling like this we don't really know where or how to start! ^^
We're from Falun, Dalarna in Sweden, and being able to fly to say Rome from Stockholm and just start using our Inter Rail ticket after a few days would be assume. And then take a cheap flight back home to save even more time would also be great, to have time to visit more places!
Many many thanks!
Erik & Sara
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Yup - you're welcome. :)
General info:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u]
For Rome - Nice definitely go all the way along the coast: Roma - Livorno - Pisa - Genova - Ventimiglia - Nice
Roma 0957 - 1508 Genova
Genova 1655 - 2012 Nice
:arr: both trains require a ~5€ supplement
Nice - Paris is best by TGV, 3/10€ supplement (off-peak/peak), there are several connections per day. You also could go by Corail Lunéa night train, 2€ supplement for the reclining seat...however traveling with up to 320 km/h on the TGV is a unique experience, and it's fast. ;)
Paris - London: [u]https://rail.cc/en/paris-london-ferry-calais-dover/f1442[/u]
Don't go by Eurostar, although it's really fast it really expensive - you can book regular tickets online that are cheaper than the InterRail supplement. Moreover crossing the channel by ferrry is a quite unique experience.
Best way would be going Paris - Calais on the 9th day of you pass, sleeping at the ferry terminal in Calais and taking the first ferry in the morning to Dover around 0800. Quite spectacular to see the sunrise and leave the port with the sun in your back...as soon as you cant see the French coast anymore the chalk cliffs of Dover come in sight... :)
Of course going back to Sweden by train would be more ecological but I can understand that taking the plane would be the better option for you...London - Falun is quite a trip and you'd probably lose two days of your ticket. ;)
When staying at Nice I'd recommend making a day trip to Grasse or Villefranche; Cannes, Antibes, Monaco are nice as well of course... :)
Hope I didn't forget anything.
Flo 8)
Tosterud
Traveller
2 comments
An interesting alternative showed up, we could buy the 10 travel days within 22 days Inter Rail ticket, that would give us the possibility to travel by train down to Rome and then back again home, still giving us time to travel. It would be cheaper than buying flight ticket back and forth even. And then! We could plan our trip down, but how that look like... Köpenhamn in Denmark, Hamburg in Germany - perhaps Berlin - Praha(prag)- Venezia - Firenze - Roma? How does it sound? I'm just looking on the Eurail Group GIE trail map from the Inter Rail brochure ;)
Million thanks again for your aid! :P
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Well that's good news! :)
Let's have a look on a the connections between the different places:
Kobenhavn - Hamburg: Several daily connections by EC or ICE via Puttgarden - Rodby ferry (no extra supplements for the ferry!); supplement-free (only the EC Hamburg - Kobenhavn have a 5€ supplement).
Hamburg - Berlin: Hourly fast ICE connections; no supplement
Berlin - Praha: EC connection every two hours; no supplement
Praha - Venezia: Unfortunately the direct through couchettes have been withdrawn - makes it a bit tricky now. These connections seem most sensible to me:
Praha 0042 - 0608 Wien :arr: 5€ supplement for a seat, couchettes 25/35€
Wien 0630 - 1420 Venezia :arr: 7€ supplement
Praha 1514 - 1756 Ceske Budejovice
Ceske Budejovice 1815 - 2045 Linz
Linz 2232 - 0834 Venezia :arr: 5€ supplement for a seat, couchettes 25/35€
Praha 1714 - 0014 Salzburg
Salzburg 0134 - 0834 Venezia :arr: 5€ supplement for a seat, couchettes 25/35€, you can already board the train when you arrive in Salzburg. ;)
Venezia - Firenze: Hourly ES Italia trains; 15€ supplement, alternative supplement-free connections with regional trains every one or two hours
Firenze - Roma: Several fast connections with ES AV, ES Italia, IC etc per hour; 5 to 25€ supplement, alternative supplement-free regional trains every two hours
You can see that you can freely travel up to Praha - no supplements/reservations needed. For the Praha - Venezia trip it's advisable to go with one of the mentioned connections unless you want to spend two days sitting in regional trains. ;)
In Italy you can choose: travel fast and pay the supplements - or travel for free in the slower regional trains.
All of the cities you've mentioned are certainly worth visiting (except for Firenze I've visited them myself) - by using the 10in22 you'll have around two days in each city. Especially on the first part of your route (up to Praha) you are more flexible and can extend or shorten your stays.
Plan carefully since you probably wont be able the 1900-rule for nighttrains and 10 travel days are quickly needed. :|
Maybe do Praha in just one day: Take the first train from Berlin and leave at midnight with the night train to Vienna...
Do you still want to go to London? And back by train? Then maybe have a look at this ferry: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/from-london-to-amsterdam-with-the-dutchflyer/[/u] From Amstedam to Kobenhavn there's a direct night train...maybe you skip Hamburg, start your trip by taking the Malmö - Berlin night train and do Kobenhavn on your way home?
Flo 8)