anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 14 years ago
Hello (:
A couple of friends and I are planning on doing Interrail this upcoming August and I have a couple of basic questions prior to starting the whole planning-thing.
We've agreed on doing a tour of Western Europe, basically. Starting off in Vienna (where we live), we would like to travel a route looking somwhat like this: Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels(?), Paris, a bit of North France, then Côte d'Azur, then maybe a couple of beach days in either Spain or Italy.
Which of those destinations would you definitely recommend?
Do you know any places in France we should check out? Where would you recommend to finish the journey; some beach place (camping would be fine) in Spain or Italy?
Does this sound realistic for 22 days? Please be honest.
We'll be two boys and two girls, ages 19, 17, 17, and 16 by the time. Is it going to be a problem only one of us is officially adult already? What sort of issues might we be facing?
Is it recommendable to travel overnight, at least the larger distances? I think so, right?
How much money is reasonable to spend for a night at a hostel in Amsterdam, Paris and co? We're all trying to do this as economical as possible, so we're for sure taking a tent and none of us mind using it from time to time. We want to have the chance to shower and sleep and relax properly and safely regularly, however.
How much money should we estimate we'll be spending for the whole trip?
How many trains or hostels whatsoever should we book in advance? Or would we be better off just being spontaneous?
We'll get by with being fluent in English and German, me being able to communicate somewhat okay in French, and knowing bits of Spanish, right?
I hope some of my questions will be answered (:
Thank you very much already!
Nina
Bagpipe89
Traveller
13 comments
Hi,
although i cant answer all questions i will help you as much as i can until Peter or Flow will answer detailed.
Concerning your travel route its nice, why shouldnt you get it^^. Especially when u go by nighttrains you will have probably 3 days in each city.(Look at my journey its 11 destinations in 25 days so you will be able to do about 8 in 22 :D ). In France the best places should be Paris of course, and then i guess Marseille, Lyon and Nice and maybe Toulouse and Bordeaux.
How much money you spend depends on how you will eat, sleep travel etc. [u]https://rail.cc/de/gesamtkosten-berechnen[/u] there you can fill in how u plan to do it and it will say you something about your cosrts, but i dont know if its good or bad calculation.
With English you should be fine in most situations, and even if not, the other languages will do or just use sign laguage =).
Marco
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Nina!
- How do you want to get back home? With InterRail or by plane?
- Do you plan to get the ÖBB Sommerticket for travelling within Austria? If not, I'd recommend to get Sparschiene tickets to München and start your InterRail ticket only when you leave there for Amsterdam to save a travel day that would otherwise be wasted for Salzburg - München. If you have the Sommerticket, I'd recommend to get the Bayernticket for Salzburg - München: 28€ for a group of 2-5 people (valid only on RE/RB services) and also start your InterRail ticket when you leave München.
Talking about your route in general:
- I wouldnt consider München a must-see, especially since it's quite close to Wien anyway and you could make an extra trip there sometime if you really want to go. However, if you decide to stay there, I can recommend the Wombats hostel close to the main station.
- Amsterdam is nice for 2 or 3 days
- If you plan to make a stop to Bruxelles, I'd recommend to also have short visits to the other large cities in Belgium: Antwerpen, Gent, Bruges - all really nice and with excellent rail connections from/to Bruxelles. I always suggest to have a base in one of those cities for some days and then make day trips to the other places. :)
- Paris is a must. :)
- In northern France, Lille is nice. I've also been to Le Havre where there isnt that much to see but Honfleur and Étretat are really nice small cities nearby (but you'd have to get there by bus). Of course Mont St Michel is a nice place to go as well...
- Cote d'Azur...similar to Belgium: Stay at one place for some time and make daytrips to some other places. So much to see: Nice, Monaco, Antibes, Grasse, Villefranche (nice small beach close to the station),...
Cant give you much info on a beach with camping in that area though... Well, on the other side of France there is Arcachon with the famous Dune de Pyla. Campsites nearby but in summer it can get a bit crowded easily. If you're heading down towards Spain maybe think about the Petit Train Jaune: [u]https://rail.cc/en/petit-train-jaune-latour-de-carol/f1343[/u]
Regarding your age: I think it should be fine if one adult is in the group. It is certainly good if the minors have sheets with them stating that their parents allow them to travel together with the adult.
Regarding overnight travel: Most of the European night trains are listed in the forum in the country boards. However, there arent that much opportunities along your route to use one. I definitely can recommend the München - Amsterdam CNL: [u]https://rail.cc/en/munich-amsterdam-night-train/f3746[/u]
In France you might consider taking either the Paris - Latour de Carol (in case you go for the Petit Train Jaune) or Paris - Nice Lunéa night train. For Paris - Nice there'd be also the option of going by TGV which is also really nice (travels at up to 320 km/h, so quite fast compared to ÖBB ;) and then runs along the Cote d'Azur sometimes almost at the coastline).
Tent vs Hostel: If you take a tent with you I'd recommend to use it at much as possible - doesnt make much sense to lug it around Europe and then using it only twice or so. Hostels in Amsterdam and Paris are quite expensive (and mostly not that high quality as elsewhere) so I'd recommend to go to a campsite there as well as in Bruxelles.
Amsterdam: Camping Zeeburg or Vliegenbos
Bruxelles: Camping a ciel ouvert (open only in July and August!)
Paris: Camping Bois de Boulogne
Depending on how much you are willing to spend, I'd calculate with 20-30 Euro per day (also depending on camping or hosteling).
If you wanna stay in a hostel in Amsterdam or Paris it might be a good idea to book some time in advance, otherwise you should be fine making reservations while you're travelling or (at campsites) just show up.
You'll be fine with english during your trip - if you can speak some french in France it's certainly not bad. ;)
Hope that helps for a start. If you have any other questions, dont hesitate to ask. ;)
Flo 8)
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Hey, wow, thanks for the fast responses!
Well, we'd like to get back home by train as well, is that going to be a problem in any way?
Yeah, we're all getting the Sommerticket. Actually, to start our journey, I was thinking we should hop on an early train in Vienna, visit Munich during the day and then take a night train to Amsterdam. I think this way we'll have the chance to see some of Munich without wasting any time or money. How does that sound?
Amsterdam for 2 or 3 days sounds reasonable, so does camping there. I've browsed through the forum a bit and there seems to be a nice camping place around there, so that would be fine for us.
As for Bruxelles, we were thinking about a similar thing like Munich on our way from Amsterdam to Paris. However, we might want to check out some other places in Belgium, so we still have to figure that out.
In Paris, however, all of us would rather stay in a hostel overnight - that's the one place we'd be okay with spending a little more money on. And yep, we're doing Paris for sure! Any inside tips or tricks how to get by there the best, any things we absolutely have to check out? (:
On our way from North to South France, we were thinking about La Rochelle, too? Is that recommendable? Or should we rather skip that and do a fast train from North to South? (Haha, I've been on a TGV before - it made my ears hurt! (; )
And that's what we figured for the Côte d'Azur: find a nice place to stay and do daytrips from there. That's probably the best way to handle that.
Other than that - THANK YOU very much for your help so far!
I'll get back to you in case I have more questions, which I'm sure I will (;
Nina
EDIT:
Another question that has been on my mind - how to deal with laundry? I mean, 22 days are quite long, and since we'll be walking and stuff lots I'd feel most comfortable in a new change of clothes everyday, haha. I'm a girl (; I know I can't possibly take that much, though. Do you think we will have the chance to do some laundry in hostels etc? How much weight is reasonable to take in a big backpack?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
No it isnt any problem at all to get back by train - I only asked because some people like to get back by plane and it makes a little bit of difference in planning then. :)
It's a good idea to just have a look around Munich during the day and then go to Amsterdam with the night train. You'll just have to think about the Salzburg - München stretch and what kind of ticket you are going to use there.
Either if you're staying only one or several days in Bruxelles, take care not to use Thalys trains for Amsterdam - Bruxelles - Paris: [u]https://rail.cc/en/amsterdam-brussels-train-thalys/f3991[/u] and [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/thalys/41[/u]
If you're searching for hostels in Paris, I could recommend the St Christophers and Oops (if you're group of four that's good because they dont have lockers on the rooms...). For getting around either get a Carnet (10 tickets for Metro, bus etc... for 11,60€ [12€ soon]) or, at weekends, the Ticket Jeunes Weekend, valid one day at weekends for 3,30€.
There's so much to see there, its hard to give tips when I dont know your preferencies...
La Rochelle is a nice place and if you have time go to the Ile de Ré nearby as well. But consider that it is somewhat off route if you're then going to the Cote d'Azur.
Flo 8)