Emilwid04
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 11 months ago
I am 19 years old and during the month of September, I want to explore Europe by train. I live in Sweden and my plan is to go to as many countries as I can without stressing. Therefore my initial thought was to stay in each country for 2-5 days on average. I do not only want to focus on the Capitals of each country as I am wanting to experience the smaller communities as well. I have been to all the northern countries and Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. I am thinking of having my first stop somewhere in France and beginning from there. The countries I want to focus on are France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria and also the Balkan countries. I am thinking of spending more days in the first countries and less in each of the Balkan ones.
For this trip, I am thinking of bringing my camping hammock to sleep in if I get the chance and otherwise hostels or taking the train during the night.
By posting this I seek suggestions of places to go, maybe even suggestions of a planned trip through a country. (trains, stops, places to see, how many days). And also have other tips on what to bring during the trip, the easiest and cheapest ways of resting/sleeping without getting robbed of everything I own.
So please feel free to write anything!
Thank You!
MisterSteve
Traveller
896 comments
Without stress?? You should rule out most of Spain (Costa Brava and Barcelona would be OK) because travelling any real distance requires resevrations that are almost impossible to obtain for Interrail until you get there. And Portugal is sadly wrong side of all that hassle. Balkans - probably best to avoid Serbia which has not run many trains in recent years and any country you have to pass through Serbia to reach. Greece is cut off by train by that and by the closure of the line to Bulgaria with no news of when the international routes will reopen (or when the internal routes will be back to normal). With these countries even the planning is stressful judging by the queries we get here.
France and Italy also require compulsory reservations on long distance trains which are easy to get but some fees include a high speed surcharge which increases spending - one reservation could cost 25€. Many regional trains in Italy are not covered by Interrail.
There are few night trains that don't require reservations that add costs, but Germany does have a few that run for hours and don't need reservations.
Where were you planning to use the camping hammock, much of Europe does not have open camping rights like those in Sweden. It may turn out to be useless baggage you wish you didn't have.
If you pay for a continuous pass and spend several days in a small area (or one large city) it may be a waste of money because travel on those days won't cost as much as a day of the pass. See if you can work out a plan that uses a number of days within the pass validity. The continuous 1 month pass would cost 525€ but "10 days within 2 months" is only 316€ and "15 days within 2 months" is 389€. With your idea of staying a few days at each stop you are unlikely to need more than 15 days. Also bear in mind that normal fares in the Balkans and eastwards are quite low which may mean even a long journey would cost less than one day of a pass.