rjch28
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 13 years ago
Hey everyone :)
I had the spontaneous idea of going on an InterRail tour for one month on my own and found this impressive forums!
I have the amazing possibility to start off in Copenhagen, since my parents are going on a camping trip through Sweden, starting here in Germany and they are of course passing Copenhagen, where I could jump off the camper and start.
So I made a list of places I'd like to see and figured out quite an ambitious route. The problem is, starting in Copenhagen, Scandinavia is close. But I wanted to go to Istanbul for quite a while now. And in between, there are soooo many interesting places (I've seen a lot of south-western Europe, but literally nothing of the east!). I ended up with this route:
Copenhagen > Oslo > Stockholm > Tallinn > Helsinki > (via Gdnyia) Gdansk > Krakow > Prague > Budapest > Sofia > Istanbul
Those with InterRail experience among you might be laughing really hard at me by now :P But, I'm posting it just to be told it's insane, I guess ... Maybe I should add, that I'd like to see many different places, rather that getting to know each city inside out. Of course there are places, I'd like to take a closer look at, like Istanbul, Stockholm and Prague. In others, like Sofia (no offense!), I would maybe only spend a few hours (can someone even survive that?!)
Calculating the total travel time by trains and ferries, I ended up with 114 hours of travel. Means nearly 5 days and nights and means 25 days left for the cities.
I could shorten it by leaving out Oslo and Krakow. That would save quite a lot of travel time.
So, now go ahead and disillusion me — I'm a little afraid that I'll eventually end up with 3 places to look at :D
Cheers,
Robert
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Robert!
A rather ambitious route, but not at all impossible. ;) Have you already thought how you want to return to Germany from Istabul?
My main concern about your route is that you have 3 ferries, including the trip to Tallinn. Although you will get 50% or 30% discounts on those ferry trips with your InterRail pass you are not using your pass for travelling by train in this period...but if you want to go to all these cities, do it! :)
Anyway, Kobenhavn - Oslo and Oslo - Stockholm is no problem, for detailed connections use the schedule planner :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]
From Gdynia/Gdansk you have several direct trains during the day to Krakow; TLK trains do not require a reservation, whereas you will need one for the EIC trains. Or go with TLK overnight, then I'd recommend to get at least a reservation for a couchette (or a sleeper).
Krakow - Praha is best by direct EC train. Praha - Budapest again by direct EC train or with a change of trains in Breclav. Trains run almost every two hours.
If you do not want to go to Sofia, you might think about Beograd instead? Direct trains form Budapest/to Istanbul available as well. If you have time you then could even think about a short trip down to Montenegro which is really nice!
Train info for Budapest - Sofia/Beograd - Istanbul can be found in the relevant country boards. :)
Overall the trip should be easily possible within one month. If you think you still want to add something extra, you could think about a trip to the north like this: Kobenhavn - Stockholm - Östersund and with Inlandsbana to Gällivare - Narvik, then either via Lofoten or directly to Bodo and down to Oslo via Trondheim and finally back to Stockholm for the ferry.
Flo 8)
rjch28
Traveller
3 comments
Hi Flo!
Thank you so much for your help! Ah, I forgot to add that I planned to fly back from Istanbul ...
I thought about the tour again last night and figured it might be better to get a 10 in 22 ticket first and see how far I get. Since I've never done anything comparable, I don't know how I feel after 3 weeks of interrailing ... And if I'm still enthusiastic after 3 weeks, I still can get another ticket (that's possible at the stations, right?) and head towards Istanbul. It's better to spend a little more, when I feel like it than spending 409€ without knowing how long I can stand it ;)
I've already dealt with the ferries and figured out I can get a quarter of a cabine from Stockholm to Tallinn for 36€ ... Haven't yet found out the exact price for the Finland-Poland ferry, but is it generally possible to book such cabines just 1 day in advance? (and the same question actually goes for trains, too) I don't want to book every ride right away, because I want to be flexible during the trip.
Robert
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej,
sorry for answering late...there is much to do with the new railcc website... :os
A good idea to cut the trip a little...especially because you are travelling alone. Anyway, I am sure you will meet other travellers that you can join if you want some company for a few days. Also have a look at the new features of our website :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/travel-partners[/u]
If your ticket has finished, you can decide if you want to get another pass (maybe a Balkan Flexi Pass) or proceed with single tickets.
Flo 8)