Thibol
Traveller
6 comments
Posted 13 years ago
Hi !
My friend and I are from Lyon, and we got a 10 days of travel within 22 days global pass.
The purpose of our trip is to visit the cities, chill out and go shopping during the day and go out in restaurants/bars/clubs at night (well, not every night).
We'll go first to [b]Amsterdam[/b], and we also want to go to [b]Berlin[/b], [b]Prague[/b], [b]Vienna[/b], [b]Budapest[/b] and [b]Venice[/b] during the trip but we think (maybe we're wrong) we can go to 2 or 3 other places during the trip.
We'd be very grateful if you could answer our questions below :
1/ First, we were wondering if we should stop by [b]Bratislava[/b] after leaving [b]Vienna[/b] and before arriving to [b]Budapest[/b], as we do not really know if this city is worth and as it is very close to Vienna.
2/ Then, after [b]Budapest[/b], we know we want to go to [b]Venice[/b], but between these cities there is a long distance and we'd like to have a break. So we were thinking of either going to [b]Zagreb[/b] or [b]Ljubjana[/b], or to the Croatian seaside.
What do you think of [b]Zagreb[/b] and [b]Ljubjana[/b] ? Which places we could go on the seaside, staying on the way between Budapest and Venice (Rijeka for example ?) ?
3/ We're considering taking the NightCityLine between [b]Amsterdam[/b] and [b]Berlin[/b] and the InterCity between [b]Berlin[/b] and [b]Prague[/b], so we were wondering if we'll get some tickets if we book only when we arrive in Amsterdam and Berlin's train stations for a departure 2 or 3 days later, or should we order more in advance (= before the beginning of our trip)
4/ What is the best way to come back to [b]Lyon[/b] from [b]Venice[/b] or [b]Milan[/b] ?
We look forward to your answers and thank you in advance !
Thibaut and Sophie.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Thibaut and Sophie!
Since you will have to pay for travel in your country of residence, what about leaving France via Genève - it is the shortest way. Then you could either stay somewhere in Switzerland for a day or so (Genève, Bern, Zürich, Basel, Luzern,...) or go directly to Amsterdam. If you leave early (0634 or 0834 from Part Dieu) you can travel via Genève - Basel - Düsseldorf without paying any extra reservation fees - arrival Amsterdam either at 2026 or 2155. Or you can also take the CNL night train :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/zurich-amsterdam-cnl-40478/17[/u]
Or do you want to visit some places in Belgium...Gent, Brugge, Antwerpen,...? The direct way then is obviously via Paris - Lille but it is a much longer part in France (where InterRail is not valid). Maybe you find a good Prem ticket from SNCF to Lille and then start your InterRail there?
Amsterdam - Berlin :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/amsterdam-berlin-train/f2346[/u]
Berlin - Praha :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/berlin-prague-train/f3361[/u]
Praha - Wien :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/prague-to-vienna[/u]
If you want to go to Bratislava, you could go there from Wien as a day trip - frequent trains run at least once an hour and take about one hour. It is nice to go for one day...and nightlife is said to be quite good. But it is good in Wien and Budapest too. ;)
Anyway, you have direct trains to Budapest from both cities which take about 2h40 both.
There is a direct night train Budapest - Venezia: :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/hungary/hu[/u]
If you want, you have direct day trains to both Ljubljana and Zagreb too. For some time at the beach, Rijeka could be a good idea (or one of the close islands).
Have a look here on how to cross the border to Italy during the day :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/ljubljana-venice-train/f3663[/u]
From Milano the best way back to Lyon is a direct TGV via Modane; but you could also go again via Switzerland: Milano - Domodossola - Brig - Lausanne - Genève - Lyon
Reservations: You will only need reservations for night trains and fast trains within Italy; for all other day trains on your route you wont need reservations.
I would not make the reservation for Amsterdam - Berlin in Amsterdam, as NS charges an extra fee for (international) bookings at a counter. Better to do at home or in Switzerland or Germany.
Flo 8)
Thibol
Traveller
6 comments
Hi Flo thank you for answering so quickly !
The thing is that we already ordered our tickets to Amsterdam without using the InterRail because they were already very cheap (TGV Lyon-Paris + Thalys Paris-Amsterdam for 57€).
Thanks for your other tips about the trains.
Our main problem is actually not really the way to go from a city to another but to chose the right cities :o )
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
OK, this is a good solution for Lyon - Paris! :)
Then I would think of adding Switzerland at the end of the trip - as Genève - Lyon is probably the cheapest and shortest way to go home.
What about the Berninabahn? :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/tirano-to-st-moritz[/u]
Flo 8)
Thibol
Traveller
6 comments
Thanks for your answer!
We've got the full trip planned now, with the dates in every city (we won't go to Croatia), so we would like to have the confirmation that for these following routes, we will just have to get on the train without reservation and show our InterRail pass & ID card/passport, with no supplements to pay :
- InterCity [b]Amsterdam-Berlin[/b]: [u]https://rail.cc/en/amsterdam-berlin-train/f2346[/u]
- EuroCity [b]Berlin-Prague[/b]: [u]https://rail.cc/en/berlin-prague-train/f3361[/u]
- EuroCity [b]Prague-Vienna[/b]: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/prague-to-vienna[/u]
- Regional Express [b]Vienna-Bratislava (& Bratislava-Vienna)[/b]: [u]https://rail.cc/en/vienna-bratislava-train/f4055[/u]
- Railjet [b]Vienna-Budapest[/b]: [u]https://rail.cc/en/vienna-budapest-train-railje/f1999[/u]
- Regional train [b]Venice-Milan[/b]
We bought the tickets from Lyon to Amsterdam and from Milan to Lyon seperately from the InterRail pass.
So basically the only train for which we have to make the reservation is this EuroNight [b]Budapest-Venice[/b].
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Yup, everything alright. And regarding the night train, you can make the reservations at any bigger station along the route, I'd recommend either Berlin, Praha or Wien (Budapest of course as well). :)
Flo 8)
Thibol
Traveller
6 comments
Perfect Flo, thank you very much for your help!