fleetfoxes
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 12 years ago
Hi, me and my friends, we are planing to do an interrail during the month of august next summer. we have already wrote down a sketch of the route we plan to follow, but we are unsure of how to make the best of our time when planning our trip.
the route:
HOLLAND
Amsterdam (we fly there)
Utrecht
Rotterdam
BELGIUM
Antwerp
Bruxelles
Leuven (here we have friends so we should have a place to stay)
LUXEMBOURG
Luxembourg
GERMANY
Frankfurt
Strasbourg
SWITZERLAND
Bern
Zurich
GERMANY
Munich
AUSTRIA
Salzburg
SLOVENIA
Ljubljana
AUSTRIA
Wien
CZECH REPUBLIC
Praha
POLAND
Wroclaw
Krakow
Warsaw
GERMANY
Berlin
HOLLAND
Amsterdam (we fly back)
We wont be doing any of Italy, Spain or France because we've already been there few times.
My doubts are:
- am i spending too much time some country, like Holland?´
- is the route too long?
- We also would like to see a bit countryside: where is better? we thought of Switzerland cause we are a bit fascinated by the Alps landscape, but we would like to have some suggestions to nice mountain views, lakes, countryside in any of these places.
- Is it to much of Germany?
- What are we missing that we really shouldn't?
If anyone could help us out it would be much appreciated!! :D :D
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej!
Well, for one month that's a rather packed schedule, but feasible nonetheless. However, I would slightly rearrange your route:
Amsterdam - Utrecht - Rotterdam - Antwerpen - Leuven - Bruxelles - Luxembourg - Strasbourg - Bern - Zürich - Ljubljana - Wien - Salzburg - München - Praha - Krakow - Wroclaw - Warszawa - Berlin - Frankfurt - Amsterdam
Both Wroclaw and Frankfurt are a little awkward to fit in...you could also do Strasbourg - Frankfurt - Bern and Krakow - Warszawa - Wroclaw - Berlin but in the end it does not really matter, especially in the case of Wroclaw which is a little of your route in any way.
In the Netherlands, you could think about staying in only one place, and making day trips to the other cities since distances are short and trains run frequently. Rotterdam is a completely modern city which I did not really like when we were there in 2006...if you're interested in older historical cities, maybe think about going to Delft instead. But like I said, trains are fast and frequent and it only takes 12 minutes from Delft to Rotterdam with four trains per hour so you could easily do both. :)
In Belgium it is is similar to the Netherlands...you could stay at one place as well and visit the other cities as day trips...maybe include Brugge and/or Gent as well.
Also, if you want to go to the beach you can easily do so in both Netherlands (Zandvoort on Zee) and Belgium (Oostende).
Then on to Luxembourg and then via Strasbourg (France) to Switzerland...until now, you dont need any extra reservations. Just make sure not to travel with Thalys or Fyra in the Benelux. ;)
Switzerland is certainly a good place for some spectacular alpine scenery. My favourite is the RhB network in the SE of the country. You could fit this in on your way from Zürich to Ljubljana: Go from Zürich to Chur in the morning, then you start your trip on the RhB...go to Samedan via Filisur, this is the Albula line which is UNESCO world heritage. If you want, stop somewhere along the line between Filisur and Preda where you could hike along the tracks. From Samedan you could continue to St Moritz (although there is not much to see apart from rich people and stores and hotels for rich people) and then head back for Chur, either via Filisur and Davos or Sagliains and Klosters. Then go to Sargans, where you can reach the night train to Ljubljana.
As just mentioned, I would recommend the night train Zürich - Sargans - Ljubljana as a rather cheap and comfortable option for this leg of the journey. If you have time, you could also make a stop at Lake Plitvice ([u]https://rail.cc/en/plitvice-lakes/c[/u]) a little bit before Ljubljana.
On the way from Ljubljana to Wien (where you pass Graz, my hometown) ;) you will go via the Semmering route, another UNESCO world heritage railway line. :)
Then via Salzburg to München and onwards to Praha. Until now no extra costs except for the one night train. However, for travelling to and in Poland you will need reservations, which are not expensive. Best is to get them in Praha before leaving for Poland. Like I said above, Wroclaw is a little of route in any case...I would go with the night train to Krakow from Praha and then either to Wroclaw or Warszawa, it doesnt really matter. From both cities you have direct trains to Berlin.
Then finally, Berlin and maybe Frankfurt. Although it seems to be quite off the route Berlin - Amsterdam you have good and fast ICE connections so it would no problem to fit in Frankfurt this way. :)
I hope this helps you for the start...have a look at the railway maps here :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/maps[/u] if you sometimes not really know what I am talking about. ;)
And if you want to support our work here at railcc please buy your IR tickets at our partner :arr: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] thank you. :)
Flo 8)