laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
Posted 13 years ago
Hey so we would be starting in Victoria,London and taking the train to Brussels which is where we would start our route. Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Venice-Benicassim Music Festival.
The thing is we can only leave on the 30th June and Benicassim starts on the 12th July.. is this enough time for all the stops? Also what does anyone think of the route? any places we should skip? or that we've missed out?
And we would probably go through Barcelona and Nice aswell to get to Benicassim- but we would be willing to not spend full days there in order to get through the route in time.. and how easy is the route from Venice to Benicassim, researched a bit a people say its a bit complicated??
We're a group of 3 and have never done anything like this before. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thannnkk Youuu!!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Do you want to go to Bruxelles with Eurostar? Then you will have to leave from St Pancras International, not Victoria. And remember to get your Eurostar tickets as early as possible to get the best deals (similar to plane tickets).
The classic route to the continent with a ferry is not much cheaper than the Eurostar (if you get your tickets early) but is much slower. However, ferry trips are always nice...but since you do not have too much time for your trip, Eurostar probably is the best idea.
Soo...your route is not perfect for any of the InterRail tickets offered. The main problem being Venice since it is a bit complicated to get there from Prague and even more to get then to Benicassim.
Given that you leave London with Eurostar on the 30th June and you stay one night in Bruxelles, you could get a 5in10 Youth Pass valid from 1st July. This would be valid until 11th July 2359, ideal for arriving in Benicassim one day before the festival starts. However, with only five travel days (td) you will get some troubles:
td 1)Bruxelles - Amsterdam
td2) Amsterdam - Berlin
td3) Berlin - Praha
td 4) Praha - Venice; possible in one day, however only when going during the day (not possible overnight), this would mean travel from 7am till 9pm plus some extra reservations..
td 5) Venice - Benicassim; not possible with one travel day...
What could you do?
- Get a 10in22 pass and travel a bit around Spain after Benicassim with the remaining extra travel days
- Get the 5in10 and get a regular ticket for Bruxelles - Amsterdam instead of using a day of your pass. With this extra day saved you can get to Benicassim from Venice.
This is how your trip could look like:
30th: London - Bruxelles
1st: Bruxelles - Amsterdam
2nd: Amsterdam
3rd: Amsterdam - Berlin
4th Berlin
5th Berlin - Praha
6th Praha
7th Praha - München - Verona - Venice
8th Venice
9th Venice - Nice or Marseille
10th Nice or Marseille - Barcelona; as I write this I discovered that you would have to leave Nice at 6am to get to Benicassim the same day...maybe it is more convenient to leave later and then stay overnight in Barcelona, however this would mean that you will have to get an extra ticket to Benicassim the next day unless you travel with the 10in22.
Have a look at the railcc country section for connections between each cities.
Regarding reservations...you would need reservations for Praha - München (by coach, included in InterRail, 10€), Venezia - Milano (AV, 10€) and Barcelona - Benicassim if you do it in one day (Alaris, 6,50€).
Hope this helps for a start...just ask if you need more detailed help. And if you want to support our work we would be happy if you'd buy your tickets in our online shop, thank you. :)
Flo 8)
laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
Oh i meant the cheap bus from Victoria Station to Brussels... but our group's been talking and we don't want to be stressed about missing trains etc.. so we are changing our route so it can be more relaxing :) and that way it will all be more flexible and less time pressured
Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Nice-Benecassim.
Is this any less complicated now that we've removed Venice? and how long would it take to travel from Berlin to Nice/which places would be convenient to make stops in/good to see??
Also we would probabaly go for the 10 in 22 pass and travel to/around the south of france once benecassim has finished.
Thanks for all your help so far, really appreciate it :)
Peter
Traveller
9337 comments
Hi.
Looks less complicate now. :)
Berlin - Nice is a long trip.
Different stops are possible:
- Freiburg (student city, good for one night): [u]https://rail.cc/en/freiburg-im-breisgau/c[/u]
- Strasbourg (interesting old town): [u]https://rail.cc/en/strasbourg/c[/u]
- also a stop in Switzerland could be interesting, but expensive.
Both legs can be done by night trains:
- Berlin to Freiburg/Strasbourg:
to Strasbourg change in Offenburg (next stop after Karlsruhe) to the free regional train - 30 minutes to Strasbourg - [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/berlin-zurich-cnl-471/21[/u]
- Strasbourg/Freiburg to Nice: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/strasbourg-nice-icn-4283/163[/u]
Or just do one leg by night train, the other by day train.
Peter :)
laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
Ok so Berlin- Prague route is sorted.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-train-route/berlin-prague/germany-czech-republic/34[/u]
but Prague- Heidelberg how do you think we should do this?
because then Heidelberg- Strasbourg and Strasbourg-Nice route is sorted :)
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/heidelberg-to-strasbourg[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/strasbourg-nice-icn-4283/163[/u]
Thanks, all your information is really useful :)
Peter
Traveller
9337 comments
Hi.
Do it this way:
Prague - Nuremberg: don't use the bus, use free trains.
Nuremberg - Stuttgart: free IC train at least every two hours. If you leave Prague early in the morning, have a stop in Nuremberg, really a old nice town.
Stuttgart - Heidelberg at least every hour by direct and free IC train.
In Heidelberg I recommend the hostel Lotte!
Close to the old town and very very nice! :)
[u]https://rail.cc/en/heidelberg/lotte-the-backpackers/l448[/u]
And for the night, go to the Cave Club:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/heidelberg/cave/l40[/u]
An other option is the Schwimmbad Club. But you have to walk a lot. :)
Peter :)
laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
29th: London-Brussels
30th: Brussels-Amsterdam
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/brussels-to-amsterdam[/u]
1st: Amsterdam
2nd: Amsterdam-Berlin
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-train-route/amsterdam-berlin/netherlands-germany/102[/u]
3rd: Berlin
4th: Berlin-Prague
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-train-route/berlin-prague/germany-czech-republic/34[/u]
5th: Prague
6th: Prague-Nuremberg-Stuttgart- Heidelberg
7th: Heidelberg-Strasbourg
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/heidelberg-to-strasbourg[/u]
Night Train: Strasbourg-Nice
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/strasbourg-nice-icn-4283/163[/u]
8th: Nice
9th: Nice- Barcelona
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/nice-to-barcelona[/u]
10th: Barcelona- Benicassim
Does this look alright as a route? enough time etc.. at all the places??
Peter
Traveller
9337 comments
Hi.
Looks very good! :)
If you can't book the Strasbourg - Nice night train online, do it already in Berlin at the central railway station (Hauptbahnhof).
Peter :)
laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
Any suggestions on where to stay in Amsterdam that is fairly well rated but also pretty cheap?? Struggling to find hostels for our dates that aren't way more expensive than they really should be..
Thanks!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hmm...I've stayed always at a campsite while I was in Amsterdam since the hostels always looked overpriced... :|
You could look for hostels in other cities nearby, there are frequent connections to/from Amsterdam throughout the day, even during the night there is a hourly service linking Amsterdam with Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht,...
Flo 8)
laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
Ok thanks will have a look into camping :)
Just wondering, what do you think will be cheaper- 10 days within 22 days or 5 days within 10 days during the main section of the trip with extra train tickets for the start and end. ??? just trying to save on money
Thanks!!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well...depends on your final route I'd say.
laurajane
Traveller
6 comments
Final route is in the 6th post.
Then after Beni we will be travelling on the 16th aswell and will end up in the south of France. Where we are meeting another group.
There is no point getting a train pass that goes over Beni is there? as we won't use it for about 6 days....
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej!
Well, it is rather simple:
Your route is 12 days long and you would need 8 travel days (this is excluding the London - Bruxelles leg). The price difference between the 5in10 and 10in22 is 82€.
If you'd take the 5in10 you would need regular tickets for 3 legs. Probably cheapest would be the first three legs, Bruxelles - Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague, averaging around 30€ each leg per person (Amsterdam - Berlin being more expensive than the other two). This would mean that you would probably already exceed the price difference between the two passes.
Since the 10in22 would still leave you with enough time to travel back to Southern France from Benicassim I think it would be a better solution. :)
Anyway, dont forget that you will need some reservations: Strasbourg - Nice night train; Barcelona - Benicassim long distance train; if you travel back to Southern France I'd recommend to use the direct Talgo in direction of Montpellier. If you choose this train, make sure you get the reservation not in Spain but somewhere abroad since it will be significantly more expensive in Spain (18€ compared to 6,50€, this applies only to this specific Talgo train).
If you need more help, just let me know. ;)
Flo 8)