imaginaryella
Traveller
4 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hey! I'm an 18-year-old girl planning my first, much anticipated interrail trip. As a novice traveller, I would like any advice that you have to offer.
I'm going on a 5-in-10 interrail pass sometime in June. The cities that I'm definitely including in my route are Stockholm (my starting point), Copenhagen, Hamburg and Amsterdam (from where I will take a plane home to add days to my trip). I'm probably making small few-hour stops in the cities of Malmö, Gedsir and Rostock.
I would like to see and experience as much as I can during the trip, and I could fit one or two more cities to stay for maybe a day into my schedule. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which places I could visit along the way? I would also love to hear if anyone has experiences on a similar route.
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hey...
There are several routes possible.
For example:
1 Stockholm - Malmö - Copenhagen
2 Copenhagen - Amsterdam by night train: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/copenhagen-amsterdam-cnl-40473/13[/u]
Note, you need a EUR 4 ticket until Roskilde, enter there the train after 1900h, then you have to use only ONE travel-day due to the rule of night trains - see train details.
3 Amsterdam - Cologne
4 Cologne - Berlin
5 Berlin - Hamburg
Peter :)
imaginaryella
Traveller
4 comments
Thanks a lot for your suggestion, Peter! The abundance of options is just what makes this so hard. 10 days is hardly time at all to travel... However, your example route seems very nice. Though I'd like to end my trip in Amsterdam, I like the idea of visiting Cologne and maybe even Berlin on the way.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Well...the best thing to do with a 5in10 is to travel as much as possible, plus using one or two night trains...this way you can make the most out of your ticket.
What city is Gedsir - is it Gedser in Denmark? Sadly, there is no rail service anymore there...you might wanna change your route...you could of course go there by bus from Nykobing but I am not sure if this makes sense if you only are travelling with a 5in10 pass...you better hit the rails... ;)
I would recommend:
1 Stockholm - Malmö/Lund (stay there during the day) - Copenhagen (if you find cheaper accomodation, you could also stay overnight in Sweden)
2 Copenhagen - Prague (by night train...as with the night train to Amstedam you would have to use a regular ticket to get to Roskilde first to be able to use the 1900 rule for night trains then; also, I dont know if you are interested in visiting Prague, but it is really nice...you could also go to Prague overnight, visit the city and travel to Berlin in the evening)
3 Berlin - Hamburg
4 Hamburg - Amsterdam
5 Amsterdam - Utrecht/Den Haag/Rotterdam/Delft/Antwerpen - Amsterdam
Just some suggestions... ;)
Flo 8)
imaginaryella
Traveller
4 comments
Yep Flow, I meant Gedser (haha don't blame me, I wrote that post at midnight...). But oh man, that makes me sad, I was really looking forward to visiting there for some reason. I would love to see more of Denmark than just Copenhagen since I've heard that it's an idyllic place.
Prague, now that you mention it, seems like a really interesting city! It's a bit off my route, so I hadn't considered it, but now I think it's definitely a possibility. (I mean - doesn't it look marvelous ?) I'm not that sold on visiting both Hamburg and Berlin, however; as I'm not that interested in Germany in general, two big cities there seems like unnecessary repetition. (Feel free to convince me otherwise.)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Nah..no worries! ;) Yeah, it is sad that there is no train connection there anymore, even all the tracks were removed some time ago I think...but there should be plenty left to see in Denmark I think! I always wanted to go to Skagen for instance, although it is a bit off your route as well...maybe you can fit in Aarhus...or Odense? I have just been to Copenhagen so I cant really give you advice on which city would be worth visiting.
Prague would definitely be nice...the question is how you are going to include it in your trip. The night train Copenhagen - Prague is a good option :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/copenhagen-to-prague[/u] however since it only offers couchette and sleeper accomodation rather expensive (and since it consists of just one couchette and one sleeper car, it only offers limited accomodation). Also there is the problem of the 1900-rule not working from Copenhagen - it is the same problem with the Prague - Amsterdam night train btw :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/prague-amsterdam-cnl456/14[/u]
1 Stockholm - Malmö/Lund - Copenhagen
2 Copenhagen - Odense - Aarhus
3 Aarhus - Berlin
4 Berlin - Dresden - Prague
5 Prague - Amsterdam night train, using an extra ticket bought in Prague until Ústi. Then a daytrip around the Netherlands the following day to make the most out of your ticket.
Maybe something like this? I know, it includes two German cities again, but Berlin is quite interesting I think and Dresden really is beautiful (and it would just be a short visit on the way to Prague).
Or:
2 Copenhagen - Aarhus
3 Aarhus - Odense and night train to Prague
4 Prague and using the travel day for a day trip in Czechia; or get off the night train in Dresden already, and proceed to Prague in the evening
5 Prague - Amsterdam night train, as explained above
Or...you use the night train from Copenhagen down to Basel and spend some time in Switzerland/France/Luxembourg/Belgium?
Flo 8)
Tomthebear
Traveller
138 comments
I would include Odense, too! It is a very nice city, with a rather relaxed atmosphere. Oh, and don`t forget to see the railway museum, it is located directly at the train station, and it is really great!
imaginaryella
Traveller
4 comments
Thanks, guys, for taking the time to make suggestions! All of them seem very nice, though it's sightly despairing to see my list of tempting possibilities only get longer and longer... :D Odense, Aarhus and Dresden all seem very nice, and I'll look further into them as possible destinations.
This topic has me thinking of two more questions: firstly, what do you guys think of visiting smaller places/countryside while Interrailing? And secondly - a whole topic of its own, I think - how long is long enough to stay in a city? I really can't guess if one day is enough to see a city, or if you need to stay several days to enjoy yourself.
Tomthebear
Traveller
138 comments
I`m always try to plan in smaller cities, or countryside, as well as some bigger cities.
How long you should stay depends on the city, and what you want to do, there. I stopped over in Odense, for one day, and I think, it was enough. The one day I spent in Copenhagen was not enough, but I didn`t have the time to stay longer.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well...if it possible and makes sense, visiting small cities and the countryside can as beautiful/thrilling/enjoyable than just going to capitals. As long as you can reach the place you want to visit by train, it is all fine.
Maybe have a look at my current blog post where I describe an IR trip of my own with a combination of landscape/villages/cities. :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/example-interrail-trip-in-summer/[/u]
Generally you can stay as long as you like at each place, what is important though when InterRailing that you make use of your ticket. For example, with a 5in10 I would try to really use all 5 travel days and not just three - because that would a waste of money in many cases as you might travel cheaper with regular tickets.
It doesnt really matter if you visit just one or two cities or eight cities within the ten days as long as you travel a fair bit. ;)
For instance, I made a trip Graz - Paris - Lisbon - Graz last year with a 5in10 ticket, just visiting two cities but the ticket was the best option for me.
imaginaryella
Traveller
4 comments
Flow, your example was perfect in guiding my way, and that's some awesome photography, too! I'm still conflicted about what exactly would construe, to me, the 'wasting' of a ticket - I'm scared that both going to too many cities and going to too few may make me miss out. My intuition tells me that it might be better to stay in cities for a bit longer to be able to delve into them better. However, I think I'll figure that out only as I travel.
Anyway, thanks to all of you guys' advice, I've expanded my itinerary. Here's what I'm thinking:
1 Stockholm - Sigtuna - Copenhagen <- a day trip to the tiny former Swedish capital!
2 Copenhagen - Hamburg
3 Hamburg - Prague
4 Prague - Cologne
5 Cologne - Amsterdam
And that's... seven cities for 14/15 days. Quite a few, perhaps even more than I'd like. However, they seem to all fall into something of a logical order and there are no excessively long train journeys as far as I can tell, so I'm happy. Now I really need to close internet for a while so as not to get too sad when I can't go everywhere right now. :D I'd be happy to hear any opinions on this plan of course.
Tomthebear
Traveller
138 comments
My experience is, that it is quite normal, that once your on your way, you will change your route a little, like staying longer at one place, or shorter, leave out a place and go somewhere else, etcpp. And this is absolutely ok! Don`t worry, I had this phenomenon also, when travelling by car (and tent).