Joai89
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hey hey
Going on my first interrail trip on Monday( :o )and I've decided I want to see eastern Europe first.
After intensely combing your site for information for a couple of weeks and downloading more travel apps onto my phone than I will ever use,(a little short for planning this trip I realize) I think I have a rough travel plan.
I have a dream route that I probably won't get through in the 4 weeks I have alotted, but I do intend to make this a fairly intensive trip where I take advantage of night trains as often as possible unless I really fall in love with a location and want to stick around.
The rough direction I want to go is: Vilnius(START)-Warsaw-Krakow-Prague-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest-Bucharest(or Strada? Friends did not reccomend Bucharest)-Sofia(or Plovdiv? I 've heard mixed things about Sofia) ---->
[b]I really want to see Istanbul, but I hear the train rails are out of commission and with Greece being disconnected I guess I will be skipping the Aegean tour[/b](Anyone have any updated insight into this?)
Onwards!---> Montenegro(via Beograd?)-Dubrovnik/Plõce(Maybe I wll have to take a bus here?)-Mostar-Sarajevo-Zagreb-Ljubjana-Italy if I can make it that far.
I don't know if this is at all realistic, but I think the speed-dating approach to seeing Europe is potentially interesting.
If I could end up in Nice, France that would be a bonus as I could get cheap airfare home, but yeah :P
Sightseeing and soaking up different cultures alien to my insular Norwegian sensibilites is my main goal. Weird is good :)
Any reccomendations on things/routes to do/see/avoid along the way from more experienced travelers would be hugely appreciated.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej!
You've got quite a nice route planned, I also like the speed-dating approach. :D
You know that IR is not valid in the Baltics? You will need an extra ticket from Vilnius to the border at Mockava (Gr).
I assume you already had a look at the different night trains? [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]
Maybe it would be interesting to include Kosice into your travel plan, the city is Cultural Capital of Europe this year. You could even include two night trains on the way: Praha - Kosice and Kosice - Bratislava (then onwards to Vienna and then Budapest). In general you can rearrange the cities in this part of the trip (Warszaw until Budapest) in many different ways to include as many night trains as possible. For instance Warszaw - Vienna - Krakow - Prague - Kosice - Bratislava would be all possible by night trains.
I have spend one day in Bucharest in February...it was quite OK, although I was not really stunned. You may include Brasov though, which would again be possible by direct night train from Budapest (a visit to the restaurant car is strongly recommended!).
If you want to skip Romania though you might have a look at the direct night trains from Praha and Budapest to the Black Sea resorts of Varna and Burgas.
In Bulgaria I would definitely visit Plovdiv but at least spend half a day or so in Sofia as well which I found quite interesting as well.
The night train to Istanbul currently runs only to/from Cerkezköy with bus replacement on the remaining part to/from Istanbul.
Have a look at my two short reports from my trip in February: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/bucharest-sofia-istanbul-train/[/u] [u]https://rail.cc/blog/to-istanbul-by-train-part-2/[/u]
I think this first part of the trip can be done within about two weeks, depending on how much time you are actually going to spend in each place.
Greece indeed is a bit awkward to go to still; there are only buses operating across the different borders...maybe skip that for a later trip when trains (hopefully) run again.
To go to Montenegro you have to go through Beograd anyway; if you dont get a reservation for the night trains directly from Belgrade to Montenegro you might travel to Novi Sad or Subotica (both worth a short visit) and book a reservation in the night train coming from Praha and Budapest. By doing so you would also benefit from a later arrival in Montenegro which means you will be able to enjoy the complete route down from the mountains in daylight.
From Montenegro to Ploce (via Dubrovnik) you will have to get a bus, yes.
I would calculate with one week for the bit from Sofia to Zagreb, maybe a few days more. This should leave you with enough time for finally getting into Italy/France as well.
I dont know your plans for Italy but I would strongly recommend taking the night train from Zagreb or Ljubljana towards Zurich, then get off at Sargans to travel via the Bernina route to Milano: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]
Flo 8)
Joai89
Traveller
2 comments
Awesome! Just the sort of tips I wanted. I will definitely take your tip on going with the Bernina route to Italy. It looks spectacular. Leaving for Vilnius tomorrow. Super excited :D
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Glad to help. :)
Just ask if more questions occur, especially regarding night trains and connections - have a nice trip!
ardeeay
Traveller
99 comments
Hi
I like your itinerary.
I have just fininshed a 40 day/night trip using night trains to visit Capital cities and can recommend the idea. The only hitch in the whole trip was when the afternoon train from Budapest to Belgrade missed the night train connection to Sofia by one hour. (I had already allowed for one hour transfer time!)
Sofia is definitely worth a visit as is Plovdiv (not a Capital city I know but the consolation prize for missing Istanbul due to the missed connection!). I withdrew from including Istanbul because 1. There were riots, 2. Istanbul although in Europe is not Turkey's capital (Ankara which is, is not in Europe), 3. The connecting train to Istanbul was late and missed the ongoing train, 4. You have to get off the train at the Turkish border at 2:00 am and buy a visa for AU$65, 5. They are building a new rail bridge before Istanbul and at 4:30 am you have to transfer to buses. I think that's enough justification.
I was not all that impressed by Pogorica, but resumed the journey into Montenegro to visit Bar (a fair walk from station to the small but attractive town) and Sutimore, a very busy but quite pleasant beach resort town. Then back to Belgrade from Sutimore on the night train.
Because all night trains in the Balkans seem to go through Belgrade, I spent one of the Belgrade Days to visit Novi Sad. This is worthwhile side trip, again not a Capital city but quite a vibrant town getting ready fior the EXIT Festival.
I think you will find plenty of different cultures alien to (your) insular Norwegian sensibilites in the Balkans!
Some of my favourite cities were Sarajevo (a real surprise and my first prize city of the 28 that I visited), Zagreb, and Ljubljana. Of course I visited and enjoyed Paris, London, Dublin and Stockholm as well.
I only made advance reservations for the night trains, and had no trouble just rolling up for the day trains and finding a vacant seat. There were a couple of compulsory reservations I had to make for the TGV in France.
Hope this is of use to you.
Best Wishes
Richard
Joai89
Traveller
2 comments
Thank you. I'm in Warsaw right now waiting for the night train to Prague. I ran into an entourage of Turkish guys and they did not recommend going to Istanbul right now. I have to say I'm quite enjoying this way of travel and staying in hostels has been a great way to get the most out of visits. Reading all of your experiences has been invaluable and assuring. Thanks again.