Europe Trains Guide Forum
General discussion => Travel plans, routes and timetables => Topic started by: raileurope on March 23, 2013, 09:21:56 pm
-
Hey guys!
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of interrailing around europe and if anyone could share some thoughts.
My friend and I are going around june/july time for around 3 weeks (maybe a bit more, but 21 days is the aim).
Our route is as follows:
Fly into ROME(3 nights)
Train to pisa for the day and then continue up to venice the same day, VENICE(2 nights)
Train from venice up to Bled, BLED (1night)
Train from Bled to Vienna, VIENNA (3 nights)
Train from Vienna to bratislava for the day and end the day in budapest, BUDAPEST (2 nights)
train from budapest to Krakow, KRAKOW (2/3 nights)
Train to Prague, PRAGUE (3 nights)
Train up to berlin, BERLIN (3 nights).
There is maybe a stop between Krakow and Prague in Auschwitz, however this depends on the connections, as if we have to go back to Krakow to get the train to prague then it will cut Auschwitz out of the picture.
We are thinking of going for the 10 days travel in 22 days youth pass at £220. To give us freedom of travel if any cities are to be cut out or the stay extended.
Does this seem a good route#? We know its fast paced, however we arn't ones for staying around in cafes and such so will be doing a fast tour
Any opinions are greatly appreciated! 8)
-
Hi, raileurope (however awkward your nickname is ;D )
Ok, so let's start with a few comments from our side regarding route & destinations (obviously all imho, so you can easily disregard):
a) maybe consider taking some time either from Rome (2 nights instead of 3) or Venice (1 night instead of 2) and make an additional stopover in Florence, it' one the way to Pisa and most like you will go from Pisa to Venice as well via Florence. For travelers "not staying around" with some time consuming activities, Pisa & Florence can actually be done in one day, so maybe something like late evening from Rome-night in Florence-morning to Pisa-afternoon back to Florence-rest of the day in Florence and late evening to Venice.
b) from Venice to Bled you have two travel options: easier one is to go by train to Gorizia, then walk/take town bus to Slovenian part of the town (Nova Gorica) and train from there to lake Bled area or more complicated way is to take a train from Venice to Trieste, then fabulous Opicina tram, while from there by bus to Slovenian town Sezana and train to Nova Gorica next
c) during journey from Bled to Vienna maybe think about making short stopover in Villach, you anyway will travel via Villach, so why not to stop for a few hours and enjoy nice Austrian town
d) in case of Vienna to Bratislava remember that there are two types of direct trains from Vienna to Bratislava, some trains go to Bratislava-Petrzalka station (right side of the river), while others go to the Bratislava main station (Bratislava hl.st.), which is closer to old town
e) trains from Budapest to Krakow and from Krakow to Prague stop at Auschwitz (or more correct name nowadays is Oświęcim), so you can actually save a bit of time if you get off Budapest train or board Prague train there, however remember that Budapest train is in Oswiecim 2 hours before arrival to Krakow, so it is still pretty early in the morning, while Prague train is 2 hours after departure from Krakow, so it is already rather late in the evening
We are thinking of going for the 10 days travel in 22 days youth pass at £220.
Just a small comment here as well. For most of your trips it is actually won't be a problem to get rather cheap point-to-point tickets, obviously it will limit your flexibility, but at the same time final price will be much less than £220, so if you interested we can give you an overview of what to expect for the same itinerary with point-to-point tickets
-
Hi tUt,
Thanks a lot for your reply!
Will take it all into consideration for sure :)
I thought about point to point to begin with but decided that I would prefer to alter my schedule as I travel if need be, so i wouldn't be booking the train tickets online and i won't be able to benefit from the early booking cheap tickets. For that reason I thought the rail pass, which is £22 a day( EURO25), would be cheaper than the higher priced on-the-day purchases?
Do you think this is a mistake?
Thanks
-
I thought about point to point to begin with but decided that I would prefer to alter my schedule as I travel if need be, so i wouldn't be booking the train tickets online and i won't be able to benefit from the early booking cheap tickets.
Well, it is totally understandable position, pass option (especially Youth Interrail) in some cases works out pretty good at the end. We just thought maybe you didn't consider point-to-point tickets, so decided to mention possibility to travel a bit cheaper. If you did, then obviously we won't try to persuade you otherwise, pass is a good option in terms of flexibility
For that reason I thought the rail pass, which is £22 a day( EURO25), would be cheaper than the higher priced on-the-day purchases?
You are right here, standard fares (=buying ticket before departure) won't be able to beat your "25 euro" travel days, since just ticket Bled to Vienna is roughly 60 euro, while standard fare tickets Budapest to Krakow (83 euro) or Krakow to Prague (68 euro) cost even more
-
Thanks, we've taken Bled out and will be doing the night train from venice to Vienna :-) (also getting the night train from Budapest to Krakow :) )
Makes it easier and will hopefully be a lot smoother!
Only worry now is to work out which trains need supplements and reservations!
-
Only worry now is to work out which trains need supplements and reservations!
Here we can help ;)
First of all you can take a look at our "Passes" pages (http://europetrainsguide.com/Advice/Rail-Passes/Rail-passes-%E2%80%93-to-buy-or-not-to-buy.html), there you can find the list of trains (per country) requiring supplement or reservation, but if to go precisely to your itinerary, then:
a) Italy (Rome-Florence-Pisa-Venice): all the regional trains doesn't require any reservation or supplement, while InterCity and high-speed (like Frecciabianca or Frecciargento) require compulsory seat reservation - 3 euro for IC or 10 euro for high-speed trains
b) Venice to Vienna overnight train requires compulsory seat/bed reservation - 9 euro (seat in 2nd class), 29 euro (6 berth couchette), 39 euro (4 berth couchette), 49 euro (3 bed sleeper), 69 euro (standard double sleeper)
c) Vienna to Budapest trains doesn't require seat reservations
d) Budapest to Krakow (only couchette & sleeper carriage on route to Krakow) require bed reservation 9,4 euro (6 berth couchette), 14 euro (4 berth couchette or 3 bed sleeper), 21 euro (double sleeper)
e) Krakow to Prague (overnight train) seat/bed reservation required 3 euro (seat in 2nd class), 9,4 euro (6 berth couchette), 14 euro (4 berth couchette or 3 bed sleeper), 21 euro (double sleeper)
f) Prague to Berlin trains doesn't require seat reservations
-
There is maybe a stop between Krakow and Prague in Auschwitz, however this depends on the connections, as if we have to go back to Krakow to get the train to prague then it will cut Auschwitz out of the picture.
We are thinking of going for the 10 days travel in 22 days youth pass at £220. To give us freedom of travel if any cities are to be cut out or the stay extended.
Does this seem a good route#? We know its fast paced, however we arn't ones for staying around in cafes and such so will be doing a fast tour
Any opinions are greatly appreciated! 8)
If you think about going to Auschwitz from Krakow by train, you must be prepared for a long journey, Railway in Poland is in very poor condition, and the trains are very late. I have the same problem with connections than you. In the end I decided to used transfer services, Auschwitz is very popular Museum in the southern Poland, there are a lot of companies who can take you there. I visited Auschwitz with http://krakowdirect.com and it was good decision but you can also used a public transport, like local bus. ;)