Generic Eurail/Interrailing Thread

[GorgieRoad]

Cheers for the replies.

Looked at Lake Jarun and it does indeed look stunning, hostels seem to be dirt cheap in Zagreb so will probably aim to get somewhere around there. We get to Prague on a Wednesday so making it to Budapest by the Saturday would probably be a bit too ambitious, which is a shame, will look into them during the day.

Think we'll stay in Vienna, despite it being a bit pricier. A day visit in Bratislava is something we intend to do so we'll be able to see a few of the sights, if the trip proves to be a success I can always do it all again another time and incorporate it into that.

[vikingTON]

Bear in mind that pretty much everything in Vienna will seem a lot more expensive than the rest of your trip, not as expensive as the UK or,say, the Netherlands, but it's a bit of a shock. A pint in a reasonable Bratislava pub should be around £1, thanks to the decent exchange rate, probably 3-4 Euros in Vienna, ditto food other than cooking in the hostel. Vienna is nice but I'm not sure what there is that couldn't be done in a busy day, other than the Schonnbrunn which could take a day in itself. The centre is surrounded by the Ringstrasse and is very compact.

Also, at some point in anyone's* travels the realisation will dawn that almost every city in Europe looks pretty much the same. At that point finding the unique things or smaller towns is a decent option.

*Excluding Americans,

Edited February 7, 2014 by vikingTON

[craigkillie]

Has anyone been on the sleeper from Budapest to Split? It seems like a really long journey, and I'm slightly put off by the talk about the Hungary-Croatia border crossing in this thread, but having looked into it I'd really like to get down to Split if it's at all possible.

[Widge]

Has anyone been on the sleeper from Budapest to Split? It seems like a really long journey, and I'm slightly put off by the talk about the Hungary-Croatia border crossing in this thread, but having looked into it I'd really like to get down to Split if it's at all possible.

We tried it in the summer, but you can only book it at the station in Hungary and it fills up something fierce. We didn't manage to get a seat at all and we went straight from our train arriving. We didn't even need to leave for 3/4 days, plus it only runs certain days a week.

In the end we did the train to Zagreb and then an over night bus to split, worked out cheaper, but meant more travel time, also sleeping on the front in Split at 5 in the morning was pretty cool. Watching the clubbers go home pissed and the market stalls just setting up.

I'll put up my journey when I get to a computer, but we did 22 days over August and safe to say it was fantastic, definitely do it again. I'll echo what VT says, the smaller places are often the best.

[Widge]

Right, I've got some time to kill, so I may as well jsut do it now.

As I've said I went off for 22 days with 3 pals in August. Tbh we didn't do anywhere near enough planning for it, indeed me and the other guy who cared where we slept were booking stuff 7 hours before we left. it all worked out fine i should say. As for our route, we went fairly action filled, so its below -

Prague --> Brno --> Vienna --> Budapest --> Split --> Dubrovnik --> Bari/Salerno --> Pisa --> Florence --> Rome

Now it looks a lot on paper actually, but there were days where it was merely a stop over, such as Salerno and Pisa. Plus I can't remember the order in Italy, we might have done Pisa in the middle of Florence and Rome. Anyway as it's obvious, we started in Prague. Cheap flights at a rediculous tim in the morning (6am IIRC), but it was under £50 so it was all good and actually advantageous in that we got effectively a full day.

Prague - wonderful city, lovd it, one of my mates had been months before, so he knew the place well, we did all the usual sites, castle, towers, etc. Yes the beer is rediculously cheap, first night we were there, we were pished by 7pm, indeed so much so that after 9 hours sleep (we got to bed at 1) my mate couldn't move the next day. Although he's not as good at handlign his drink as he thought. Anyway foods great, drinks better and we even took a trip down the river on a rowing boat, which was an excellent way of relaxing and drinking in the sun. Then again I think everyone's aware of what Prageu has to offer.

Brno - regarded as a student town in the country, first thoughts were all bad, trian stations in a shit area, our hostel looked a dump. In the end, I'd go back again and again. We met a lovely Mexican lassie in the hostel and she was in the same boat as us. 15 minute walk into the centre of town and it was totally different, modern, clean, the whole lot. Even cheaper than Prague, we got a pint for 30p, indeed the highlight was finding a place where the beer tap was on your table and you paid per litre you drank. Superb. If you get the chance, it's not only cheap, but there's plenty to do and it's got another train station with links all over Europe. You could easily spend a couple of days there.

Vienna - it's bee mentioned, I enjoyed it the least, but then I've done Austria before so it didn't hold that much appeal. It is a beautiful city, no doubts about it. It's expensive as other have said compared to other places, indeed we didn't drink in Vienna at all such was the price and we were trying to stay fairly cheap. that said, you can easily wander about and enjoy the sites, it's all very close together and with the map you can't get lost. We also visited the Hotel Sacher, where the first sachertorte was produced and it was well worht the outlay. Delicious.

Budapest - go, just go. Amazing city, so much to do, so little time to do it. Definitely recommend going to the baths (or one of them). we did one of the largest ones and it was great, plenty to do, saunas, steam rooms, massive wave pools, thermal baths, etc. not that pricey either (£12 roughly) for the whole day. certainly enjoyed it. Also did the likes of the walls up the hill and there's plenty of stunnign views to see, not to mention the Hungarian parliment which is breathtakingly beautiful. (especially to a building related student like 2 of us were) That leads me on to the best part of Budapest, the night life. It's busy and fun, we did one big night and we visited a bunch of ruined pubs, I have no idea if the ones we went to are there, we went to an old garage, a rooftop one of an abandoned department store and the massive street once. Insane how busy they are. ironically we met folk we knew and bumped into the Mexican girl we had left in Brno. Small world. But again much like the rest of that part of Europe, it's cheap, friendly and you'll have a luagh no matter what. Also went to a Scottish pub to atch the Scotland vs England at wembley, entered just as Scotland scored went mental then realised it was us and the 2 managers who were Scottish, the rest were all English, that was very funny and had a good laugh whilst we were there.

Split - this is where it gets a bit messy, as I said we missed the sleeper to Split. So we had to get a train to Zagreb (6/7 hours long) with an hour stop for passport checks from scary looking officers thats for sure. Hot, cramped and tiring. Although we were in a cabin with a bunch of S.Africans and some English lads and made the most of it. So time does pass fairly quickly. As for split itself. Wonderful place, from walking along the front and the blue sea to the bustling little street markets in the city walls. We did a euro tour and learnt so much about the place. On the down side in mid-August the thermostat hit 36 degrees, even in the shade. We also visited one of thier stone beaches a half hour walk away and genreally just relaxed in Split. Our hostel was great, the guy was helpful, although a massive pervert towards lassies and it even had a PS3 we used for a decent amount of time as we just chilled out the sun.

Dubrovnik - Possibly my favourite place we went. Stunning, we stayed in an old womans house, she lived upstairs and although she spoke virtually no english it didnt matter. We were up the hill with the most breathtaking views from the balcony. We spent at least a few nights just having a beer after a busy day admiring the view. City itself is amazing, always do the city walls, you se so much and it's good value, especially if you're a student. Don't do it during the day though, it hits 40 degrees easily at times, the number of fat Americans struggling around them was hilarious, do them early morning, or early evening it's when they're most quiet. turns out Game of Thrones was filming whilst we were there too, so we tried to find that. didn't succeed, but did some set spotting which was good fun. The final thing we did in Dubrovnik was visit the island of Locrum. Wee island paradise with great beaches, views and amazing clear water. worth the short journey time over.

Bari/Salerno - got the overnight ferry to bari from Dubrovnik. fairly pricey for jsut a seat, but then again no more so than a train ticket I guess. Problem is it's full of load, noisy Italians, but I can sleep through anything, so that was ok. Just the 2 nights in Salerno as well. Although we said in an old monastry, so you can imagine what it was like, majestic columns and massive stone stairs, etc. Didn't do anything in Salerno really, except visit Pompeii. i'd been before so I wandered about and then when my mates went and did a 2 hours tour, I went to the town of Pompei and walked around there. Nice enough place until I almost got ran over by a Vespa. Typical Italy.

Pisa - we just did a stop in Pisa to break up the travel since it was half of Italy we were going up. One night ina nice enough hostel, fairly cheap, whats to see in Pisa....I wonder. Did the usual and take witty pics, although we were slightly more vulgar than most and the Italian lassies certainly found it amusing. Also play a game of spot the leaner, which is good fun.

Florence - we went all cultural in florence, did both the Uffizi and Academia. Bit too arty for me, but then I'll never do it againa nd it was worth seeing for sure. It's very mcuh the case if you go to Italy, the foods more expensive, it's also incredible if you go to the correct place. We went to the best rated panino place in Florence and at 5 euros a massive piece, well worth it. As you'd expect plenty of religious and architectural stuff to see. We stayed at teh top of the hill, way above the city ona campsite, in a house tent. Yes it was that cool, basically a canvas tent with beds and floors i it. really nice and not expensive at all. Best thing we did was go see a Fiorentina game. £15 a ticket and it's an experience thats for sure. If there's one on, go. Same with anywhere, we got into Split a day late to arrange a ticket to go and see hadjuk, but they sell tickets for £10 apparently. So yes, Florence, lovely city, very cultural and a few days is probably enough to see the majority of it.

Rome - what a place to end. everyone needs to go to rome at least once. If just to see the obvious attractions. If you go careful of scammers and pickpockets thats for sure. We did all the usual touristy stuff. As well it was my 21st whilst we were there, managed to go on a pub crawl (I got my night for nothing btw ) that started in the only Scottsh pub in Rome. 1 hour open bar, we went for it and sat watching the Celtic CL qualifier with a bunch of Argininians, Mexicans, French. great experiance, we got them proper into it, plus my chat with an Argintinian about Boca and saints was very amusing. don't remember mcuh of it, but it took me an hour to get home and we lsot one of my friends along the pub crawl whcih I didn't realise. never go to the Vatican the next day, too hungover, when we eventually surfaced a 2ish, me and the other one who could get up went to the best MacDonalds in Rome apparently, it's actually worth a visit it's that good. Felt better after that, then for dinner, went out for a slap up meal to this lovely little restraunt. Barely room to swing a cat, 3 course meal, drinks and honestly some of the best food I've ever had, for about £80 for the 3 of us.

There we go, sorry that became a story actually and very little factual stuff, but if anyone want's more info, I'm more than happy to help, so drop me a PM if you want. I'll say we did the 21 day railpass and it worked out well, although be careful if you go to Italy, since you need to book thier trains at times as well. I think all in all mines came to about £1400 for over 3 weeks, including everything, which I though was pretty damn good value and I'll never forget it for sure. I'd definitely say do it and if you can make use of any cookign facilities there are, it really will save you cash and gaining a few pounds round the waist.

[Stevie Aitken's Love Child]

Cafe Sacher in Vienna - think I paid €5 for a coffee and €7.90 for a slice of Sacher Torte. Not worth it at all, nice cake and that, but you can get immitation stuff in every other pattiserie and it tastes the same.

[ForeverSinging]

Great thread. Some of the stories have really encouraged me to get away inter-railing in the Summer.

Obviously it depends how much I spend in each place etc. but how far could I expect 3 or 4 grand to go? A few weeks? A couple of months? Also, does anybody have any experience with teaching English as a foreign language in Europe? Do most countries expect you to have some sort of formal qualification? I was considering spending some time doing this to accumulate a bit of money.

eta - to accumulate money as I went along, rather than teaching in the UK before I went.

Edited February 14, 2014 by ForeverSinging

[The_Kincardine]

Also, does anybody have any experience with teaching English as a foreign language in Europe?

Don't bother. The days of we Brits ganging around Europe teaching Johnny Foreigner to speak wur Queen's English are well past.

Theses days they either speak better than we do; focus on Spanish or Chinese or don't give a f**k.

Edited February 14, 2014 by The_Kincardine

[ForeverSinging]

Don't bother. The days of we Brits ganging around Europe teaching Johnny Foreigner to speak wur Queen's English are well past.

Theses days they either speak better than we do; focus on Spanish or Chinese or don't give a f**k.

Ah well, was worth a thought anyway. I'll just need to learn Mandarin in 4 months and start teaching that instead.

[vikingTON]

Don't bother. The days of we Brits ganging around Europe teaching Johnny Foreigner to speak wur Queen's English are well past.

Theses days they either speak better than we do; focus on Spanish or Chinese or don't give a f**k.

There are still good opportunities to do TEFL in Europe, mostly from Czech Republic eastwards as well as Spain. They'd be looking for a degree-holder at least, which is no different to the rest of the world AFAIK with any credible TEFL certificates a bonus. It's probably easier to land a first gig in Thailand or South Korea straight off the back of a degree and a few weeks' training, after which you stand a good chance of going where you want, even with the same teaching company.

3-4 grand is a lot, but obviously where you're travelling and what you're doing makes the difference. I normally travel around the east, and excluding the cost of hostels and transport apply about £30 spending money a day for Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia. That includes eating out pretty much all the time, plenty of drink (£1 or less for a pint in the Czech Republic/Slovakia for example, £3 bottles of excellent red wine in the supermarket). Anywhere west and I'd guess £50 would be nearer the mark, maybe less so in the countries where you can still get dirt-cheap food and drink if you're flexible. That might not seem like much for one day but if you go out to a club for the night you might not be eating and drinking much the next day anyway, so it balances out.

[ForeverSinging]

There are still good opportunities to do TEFL in Europe, mostly from Czech Republic eastwards as well as Spain. They'd be looking for a degree-holder at least, which is no different to the rest of the world AFAIK with any credible TEFL certificates a bonus. It's probably easier to land a first gig in Thailand or South Korea straight off the back of a degree and a few weeks' training, after which you stand a good chance of going where you want, even with the same teaching company.

3-4 grand is a lot, but obviously where you're travelling and what you're doing makes the difference. I normally travel around the east, and excluding the cost of hostels and transport apply about £30 spending money a day for Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia. That includes eating out pretty much all the time, plenty of drink (£1 or less for a pint in the Czech Republic/Slovakia for example, £3 bottles of excellent red wine in the supermarket). Anywhere west and I'd guess £50 would be nearer the mark, maybe less so in the countries where you can still get dirt-cheap food and drink if you're flexible. That might not seem like much for one day but if you go out to a club for the night you might not be eating and drinking much the next day anyway, so it balances out.

Thanks a lot mate. This was helpful advice. I'm considering picking up TEFL at uni to fund/be the focus of some future trips.

[GorgieRoad]

That's me booked the flights in and out, should be able to book most of the trains in a couple of weeks. Not sure what the best way to get between each city will be, anyone had any experience/knowledge about the best way to get between these cities?

Prague - Vienna/Bratislava (Bus)

Bratislava - Budapest (Train)

Budapest - Zagreb (Train)

Zagreb - Split (Train)

Split - Dubrovnik (Think bus is the only option here)

Was thinking about skipping Zagreb and getting the overnight train from Budapest all the way to Split but it appears the service starts too late in June for us. Put in brackets what we plan to use but if anyone recommends something else I'd be interested to hear it.

[vikingTON]

Why are you doing Prague-Vienna or Bratislava by bus? Going on the failsafe conclusion that train is always better than a bus when feasible, you can get an advance ticket for a decent service by train to Vienna for 19 Euros if not less with the exchange rate, and almost certainly similar to Bratislava. The train route going down to Vienna is pretty decent viewing as well, running through valleys and low mountain ranges for quite some time of the 4 hourish route. If the bus is considerably cheaper then fair enough but given the trains leave from the immediate centre of Prague I'd recommend the latter.

The other, very interesting option from Spilt-Dubrovnik is the ferry service. It runs twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday) all the way down the coast, leaving Split 7/8ish in the morning, stopping at a few islands and getting into Dubrovnik port around 6/7 at night. It's apparently quite cheap for just a deck ticket, and if you're happy to just sit around in the sun on the Adriatic then it might be worth a shout. I'm not sure which option I want to take on the way down to Dubrovnik, the boat is cheaper but long, but certainly not the worst long journey in the world. I fly back on a Thursday so I think it'll depend on whether I want to spend longer in Slovenia and northern Croatia (Tuesday), or spend a few days in Montenegro instead (Sunday). Bus maybe offers a bit of both.

Edited March 2, 2014 by vikingTON

[GorgieRoad]

There's not much between the bus and train between Prague and Vienna, both take between 4 and a half and 5 hours, with the bus being slightly cheaper at £14 to the train's £16. The buses through student agency (http://www.studentagency.eu/) look pretty cool though, free wi-fi for as long as you're in the Czech Republic and you're own tv screen on the back of the seat in front of you for movies etc. Even more tempted to head straight to Bratislava for 12euros from Prague since it's about 40 minutes quicker on the bus and a bit cheaper then do a day trip in Vienna while staying in Bratislava.

Did look into the Split - Dubrovnik boat but the timetable isn't up on the website yet, whether that's because it's been discontinued or they just delay in putting it up for a while I'm not sure. The initial idea was to Island hop and get the Split - Dubrovnik ferry from Hvar or Korcula to save us doubling back to Split to get the boat or bus, I'd expect the boat would be worth it for the scenery of the Islands.

Edited March 2, 2014 by GorgieRoad

[Widge]

The Croatian Coast is indeed stunning. We did the bus from Split to Dubrovnik and tbh it's not too bad, IIRC it was only a couple of hours and whilst you're stuck on a bus with a bunch of Croats, you get some great views of the Croatian 'Amalfi Coast'. Interestingly enough, we got a cheeky stop off in Bosnia, so that's a country off the to do list.

I'd imagine the boat would be better, but having not done it I can't really comment on that.

[DeadStar]

Would anyone recommend going themselves? It's always something I've wanted to do but I'm not sure if half of the fun would be going with a group of mates.

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

What's the best way to travel around Spain/the Iberian peninsula? Is it best to buy that one country interrail pass?

[vikingTON]

There's an Iberia pass that covers both, but the standard railpass caveats apply: if you already have a clear itinerary in mind, get tickets in advance as it will prove a lot cheaper. If you need complete flexibility, get a pass.

Finally marked out my route: Bratislava, night train to Prešov, then back to Zd'iar in the Tatra mountains, Budapest, Lake Balaton, Brno, Jindrichuv Hradec, Český Krumlov, Plzeň, Munich, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Zadar, Split, ferry to Korčula and another one to Dubrovnik.

Edited March 17, 2014 by vikingTON

[GorgieRoad]

We tried it in the summer, but you can only book it at the station in Hungary and it fills up something fierce. We didn't manage to get a seat at all and we went straight from our train arriving. We didn't even need to leave for 3/4 days, plus it only runs certain days a week.

In the end we did the train to Zagreb and then an over night bus to split, worked out cheaper, but meant more travel time, also sleeping on the front in Split at 5 in the morning was pretty cool. Watching the clubbers go home pissed and the market stalls just setting up.

I'll put up my journey when I get to a computer, but we did 22 days over August and safe to say it was fantastic, definitely do it again. I'll echo what VT says, the smaller places are often the best.

Sorry to bump an old post but we're stuck with this part of our trip. Sadly the sleeper doesn't start running until a few days after we plan to leave - typical - so it looks like we'll need to get the train to Zagreb (£24, I believe) then a night train or bus to Split. The bus seems to be around the £20 mark which isn't too bad, but since the train has sleeper cabins and is a bit longer we were planning on getting that. I've looked through numerous websites though and I can't find a) the price of the Zagreb - Split sleeper and b) if they can be purchased in advance or it's an at the station job. If the train turns out to be a dud is the overnight bus expensive to buy on the day?

I appreciate you probably won't know but I'm clutching at straws.

[Widge]

Sorry to bump an old post but we're stuck with this part of our trip. Sadly the sleeper doesn't start running until a few days after we plan to leave - typical - so it looks like we'll need to get the train to Zagreb (£24, I believe) then a night train or bus to Split. The bus seems to be around the £20 mark which isn't too bad, but since the train has sleeper cabins and is a bit longer we were planning on getting that. I've looked through numerous websites though and I can't find a) the price of the Zagreb - Split sleeper and b) if they can be purchased in advance or it's an at the station job. If the train turns out to be a dud is the overnight bus expensive to buy on the day?

I appreciate you probably won't know but I'm clutching at straws.

No idea at the sleeper train part that's for sure. From what I remember the bus wasn't too bad. Think it worked out at £10 or something. We just bought it at the station and it was barely half full so you'd almost certainly be ok just buying on the day. I'd imagine it'd be like a Megabus, whereby you can organise it in advanced if needs be.

Think we came to the conclusion the train to Zagreb and the bus to Split was cheaper than the overnight train from wherever. I assume it's Budapest, like us