Interrailing - help me make sense of this

SparkySpitfire

Solo traveller here.

I want to go interrailing this summer and I've come across a package tour company that gave me this itinerary:

Paris (3 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Amsterdam
Amsterdam (2 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Berlin
Berlin (3 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Prague
Prague (3 nights’ accommodation without breakfast)
>>Train to Vienna
Vienna (3 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Bratislava
Bratislava (2 nights’ accommodation without breakfast)
>>Train to Budapest
Budapest (2 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Zagreb
Zagreb (2 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Venice
Venice (2 nights’ accommodation without breakfast)
>>Train to Florence
Florence (2 nights’ accommodation with breakfast)
>>Train to Rome
Rome (3 nights’ accommodation without breakfast)

For £1129.

The pros of this that I can see:
I really don't know the first thing about planning a trip like this by myself
The price includes accommodation and travel (and sometimes breakfast) so I'll know that I only need X amount after I pay this off.
It is a "group tour" in that there will be other small groups and solo travellers with the same itinerary as me so it would be easy to make friends/nice to have recognizable faces

Cons:
I think if I really tried I could maybe do this for cheaper?
I'm a bit wary of having such a rigid itinerary
If I get homesick halfway through I'll have lost a good bit of money instead of being able to call it quits and book a flight home.

What should I do? I have no idea about how to go about this at all, but I know one thing and I'm not spending my whole summer on my arse again.

VinylJunkie

Don't see why anyone would want an inter rail package deal, the fun of the whole thing is the adventure an not know where you will be the following day.

I say just buy your flight to somewhere (further east you go the better IMO), book your flight home from somewhere, book a hostel in your first city for a night or two, go to the train station, pick a place book a hostel and off you go. Its that simple.

You wont have time to get homesick, you will be having the time of your life - if you do just book a flight home.

Just posted this in another thread, this is the route I done on my own 2 years ago. Met loads of people along the way.

Munich - Lake Bled - Ljubljana - Pula - Zagreb - Belgrade - Budapest - Bratislava - Prague - Berlin.

Berlin, Lake Bled & Ljubljana are amazing! Lake Bled is a must for anyone & I've been to Berlin 5 times now, can never get enough of that city.

Also remember all the main cities are expensive, in my opinion Paris/Amsterdam/Rome are more for city breaks than an Inter Rail adventure.

Omarscoming

Dont do a package deal! Plan your own route and be flexible. You will meet other travellers along the way and can tag along with them to places you hadn't planned on visiting. I went with four friends and our group swelled to about 12 at one stage.

SparkySpitfire

My mum is convinced I'm going to die if I go it alone.

How hard is it to plan? It seems an awful lot of work and you have to have a good knowledge of train routes and the like?

VinylJunkie

Most cities are connected, look it up sure. Croatia was the only country I thought had a poor rail network, and at that it just meant one bus to Rijeka to get on the Zagreb train.

Humour Me

Hey, I went interrailing last summer on my own as a female traveller and had a fantasic time.

I started with Berlin as its a city I wanted to visit for years. I knew that I had three weeks so I sat down with a map of Europe main trainlines and worked out a route going from Berlin in a loop through Czech Rep, Austria and back to Munich. Have a look at the Seat 61 website for loads of information about interrailing. Also the german train website Bahn.de is fantastic, it will tell you how to get between any locations in Europe by train, even if you are not going through Germany.

I booked all of my accomodation through Hostelworld, the reviews are really good for finding out how easy it is to mix with other travellers and alot of them do tours and nights out so its really easy to meet other travellers.

I definitely wouldnt do a package tour, you never know if you might really like somewhere or meet some people that you want to hang out with a bit longer. I ended up staying in Vienna for a day longer because the weather was fab and it was pouring in Salzberg which was my next stop.

Im planning to do it again this year - the hardest part is knowing where to start cos there is so much to see and do everywhere!

Reventon93

While this thread is still fairly visited, I thought I might ask about something instead of just starting a new one.

I really want to go inter-railing next summer. And I was looking on the inter-rail website. And theres something I do really understand.

So I have countries in mind that I want to visit, so I thought that a global pass would obviously be the one I go for. What I dont really understand is whats the difference between lets say a 1 month continuous pass or a 10 days within 22 days pass?

Im guessing that the continuous allows me to travel as much as I want for however long? And is their site the best price wise or is there somewhere better for when the time comes? I know that usit do deals around summer.

Thanks

Humour Me

The 10 days within 22 pass will allow you 10 travel days over 22 days in total. You would be moving every second or third day to make full use of the pass. This might suit you if you plan to cover a lot of ground over three weeks.

Im not really sure about the cost of the pass. I know for me last year it was actually cheaper to buy the train tickets at the station on the day of travel. If you are moving through a lot of eastern european cities, then it is probably cheaper to buy them as you go. If you moving through some of the main cities Berlin, Munich, Paris, Madrid, Venice etc, then the pass may work out cheaper overall.