Interrail experiences

Jay Pentatonic

Hi everyone,

I'm considering doing an interrail journey in May, I'll be going solo and since I'm 26 I'll have to pay extra, but I don't mind as I've been saving up for a good bit now.

I have my eye on Germany in particular, but also really interested in visiting eastern Europe too.

And maybe Scandinavia sometime in the future as well.

Anyway, admittedly my plans are still pretty vague at this point, so I'm just posting now to hear anyone's experience from inter-railing, if anyone's done it before?
I'd be really interested in hearing how people got on during their travels
Thanks a mil

snowgal

me too! Came on to post this. We are looking at a train holiday in May/June around Europe. Wondered had anyone done this and is interrail card worth it etc. Any advice would be helpful! thanks

munchkin_utd

if you'd prefer to do it cheaper again, then you should be aware that buying point to point tickets may work out cheaper if youre ok for fixing your dates, which will be the case anyhow if you are booking accomodation in advance.

Theres also regional train day tickets in Germany which (unlike passes) include transport in cities, and in Bavaria even includes most busses in the countryside

Intercity busses are another option which is only available for the past few years in Germany, and on certain routes (where the alternative to a bus on the motorway is a slow windy railway route like Munich-Prague or Munich-Zurich or Munich-Freiburg) they make sense, but otherwise they can really take much longer than the railway, even regional trains.

If travelling to eastern europe, busses and trains are so cheap even bought on the spot, that a pass mightn't make sense.

The reason people used eurorail passes in the past was because they were substantially cheaper than buying standard full price tickets, but now that the trains have advance booking deals, their only real benefit is their flexibility (and if you need a flexible ticket then they really are a bargain compared to west european full price tickets)

munchkin_utd

if you'd prefer to do it cheaper again, then you should be aware that buying point to point tickets may work out cheaper if youre ok for fixing your dates, which will be the case anyhow if you are booking accomodation in advance.

Theres also regional train day tickets in Germany which (unlike passes) include transport in cities, and in Bavaria even includes most busses in the countryside

Intercity busses are another option which is only available for the past few years in Germany, and on certain routes (where the alternative to a bus on the motorway is a slow windy railway route like Munich-Prague or Munich-Zurich or Munich-Freiburg) they make sense, but otherwise they can really take much longer than the railway, even regional trains.

If travelling to eastern europe, busses and trains are so cheap even bought on the spot, that a pass mightn't make sense.

The reason people used eurorail passes in the past was because they were substantially cheaper than buying standard full price tickets, but now that the trains have advance booking deals, their only real benefit is their flexibility (and if you need a flexible ticket then they really are a bargain compared to west european full price tickets)