# Inter-railing through Europe this summer



## MortgageMate (13 Feb 2007)

Was looking at Prague>>Vienna>>Venice>>Ljublana>>and down the coast from Slovenia to Dubrovnik. 

Has anyone been on a similar adventure?​


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## zag (13 Feb 2007)

Yes, but not me.

Any other generic questions I can help with ?

z


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## Z100 (13 Feb 2007)

zag said:


> Yes, but not me. Any other generic questions I can help with ? z


 
  You divil.

Always wanted to Inter-rail but never got around to it. Is it available to old people (ie in their 30s)? What's the story the tickets? Are they cheap for good-for-nothing students and expensive for upstanding-tax-payers?


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## terrysgirl33 (13 Feb 2007)

Another one here who always wanted to do this but didn't.  Please, tell all!!


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## gar123 (13 Feb 2007)

i did the inter railing thing there is better pricing for the under 26's but it was a blast venice is brilliant, i went in 2 days from spain to sweden


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## soy (14 Feb 2007)

MortgageMate said:


> Was looking at Prague>>Vienna>>Venice>>Ljublana>>and down the coast from Slovenia to Dubrovnik.
> 
> Has anyone been on a similar adventure?​



There is no train to Dubrovnik. Croatia does not have an extensive rail network so you may need to reconsider your route


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## EvilDoctorK (14 Feb 2007)

Also it certainly used to be the case that InterRail was a good deal in Western Europe where train travel is expensive (though with InterRail you still have to pay the supplements to go on sleeper trains,express trains, TGVs, Eurostars etc.)

However in Eastern Europe where rail fares are pretty cheap you'd pretty much have to live on the train to get the value out of it 

Not sure if this is still the case or not (as prices may have gone up in Eastern Europe and you can buy zonal Inter Rail passes now) - but ~10 years ago it certainly was the case that InterRail wasn't worth it East of the former Iron Curtain - it was cheaper to just buy tickets as you went along.


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## ShaneMc (14 Feb 2007)

soy said:


> There is no train to Dubrovnik. Croatia does not have an extensive rail network so you may need to reconsider your route


 
While Dubrovnik dosnt have a train link you can get train as far as split and then get a bus (5 hours i think) on to dubrovnik. I did this as part of my inter railing trip a few years back. its worth it.


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## bazermc (14 Feb 2007)

MortgageMate said:


> Has anyone been on a similar adventure?


 
Yes, have done it twice when I was in college, much better than doing a J1 to the US

I did Belgium, Paris, Lyon, Bologna, Venice, Vienna, Munich, Prague, Dresden, Amsterdam, London and home. Took a month in total, but great fun

I would recommend getting a full inter rail pass, you will still need to pay a small supplement for each train.  I got mine from USIT, are they still about? I know the offices in town are gone!
Plan excatly where you are going to stay each night, or maybe take a sleeper train, they are great fun
Get a europe guide book, they are very handy on giving local tips and maps etc.

Enjoy, you lucky divil


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## zag (14 Feb 2007)

I have interrailed a good few times (5 I think, but it was a long time ago).  I never made it down the direction you were talking about because at the time it was in the 'other' Europe and wasn't covered on the ticket.

Actually, looking at the original post - I visited Prague & Vienna and passed through Venice (at night though).  However, it was so long ago that any recollections would be a bit out of date.

By the by, I have a copy of the 1986 edition of the book "Europe by Train" - which took all of 14 large print pages to cover Ireland for example.  I've seen bigger books these days covering weekends in Budapest.

Get a copy of the Thomas Cook European Timetable - invaluable in establishing where you can go at a glance.  Going by travel books will only give you a single view of the options open to you.

At the time I went the ticket was a no-brainer.  I used it for a weekend to visit the eventually-mrs-zag who was spending the summer in the Netherlands.  It was cheaper by far to get the ticket and use it to cover the trains across the UK, the ferry across the channel, trains through Belgium & NL and back again.  The prices and zone model has changed these days so it may not make as much sense.

z


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## Dachshund (14 Feb 2007)

The German railway's website www.bahn.de is great for plotting journeys as it covers all of Europe. You don't need to get the Thomas Cook timetable as most country's rail networks are online.

I did it in 2000. It used to be possible to get the tickets in the International Rail Centre in Middle Abbey St. More info here
[broken link removed]


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## envelope (14 Feb 2007)

I did a similar route , 
Prague - Vienna - bratislava - Budapest -Zagreb
then used buses down as far KRK which was really nice i actually prefered it to Dubrovnik. 
Enjoy it, trains were really easy to use and always spot on time.


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## zag (14 Feb 2007)

The Thomas Cook thing is usefull (or it was to me) because it showed all the routes and timings in one place and so made it possible to spot routes and options which mightn't be apparent when faced only with a web interface and a list of cities and towns in your head.

Also . . . the internet didn't exist when I last interrailed so I guess it wasn't an option.

z


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