Travelling Europe by rail

[Steve-O]

Has anyone done this?

Have around 12-13 days next year to attempt to get to the following places - Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Rome. Not absolutely fixed but definitely Berlin and Rome. Also need to get from Rome to Venice at the end of it all.

I looked at the Eurail website but it doesn't seem easy to work out anything really. When you buy the pass, do you then have to book all the travel separately etc etc?

Any help appreciated! Had thought about a Contiki tour but having read some reviews, it probably isn't for me given I'm now old...! :rolleyes:

[Sylar]

Has anyone done this?

Have around 12-13 days next year to attempt to get to the following places - Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Rome. Not absolutely fixed but definitely Berlin and Rome. Also need to get from Rome to Venice at the end of it all.

I looked at the Eurail website but it doesn't seem easy to work out anything really. When you buy the pass, do you then have to book all the travel separately etc etc?

Any help appreciated! Had thought about a Contiki tour but having read some reviews, it probably isn't for me given I'm now old...! :rolleyes:

I've done bits and pieces via train but not along your full route I'm afraid - I've done London - Brussels - Paris (all on the Eurostar) and I've gone from Berlin - Milan - Venice. I booked the tickets separately as I was going through either Rail Europe or regional service websites (i.e., Trenitalia for the Milan - Venezia line), though you can buy a 'global rail pass' which enables you to travel all across Europe on the one ticket:

http://www.raileurope.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=1354

Pretty sure the Prague - Rome leg of your journey will be around a full day travelling with a couple of connections, most likely into Munich and then Milan or Verona.

[danhibees1875]

Done it last summer for just under a month, was superb!

Each time I arrived at a new destination I went and booked tickets for the next journey (so 2/3 days in advance) and even in June (relatively busy period) there were no issues.

I used the interrail pass which gave me 10 travel days over a 22 day period. Which might not be ideal for what you're looking to do. I can't remember if they do shorter ones. May be worth trying to price what those individual journeys would cost you if you're set on that route.

Prague to Rome will certainly be a long trip as mentioned, night trains are good for not missing out on too much during the day but they're not the easiest to sleep on.

When I went my route was Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt Prague Krakow Vienna Budapest Ljubljana Zagreb Venice Florence Pisa.

If I can be of any help/you want to know any more then feel free to ask or PM :thumbsup:

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

East European train jaunts are an amazing experience for all sorts of reasons! Enjoy!

[brian6-2]

East European train jaunts are an amazing experience for all sorts of reasons! Enjoy!


:agree::agree:

done 2 crackers. venice - zagreb and warsaw - minsk.

totally bonkers.

[HiBremian]

I do quite a lot of travelling around Europe by train. For me, the best website by far for working out train connections across Europe is bahn.de. Got apps for ipad etc and in English, quick and easy to work out what options there are.

You can also get cheap fares for Germany there (you can currently book Amsterdam to Berlin in advance for €39), and I guess the same will apply for other countries' national train websites - use sncf.fr a lot for France, eg €39 from Marseille to Frankfurt on TGV. The big deal about getting a Europass is you don't have to book in advance, I guess, so the price is probably not so good, but the flexibility is there if you want to change plans mid-trip.

Hope this helps.



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[Steve-O]

Cheers all, that's helpful.

I think we'll probably fly the Prague to Rome bit just for the sake of time but some sort of Amsterdam to Berlin to Prague by rail might be what I'm looking for. Possibly not worth buying the Eurail thing for that amount of time I'm thinking?

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

As has already been mentioned night trains are handy and surprisingly cheap the further east you go. The sleeper train from Kiev-Dnipro was one of the funniest nights of my life, although I doubt the ones you travel on will be mobbed with Hibs fans! :-)

[danhibees1875]

Cheers all, that's helpful.

I think we'll probably fly the Prague to Rome bit just for the sake of time but some sort of Amsterdam to Berlin to Prague by rail might be what I'm looking for. Possibly not worth buying the Eurail thing for that amount of time I'm thinking?

I wouldn't have thought so.

Here's your options anyway so you know what prices are like. :aok:

http://www.interrail.eu/interrail-passes/interrail-global-pass

[The Modfather]

As has already been mentioned night trains are handy and surprisingly cheap the further east you go. The sleeper train from Kiev-Dnipro was one of the funniest nights of my life, although I doubt the ones you travel on will be mobbed with Hibs fans! :-)

I also did the sleeper train to/from Kiev for the Dnipro game. Sadly we didn't see any Hibees on either, but share your sentiment on the journey :thumbsup:

Sitting in a train compartment surounded by what can only be described as steriotypical mafioso, who were feeding us non descript meets and homemade vodka while somehow having a conversation when they spoke no English and us no Russian. Great trip!

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Did you not make it to the buffet car? The lassie serving the bevvy couldnae speak any English apart from Beatles songs! The less said about the food the better, we ended up sitting with a Dnipro businessman who had a ridiculous selection of food/bevvy on the go but would only let us taste dried fish! Tasted and smelled horrible. We did get through a fair amount of straight shots of his Nemiroff Vodka though! We were in a 4 berth compartment with the Chief of Dnipro police and his wife who seemed quite happy to get her thruppnies out about 2 mins after the train started to move!

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

One of the locals we shared with on the way back to Kiev managed to knob the lassie that dealt with the bedding/checked the tickets/sold drinks and snacks on our carriage back in her own wee room on the train, I went to buy a few beers from her a wee while later and she had her wee daughter with her in the room (not so good) that put a bit of a dampener on things. I think my mate still has her Ukrainian Railways hat though!

[Alex Trager]

Cheers all, that's helpful.

I think we'll probably fly the Prague to Rome bit just for the sake of time but some sort of Amsterdam to Berlin to Prague by rail might be what I'm looking for. Possibly not worth buying the Eurail thing for that amount of time I'm thinking?

So are you not going to do the other cities you mentioned?
I've done interrail, and I just booked the train about a day in advance, sometimes on the same day of travel, some trains require a reservation, and thus a price has to be paid.
In terms of ease, the trains are pretty easy to navigate through Europe, however as has been mentioned Eastern European railways are something quite different. And painfully slow.