taylorrrrrrrrrrr

Can anyone give any tips or advice for places to visit in Europe with my boyfriend in July, I am thinking about getting an interrail pass if this is the most cost effective option,

I would have around 2 weeks in Europe and would really like to visit;
Budapest
Rome
Venice
possibly Prague
Or a beach location to relax at the end of the trip

I would be willing to include some cheap flights for example to the beach location or between Budapest and Italy.
I would really like to visit some iconic cities but I would also like to see natural sites. I like the look of plitvice and lake bled but as I have been researching I have found long train journeys to these places that I would like to avoid as I Don't want to be spending all of my time on trains.

Thanks in advance!

nytraveler

Specifically how many night do you have in europe? When some people say 2 weeks they really mean they have 11.5 days (with the half of the first day badly jetlagged). This is a lot different that if you take 2 full weeks (16 nights - leaving home on Fri night and returning on a Sunday.

Obviously how much you can do depends on exactly how much time you have.

IMHO what you ant to do is too much for only 11.5 days once you deduct the 2 days it will take you to get from one place to another. But if you have a full 16 nights it will be possible, even including time to get from one place to another.

It also depend a l lot on what you want to do. You first itinerary has no beach (except the Lido in Venice, which is a city beach and not very pleasant, but is sand and water).

nytraveler

Sorry, be sure to investigate open jaws (multi-city) flight to and fro and check bahn.de for the best train options between cities. IMHO train of 6 hours or less is really better than flights, since the travel is so much more comfortable and takes no longer than flying when you include the long treks to and fro airports, long security lines and waiting around for the place to leave.

inspiredexplorer

With a two week timeline, you have two different trips easily materializing:

Rome + Venice + maybe a third location for beach (Amalfi Coast? Italian Riviera? beaches in Maremma, Tuscany? as some early places to explore

OR

Budapest + Prague + maybe Vienna as a logical connecting point by train (will give you thermal baths, but no beach)

What things are you most interested in in a general sense? Are you planning to visit a lot of museums? Are you interested in nightlife? That could help determine which set of places might be best for you and your boyfriend at this time.

PalenQ

for lots of train info for planning check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. If taking several train a railpass may be great especially if you are under 26 and can get the youthpasses.

Travelmom83

I agree with the train idea. Some trains have overnight journeys as well so you can use it as a place to sleep for the night as well as a mode to travel and not miss out on anything since you'll be sleeping anyway. We did this from Amsterdam to Munich a few years back and it was great!

BigRuss

Are you American? US and Caribbean beaches are far better, on average, than European ones.

bvlenci

You don't say where you live, and you may already know this:

You can only get an Interrail pass if you live in one of the participating European countries, and you can only use it in the countries where you don't live. However, if you get the Global pass, you can use it for one trip leaving the country where you live, and one trip returning home.

http://it.interrail.eu/?gclid=CIjn7v...FRdmGwodqiMLGw

kja

Yes, the Plitvice Lakes and Lake Bled are too far from your other priorities to make any sense for this trip.

taylorrrrrrrrrrr

Hi, I am European, from England so would qualify for the interrailing pass.
We are interested in nightlife and sight seeing not too much in museums, i would just like a chilled out 2 weeks that would also mean we got to see a lot of places.

Due to travelling from the U.K. My flight times would be short so do you think this would be okay for 14 nights as there would be little jet lag too

Thanks for all the help I'll look into night trains!

Kathie

"i would just like a chilled out 2 weeks" is in contradiction to "that would also mean we got to see a lot of places." You can do one or the other, not both in two weeks.

PalenQ

Overnight sleeper trains I love but they are not for everyone - especially light sleepers and if you go the couchette route you're in with up to 4 strangers besides you 2 in the six-berth couchette compartments and that means snorers - folks getting up and night to go to the loo, etc.

I've never had a problem sleeping but some may and then that's no fun 'waking up' wiped out but you're young and probably will be fine. (When your age I once took night trains for a whole month and loved it!) A private two-person compartment could be fun but so expensive - the pass pays the train fare but not the sleeping supplement- couchette cost about $25 p.p. but private cabins maybe $60-80 p.p. Many night trains no longer have regular seats to sleep in for free.

But couchettes can be fun - especially if you get in with folks you age - bring any kind of food or drink aboard and have fun. Again check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com for lots on overnight trains.

bvlenci

I don't think your plan is too frenetic, especially if you're thinking of substituting a beach town for Prague.

You can take a late afternoon (6:40 PM) train from Budapest to Vienna, where you can get an overnight train to Venice. Your interrail pass would cover just a seat on the train. By buying well in advance, a seat reservation on this route would cost only €48. A place in a couchette, or a sleeping cabin would cost extra (but would also cost extra with the pass). You can buy the tickets here, just indicating that you want to travel from Budapest to Venice:

http://www.oebb.at/en/

The trains from Venice to Rome require a reservation, which is not covered by your pass, and which will cost you €10. You can get cheap fares (around €20, including the reservation) if you buy the ticket online about 3 months in advance, so your pass wouldn't really pay off for this trip. You can get tickets from one of these train companies; Italo is usually cheaper.

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
http://www.italotreno.it/en

Do buy them well in advance, because the cheapest tickets sell out quickly, and there are no discounts at all on the day of travel. However, the discounted tickets are not subject to change or refund; some can be changed before the travel date with a big surcharge.

If you want to spend some time at the beach, Sardegna is a great place to do so. There are overnight ferries from Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, to Olbia. These are not covered by the pass, but you'd get a 20% discount. However, the tickets, with just a seat, cost less than €40.

There are nice beach towns in Sardegna, some for budget travelers, and some for billionaires. The Golfo Aranci is a nice area, beautiful beaches, not too expensive. It's very near Olbia, so you can take a cheap local train.

There are cheap direct flights from London to Budapest, and from various airports in Sardegna, including Olbia, to London. If you fly on these two legs of the trip, I don't think you'd save anything with the Interrail pass. Your total travel cost, including flights, might be less than the cost of the pass.

You could spend 3 days in Budapest, 2 in Venice, 4 in Rome and 5 or 6 in Sardegna.

I don't know Budapest at all, but I live in Italy and can tell you than neither Venice or Rome is noted for its night life.

There are some beach towns not far from Venice which are livelier at night. Jesolo is a popular town with a beach (Lido di Jesolo), and is less than an hour from Venice by bus. You can also get a boat, but it probably takes longer.

In Rome, you might consider staying at the seaside in Ostia Lido, a part of Rome that does have some discos in the summer. You could get into the center of the city easily and quickly with a little local train that connects Ostia to the center.

Most of the seaside towns in Sardegna have clubs and other nightlife.

If you decide to keep Prague in your itinerary, you should go to Prague before Budapest, and I would forget the beach stay, except for perhaps staying at the beaches near Venice and Rome. However, these are nothing compared to Sardegna.

bvlenci

I forgot to mention that if you substitute Prague for Budapest, there is a direct overnight train from there to Venice. Then you would have time for the beach stay. However, if you visit both Prague and Budapest before Venice, you should go to Prague first, to avoid backtracking, and forget the beach.

rosanna75

I would travel by airplain! There are a lot of low cost companies who will cost you a lot less than the train! and it is really fast!

You can use for example ryanair and easyjet!

PalenQ

I can't find any direct overnight train Prague to Venice but you can take regular trains to join the CityNightLiner Hotel train from Munich to Venice or you can do similarly via Vienna.