
I recently went on my first interrailing adventure around Europe with a friend. I am currently on my Year Abroad in Germany working as an English language assistant and thought the Easter holidays would be the perfect time to do some travelling.
One of the many benefits of interrailing is that it is cheap and you can see lots of Europe in a short space of time. We decided to see 5 cities in 10 days and a ticket for this cost €192, which I think is very good value considering the great distance we travelled! Our destinations were Kraków, Budapest, Vienna, Venice and Lake Constance, which meant we spent over 30 hours on trains! Luckily the time goes very quickly as long as you have a book to read or a film to watch. We also took trains at night so we could sleep and then just wake up in a new city!
A massive benefit of train travel is the beautiful scenery you get to see, which you would miss if you took a flight or went by car. For example, on the journey from Venice to Lake Constance we travelled through Switzerland and saw lots of picturesque mountain scenes.
Interrailing is also a good way to meet new people. We stayed in hostels and met people from all over the world who were also enjoying exploring the sights, food and culture of different European cities. Hostel staff are usually really informative about attractions in the city and hostels usually offer lots of excursions and walking tours themselves, many of which are free!
The most important piece of advice for anybody planning an interrail trip is ‘pack light!’ Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention to this and then struggled to zip up my bag every day! When you are walking around new cities and looking for the train station you don’t want to be carrying lots of heavy luggage! Train compartments are also usually small so don’t take too much otherwise your bag won’t fit!
Would you like to go interrailing? What cities would you visit?