Interrailing - Tips/Advice/What to see

Soldato
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Sup chums.

I and 4 others are off interrailing in June, we've planned our route out as follows:

Dubrovnik - Zagreb - Sarajevo - Belgrade - Budapest - Vienna - Prague - Berlin.

We finally finished the logistical nightmare that is the planning of trains and connections and now we're onto the 'right, so let's find stuff to do and see'.

Has anyone travelled a similar route before or visited the above cities? Any insider knowledge of all the cool things to do and see would be awesome!

e: It's over 22 days, so around 2-3 days max in each city.
 
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First things first, scrap the route. Just get your flights to Europe and flights back sorted and then you know where you'll need to be 21 days later. That way you can stay in places you really enjoy a bit longer, and places you don't like you can just spend a day there. Having it too planned is a mistake. With the Interrail ticket, you just turn up at the station and get on whatever train you want and then show the conductor the ticket. Easy peasy.

Of those places, I've only ever been to Berlin & Prague. Berlin is stupidly awesome. So much fun. Great place to just go and explore, got some really quirky bars and the people are extremely friendly. I think you have to book the Reichstag tour a bit before nowadays, so make sure to do that if it's something that you want to do.
I wasn't that impressed with Prague, it's pretty but it's just a bit meh.
 
Our route isn't really in concrete, it's just a framework for us to have a rough idea before setting off. It's subject to change except our starting point of Dubrovnik and exit point of Berlin (flights booked!). We'll no doubt change things along the way depending on our mood.

From what I've heard Berlin sounds /awesome/, one of the cities I'm looking forward to the most. I'll definitely look into the Reichstag tour booking before hand, something I quite fancy going!

Did you stay in a hostel/hotel/at a friends, while you were in Berlin/Prague Ahleckz?
 
Most of these places will have 'free' walking tours as well, we did a two or three when we interrailed (we preferred just getting lost ourselves) and they are very good. It's expected that you tip the guide at the end, but you really don't have to.
Also, the pub crawls are pretty good. They don't cost too much, and it's a great way to meet other travellers and have a laugh. I did the Berlin one (name escapes me now though) and it was fantastic, though the organiser left me behind after I pulled the girl he was wanting to get with and I almost got arrested by German police. They turned down my 20 Swiss Franc bribe and bought me a subway ticket in the end though. :D
 
Yeah, I've heard a lot about these walking tours, they sound pretty good.

Haha, hopefully I wont need to bribe anyone in Berlin, but if I do I might make sure to do it in euros ;) :D
 
Try go to Munich, when I went interrailing last summer it was my favourite location. A few of those cities will have Wombat's hostels which are pretty good value so look out for them.
 
Switzerland has some amazing scenery but is pricey so probably doesn't fit in with the ethos of interrail (if you can even travel in CH on an interrail ticket?).
 
I'm pretty sure you can travel to CH, but yeah, it's pretty expensive compared to our intended destinations :D

In a few years maybe...
 
Just come back from a conference in Berlin. Work paid for a pricey hotel, but afterwards I took an extra day for a holiday and since I was paying I stayed at the Pfefferbett hostel. I really recommend the hostel, friendly and a young crowd. Pretty cheap if you stay if a shared dorm or spend a bit more and get a room on your own.

I really liked that end of Berlin, vibrant and with lots going on. There's an amazing sauna nearby, really relaxing after a long day travelling. Be aware that the Germans (along with much of the rest of Europe) are much more comfortable with their bodies, so it's mixed sex and naked. Takes a little getting used to, but it's a liberating experience. Then I had a good walk around the city - Checkpoint Charlie, Brandeburg Gate, outside the Reichstag and Alexanderplatz square.

Prague I found prettier than Berlin in the centre, but crawling with tourists. Vienna I have to say was a little disappointing - for me it's too perfect and all looks pretty similar. Nearby Bratislava looked more interesting, though I didn't stay there long.

I'd agreed with Ahleckz though - having travel too planned can be a mistake. Lots of my favourite travel experiences have been unexpected, when you just randomly find a place you really enjoy.
 
I would avoid Zagreb if I were you. We got off the train there, looked around, then got right back on. You may feel different I suppose, but heading further down the coast to a place called Split worked out nicely for us.

Krakow in Poland is also well worth a look if you can swing it - there's Auschwitz and this place, where they filmed Lord of the Rings.

Berlin was great when I was there, though if you go out, you'd best like the German music scene, best know to me as 'noise and shouting'. Perhaps I missed better places...
 
I would avoid Zagreb if I were you. We got off the train there, looked around, then got right back on. You may feel different I suppose, but heading further down the coast to a place called Split worked out nicely for us.

Krakow in Poland is also well worth a look if you can swing it - there's Auschwitz and this place, where they filmed Lord of the Rings.

Berlin was great when I was there, though if you go out, you'd best like the German music scene, best know to me as 'noise and shouting'. Perhaps I missed better places...

Yeah, that's the second time I've heard something about Zagreb, we're coming up from Dubrovnik though, and stopping off in Split for a day, which seems a really nice place.
 
It's worth an extra couple of days there, it's a really nice place. There was some kind of night festival when we were there with live music and the like and I believe there's islands and such to visit - there's certainly sea-based activities of some sort.
 
I would just wing it, my mate and I went for 3 weeks and we planned nothing. We got drunk and decided where we wanted to go the next day or maybe we stayed another day.
 
I would just wing it, my mate and I went for 3 weeks and we planned nothing. We got drunk and decided where we wanted to go the next day or maybe we stayed another day.

I can see the appeal I winging it tbh, would be pretty awesome, but I think some people in the group might prefer having a rough plan :p
 
Yeah, that sounds like a better way of doing it, will raise this issue :)

Another question regarding travel insurace, does anyone have any recommendations?

I've found quite a few quotes via MoneySupermarket but they all seem quite vague on what cover they provide for item damage/theft/loss.

I'll be bringing around £500-600 of camera equipment and possibly some other valuables, so I'll need quite a decent level of cover.
 
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