Has anyone been interrailing as an adult?

[NoraLuka]

Inspired by another thread about an 18 y o going interrailing.

Has anyone done this as an adult, after having DC/working for years/generally being a grown up, rather than as a teenager or student? If so, what was it like? Would you recommend? Were you on your own or with someone?

I just looked up how much an interrail pass costs and it’s not that much considering how far you could travel with it.

I’m not planning on doing this right now or anything, but it looks like it could be fun (or maybe my midlife crisis is just striking again 😁)

No but I'd love to....I was also reading that other thread wistfully 😀

It seems like a great way to get around Europe, although I've done enough of hostels in my backpacking youth so I'd probably need to upgrade to hotels, which would make it more expensive.

If someone could share a recommended itinerary that would be great!

I’ve been looking at itineraries 😁

I would start in France because I live there, head towards Germany, Poland then down through Eastern Europe towards Greece. The interrail pass lets you go on ferries too, so I’d do some Greek islands, then ferry to Italy, through Rome, Florence and along the south coast of France to Spain, then home. That leaves out Scandinavia, maybe that could fit in between Germany and Poland?

No but I would love to.

Yes! I did this for a month around Europe when I was 25 and stayed in backpackers hostels, some of which are quite nice..
The freedom and the scenery from the trains is amazing too and the ticket is value for money. I have a daughter now and would love to go back and take her 😍

Not yet but I intend to in the next few years. I think the seat61 website is meant to be good for tips and advice.

DP and I (50s/60s) did it last year, and I have also done it as an adult taking my school-age DC with me. It is a great basis for a holiday, but I would say your itinerary sounds a bit ambitious - you would be spending pretty much the entire time on trains and not getting to explore places.

Also bear in mind that the trains which are entirely free with the interrail pass are the slow, regional ones; for all the high speed ones you need to pay extra for seat reservations, which can bump up the cost of the holiday quite a bit. And some places, like Spain, have much more limited train routes and connections.

I would take a more relaxed approach and pick maybe half a dozen places you want to go, and aim to spend at least two or three nights in each one.

Some of the lower cost interrail tickets work by letting you travel a certain number of days in a two week/one month period, which might be better than the classic all-the-trains-you-can-eat ticket. A whole month of different places every night and packing and unpacking all the time gets a bit wearing.

Heading off on Monday! 5 travel days in 12 days away, mix of staying with friends and hostels

Oh god this thread has inspired me! I haven't travelled for decades and I'm longing for a holiday. I love the freedom of this and it was always in my head that only students did it. Thank you!

I have and it was rubbish compared to when I was young. Not because I'm old now, but because like a PP said you only get a small choice of free trains and have to pay extra for almost everything, if you have connections have to scramble for machines to buy the supplementary ticket, usually only have x amount of travel days within a period on your ticket (unlike unlimited travel for 30 days within a region like 20 years ago)...

At the end of the trip I wanted to clear a pretty long stretch and calculated how much I'd pay on extra tickets. Looking at RyanAir I could get a one way ticket for less. I ended up flying.

This was admittedly a few years ago. I know some lobby for better rail opportunities in Europe.

I'd do a rail holiday again, but with a good budget and completely outwith the interrail system.

At what age do you think you’d take her? My DS is 5, I think it could nearly be doable 🤔

Take on board what @exexpat and @Backstreets say.
My dc has been recently, and, when they looked in to it, the 'Interrail pass' is much poorer value than when I went 35 years ago. Then you just jumped on and off trains at will. When money was tight you got a long distance one and slept on it overnight. If you got to a town and couldn't find anywhere to stay, you just got on another train and went somewhere else.

When my dc started looking into going inter railing, they found it was nothing like that any more. they ended up with a mix of flights, trains and long distance coach travel as the interrail was so much poorer than it used to be.

I was looking into it as my ds did it last year but, unless you want to take a lot of trains and mainly slower ones, it seemed cheaper to buy individual tickets.

She's just coming up to a year @Humpobottomous I'd love to take her now, albeit with a little more planning than the first time!😅

We went at 25, spent our second wedding anniversary walking into Paris from Gare Du Nord.

It was great!

No but my dd going in a couple of weeks has inspired me to do it, it sounds fab! Will definitely be using hotels though.

I really want to do this - I’m over 60 and the reduction in price is really good. I just need to persuade dh - when I suggest it he just grunts, as usual.
The Man In Seat 61 website has some excellent tips and itineraries.

We went last year with 3 DC (12,10,8). Booked all the tickets separately as worked out cheaper - though I did book most trains in advance.
Eurostar to Brussels, then train to Brugge. Brugge to Antwerp, then night train to Munich, then onto Lake Bled, then onto Venice and flew home from Venice.
Stayed in a mix of hotels, B&B, apartments and ended at a campsite to wrap it up.
Everyone enjoyed it. Plan to do a another rail trip next week.

Yes in my early 50s, go for it!

Did it aged 19 and also with kids s few years back. First time, France, Switzerland, zItaly back to South of France and then straight back to Manchester in 24 hours once we ran out of money.
Second time, stayed everywhere for a bit longer. Train was more how we got around than the main point of it. So Paris for a few days, night train to Toulouse and up into the Pyrenees for a week. Then back to Toulouse, on to Barcelona for three nights, a day in Madrid and another night train to Lisbon. A week there - city and nearby beaches, by train - then finally a night train to Santander and ferry home. Was brilliant for how many places we saw in one just over three week trip.
To all intents you’re just on a train, rather than obviously interrailing.

If I did it again (and I’d love to) I’d make sure I never had to get off a night train before 8am, or even 9am. I’d also go north and/or east Could go in term time if not going with kids, which would be great too.

Though booking the seat reservations/supplements is a chore. Most easily done via the interrailing booking service, though at extra cost.

We're back from our trip. It was great, though exhausting. Here's some notes I made for next time we go so you can learn from our mistakes.

Buy the passes through the app.
Reserve seats even where it's not required.
Carry plenty of water and snacks
Schedule meal stops
Give at least 30 min for transfer
Check out train type - there are still some compartment trains around!
Train etiquette varies a lot. Silence seems to be the rule on the long distance trains in France, not so much in Germany.
Minimise number of connections. One or two trains per day is civilised, more is knackering.
Stay in small towns to minimise end of day stress negotiating city transport.

Enjoy!

@nythbran2 thank you for updating! I’m def not going this year but it’s on my holiday list for later, maybe once the teenagers have left home/become less grumpy, whichever comes first!