To consider interrail with 4 kids?

[AgnusandMagnus]

Will this be hell or possibly fabulous fun? We've never done anything like it.

Also, once you leave the UK you will actually have the seat you booked - which is always the worry with train travel here.

I always book train tickets in the UK on The Trainline app. Unless it is a same day booking it includes seat reservations on nearly all trains except local services.

If train travel is free for under 12s does that include seat reservations for them?

I've traveled extensively with kids. I wouldn't do this with those ages. My main concern would the need to drag luggage on and off the train.

Where do you actually want to go? With two weeks I'd choose one country and either drive there or get cheap flights and hire a car. It gives you much more flexibility. Unless you plan to sleep on the trains (which would not be fun!) that would surely be cheaper as well.

We looked into it (with 3 kids) having done a sleeper train from Paris to Nice.
It seemed quite cheap in comparison to normal beach holidays but actually it turned out you had to pay supplements and charges for booking seats etc which soon added up.
Another alternative which is what we did last year was drive from the uk to Italy. We stopped overnight in France, and in Geneva, drove over the alps. We then spent a week in a lovely euro camp near Venice. Coming back we went through Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and Brussels.

The trip for eurocamp, eurotunnel, petrol and cheap hotels was £2000 for the 5 of us which for 2 weeks in august was pretty cheap! (Most expensive holiday we’ve ever done though!) big standard beach holidays in Benidorm were coming up £4K as being 5 of us the deals never applied to us as all we uo for 2+2 families not 2+3 like ours
We price up flying but it would have been more expensive with car hire etc plus we wouldn’t have had the adventure. Things like stopping at the battle of Waterloo as we happened to be passing, stopping at a nice looking cafe etc to let the kids run around.

Depends on age of kids should be fine. However I wouldn't assume interrail is your cheapest option and would recommend Man in Seat 61 as a great starting point for all things to do with train travel.

It isn't likely to save you money but can be similar to air or ferry/ car travel if you book ahead in school hols.

We traveled and did a tour of Italy last summer and Italian trains were very good and most tickets could be bought paperless online.

I used seat 61 when I had to book last minute tickets for DD last year, and it was cheaper to use The Trainline. I think you need to compare all options.

I agree about lugging luggage around. Unless everyone in the party can carry their own I really wouldn't consider this kind of trip. And I think the three year old would get bored.

I second a look at seat61.com, literally everything you need to know about train travel in Europe.

We are planning a trip in the summer and decided interail wasn't the cheapest. We are doing Eurostar to Paris, doing Disney and the city and then taking a train to Barcelona. That's the plan anyway. Biggest difficulty is going to be luggage I think, can't see us being able to do laundry. We're planning about 10 days, and its not going to be terribly cheap, about the same cost as a decent all inclusive I think. But the Disney part is expensive and we're looking at hotel with a pool in Spain.

I think it sounds fabulous but not sure it’ll be cheaper as you’ll have to eat out most of the time and depends on the cost of the particular European cities.

Another option could be to drive to France/Holland/wherever and stay in a Eurocamp type set up where you have self catering facilities and can use bikes to get around? Two years ago we did a holiday in France over 16 days where we did Normandy, two locations on the Loire then hit Versailles on the way back and it was FABULOUS. The Eurocamp bits were super cheap as we would cycle to the markets and buy food to cook and the only money we spent was on wine or seeing the Chateaux. Also fabulously flat so we did loads of day trips on the bikes to cities like Tours and Blois.

Finances aside, interrailing itself sounds amazing and I’m sure it depends on your kids. We did all sorts of travels - e.g. camping in the Sahara - as kids but my parents had very very good control over us.

I always book train tickets in the UK on The Trainline app. Unless it is a same day booking it includes seat reservations on nearly all trains except local services
Oh yeah, I book seats - they just don't always appear when I get the train. I travel by train a few times a week and I'd estimate that 25% of the time the reservations (or sometimes the entire carriage) is missing. Trains in the UK are an overpriced disgrace.

I travelled from Birmingham to Devon with two kids for a week (ages 13 and 9 months) and we never did it again. Getting the pushchair on and off the train, and dealing with luggage and transfers, was a pain in the hoop. I can't imagine doing it internationally with double the number, but at least they are older.

I plan on doing this too. Single parent of 3. I reckon the youngest is too young but it sounds as though you wouldn't be the only adult which changes it.

We are kind of doing this this summer with our 4 aged 6-16.... However we've priced it up and will be buying tickets in advance rather than interrail as works out cheaper.
Still in the early stages but planning 2 weeks ., First week berlin ,Budapest and Vienna and second week in Florence/Tuscany with sleeper trains in between. We may have to fly back sadly as I need to come back for work.

Are u planning on booking accom in advance or seeing how you go? What itinerary are you planning? Have a look at seat61 it's a great webiste

I can't see this being cheaper than an all inclusive holiday!
I did it with one 11 year old for 3 weeks a couple of years ago. It was amazing.
The initial ticket cost a few hundred quid as he was under 12 so that was cheap, then we required 20 nights accommodation as cheaply as possible. We mixed up airbnbs (only got rooms, whole places were too expensive) and budget hotels, getting breakfast included where we could.
I budgeted 800 for that.
Train reservations added a bit of money though they weren't always necessary.
I had friends in Berlin and Paris which helped as being alone with a child for that long gets boring for both.
We went to Brussels, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Luxembourg, Paris, home. Ish, can't quite remember.
It was so good, but inc spending money, didn't come in under about 1700, probably more but I wasnt counting. OK it was best part of 3 weeks, but only one child!
I found it hard to keep him enthusiastic all the time, and sometimes we spent our evenings on our respective beds just on screens or reading. We did find online monopoly which kept us entertained.
I found not having other adults round quite hard too, but thankfully as I said did have friends in two of the cities.
Honestly I wouldn't have done it with more than two kids, but I'd be really interested to hear your plans!

Just another thought, this year we've booked our holiday for 2 adults, 2 kids, £329 for the week in South West France in May half term for a lush mobile home by a lake and near the coast, with lots for teenagers and for small children to do.
Ferry will cost 160 on top.
Fuel and shopping will be about another 800.
So under 1500 and I can't bloody wait., sounds a lot more relaxing!

I've just found the post that your youngest is 3 and that you normally like all inclusive but would like to cut costs.

Price it up and see if its cheaper.... It may not be. Our cheapest family holidays have been driving down to Italy / France and staying in eurocamp type places and stopping in France/ Holland / Germany on the way down. It's been a great adventure even when things haven't gone smoothly! Plus it's a lot easier than trying to do public transport (you're right I think the 3 year old will be your main issue)!

Generally you know what type of children/ family you have..... I know ours will not mind wearing the same 2 pairs of shorts on rotation for 2 weeks because we didn't pack enough, will sit and amuse themselves for literally hours on a phone if we get stranded somewhere and don't mind crisps for tea if we can't find anywhere open for dinner when we arrive there late. Not all families would consider that a holiday and probably would be slightly horrified at it. And that's cool too but youre probably not going to find 2weeks travelling around Europe fun.

We travelled on trains around Italy before. They are cheap if booked well in advance and comfortable.

Have a looks t seat61 and if you like the sound of it get planning.

I did West Germany to London by train with a 5&7yo. (Hamm-Cologne-Brussels-Ebbsfleet). It was easier than flying the same route in many ways (which would have been train Hamm-Dusseldorf, flight to Heathrow, underground into London, train out of London into Kent).

Couple of issues though... We had consecutive seat numbers on the ICE (Cologne to Brussels). They were a pair facing forwards... Then a luggage rack, then the other seat facing backwards. So I wasn't actually close in that train. Luckily my DDs are very chilled out on long trains, and didn't Bat an eyelid. I turned round frequently, and walked up every twenty minutes or so. A tour group of English speakers kept an eye on them too.
The second issue was my through ticket, issued by DeutscheBahn, gave us a 17 minute change in Brussels. I practically dragged the girls through Brussels station and made it with seconds to spare to Check in.

Maybe a stupid question, but how will brexit affect you guys being able to go from country to country?

I jaunted around Europe on the trains and had a great time (although don't believe the hype that they are ALL clean, spacious and on time) but that was as an EU citizen and no one batted an eye at any of the borders.

I'm assuming that once you get into the Schengen area there won't be border hecks between countries.... So border checks at UK/ if you go out of Schengen area but free to move once you are in it.

( well hopefully the whole world and Europe won't have gone to shit by then but who knows!!)

I priced up a week at an all inclusive in Greece and for the 6 of us it was 7k! The older two don't love the beach, the younger two adore it. Older two would prefer a city break which is obviously trickier with a 3 year old who isn't going to be so into wandering around museums. I was thinking that by having multiple stops we could do something for everyone. Train appealed for environmental reasons too. 3 year old is a horror show in the car. She's fine on a train. Driving to Italy with her would be horrendous. She can do 2 hours max and even that isn't fun. We all have EU passports so that won't be an issue no matter what brexit brings us. Interrail appealed because the ticket is flexible so if we wanted to stay an extra somewhere we could. The logistics of getting all 6 of us on time anywhere is never easy so flexibility seemed good.

Booking flight and self catering accommodation is much much cheaper than all inclusive

Any blogs people recommend?

The Man In Seat 61

Oh lord, the idea of it makes me want to cry
But I’m not into ‘adventure’ when I go on holiday with my family, I’m into ‘relax’ when I’m away!
The thought of not being able to unpack and settle down in one place makes this very idea seem really chaotic to me.
However this seems like it would be yo your street, I just wonder if the littlest one would be loud and vocal if they weren’t enjoying themselves thus making it unenjoyable for Everyone else. You are obviously the best judge of this though.
Good luck if you go ahead with it, I know people who have interrailed (not with kids) and have really loved the whole experience.

We've priced up 3 nights half board at DLP, a night in Paris and 5 nights at a 4* in Barcelona plus rail travel from London and back at just over 3k, think we've got breakfast included at all the hotels. Interail was more expensive than advance bookings because you have to pay a booking fee for both Eurostar and the France to Spain TGV. The DLP bit is over a grand of that. We thought Barcelona because the kids like the beach but we like a city.

I strongly considered this but I think I’m going to wait til youngest is fully potty trained.

You have to be hyper organised as trains must be booked in advance.

We’re going to road trip instead as it’s easier to move all the baby/toddler paraphernalia about. Letting Greta Thunberg down though

No reason why not if you feel it's doable, then it's doable :)

( and I take my hat off to you :) cos you're braver than me Gunga Din :) )