Interrailing - any journeys you would recommend

[Leftbutcameback]

In just over a year's time I'll be spending a few weeks interrailing. I want it to be about the journeys as much as the destinations, so with that in mind does anyone have any great routes they would recommend?

I'm not set on countries yet but considering about Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Germany, France and Netherlands.

I also have enough budget to pay any supplements for fast trains, sleepers etc. I'm going to be travelling by myself.

Bump!

Routes I really like:
-Zürich to Innsbruck through the mountains
-Zürich to Milan through the Gotthard tunnel
-Düsseldorf to Mainz along the Rhine valley
-The Rhine falls at Schafhausen
-Lyon to Montpellier goes through mountains and past cliffs and castles
-Salzburg to Venice is amazing. Start in the mountains and come out in Italy
-Budapest to Bucharest is really interesting but a bit out of your plan

Most of northern Europe between Paris and Hamburg is a bit boring. There's the odd interesting bit but it's mostly flat agricultural and you don't see much of the cities.

The train journey from Ljubljana to Freiberg is something else scenery wise. Both lovely compact cities to visit also.

Thanks @stodgystollen and @m0rT - that gives me a great place to start! Rhine Valley sounds lovely as does Freiberg - I'm quite a bit fan of Germany.

It's a good point about the bits to avoid as well. I have a large map (a paper one) of all the routes so will start adding sticky dots

Look at the sector map- when I looked into it you had to choose your area for the ticket (different to the early 90's but there's more countries included now!) but sticking to central so you can do a round trip makes sense. Places not to miss are riding through the alps, Vienna, Budapest, I loved Aachen in Germany and Toledo in Spain

Northern Europe is great by train, I don't mean to put you off! It's got really good networks so it's a great way to see lots of places and culture that are all quite close together. The journey just isn't as exciting as through the Alps.

When I went, I started in Berlin, then Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Salzburg, Verona, Venice, Zürich, Geneva, ending in Paris. It was my first time in continental Europe so the cities were the focus. I live on the mainland now, so travel a lot to see friends and for work. The scenery doesn't change as fast in Europe as in the UK and naturally trains go through industrial areas on the edges of cities.

@gogohm - I think I've missed something, I just assumed the ticket was for all of Europe (I know some trains have a supplement) will look into sectors - thank you!

Budapest to Berlin is gorgeous.

Via Prague

Arriving by train into Venice is amazing.
Munich to Verona is also nice.
Ljubljana - Zagreb - Vienna was a nice quiet train.
Istanbul was my favourite but it doesn’t sound like you want to go so far.

What a great idea for a holiday. I'd love to hear your itinerary once you have planned it. We'd love to do this with our teens at some stage.

No-one yet mentioned the www.seat61.com website - which is fabulous for planning European rail journeys. We did Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Tirol a couple of years ago. The cities were fab but none of the train scenery was very exciting apart from the last bit. I was going to add Ljubljana and Lake Bled as there is a direct train back from there to Salzburg/Munich. The trains through the alps from Germany are fab. Also we did a train from Stresa on Lake Maggiore up to Lugano and then back by boat which is fabulous day out.