30 days of interrailing with teens

[YouBelongWithMe]

I'm at the very beginning of planning a pretty epic interrailing adventure with my two teen daughters (they'll be nearly 19 and 16) for summer 2028, just before the eldest goes off to uni.

Has anyone done interrailing with teens, or for 30ish days, and do you have any recommendations/tips/advice?

I'm currently thinking Southern Italy - Croatia - Bosnia - Hungary - Slovenia - Poland - Baltics - Scandi/Norway over 30 or so nights. A mix of triple rooms in mid-level hotels, airbnbs (for washing facilities) and perhaps a european campsite style stay.

I'm aiming to try and do it for all for £10k - do those more in the know think this is feasible?

Definitely start with seat61.com website, which is the holy grail for train travel. I think if you're not up for hostels, mid range hotels and campsites for 3 you might need to budget 200 euros a night in the summer holidays. Croatia and Bosnia are not very switched on for trains so buses might be needed as back up. Scandinavia is hugely expensive. My dd won an award from Uni last year and did a 3 week trip Uk - France - Italy - Austria - Czechia - Germany - Poland and I think, with interrail pass, compulsory reservations, accommodation, food and activities she spent about 2.5 k euros And she was extremely tight on her spending. Also I met her in Salzburg and paid for the accommodation there. I'd definitely sign up for Hostelworld and see their private room offerings. The reservations can creep up on you - definitely needed for Eurostar / Brenner crossing and a lot of non-regional trains, especially x 3.

Yes, seat61 has been bookmarked and visited often!

Thanks, I'm going to try and do a dummy run of the costs using next summer's prices and see how it goes.

I don’t wish to be a negative voice but are you sure they will want to do this… it’s two years away and by then they may want to make plans with friends instead … you never know what will get suggested that they won’t want to miss?

I’m not saying don’t plan but maybe make the plan in two weeks chunks and see nearer the time who wants to come for which bits.

I agree, it's absolutely crackers to try and plan a holiday two years in advance! Forget all about it until next autumn and then see what's what.

Agree with other posters about hanging on, but it is a lovely idea. However, what may be helpful (and if you have the time) is if you just "outline plan it" as if you were going this year. The reason I say this is some or even most of the countries you have mentioned have some difficulties iro of train network, and also point to point trains may actually work better for you, sometimes even budget flights to get you from A to B if you are not adverse to flying now and again. Nearly every country you mention has an official train website (man in seat61 will show you the way - but do try and get the "official site" not re-sellers), with the official prices (and unlike the UK, some countries don't change their prices (much) dynamically. Interrail tickets cost a lot, and still need some pre-planning, and if you are doing X point to point trains it could be far cheaper. When the time comes, it is still really wise to book in advance (most fares open 60 days min, sometimes as much as 6 months depending on country), download the e-ticket, and the job is done. You could also gauge the approx accom prices, and I love the idea of a mix like you suggest, then you can wash your clothes etc. Things do change for young people, they have part time jobs etc. other holiday plans and as @minipie says shorter chunks might be more realistic. Hope this helps x

We have done a lot of rail holidays with teens but not staying in hostels and not for so long as you are planning.

You covering a lot of ground and you've also chosen some of the less connected places which makes for awkward journeys with less contingency if things go wrong. Spending more time on trains can help save costs, but getting stranded because of a cancellation and forfeiting a booking or paying for alternative transport can work out expensive. Is there any reason why you're not considering Germany at all? You'll inevitably be travelling through it and there's loads to see on the way. (For example Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Lübeck, Nürnberg, Heidelberg all fabulous. And you're highly likely to go through Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart on your way somewhere else).

My biggest tip is learn to pack light and wash as you go (rinse undies in sink most evenings so it never builds up). Embrace the journeys as part of the holiday. Try to find it interesting rather than stressful if things don't go to plan, and expect to spend a lot of time in stations as well as on trains, so make the most of that time with books and card games, sketching, embroidery or whatever.

Don't spread yourself too thin - it's fine to hop from place to place but you should have a few core destinations on there where you plan to spend a few days to get your breath back and have some focus to the trip. It also helps with getting washing done to do a major stop occasionally.

I’ve just done an interrailing holiday with this company. It was excellent:
https://interrailingpackages.com/

Won't they want to go with their friends after A Levels. If they want a family holiday 16+ it's going to be a more comfy one than interailing with a parent

They’ll want to go with their friends. Lots of kids I know of these ages have gone this year with friends including dd1. Let them go and make plans with your own friends. It’s the sort of thing to do with friends at that age not your mum.

Sorrry but do listen to @minipie

30 days is a looooong time to spend your mum and sister at that age. You may find that the 18 year old would rather go with friends/ partner, or keep a Saturday job. The 16 year old may prefer Reading Festival or hanging out with her peers. It's great if everyone's keen now but I'd revisit nearer the time.
I speak from experience of taking two teens away by train for five days and it was a rather tricky experience even though we had plenty of time apart!!

It’s an epic family holiday with teens - mine were the same age when we did it. It works because you can do so many different things and ensure eeveryone’s happy.

We went for 3 weeks and had a blast. Mix of hostels, airbnbs, guest houses and hotels. So many memories.

Thanks for this link, it looks brilliant! Bookmarked for the future!

Thanks all, lots of food for thought.

100% I know plans may change - I've already pointed out to the oldest one that she may not want to come but she was wildly affronted. This will be at the end of her gap year and (at the moment) she loves the idea of a final family holiday before leaving home, so to speak. We have an older son (he's 19, will he 21) who has already said no but he might come join us for a leg if he fancies it down the line. I've also suggested she (the oldest) might do some of it then take the interrail pass and do some with her friends - all fine options for me.

I really don't think they would choose a luxury/relaxing holiday over this. In fact, we offered an AI holiday next year and they vetoed in favour of travelling as a family round Albania, staying in different places and exploring. We've always done holidays which are quite busy amd moving around a lot. We've also done city break trips just the three of us, leaving DH and DS behind.

In terms of flying, I am definitely not committed to doing it all by train and fine to fly between destinations to make it easier. I'm also considering overnight ferries in a cabin to make some legs a better use of time. Flix buses are also an option, especially in Bosnia / Croatia.

Re Germany (and France, Spain, and Italy to an extent) we've done a lot of travelling there already, I guess.

I am definitely going, and I am a planner who will enjoy dedicating time to researching and putting it together. When it comes to actually buying bits of it, I'll check in with them again.

Inter railing was our family’s favourite holiday ever. I’m jealous!

My tips:

Don’t always/just go to the biggest cities in a country. Sometimes the second/third city is just as nice and more human sized.

Do sleepers, they’re so much fun!

Pack clothes into small packing cubes and put them into your rucksack, it means you don’t get clothes explosions in your hotel rooms.

Pack really, really light.

Hotels with breakfast included often saved us the cost of lunch.

Balance long sightseeing days with long train journeys to rest and relax.

There are two ways of inter-railing: planned and winging it. I was a total planner as it meant I could relax knowing all my trains and accommodation were pre-booked.

Once I had my itinerary, I took it to trailfinders and they were able to get me 4 star hotels in most places for cheaper than a hostel!

If you are open to joining things up with flights, it makes your itinerary a lot more doable, because your initial OP sounded like a list of the top ten most awkward rail corridors in Europe 🙂. I agree that Flix buses will probably be the way to go in a lot of the Balkans. A few ferries are included with your interrail ticket so definitely worth looking at them.

My tip - get the girls to do the planning, or at least each of them says where they would like to visit and plans that part of the journey; e.g. where and how to visit Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia. Of perhaps they can plan around something that they are interested in such as festivals and concerts - Rosklide Festival or Smukfest in Denmark, then a concert in Hamburg or Leipzig, then something in Krakow/Prague/Budapest and so on.

Don't worry about planning in advance - you can use 2027 as a dummy plan and to cost things, but also be aware that by 2028 things might have changed and as others have said, it might be that they would prefer to do something else by then. Also, be aware of the "Abilene Paradox" Abilene paradox - Wikipedia