Advice and top tips for inter railing at 17

[drr]

My daughter and six friends want to spend two weeks inter railing next summer in Europe. Please share your advice and top tips especially if your teenagers have done similar. We are especially interested in which accommodations take 17 year olds plus any cool places or train journeys to make.

17 yos will be pretty much limited to some youth hostels and might need to go in private rooms vs open dorms. You will also need to send a letter with copy of your passport details and permission for her to travel. If there are 6 of them this might help as they can book a whole dorm room to themselves. Will some of them be over 18? HostelWorld is worth joining and has lots of choice. We've done eastern Europe as a family and dd this summer did London - Paris - Lyon - Turin - Verona (Venice) - Salzburg - Prague - Berlin. Top tips - microfibre towels, padlocks for the lockers - ones with a narrow cable, packing cubes, look for hostels with laundry facilities. Cross body small bag for docs and bank cards etc. Mini first aid with paracetamol, antihistamines, plasters etc. Phone charger and power bank. Book the Eurostar early as Interrail pass seats are limited and can book up quickly. Also look to see which other trains might need reservations - France they are usually obligatory, Italy they are for Frecciarossa/Intercity but not regional trains. This can add a bit to the budget. Lots of recommendations to do the Bernina express route through Swtizerland - can be done on regional trains. Route between Marseille and Genoa has some lovely sea views.

Thanks so much. These are really helpful tips.

Also - Seat61.com in the Holy Grail of rail travel - will give all the info she might need about routes, where to book reservations, sleeper trains etc. There are a few Interrail FB groups which can be extremely helpful. Worth noting that reservations are completely separate from the Interrail pass itself and can normally be made before even buying the pass. First class is very good value for under 25s depending on their budget - but some reservation fees can be slightly higher. Brenner Pass route between Germany, Austria and Italy has a supplement that has to be paid.

I agree with sending a permission letter for under 18s. My son went at 17 and I got an urgent phone call from a hostel which wouldn't let him in without my permission. (His friends were all 18).