Interrail used to be more popular years ago among young adults who had just finished high school. I did it with a few friends at the time, and it was an incredible experience of self-reliance, patience and just complete freedom.<p>My best memory is sleeping under the stars outside the train station of Biarritz, France, on a mild summer night next to the Atlantic Ocean. Such a refreshing sleep.<p>The next night we did the same, sleeping under the stars outside the train station of Modane, France, very high up in the Alps. Definitely didn't sleep as well with the cold air and weird looks.
How long was this experience? I have a sense that sleeping outdoors as part of an adventure is getting tarnished by the homelessness and mental health crisis (… which is a separate issue that can’t be appropriately addressed here).<p>I live in a seasonal touristy area and I have to do double-takes as to whether someone is transient, or is just backpacking.<p>The implication here is personal safety. The homeless individual could be unpredictable due to mental health, whereas the backpacker is likely to be neutral.
Those were the only two times of outdoor sleep in my life to date. The itinerary was Milan - Zurich - Amsterdam - Paris - Biarritz - Modane - back to Italy, sleeping in either hotels or the closest camping site to the train station.<p>IIRC it was a ticket for 20 days of unlimited travel, which we had to cut short as a friend did get sunburnt so badly to require a hospital stay. Ah, the joys of youth.
I think it was much more popular before budget airlines became so big in Europe. When you can fly to most European cities for < €50 at anytime of the year taking lots of weekend breaks is affordable even for students.
You don't see as much though, and your options are more limited still. And the options you do have are likely more touristy as a result.<p>As always, the most easy to reach places will have the most people. I would say that's not what you're going for in such a trip.
When you turn 18 the EU gives away a lot of free tickets. And free beats even the cheapest flight.<p>Great program for young people to learn more about other countries I made use of as well.
The best part of interailling for me was turning up to a major train station, looking at the giant departure board, choosing an enigmatic destination and just getting on the train. No booking or reservations or even planning at any point.<p>Is this not possible any more?
Quite a few countries (France, Spain, Italy for starters) require seat reservations in advance for any long-distance/high-speed trains now. And worse, they have a quota for passes, so even if the train has space, you might not be able to reserve a seat and therefore get on the train. A real shame as it makes it far less flexible than before.
For France, Spain, and Italy, only the inter-country and the high speed rails (TGV, Renfe, Iryo, Frecciarossa etc) require reservation?<p>In Switzerland, some of the touristy intra-country routes (ex: Tirano-Chur, Interlaken-Lucerne) may require (a rather expensive) reservation.
For Switzerland, that's only true for the special tourist train panoramic carriages on the route, there are normal trains running on the same routes, too, that don't require reservations.
Yes. The app makes it really easy to do that. In our last trip we did it a few times.<p>But, as you get older, there's a certain joy in making plans in advance.
> But, as you get older, there's a certain joy in making plans in advance.<p>Am I the only one who feels the opposite? I used to take great care in making plans, knowing what's up ahead, knowing what I should know and so on. Spontaneous moments like "Lets go to X" were very infrequent. Nowadays, as a Proper Adult, I much more like going places without knowing anything about them, with as little plans as possible, figuring out what the place is from the people I meet there, and only start reading about the place once I'm there.
We’re just finishing a two month Norway-focused motorhome jaunt. We planned the ferry from UK to Rotterdam (both directions) and two campsites in the Netherlands and Germany. After that it was two campsites ahead at most. Ended up visiting 21 campsites with no wild camping needed.<p>We’re both somewhere on some spectrum (and in our fifties) and it has been occasionally stressful for my partner. But we more often want to stretch a visit somewhere than curtail it, so flexibility has been pivotal to getting the most out of the trip.<p>We’ve identified five or so camps that we’ll definitely revisit next year or 2028, but they’ll be part of another freewheeling trip, I hope.<p>In general I’m a planner, a contingency-identifier and a worrier, but when we’re on the open road most of that goes out the window.
I fall somewhere in the middle these days- I really like knowing in advance that I have a place to sleep each night and that I have a way to get there, but then just do whatever I feel like in the moment for everything else.
I never really planned in my youth, however as I'm older I have more responsibilities and planning in advance. We've just booked part of our summer family holiday for example
> however as I'm older I have more responsibilities<p>Yeah, same here, I guess that's why I'm opting for less planning, not more. I guess some people are just wired differently, that's what makes the world so interesting probably :)
Thanks, great to know. I hear you on at least knowing where you might sleep. Age 18-23 even this isn't that critical, when 'beach' or 'park' are viable answers.
It’s usually cheaper to book in advance. In particular if you want cheap seats on the Eurostar you have to books months in advance.
For faster/intercity trains, it is still like that in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and most of central and eastern Europe [0]<p>France, Italy, Spain, Portugal & Sweden require seat reservations, as do most international services<p>Making reservations varies from easy to a complete pain<p>[0] <a href="https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm</a>
Note that doing that in Ireland for intercity will result in you being _severely_ overcharged. Dublin to Cork is like 20 euro if you book in advance; I think if you buy the ticket in the station it’s over 60!<p>It’s fine for commuter stuff, of course, but I assume that’s the case everywhere.
I used to do this but with Flixbuses and Ryanair. Back then one could fly from Frankfurt am Main to Milan for 15 euros.
For single countries though the Interrail not worth it, or more like make your own research<p>For example in Hungary we have an unlimited pass for ~53€ a month, valid on all trains and multiple public transport options (almost everything in Budapest included) <a href="https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/hungary-pass-full-price/" rel="nofollow">https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/hungary-pass-ful...</a><p>Whereas a 3 days in 1 month Interrail pass is 79€ <a href="https://www.interrail.com/en/interrail-passes/one-country-pass/hungary" rel="nofollow">https://www.interrail.com/en/interrail-passes/one-country-pa...</a>
Same for Germany, we have the 63€/Month Deutschlandticket.
It's only valid for regional trains (but also all local buses, subway and tram systems) though, so for long distance travel you have to switch trains a lot.
And they made it really annoying to get for only one month. It's meant to be a subscription for locals<p>That coupled with the just much nicer experience of high-speed rail (which is not included in the Deutschlandticket), I'd still call the Interrail pass worthwhile if you are visiting. Not the only good option, but one of the good options
Same for Luxembourg, except it is all (train, bus, tram) free. You can only see so much though.
That's a very recent addition though. And a heavily subsidized one at that.<p>I think this would be more for people that are doing a many week (3 or more) trip. At that point I think most people would want to see more than 1 country in Europe as they're so different
Interrail also includes a travel day to and from your home country though
It has that name for a reason though
I remember that there had been a discussion about providing free Interrail tickets to all EU citizens at some age (18 or 19 maybe?), which I found a brilliant idea. I don't know whether this actually ever materialized, though.
> Would we do a trip like this again? It's certain a lot of travel. We weren't very spontaneous - most of the trip was planned out way in advance, along with hotels. Having 2-4 days in each place is like taking a series of minibreaks, which is delightful. <i>But it can be exhausting. I don't want to complain that my diamond tiara is too tight, but there comes a point where there is such a thing a too much holiday.</i><p>This deserves a little more unpicking.<p>Something that I hear very few people discuss is that not all holidays are equal and you need to be aware of what you really need before choosing.<p>If you want to see new places, people, cultures, food, whatever - that's one thing. But if you're tired and need to recharge (sadly, this was often my experience in a corporate job - an endless sawblade cycle of work -> recharge -> work -> recharge) then don't go interrailing - go somewhere quiet and plan to sleep and lie around for a week or two. City breaks and events (e.g. festivals, sports, etc.) fall into this category for me - they are fun and make life better, but expect to come home hopefully happier but also <i>tireder</i> than when you went.
I think it really depends on your personality. I work with people in their late thirties that are refreshed by a long weekend with very little sleep in Ibiza, and would probably die of dread at the idea of spending a week doing nothing.<p>Meanwhile, I'm about to spend ten days in the french mountains, and I hope to do nothing more than read books and go for long quiet walks.
Did a trip like this a few years ago. Highly recommended, if you have the opportunity!<p>Wanted to do a write-up like this, but only got as far as the map,<p><a href="https://kenschutte.com/europe-2023/" rel="nofollow">https://kenschutte.com/europe-2023/</a><p>I wonder if they took the new "Rail Baltica" through the Baltics? That was one of weaker links in the train route - I used a bus between Vilnius and Riga.
its still in progress <a href="https://www.railbaltica.org/progress-today/" rel="nofollow">https://www.railbaltica.org/progress-today/</a>
Did you use some specific tools to collect the data to be displayed on that map?
Good for them. A few years ago I traveled from France to Thailand almost entirely by train (plus three buses and a boat). It's possible. You need time, not necessarily lots of money. Adventure is guaranteed.
In the middle of my doctorate I had a mini-crisis of "I'm not smart enough and I'm never going to manage this", got mononucleosis, and decided the cure was the US equivalent (the USA Rail Pass: <a href="https://www.amtrak.com/tickets/departure-rail-pass.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.amtrak.com/tickets/departure-rail-pass.html</a>).<p>I spent weeks and weeks traveling around the US. The Amtrak system is much maligned but you get to move at a slow pace and see the country and meet people (some of which you would prefer to have not met).<p>I highly recommend doing it if you want to get a sense of the scale and diversity of the US.<p>During this trip, at the recommendation of a friend, I read (or tried to read) a number of "American classic" books which I would finish and then leave on the train for someone else to read. Catch in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, ... The only book I couldn't finish was, ironically, On The Road which I found utterly tedious.
I would love to take an Interrail, eg to visit France, but it's x days in one month (8 days is 292€ per person) and doesn't match my travel habits. I would prefer to make short travels everyday rather than long travels 8 days of the month.<p>Edit: global passes let you travel everyday of your pass, with passes of up to 3 months: <a href="https://www.interrail.com/en/interrail-passes/global-pass" rel="nofollow">https://www.interrail.com/en/interrail-passes/global-pass</a>
For small trips through France you'll probably get cheaper without this pass. When I'm in vacation I do 2-3 days in a city than move on. If I exclude Milano-Lyon, I don't think I ever payed more than 40€ through France and I did Lyon, Paris, Rennes, Brest, Nantes, Bordeaux and a few other cities. The only thing is that I book way in advance.<p>When I returned from Germany, two months ago, the lady next to me was amazed that I payed Munchen-Verona 37€ while she did 100+.
Cost breakdown?<p>EDIT: found it <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48889922">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48889922</a>
Just like with the Erasmus program, it’s a transformative experience. It immunizes you against the BS you see on the internet about countries and people, be it the hype or fear mongering kind of BS. I did Greece-Bulgaria-Turkey many years ago back in college and since can just turn blind eye to the stuff Turks may say about Greeks and vice versa with no effort.<p>Just doesn't trigger me, I have seen the non-touristy parts of those countries on my journey and neither the hate nor the hype rings a bell. It's one of those low-key super successful government stuff. Maybe something like that should exist on global scale.
> Maybe something like that should exist on global scale.<p>Would certainly change things, e.g. the US looked far less glamorous when I actually visited it*, but there's a lot more variation in certain parts of the world than between nearby parts of continental Europe, e.g. Nairobi not only had some very nice looking newly built stuff (the first pictures for the city on Google Maps seem to be glamour shots), but also this: <a href="https://www.google.de/maps/place/Nairobi,+Kenya/@-1.2442837,36.9207708,3a,75y,142.65h,90.54t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sB9hEkhWcipcGdButCwT2CA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-0.5426205811939155%26panoid%3DB9hEkhWcipcGdButCwT2CA%26yaw%3D142.65474904901717!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x182f1172d84d49a7:0xf7cf0254b297924c!8m2!3d-1.2920659!4d36.8219462!16zL20vMDVkNDk?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDcwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.de/maps/place/Nairobi,+Kenya/@-1.2442837,...</a><p>* landed at SFO, even just the literal bed in the hotel room was larger than some entire rooms I've stayed in, then I look out of the windows and think "1980s parody of Butlins in 1960" ("Hi-de-Hi!" was part of my childhood TV).
I did Interrail when I finished studying in 1993. It was a wonderful experience. Visiting foreign countries, meeting people, experiencing crazy things. I can recommend it to everyone (especially as a young adult).
I Interrailed through Northern and Eastern Europe 20 years ago when it was mostly used by students? It was amazing and I really think it brings europeans closer together. Glad it is still around!
Prediction: Germany is going to be your worst train experience.
Prediction: You haven't trained a lot outside of Europe if you think the training experience in Germany would be "your worst train experience".
I remember from my interrail planning that big parts of Europe are not nice to visit due to too slow trains. I heard EU wants to fix this though<p>German train delays are not a big blocker because you normally plan a whole day train travel to go from A to B and being one or two hours late is not too bad.
Actually no. German trains are often late, true, but outside of that its actually very nice. There are a lots of lines and lots of collections. The only time its a bad idea is if you have a real time constraints.
I try and avoid connecting trains. With each connection you only have about a 50:50 chance of success.
But the problem is: everybody doing a trip with a transfer has real-time constraints.<p>With Interrail, that is doable. You’ll have to mostly plan for overnight stays in large cities, but that’s what most Interrail users want to, anyways.
Yeah saw that one coming from a mile.
Germany is quite predictable compared to some other countries.
I went on my first Interrail trip last year. It was a single country trip though. Can absolutely recommend it!
I wonder how much more exhausting could have been if they decided to go much southern in Italy, where the service can be much more degraded
I just love long rail trips, often do Switzerland-Tunis via Palermo to see my in law family. Best trip ever was Tbilisi-Zurich via Batumi, ferry to Odessa Kyiv and Vienna.
Train travel is so great, even in the crappy trains. Just turn up at the station, sit down, and enjoy the sights. You don't even need a seatbelt.<p>I wish to see high speed maglev transportation to supplant air travel in my lifetime.
In practice, those are two different types of train travel. The former exists only in countries with a rail heritage. Where countries are genuinely trying to replace air travel with high-speed rail (credit to them, it's much more sustainable), the new train stations are alas a bit like airports for trains. You generally can't just turn up and hop on. In China you can't even get into the train station without a booking.
China requires showing identification to buy a long-distance train ticket.<p>Other countries I'm familiar with (Spain, France, Germany, UK, Japan) certainly do let you turn up, buy a ticket, and get on. It will cost more than buying earlier.
>China requires showing identification to buy a long-distance train ticket.<p>In China, ID and ticket are the same thing. You know that already.<p>Europe and Japan (what I meant by "rail heritage") are indeed more relaxed. But even in Europe the newest high-speed network, Spain's, follows the airport template, with security check and departure lounge. You have to turn up 25 minutes ahead of departure. It's such a shame and so self-defeating.
Or maybe just change our habits, travel less and slower.
"The crew just opened the doors to let a breeze in - very little health-and-safety culture here!"<p>That's a bit presumptuous...
In the UK I've never seen a train open its doors directly to the tracks. We also have lots of warning not to cross the tracks except by bridge or tunnel.
"Was a little strange seeing cables dripping down from the ceiling"<p>The whole text is full of these weird takes on the most banal things.
What's banal to you is exotic to me.<p>I've seen tourists in London marvel at the most commonplace thing - and I think that's delightful.
Yeah I mean the whole "OMG I have to pre-order my vegan meals??!" thing. Back in the day we had to WALK to school and when on a trip we brought along our hard-boiled eggs and meatballs wrapped in aluminum foil.
> Yeah I mean the whole "OMG I have to pre-order my vegan meals??!"<p>yeah that got me . not sure specifically but it felt a bit weird. Also I appreciate this post is about the interrailing, but it felt after reading all the y did was catch trains for the duration, but no mention of anything that they did or saw in all these places.
WALK to school?! back when I were a lad, we had to CRAWL to school! what a great workout it was! and, for our packed lunches, we'd have a hard-boiled potato with a dod of ketchup, and some breadcrumbs if we were lucky, and we enjoyed it!!
Any estimate on how much would the trip have cost? Just Interrail price
> very little health and safety<p>There is this thing called “common sense” :)
TIL there is a Stockholm to Helsinki ferry.<p>I’ve done Helsinki Talinn and that was great.
Is interrail still a thing? It was popular in Europe back in the 70s and 80s, when young people could buy a interrail pass. Many of my older relatives (now in their 60s) did that back then, but it was more or less dead when I was old enough in the early 00s. By that time, budget airlines had become a thing, and summer/party trips to Spain / Mediterranean started to dominate my peers' summer vacations.
"more or less dead when I was old enough in the early 00s"<p>Think it was just your peer group then. It's still very much a thing. Did it in my youth twice, once at 16 years once at 18 around 2010. I know my cousin who is >10 years younger than me also did it sometime in the last 5 years. Among my peers it was fairly common but it was not done by the majority. If I'd have to guess I'd say 10-20% did it at some point towards the end of highschool.<p>We also did party trips but that's just a different kind of trip and doesn't really mean the other thing is dead.
I got a month-long Eurail pass in the mid 2000s. It was a great experience for me. Only a few places I chose/needed to buy a ticket. I don't know if it's still a good value, though.
No, I just imagined the trip…<p>Yes, very much still a thing. We saw Interrail travellers of all ages. Lots of students going on a big adventure - but a decent number of more experienced travellers seeing the sights.
When I graduated uni in the late 2010s it was still quite popular. Budget airlines have made trips to southern Europe a lot more popular/feasible for a boozy weekend with mates, but for people who want to go backpacking for a month or two Interrail still made a lot of sense, at that time at least.
I've used Interrail every time I want to travel a longer distance across Europe by train. Spares me some of the stress of dealing with interruptions since I can often just hop on the next train. Unless it's fully booked...
I did it in 2010 and I think the majority of my friends have done it over the years. At least around that time it still seemed very much alive for people in the UK.
Interrail is sometimes cheaper, specially as a student. Otherwise it’s usually still cheaper if you want to go to multiple stops
746,000 Interrail passes sold in 2024<p><a href="https://www.interrail.com/en/magazine/did-you-know/rail-recap-2024" rel="nofollow">https://www.interrail.com/en/magazine/did-you-know/rail-reca...</a>
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Self promotion, support a long time HN reader and get your pass via <a href="https://allaboard.eu/eurail" rel="nofollow">https://allaboard.eu/eurail</a> or <a href="https://allaboard.eu/interrail" rel="nofollow">https://allaboard.eu/interrail</a><p>It’s actually more affordable via us, as prices are net and we do free refunds. Loosing the Stripe fee but it’s worth it.
Just an FYI- your "Read more" link under "Seat Reservations" on both pages just leads back to the same page, rather than actually linking to anything offering more information.
How do you handle seat reservation refunds? That was our most annoying experience with the Interrail app - a booking fee on top of the reservation, but little support when those trains were delayed or cancelled.
> Eurostar St Pancras is dangerously crowded and needs tearing down<p>Agreed. It's horrific. They need to get rid of some of the shops, knock through, and double or triple the size of the departure lounge. EES has made it even more chaotic.<p>We do this all the time in the UK - give too much space to retail. You can understand why though - we spend like crazy at airports and railway stations.<p>I did a first class Interrail earlier this year, not planning much, not staying in hostels. It was quite stressful as unsurprisingly Paris, Milan, Florence etc are popular and expensive places! Trying to chase good weather was annoying as it was a terrible winter in much Europe - we had all this flexibility but didn't want to go anywhere as everywhere was cloudy and rainy.<p>We ended up abandoning it half way through, when we were in southern Spain during the terrible week of multiple derailments. We aren't religious but we took that as a sign to head home<p>I'm still committed to trains but I wouldn't repeat the experience. I would base myself somewhere with good trains, stay somewhere a bit cheaper, and do day trips via train
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