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!
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.
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.
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.
> But, as you get older, there's a certain joy in making plans in advance.
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.
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
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]
France, Italy, Spain, Portugal & Sweden require seat reservations, as do most international services
Making reservations varies from easy to a complete pain
I remember that there had been a discussion about provoding 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.
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.
That wouldn't surprise me. "your worst train experience" still would, unless the person only taken trains in Europe. But the world is big, and some places are just on a different level. Ever taken a train in India? I'd like to hear those people complain about the German 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
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.
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"
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.
We also did party trips but that's just a different kind of trip and doesn't really mean the other thing is dead.
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.
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.
Not all countries have a rail pass and not all countries offer a 100% discount pass. And even less offer a 100% discount on all trains and for non residents
> OMG.. are we really doing this? T_T It’s just the marketing term….
Quick one-off jokes that commentators on HN take way to literally and start a whole diatribe about? I mean, apparently :D Relax, it's only a joke, I have no issues with Interrail and use it myself from time to time too... Not sure I'd agree it has anything to do with European or EU identity, but anyways, I guess some do :)
In addition, there's about 2x year a 25% sale and you have a year to activate the passes.
The in southern Europe (e.g. France, Spain, Italy), required seat reservation is most common and most expensive.
I don't mind requiring seat reservations, but that it is separate from the ticket price and significant (eg 15€/seat reservation in Italy), feels like price gouging. It also feels different from say the optional (and way lower priced seat reservations in German ICE's (high speed rail)). I rather pay for a "high speed rail supplement" instead of seat reservation haha :).
I interrailed last year through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland.
In Germany I was lucky, I only had a small delay on the way back.
Austria was exceptional in everything. On time, modern trains and facilities. I guess the food on the train was expensive and bland, but I've never seen a train where that's different.
Slovenia was the weirdest and had the most delays. Train cars for which I had seat reservations consistently didn't exist or arrive. They use old stock, but that also made it kind of fun and there were great views. I couldn't rely on the time table though.
Italy has lots of high speed rail, but required (paid) seat reservations. The problem is that for almost any medium-long distance there's no slower speed alternative. The normal speed stock is fine (can be taken to go to smaller cities) and was generally on time.
Trains in Switzerland are exceptional too. Funnily enough, I did have fairly significant delays 2/5 times.
> Eurostar St Pancras is dangerously crowded and needs tearing down
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Is this not possible any more?
But, as you get older, there's a certain joy in making plans in advance.
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.
France, Italy, Spain, Portugal & Sweden require seat reservations, as do most international services
Making reservations varies from easy to a complete pain
[0] https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm
Edit: global passes let you travel everyday of your pass, with passes of up to 3 months: https://www.interrail.com/en/interrail-passes/global-pass
That wouldn't surprise me. "your worst train experience" still would, unless the person only taken trains in Europe. But the world is big, and some places are just on a different level. Ever taken a train in India? I'd like to hear those people complain about the German train experience :)
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.
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.
We also did party trips but that's just a different kind of trip and doesn't really mean the other thing is dead.
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.
https://www.interrail.com/en/magazine/did-you-know/rail-reca...
Seems more like parent did Intrarail to me.
“Interrail One Country Pass allows unlimited rail travel within one participating country, excluding the holder’s country of residence.”
It’s a way of reinforcing eu identity.. they call it interrail because it connects you to other cultures or societies or whatever you want to call it
Quick one-off jokes that commentators on HN take way to literally and start a whole diatribe about? I mean, apparently :D Relax, it's only a joke, I have no issues with Interrail and use it myself from time to time too... Not sure I'd agree it has anything to do with European or EU identity, but anyways, I guess some do :)
There is this thing called “common sense” :)
The in southern Europe (e.g. France, Spain, Italy), required seat reservation is most common and most expensive.
I don't mind requiring seat reservations, but that it is separate from the ticket price and significant (eg 15€/seat reservation in Italy), feels like price gouging. It also feels different from say the optional (and way lower priced seat reservations in German ICE's (high speed rail)). I rather pay for a "high speed rail supplement" instead of seat reservation haha :).
I interrailed last year through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland.
In Germany I was lucky, I only had a small delay on the way back.
Austria was exceptional in everything. On time, modern trains and facilities. I guess the food on the train was expensive and bland, but I've never seen a train where that's different.
Slovenia was the weirdest and had the most delays. Train cars for which I had seat reservations consistently didn't exist or arrive. They use old stock, but that also made it kind of fun and there were great views. I couldn't rely on the time table though.
Italy has lots of high speed rail, but required (paid) seat reservations. The problem is that for almost any medium-long distance there's no slower speed alternative. The normal speed stock is fine (can be taken to go to smaller cities) and was generally on time.
Trains in Switzerland are exceptional too. Funnily enough, I did have fairly significant delays 2/5 times.
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.
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.
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.
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
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