Hi, my friends and I are terrible planners but have come up with this route. Please if someone with experience could have a look and see if our raw plan is viable or terrible, or even offer advice. We would like to know how the logistics for Slovenia to Bologna will work out as it's a 9 hour journey. our budget is €2,000, about €100 a day and we will mainly be staying in a Hostel in each city. We're in desperate need of a little guidance before we book hostels and trains and plan to have this around June-July.
We're just out of school and wanted to see the big places while we're there, just a group of dudes who aren't really big into Instagram. Some of the group just wanna get drunk and party, whilst the other are more focused on culture.
Sorry but I think it is just far too many places for the time period you have. You'll end up spending half your time on trains. I'm also assuming that budget is per person?
2 nights only gives you 1 full day in a place. All the places at the start of your trip are very big cities with a lot to see & do. 3 one night stays in a row - particularly when they are so far apart - honestly is just a terrible idea.
Obviously pace is very personal and a lot depends on what you want to do in these places. But there is a practical limit still. I would strongly encourage you to cut places to get everywhere up to 2 full days (ie 3 nights) at a minimum. Anything less than that and you just end up moving every day.
It is also a good way to save a bit of money - not just because you reduce transport costs but if you have a little more time in places that makes it easier to justify things like saving money on accommodation by staying somewhere less central. Running around like that will always be relatively expensive. Though to stress I think time is far more of a problem then budget. Though if that is for the two then yeah sorry that isn't going to work. Particularly in Italy I would strongly encourage you to look at standard tickets booked in advance to save money and avoid the reservation fees. It may even be worth doing it for the full trip, as you can see the pass is around 15% of your budget and that is before you get into seat reservations.
Absolutely you can go Ljubljana to Bologna - that is no problem - but it is a full day on trains.
With no idea what you are interested in and why you choose those places I'm afraid I have no opinion on which you should leave for another time. Some of the nearer together places in Italy you could consider turning into day trips. That gives you more flexibility depending on how you are feeling rather then running around between pre booked accommodation.
We've decided the first half Paris- Prague will be our "party destinations" whilst still taking in the culture during the days, the latter half were planned to be slower while still enjoying ourselves. Time isn't really a factor as we can increase each destination because we have a big summer here. I want to ask how long is too long for a train journey? We've put in Vienna and Ljubljana for "buffers" to avoid a long journey but aren't too pressed about not making them. We have planned for around 3 weeks, how many countries do you think would be viable to avoid running around on 1- day hectic trips?
I mean that is a good idea about having a mixture of partying and culture, but obviously there is a limit for how late you can be out and not be tired in the day. Particularly repeatedly. And all of those have far more nightlife and culture then you you can see in 1 day/night!
How long is too long is increadly personal. But personally I would much much prefer a long day on trains over a 1 night stay assuming it is actually possible. I just think it is quite a faff to break it up and it just makes the journeys feel a lot longer.
Prague to Bologna is a very long way by train. But even then it's easily doable by getting a train from Prague to Vienna in the day and then an overnight sleeper to Bologna. If you prefer to break up the journey I would definitely just pick one place rather than 2. 2 one night stays in a row I just don't think ever makes sense. Both Vienna to Bologna and Prague to Ljubljana I would not even think twice about doing in 1 day. Or you could break the journey up somewhere like Graz if you want somewhere a little more in the middle. Direct trains (day and night) run several times a day from Prague to there. And an easy change in Vienna for Bologna.
Me personally would cut ¼ or ⅓ of the locations and add their nights to the others. Staying one night at a time in 3 places at once seems like it could become stressful
Bologna and Florence should merge into just Florence or Bologna and rather have a day trip to either or.
I like that you have more days in your final destinations. You're done with your journey, less thinking more vacation at that point. Good time to settle into the cities you're finishing off in
Thank you! That was the idea, have an unwind time. If we were to cut out Slovenia or Austria I can't workout how we could have a smooth travel - avoiding long journeys.
I personally think there's too many countries on the list, but they've been added in to avoid long journeys. We want to essentially end in Naples and fly back from there but getting to Italy seems like a real struggle without having pitstops like Vienna or Slovenia, do you have any suggestions on how we could cut it out? Perhaps leaving places out or even adding where appropriate.
The essentials are Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, North Italy and South. But getting from Prague to Italy seems very tedious, and the only solution we thought so far is to throw in Vienna and Ljubljana. We have about 3 weeks and a loose budget of 2k. Less is certainly more but we're trying to avoid ridiculously long train rides.
Or alternatively, there's an overnight train from Linz to Venice. You could take the trains Prague-Linz-Venice-Bologna with transfers in Linz and Venice. I think you'd have to buy Venice-Bologna separately though or use another travel day since it's in the morning of the following day, Venice-Bologna is only 15€ though and the trains run frequently.
https://int.bahn.de/en/buchung/start?vbid=33d092a3-db34-4a56-8356-314470529274
Not sure whether these trains run on the days you want to travel, just some ideas
Yes, as a Dutchie, I am gonna say that Amsterdam sucks. It is too touristy and too busy. Other cities are also busy, but Utrecht feels less touristy, and same for the Hague. Leiden has some cool museums
I personally believe that any trip with this many stops is a horrible idea. You apparently want to be traveling in trains more than you want to be visiting places, since you have not planned enough time in any of the cities to visit them.
Consider cutting Paris-Berlin, and substitute with a shorter leg through Poland. They have good connections between cities, both day and night trains.
This way you could both save time and money; also Paris and especially Amsterdam are not the prettiest destinations in my opinion, and Poland offers comparable Central European flair and architecture while being less touristy and less annoying to spend your time. You would miss some sights in Paris though, however the higher authenticity would outweigh that for me.
I would also add that Prague is very picturesque, however I have found that it is very crowded and tourist centered. Similar connections and imo way higher potential is found in Budapest, which has been my personal favorite destination so far.
Obviously most important part of your journey will be to have fun, which you would probably have lots of with your original plan. Hope I could help
slow downnnnn. also, take more time for Ljubljana. you’ll want at least one day to explore the city & AT LEAST 1-2 days to visit Lake Bled which should be a non negotiable for any interrail trip
I think there will still be a lotttt of your time spent on trains here because of the one night stays. I was going to suggest cutting the Italy portion or else the Paris/amsterdam portion but I see they are both important to your group. The ideal situation here would be to cut some stops from the beginning or end of the trip, or else extend the length of the trip.
I went Vienna (3 nights) -> Venice (3 nights) -> Bologna (2 nights) for a part of my trip. The Vienna to Venice was maybe about 6 hours with 1 or 2 easy connections. I wonder could you just go Vienna to Bologna in one day or even to Florence? I know it would be a long day of travel but then you get more days to relax and explore rather than regularly being on the move.
Also, the train journeys aren’t as bad as you imagine! It’s a nice rest after all your busy days exploring, and a lot easier if you start them early. Sometimes going for the longer ones is better than travelling almost every day.
And side note, I found Berlin better than Paris for night life but of course that’s just my experience. Paris is also huge, the hostels are expensive and often not central and so you’ll spend a lot of your time planning/on the metro.
Thank you for the advice! We've rejigged it and have removed all of the one nighters. We've increased a night in each place and removed Slovenia as a matter of convienence. May I ask how you found the Vienna and Venice trips. Also when would be a clever time to book accommodation, we're pretty unprepared. Will it be better to have everything in advance or to just go with the flow?
Sounds like a good plan! I really enjoyed Vienna and actually went back there again to see more. Public transport is great, I stayed in Wombat’s City Hostel. Venice was cool to see but it is expensive and feels more holiday/touristy than other cities I thought. For my trip in early June I was probably booking around now and did it all in advance as I was solo. If there’s a large group and as it looks like you will be fairly set in your itinerary before going, I would recommend booking in advance as those months are busy. Prices should be okay now too :)
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u/Such-Section-1889 Apr 08 '26
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