So me and some friends are currently planning a trip through Europe. Nothing is really set in stone yet, our first question is if we want to do a roadtrip with a camper-van or an Interrail trip.
I guess the advantage of a train would be, that it would be a lot more enjoyable to cover larger distances than with a camper. I thought, maybe it would be really cool, if we did like a larger tour through Europe, so I researched a bit and planned a hypothetical trip through Germany (where we live) to Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and back to Germany.
That sounds like a lot, but with the train routes, I looked up it would be doable with only 9 travel days, 4 of which would take the whole day (10-12 hours) and 5 of which would only take half a day (4-6 hours). I thought, that could be quite reasonable and it would be a great adventure type trip.
Do you think that could be cool, or would it get exhausting to quick?
It would be very cool. If you go to Finland, know that with the interrail ticket you can get a reduced price on ferries (-20% or smthg).
You should know that booking the train tickets is a pain in some countries (e.g. France, but that’s not in your itinerary: there the interrail seats are very limited, very quickly booked, and tickets can be booked earliest 3 months in advance).
If I recall correctly there is a night train going from Berlin to Stockholm through Hamburg and Denmark. That’s a nice option.
21 days is 504 hours. Assuming light sleep (6 hours), that’s 378 waking hours. Your proposal includes (pessimistically) 78 hours on a train, which is ~1 of every 5 hours of your trip. It gets closer to 1/4 if you account for 8 hours/night.
All that to say… you better have some things in mind to entertain you on the trains, because that’s a huge chunk of your trip.
Train at night -> sleep
Yes and, make sure you really like everyone in your group, going to be tight quarters for a loooooooong time.
It depends on the people in your group. If they can be courteous while tired, can wake up at odd hours with an alarm, pack light, and help you figure out which platform to get on, travelling by train can be enjoyable.
But if they’re none of the above, take the camper, and plan potential stops to use restroom or get food–before you leaveIts doable but i think youd enjoy it more with a smaller itinerary.
Are sleeper trains an option for the longer journeys? That woukd change the cost and dynamic.
I think it would be cool. I like watching out train windows though. Just be flexible. If it’s not working, don’t force it. When you plan your trip, spend time on contingency plans.
I don’t like trains, so you know my choice.
