Busabout vs Interrail; other related things....

Subject: Busabout vs Interrail NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.86.181.27

Hi,

As everyone was so helpful last time i posted a message on here i thought i would repeat the exercise.

First of all i have just discovered busabout, it seems a lot safer and more sociable than interrailing (as i'll be travelling alone), but also seems a lot more expensive. What is everyone's opionion on the difference between the two?

Also this is my rough plan for my month long trip:

fly from the UK to berlin prague maybe krakow - i've heard that the train can be quite unsafe; is there a day train? budapest vienna maybe munich leysin (switzerland - staying at the hiking sheep guesthouse) lyon paris back to the uk

What is everyones opinion on this as an itinery? Are there other places that i should go instead or in addition to these? What kind of budget should i be looking at (staying in hostel dorms)? - i was thinking abnout £1500.

Thanks in anticipation of your much appreciated comments,

I would definitely recommend taking trains or a combination of trains and cheap flights, rather than busabout. It's very easy to meet locals or other travelers on the trains or in hostels, or in the places you visit, so don't worry about travelling alone since you almost certainly won't be alone for long if you don't want to. The rail network in Europe goes virtually everywhere, while busabout is much more limited, both in terms of where it goes and how often buses leave for places.

Lock up your stuff and you'll be fine. Take the day train if that makes you feel safer.

Consider Salzburg or some smaller German towns like Bamberg.

Consider Interlaken if you're into extreme sports.

Consider Provence or the Loire Valley or a wine region instead of another large French city besides Paris.

It's a bit rushed. Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Vienna should take about three weeks in total if you want to really see them. Those cities are loaded with history, and with locals with stories to tell, and a quick trip won't do them justice. That would leave about ten days, if you wanted to see Paris and ONE other place (like Interlaken or Burgundy). Leave out Munich and Lyon and Krakow - you won't have time for them. The important thing is to not try to fit in too much, and leave enough time to really experience things and go beyond just seeing basic tourist sights. Spain, Italy, and Greece are also wonderful, but save them for future trips.

In most of Western Europe, hostel dorm beds are 15-25 euros. Three meals a day in cafes, bakeries, kebab stands, trattorias, pubs, and cheap restaurants with money for beers at night and for cold drinks in hot weather will run you about 25 euros per day. (You can get this down to 15 euros if you really slum it foodwise - fast food, supermarkets, etc., but that would miss out on part of the experience.) Add about 10 euros per day average for admission to stuff, and you have 50-60 euros per day not including transport.

Eastern Europe will be much cheaper, in all of those respects.

Busabout might be more sociable, but buses are shit. And a lot of the busabout people are idiots (I KNOW I KNOW). And train travelling is good.

For starters, Krakow is sorta out of the way - to get to Budapest from Krakow could take 15 hours or something. I'd start by going from Berlin to Krakow (this is a still a long way - 9 hours on the train?), then down to Prague. From there, get a bus to Cesky Krumlov (buses are cheaper and quicker at about 3 hours or so), then train to Budapest. Get a bus back to Prague for an overnight train to Budapest.

I'd skip Vienna in favour of Munich. Munich is amazing. From Munich go to Innsbruck (Austria. Alps. Good.), then off to Interlaken. Leysin is a bastard to get to. Interlaken has everything you want - take an excursion to Gimmelwald or whatever it was called. Cable cars and stuff. From Interlaken to Paris, from Paris to Amsterdam to finish off for a day or two then back to the UK.

So: Berlin 3 nights Krakow 2 nights Prague 3 nights Cesky Krumlov 2 nights Budapest 3 nights Munich 3 nights Innsbruck 2 nights Interlaken 2 nights Paris 3 nights Amsterdam 3 nights

That'd give you a few days to play around with in case you wanted to stay longer. Also, you could do day trips here and there.

Always stay in dorms. Much cheaper. If you want hostel recommendations in these places just ask...I did all this last year.