Hi,

I've been all over Google looking at various people's opinions of Interrail - I realise there are probably many posts on this already so I apologise in advance but I hope I could get some recommendations for my specific trip - mainly, do you think it's worth it? If I get the one month pass will I be paying lots of surcharges on this route or will it be all plain sailing?

Toulouse - Barcelona - Madrid - Venice - Rome - Croatia - Switzerland - Paris - London

(if getting the train from Madrid to Venice is too much of a pain I consider a flight from Madrid to Rome and then up to Venice, but obviously the less you use the rail pass the less point there is in spending £550 on it).

Any advice would be really appreciated, thanks a lot!
Sam

Hopefully some Euro-Booties will chime in on this post soon. In the meantime, here's a search of Interrail posts on these forums to get you started.

Given this large scale of travel, you MIGHT just be justified in a pass, You won't need it for Italy, or for Spain, as costs are reasonable inside the country. Switzerland, paris, london? French trains are always expensive, at least the fast ones, and it costs 90 euros per person to take the Eurostar channel tunnel train on a ticket bought a month ahead..

Yes- Paris- barcelona costs around 100 euros by itself.
Barcelona Madrid, probably 40 euros or so, maybe more.
Madrid-Venice, its a haul. I don't understand why you don't do this backwards, since Barcelona is on a direct line to Venice. That's how I got to Venice, anyways.
So figure 40+ euros to Barcelona, and another 100 to Venice on the Tren-hotel, or thats what fit my schedule. You have to go through france, you see... That makes it expensive.

Toulouse - Barcelona - Madrid - Venice - Rome - Croatia - Switzerland - Paris - London

First of all, why start in Tolouse, unless you get a really cheap flight there or are already ensconsed in spain?

Ok. First of all, it makes more sense to make it

Tolouse-Madrid-Barcelona.

Otherwise you waste a short, yet valuable leg. There are direct trains to Madrid from all parts of France, or should be. I can't get the SNCF link to work properly, so I'm not sure.

This looks like a shopping list trip, instead of a geographically compacted one.

Anyways, the question is: Is it worthwhile for the pass?

Judging from the distances and countries you;ll be travelling in, you won't lose a lot of money, and if you change your mind about destinations, it'll be more relaxing to know almost all travel, except perhaps in Croatia, is covered. Croatia trains aren't as expensive as most of Europe.

It seems like you're planning on crossing a border almost every time you get on the move. If that is so, you may want to check out the Eurolines 30 day bus pass. More info at http://www.eurolines-pass.com/ .

The price varies depending on when you travel (310, 330 or 455 euros in low, shoulder and high season), but there are no surcharges, so that price is fixed wherever you go. According to http://www.eurolines-pass.eu/timetable.aspx , everything on your schedule apart from Croatia is covered by Eurolines, but you can get easily get to Croatia through Slovenia from Venice. The rule is that every time you get on a bus, you have to move from one country to another, except for between Barcelona and Madrid. (I guess Catalunya counts as a country?) Rome-Venice will be a problem, though.

What you lose compared to an interrail ticket is that you don't get "free" local transport to villages and attractions outside the city you're staying in. Also, there are obviously fewer travel times to choose between. The buses are comfortable, so if you time things right, you can save some accommodation costs by travel-sleeping on night buses.

Just a thought.

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

The buses are comfortable, so if you time things right, you can save some accommodation costs by travel-sleeping on night buses.

Being a little older than many here, perhaps I'm being a drag, but I've found that because I don't sleep so well on buses, or sitting up in any regard, you can save some money, but lose half a days of alertness by doing your sleeping on the move. The exception for me is a couchette in a train, which make travel so comfortable many times.

Also, some bus lines in some countries have special overnight buses that recline back and become beds. I don't think any european buses do that, and certainly not those in Slovenia.

It all depends on how well you can sleep in a moving bus, sitting up. Comfortable trains are usually better, but uncomfortable trains, well. Its the same story, if cramped in a six person sit-up couchette all night.

Thanks very much for the feedback all it's been very helpful - to clarify a few things:

Madrid-Venice, its a haul. I don't understand why you don't do this backwards, since Barcelona is on a direct line to Venice. That's how I got to Venice, anyways.

If that's the case, I didn't realise that and it solves a lot of my problems - is Barcelona to Venice doable in one day or did you have to stop somewhere in between?

First of all, why start in Tolouse, unless you get a really cheap flight there or are already ensconsed in spain?

I'm coming from the UK by plane, flying into Toulouse to meet some people so (maybe unfortunately) I need to start there.

This looks like a shopping list trip, instead of a geographically compacted one.

True, but I've travelled much greater distances in shorter times before in places like China so from my point of view the distances don't seem that daunting really. I guess I'm looking to get a taste of everywhere so I can decide where to visit again for longer in the future.

I probably will end up going with the rail pass for that extra flexability. The only problem now is I need to adjust my prices for European hostels - I've just come from New Zealand and have been used to paying around £8 a night for an amazing hostel... from looking at France and Spain I'll need to multiply that by three or four.. ouch!!

Being a little older than many here, perhaps I'm being a drag, but I've found that because I don't sleep so well on buses, or sitting up in any regard, you can save some money, but lose half a days of alertness by doing your sleeping on the move.

Just to also say I agree with that - every time I try to save money by sleeping on a train overnight it just makes the next day a bit of a write-off as you stumble about feeling shattered. I find it a bit of a false economy really.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice!