Tsjernakovskij
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 5 years ago
Hello
I am planning a trip through Eastern Europe in 2 weeks. Starting around 6 July and lasting for a month. I am travelling from Norway to Prague first and then probably to Romania but I am not sure. The core countries I am planning to visit are Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Croatia. Possibly Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland too but I am not sure. This is my first time on a interrail trip so I naturally have many questions but am not sure which are the most important to ask. I read about the 7 pm rule that says a travel overnight is considered "one day", that "one day" otherwise it is midnight to midnight and that the month pass lasts 31 days since I buy it in July. And the sites say that a trip out and into my country is included.
Initially I want to which route is the best to get from Oslo to Prague? The route I found tells me to travel Oslo-Gøteborg (or Malmø) -Berlin-Prague. How long will this take and what is the best way to order tickets for this route? The rest of the trip I hope will be easier. Especially if I decide to stay at least a day at each capital I visit.
I plan to explore the different places as much as possible and to use couchsurfing, hostels or airbnb when I visit. I am traveling alone but if someone is going the same way we could meet up.
All help is greatly appreciated. :)
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Hi and welcome to railcc!
Did you already purchase a pass? How many travel days do you have/do you want to buy?
Do you want to return to Oslo by train or plane?
Leaving from Oslo, your only option by train is to go via Göteborg to Malmö. From Malmö you will have two options:
a) overnight train Malmö - Berlin: [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/malmoe-berlin-en-301/57[/ux]
b) continue to Copenhagen, then travel to Hamburg ([ux]https://rail.cc/blog/hamburg-copenhagen-train/[/ux] and continue to Berlin
From Berlin, there are direct trains to Prague every two hours: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/berlin-prague-train/[/ux]
If you take the Malmö - Berlin night train you can do the whole journey in about 24h; without the night train it might take longer and require an overnight stop along the way.
Travelling with an Interrail pass you wont need any extra tickets; however a couchette reservation is required for the night train Malmö - Berlin; also, you would need seat reservations for the international trains between Denmark and Germany. You can buy them online at [ux]https://rail.shop/dsb/reservation/[/ux] or locally at the station.
Once you are in "Eastern Europe" you dont have to worry that much about reservations etc...
Keep in mind that in Czech Republic and Slovakia you cannot use the trains of private companies Regiojet and Leo Express: [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-company/regiojet/182[/ux] [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-company/leo-express/183[/ux] - it is easy to avoid these trains when you look at the information displays at railway stations (also shown on the schedule planners)
In general I would recommend to buy a Interrail pass with 7 or 10 travel days with which you could cover all longer trips of your journey. Any shorter trips within the Balkans you can easily do with regular trains bought locally which are quite cheap.
If you have more questions please ask.
Flo
Tsjernakovskij
Traveller
1 comments
Hello. Thank you for your answer and sorry for the late reply. I decided to fly directly to Hamburg and then take the train from Hamburg to Prague.
I also decided to buy the 15 days/one month ticked. I know it is probably too much but I got it just in case.
I appreciate the link you added for reserving tickets. It can be used to reserve to Prague and I can figure out how to reserve trains from Prague to Bucharest should I need it.
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
OK. :)
Reservation is not not compulsory on Hamburg - Prague and Prague - Budapest but if you want to reserve for ease of mind, than [ux]https://rail.shop/cd/[/ux] is the best option.
Peter
Traveller
9331 comments
And don\'t miss the 15% discount on Interrail passes these days. Available here: [ux]https://rail.shop/interraileu[/ux]
Pete :)