I'm going to try keep this brief but fitting a crazy month of travelling round Europe in only so many words is going to be one hefty task! Grab your fav drink (Cafe Nero is currently giving you a free hot drink on O2 priority!), wrap in your warmest blanket in this cold Autumnal weather, and let's reminisce on summer 2016.
Our second place was Berlin. I absolutely loved it here! 2 of my friends are studying beginners German which was so unbelievably handy the amount we got lost in this city. We must have travelled up every tall building and got every view from above Berlin possible - including a stationary hot air balloon! My highlights of this place were Badeschiff which is the last photo you can see. One hungover morning after a night in the infamous Tresor club, we headed early to this man-made pool in the middle of the city to recover only in the best way possible! I had the best cheese toastie that day. Another highlight, quite the contrast, was visiting the Berlin Holocaust Memorial - As a history student, Berlin was insane for topping up my European history. This memorial is free, which I couldn't believe, and was all personal stories of holocaust survivors and their families. It was so emotional; sometimes I feel we all become somewhat desensitised to the Holocaust learning about it so much throughout school but the personalisation of this memorial really hit home for me.
HOSTEL: City Berlin Hostel. Would definitely recommend - after requesting a 6 bed room we ended up with one to ourselves which was heaven after Amsterdam's ordeal! They had so much handy tourist info and was in a good location for the main tourist spots! 34 degree heat though...
Next up, Munich...
Munich was definitely my favourite city we visited. We used airbnb this time which was luxury having a modern apartment to ourselves after the cramped night train there! We dumped our stuff, hired bikes straight away and rode around the English Gardens in the late summer sun to explore our new home for the next 3 days. Home to Oktoberfest, the history of the city was so interesting, shaping their culture today. There was so many nice places to eat and the city gave an overall chilled atmosphere! I am already dying to return but perhaps with more money this time as we were really living that poor interrailing life by destination 3...
HOSTEL: Airbnb apartment - would thoroughly recommend, while our host wasn't the most accommodating, I really enjoyed the whole experience of using Airbnb!
Next up, Prague...
We found Prague extremely hit and miss, unfortunately. So many people we met said Prague was their fav destination, but whether we were just doing it wrong, we just didn't feel that. The train there was unreal, enjoying an unexpected cabin to ourselves we were ready to tackle a new city! But we arrived feeling stressed in a country who's language, currency and location we barely knew, with customer service in the train station being disgusting (considering it's full of tourists!) I had low expectations. However, the bar crawls were unbeatable - v v fun! If I ever returned it would definitely be for a long drinking weekend no problem.
HOSTEL - Little Quarter Hostel. Would definitely recommend, staff were lovely, very clean, amazing location and all you can eat breakfast for 5 euros!
So there you have the first 4 locations of my interrailing trip. Well done if you've made it this far! I was looking to do a full post on all 8 but underestimated how much I wanted to say - even this was so edited down. If you have any questions or would like me to go in any more detail in any things we experienced then please don't hesitate to say, I'd be more than happy to! Have you been to any of these places already, or interrailing?
See you soon, Jess x
Being a university student means I have one long summer to fill in and one big student loan, so I of course have to take advantage! Me and 3 friends I met in my first year decided to buy a 30 day interrailing ticket to travel Europe. I couldn't recommend it enough, and would love to do it again on a different route! Travelling by train you get to see landscapes deep in the countryside of Europe you'd never see on a plane. One journey that stands out to me was from Budapest to Lake Bled and travelling through tiny villages in the Alps with incredible views of snowy mountains in the mid-July sun! Our seats had us 4 together, with wifi, so I had 6 blissful, uninterrupted hours of catching up on this years Love Island. I was on bloody cloud nine!
Being the stress heads we are, we planned everything to a T. Every train route was booked with reservations, every day planned with what to do and every hostel pre booked to ensure we had as jam-packed time as possible with minimal panic! This of course had its pros and cons. In places like Krakow and Prague which are relatively small, whilst we still enjoyed, 4 days in each place straight after the other was way too long in my opinion. Luckily they were the cheaper places so we had some amazing experiences on the bar crawls, met some cool people and ate some great food! But I feel if we didn't booked everything, we could've left these places earlier and came away with the same positive feeling we had for everywhere else, or spent longer in places we really loved.
AMSTERDAM > BERLIN > MUNICH > PRAGUE > KRAKOW > BUDAPEST > LAKE BLED > SPLIT
First up, Amsterdam...
Our first stop was Amsterdam. While we weren't greeted with the best weather it was still an amazing start to the trip! One of my biggest tips in planning your route would be to start here or more Western Europe when you have the most money - we spent waaaay too much in our first week. While here we walked the infamous Red Light District, viewed Ann Frank's house, visited Rijksmuseum and tried the best churros I've ever had - A big statement from a foodie like myself!
HOSTEL - Central Station Hostel. Wouldn't recommend, perhaps more as a layover place since in a room of 10, people mostly slept so the atmosphere was not great.
Next up, Berlin...
HOSTEL: City Berlin Hostel. Would definitely recommend - after requesting a 6 bed room we ended up with one to ourselves which was heaven after Amsterdam's ordeal! They had so much handy tourist info and was in a good location for the main tourist spots! 34 degree heat though...
Next up, Munich...
Munich was definitely my favourite city we visited. We used airbnb this time which was luxury having a modern apartment to ourselves after the cramped night train there! We dumped our stuff, hired bikes straight away and rode around the English Gardens in the late summer sun to explore our new home for the next 3 days. Home to Oktoberfest, the history of the city was so interesting, shaping their culture today. There was so many nice places to eat and the city gave an overall chilled atmosphere! I am already dying to return but perhaps with more money this time as we were really living that poor interrailing life by destination 3...
HOSTEL: Airbnb apartment - would thoroughly recommend, while our host wasn't the most accommodating, I really enjoyed the whole experience of using Airbnb!
Next up, Prague...
We found Prague extremely hit and miss, unfortunately. So many people we met said Prague was their fav destination, but whether we were just doing it wrong, we just didn't feel that. The train there was unreal, enjoying an unexpected cabin to ourselves we were ready to tackle a new city! But we arrived feeling stressed in a country who's language, currency and location we barely knew, with customer service in the train station being disgusting (considering it's full of tourists!) I had low expectations. However, the bar crawls were unbeatable - v v fun! If I ever returned it would definitely be for a long drinking weekend no problem.
HOSTEL - Little Quarter Hostel. Would definitely recommend, staff were lovely, very clean, amazing location and all you can eat breakfast for 5 euros!
So there you have the first 4 locations of my interrailing trip. Well done if you've made it this far! I was looking to do a full post on all 8 but underestimated how much I wanted to say - even this was so edited down. If you have any questions or would like me to go in any more detail in any things we experienced then please don't hesitate to say, I'd be more than happy to! Have you been to any of these places already, or interrailing?
See you soon, Jess x
