Can anyone reccomend a route from uk to hungary via lots of interesting places using an interrail pass?

Question

i'm planning to travel on my own to szieget music festival http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english in budapest, hungary on th 12-18th of august 2008, but i will be leaving some time around next wednesday/thursday (30/31st july) and plan to take in as much of europe along the way and probably come back to the uk a few days after the festival around the 20/21st august.

i'v checked out an interail pass to get me about (plannin to get a 10 day in 22 day pass http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail_global_pass_order?currency=gbp) but am daunted by the prospect of where i might go and what i mite see along the way and would appreciate advice from anyone else who mite have made a similair journey or even plans to do something along th lines this year

...also not sure where to start from, i figure the cheapest option is to catch a ferry over to either france or holland, but strugglin to find details

any and all advice will be really appreciated

thanks in advance

mike

Answer 1

I have never tried the train for this trip, but I did drive it many times. You will not pass through and bad places on the way. The web site below has a planner which can help you decide the route.

Maybe you can take in Paris if you have never been, its awsome.

Germany will be the longest part of the trip and into Austria (Vienna) is a must.

Sziget is great fun so enjoy.

Answer 2

A good site for planning international train travel is the German site in English:

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/...

A second good thing to have handy is a map with the main railroads:

http://www.interrailnet.com/downloads/in...

Your cheapest ferry crossing will likely be one of the Dover Calais ones, with connecting buses from and to the railway stations.

From there it is logical to travel to Paris, but you can also travel east towards Lille and Belgium, skipping France for the most part.

With a look on the map I would say, Belgium, Germany, Czech republic, (through) Slovakia and you are in Hungary.

That is easy to do on 3 days of travel, or you can break your journey a little more often and use 5 of your days.

For the way back you can use Austria, Switzerland, France and back to the bit of water you need to cross to get home.

I recently did from the Netherlands to Calais and across to England, (Canterbury, Chichester,) crossed from Portsmouth to Le Havre, Paris, Ronchamps (a small town near the German French border) Strassbourg, Frankfurt, Prague, and from there I did several small towns in Czech republic and Slovakia, Bratislava, Vienna and an overnight train home. All on the 10/22 Interrail pass, except the last night.

If you want to take an Overnight train on your pass, you can start it the day before, under conditions. (Costing you just one day on your pass.)

See more info on the InterRail site, the FAQ:

http://www.interrailnet.com/2_frequently...

If you want more info, you can e-mail me through my profile.