The thing about growing up with a mum who’s scared of flying, you spend a lot of time on trains.
Almost all of our summer holidays were in the south of France or Spain and most of the time we’d get there either by driving or, much more fun, by rail. Settling into couchettes, eating pain au chocolate on a platform in the middle of nowhere, swapping carriages in the middle of the night somewhere in Switzerland, occasionally in the snow. As a result, continental trains have always felt romantic to me.
Add to that the fact that I never had a gap year and that’s the reason I found myself looking up Interrail passes as a family vacation option for me, my wife and two children (Hannah aged 11 and Marnie, 8). And huge bonus, you don’t pay for Interrail passes for kids under 12 which is why we decided that a trip around Europe while Hannah was still gratis seemed like a great idea.
The planning
We gave ourselves just over two weeks and given we wanted to actually spend some time in different places, we limited how far we travelled and how many stops we made. That also meant we were able to book our accommodation in advance, important given it was the height of summer.
The main thing with Interrail is this: there are a multitude of different pass options, most popular being a certain number of travel days within a month-long period. That’s the one we went for. We also upgraded to 1 st class which is one of the best decisions we made and still totally worth it for the money. A seven days-in-one-month 1 st class pass is £330 for an adult, which is an amazing deal, especially given going premier on European trains genuinely means something.
There is one caveat. While many, many trains around the continent will be totally free with this pass, some – including Eurostar – require a reservation and will charge you a small fee for this. Often these are the big intercity ones between main hubs and you also pay if you want to go overnight in a sleeping compartment. So that £330 won’t be the total travel budget. Nevertheless, given the freedom you get by doing it this way, it is more than worth the price.
The route
Once we’d decided on duration, we discussed as a family where we wanted to go. There ended up being three non-negotiables. I wanted to see Croatia, my wife wanted to visit Slovakia and my eldest refused to do any overnight trains (don’t ask). Once we’d worked out the logistics – most importantly that we didn’t just spend ALL our time getting to places, but actually spending time in our various destinations, this was what we came up with: UK to Brussels on the Eurostar, one night there then on to Munich for two days, then down to Ljubljana, quick layover before Pula for four nights, back to Slovakia for a couple of days, hop to Kitzbühel in the Austrian Alps for three nights, back to Paris, then home.
Which meant first stop was a night in Belgium, a quick stop in Brussels where we grabbed something to eat and stayed in a cool, offbeat hotel, the Yooma Urban Lodge, which we chose for its price and its proximity to the main station.
Munich, Germany
Munich was not originally going to be a deliberate stop, but came about because of the whole ‘not sleeping on trains’ thing. I looked for a hub that would also be a fun place to stay between Belgium and Slovenia and Munich was the obvious choice. I’m glad we did. It’s a beautiful city, serviced with an unsurprisingly excellent local transport system. The trams went from almost directly outside our hotel on Arnulfpark which we used to head centrally into the shopping haven that is Marienplatz one day (where employees of a nail salon
thought it was hilarious that I also got my toes painted alongside my girls) and the opposite direction for a trip to Nymphenburg Palace. The latter in particular was a joy, a gorgeous National Trust-style pile with adjoining botanical garden. It felt like a real palate cleanser after spending the previous evening with a picnic atop the hill outside the Olympic Stadium, listening to a concert blare out from below.
Ljubljana, Slovakia
From Germany, we made our way to the first of our ‘must-go-to’ cities – Ljubljana. This did involve our first more prosaic train journey, on a rather old-fashioned local Slovenia service (those of you of a certain age will remember British Rail looking and feeling very similar in the 1980s, so it’s retro if nothing else). The fact we’d be spoiled so far meant we got a bit of a shock when we climbed on board a quaint old-fashioned carriage that was absolutely boiling, the kind of temperature that makes you sweat within seconds. This discomfort was brief – the trip we’d made to John Lewis prior to leaving the UK to buy each of us a cheap hand fan had us all punching the air in celebration. We even had a spare – which we lent to the similarly awash British family across the aisle.
If you’re doing summer in Europe, I can’t recommend doing the same thing enough. We spent three days in Slovakia’s capital across two stays (heading south and then heading north again). I would happily go there again, possibly taking in Lake Bled en route as well). Walkable, pretty, welcoming, not too pricey, it was a city break sure, but felt a little quirky and different. The food is great, thanks to the Italian and Eastern European influences and they love tourists. I’d recommend just wandering about and looking at the beautiful architecture, but the castle is definitely worth a visit. It’s very close to the centre – we were surprised but pleased by how manageable the city is to navigate – but will necessitate an uphill walk if you decided to brave it.
Pula, Croatia
I’ve always wanted to do Croatia and Pula felt like a good option given we wanted to be by the seaside once during the holiday. We stayed on a resort, which was solid and felt like one of those you might get on the Costa Brava, all white stone and mediocre pizzerias that did the job. Most importantly it had air conditioning in our apartment, because it was absolutely scorching hot the whole time we were there. The main function of this part was to just sit and do nothing by the pool/sea and that’s exactly what we ended up doing. There was a brief thought of going to the much-heralded Aquapark Istralandia, but given we had a pool near our digs and Verudela Beach also had a load of inflatables you could pay to muck around on, we decided we couldn’t be bothered.
Kitzbühel, Austria
For me, the absolute highlight of the trip given the sheer beauty of the area. You feel like you can breathe, the Tyrolean mountains are mind-blowing and there is plenty to do, both lazy and if you’re a bit more exercise-conscious. Hiking in the hills, a hillside wildlike park, bike hire, cable cars and gorgeous swimming lakes, like Shwarzsee. It’s absolutely influenced any holiday decisions since. Primarily because it’s buzzy but not busy, it’s like waking up in Middle Earth every day, but above all because it’s not 45 degrees Celsius in the shade, like it is in Greece at the height of summer. The kids happened to fall in love with it too for a pair of reasons.
One is the range of child-friendly activities on offer. My girls particularly enjoyed the day of rural exploring, ziplining and archery doing the Erlebnis Camp which I would highly recommend. My kids aren’t very good at doing new things in an alien environment, but the welcoming guide and the sheer joie de vivre that being out and about engendered meant they raved about it. The second huge win was Lisi Hotel, where we were staying. I cannot praise this place enough. All-inclusive, delicious food, an outdoor and indoor pool.
But best of all a huge separate play space they call Lisi World, with trampolines, ping pong, a soft play and most importantly, staff so you can happily leave the kids there by themselves.
Home (via Paris)
Done Paris many times of course, given it was only for a night, we mixed things up by staying at an AirBnB in the northwestern suburb of Clichy which was a bit more chill than the centre. Took the kids to the Pompidou which was a good decision as its idiosyncratic layout, complete with a windowed escalator going up the outside of the building, made it a bit much interesting than other museums. We’d also heard great things about the boutique joint L’Hôtel on the Left Bank, Oscar Wilde’s former home no less, so we popped in there on the way back to our rental flat to feel cool and have a glass of wine. It totally lived up to its billing – I’m saving up to stay there next time we visit the French capital.
The verdict
All in all, Interrailing is an absolutely brilliant choice for a family holiday and we have inspired at least two sets of friends to do the same thing. Trains were almost uniformly fantastic, with just one 60-minute journey from Slovakia to Austria where it was so busy we ended up sitting on the floor.
Our 5 top tips for doing it successfully:
1. Don’t try and do the whole of Europe. There was an initial temptation for us to get as far as Budapest, or Poland, but the reality is, if you’re doing this for a fortnight, going that distance will mean you spend almost all the holiday travelling. You can always do another bit of Europe next summer!
2. Take the plunge and upgrade to a first class Interrail pass. You won’t regret it.
3. Don’t be afraid to just BE in some of your destinations. You can get caught up in trying to do the entire city during your stay. You won’t be able to and that’s absolutely fine.
4. Try and mix up where you stay. So pick a seaside resort and then go to a bustling city, choose a small, unfamiliar spot that takes you all by surprise and follow it up with somewhere you love and you want the kids to witness for themselves.
5. Don’t get too caught up in the detail. Sometimes I found myself getting anxious about whether we were ‘doing it right’. But if you’ve done the pre-planning, then lean into the looseness of it. It’ll make you a more fun travelling companion.
