This year in June I completed my second Interrail trip, this time solo, far more daring - and so fulfilling! I spent three weeks on wildly different types of trains (including two sleepers) travelling across the Visegrad Four. It was an intentional route (full details at the end) as all my research linked them up beautifully and fit right in with my desire for slow and 'offbeat' travel mixed in with a few iconic hotspots. Not that it isn't possible elsewhere on the Interrail/Eurail network, but the region offered in many instances alternative routes for new train experiences or for reaching my next destination.
An example of the first is instead of going directly from Toruń to Warsaw, I chose to tag on an extra 90 minutes and first go north to Iława, just so I could get the EIP from there to Warsaw and in this way experience my first ride on a Pendolino. It was wonderful (WARS carriage included!) and I don't regret the time it took away from my half- day in Warsaw, which deserves more anyway. It doesn't go as fast as I expected and (perhaps thankfully) it doesn't actually tilt that much – I unexpectedly experienced *that* on the TEZ in the High Tatras; quite a joyride, but slow enough and through amazing nature so it was perfectly manageable, and thoroughly enjoyable!
An example of the second – an 'obscure' route – is my choice to take a slower route (again, about 90 minutes more) from Prague to Vienna. However, I pushed that to the extreme as I still didn't go direct but set myself the challenge of taking as many different scenic routes as possible before arriving in the Austrian capital.
Here's the full travel day: I departed Prague Main Station at 7.46am on board the Silva Nortica which goes south past Tabor and before Ceske Budejovice branches east to enter Austria at Gmünd. I got off at Sigmundsherberg and, within a completely doable 3-minute transfer time (yes, I was nervous about it), caught the 10-minute regional train (REX 44) to Horn NÖ Bahnhof where I had just 8 minutes to transfer, which didn't need to worry me as the driver got off with us and on to the R 44 to take us (me and another 3 people) to Krems. (Note: At this hour, everyone else who left Prague via Brno that morning just over an hour after me had now arrived in Vienna!) At Krems, there was just a 4-minute transfer to catch the private (i.e. Pass not accepted) Wachaubahn – again doable as it seems they are waiting for the train to come in. The journey through the Wachau Valley is 20€ but I found it worth every penny for the near-empty carriages and beautiful sights of vineyards on one side and the Danube on the other! The terminus is at Emmersdorf where I waited just a few minutes for the VOR Bus 721 to go across to Melk. This was the longest – by a long shot – transfer of the day and gave me enough time to relax with a cold drink at a café outside the station.
From Melk it was a fast 6-minute hop on the CJX 5 to Pöchlarn where I boarded the RE 57 to Scheibbs. I didn't think the journeys could get any more scenic, but this topped the list! Riding along streams with open windows listening to the train horn (to warn wildlife) and seeing locals on riverside beaches and on canoes enjoying their own summer slow day was beyond any deeply rewarding, and emotional, experience I could have wished for. I spent just a little while in Scheibbs and headed back (the only backtracking of the day – it can't be avoided unless you take a long bus ride) to Pöchlarn for the CJX 5 to St. Pölten where, you might have guessed it, I got off and waited for my long-standing favourite train the Westbahn to take me right to Westbahnhof. What could have been a simple 4-hour train ride (with many others and therefore also probably in need of seat reservations) I turned into an 11-hour journey – and my absolute best Interrail travel day yet!
That was a long second example, but I feel it's a sterling one if only it inspires others to consider less-popular routes when possible. Another 'sweet' journey that it seems few travellers take was from Košice to Budapest, from where I embarked on my first night train. This was a super novel experience for me – and the sunset along the Danube was trumped only by the sunrise sights (running to and from my compartment and carriage hall windows – quietly, of course) as we neared Krakow.
Bonus highlights, travelling solo isn't necessarily solitary, I had a lovely conversation with another solo traveller, Ben from California, on the platform at Melk (which I unfortunately had to interrupt to jump off the first CJX – but I know he understands), at Hanavský Pavilon (for stunning views of Prague) I met an American family of four who are now living in Albania who invited me to sit for drinks with them, and I developed great rapport with the hotel manager in Torun – who used to work in Greece (small world!). I attended the Lara Fabian concert in Prague for the last night of her tour, sat through an end-of-year classical concert in a stunning theatre in Torun and an hour later, after taking a wrong turn, found myself at an open-air heavy metal festival in Torun. Sum up? This 53-year-old solo woman rail enthusiast had an amazing time and met wonderful people – in between endlessly gazing out of train windows!
My full itinerary: Vienna (3 nights), Horný Smokovec (1 night), Košice (2 nights), Budapest–Krakow (EN 476 Metropol), Wrocław (4 nights), Toruń (2 nights), Warsaw–Prague (EN 407 Chopin), Prague (4 nights, and I didn't even enter the Old Town), Vienna (2 nights), and Vienna to Sopron return half-day trip with more regional train delights (I also did this in a loop to avoid backtracking). I travelled on a 5-day Global Pass and bought single tickets for my trips Horný Smokovec–Košice, Krakow–Wrocław, and Wrocław–Toruń.
I have since my return set up Greek Island Pass trips for my son and friends this past summer, told all my mom-friends about it but also about DiscoverEU for our youngsters, and I'm already over-researching my next solo trip – just to get in more less-travelled routes, local immersion, offbeat activities, and hopefully many special heritage rail journeys, all with an ever-clearer intention to travel responsibly and with meaning for me as well as locals and those in the travel industry. Visiting major cities is of course a wonderful way to see Europe and very Pass-worthy, but I do hope more come to realise how exploring 'deeper' Europe by train is just as wonderful and not in the least any less adventurous.
My thanks to the ever-helpful community and Interrail/Eurail team for tips, assistance and general good vibes in making all this possible. Happy rails to all 😊
