Inter-rail '99

December 1998 I had just started my first "proper" job after finishing A-levels earlier that year. The goal was to earn enough money to go inter railing the following summer... how much?

This webpage is about our inter-rail trip in 1999

A 1 month all zones pass then cost £260 - it doesn't appear to have changed much today (some 7 years later) so is excellent value.

As with all inter rail passes you can't use it in your own country and high-speed rail links such as TGV, Eurostar, ICE etc cost extra. I had previously seen much of France & wanted to get somewhere hot pretty quick, so bought a £30 single on easyjet to Madrid - central Spain. We spent 3 days in Madrid before our passes become active, so plenty of time to explore.

Our first mistake - Flying to the start of your trip means you can't carry gas or fuel for camping stoves. We had decided to inter rail and camp as campsites are cheap & available all over Europe. So we arrive & the first thing to do was find some food & gas for the evening meal. I had bought the latest in small Campingaz stoves before leaving. In France I had always used them  & the gas was readily available - this was not the case in Spain as I was about to find out! (time to go out for a meal)

Tip - buy a stove that will fit all types of gas canister or take adaptors with you

For the trip I borrowed a tent and a rucksack. Much time before leaving was spent thinking about security of luggage when in cities and on night trains... The Pac safe wire mesh that goes around your bag seemed like a good idea - especially if you read the manufacturers blurb about incidents of things being stolen and bags being slashed. We didn't buy them on the basis that by making your rucksack look like fort knox people think you much have some valuable kit in it! A plain or dirty looking rucksack is a much better deterrent.

The route for our inter rail was simple; some places I had been before & wanted to go back to & some that I wanted to go to. Pins were stuck in a rail map of Europe and a route was worked out. Roughly the plan was Madrid, Lisbon, Algarve, Seville, Barcelona, Monaco, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Pompei & Capri, Bari, ferry to Greece, Bulgaria & black sea, Italian alps, Switzerland & finish in Pau for another adventure.

From Madrid our destination was Lisbon Portugal via the small town of Merida with a one night stop. Merida had some interesting roman ruins & was very pretty with a couple of fountains in the central square. A nice place to stumble across, then later read about in guide books!

A change of trains at the Spanish - Portuguese border and back to GMT. 

Lisbon!
We arrived early evening and found a Tourist information desk at the station who gave us details on how to get to the campsite - being late in the day we took a taxi. I remember arriving at the site thinking the taxi had it wrong... most campsites have small office, well this one had a reception all done in granite & with big leather comfy chairs & air con... better than most hotel reception areas.
Once checked in we were taken to our pitch in a golf buggy! The Ritz of the camping world!

The next day we toured Lisbon on foot to take in the sights. Before returning to the campsite we went to the station to check train times south.

Mistake number 2.. Portuguese rail had just started a 30 day strike!

Tip 2 check train times & planed maintenance or action before leaving

A cup of tea that evening with our neighbours at the campsite proved worth while - 2 south Africans touring Europe in a car. They were heading towards the Algarve the following day - we hitched a lift & were kept entertained that day with their tales. A campsite close to Faro was the eventual destination and at 84 pence a night for 2 people and right on the beach it was very good value.

We left our new south African friends in faro and took a bus to the Spanish border. A boat followed by another bus took us to Seville where we were guests with some friends.

We left Seville for Cordoba where we met up with our African friends to go and see a bull fight. Quite an experience but probably not one I would repeat in a hurry.

A night train to Valencia and a long conversation with some American inter-railers followed by an early morning train to Barcelona. So worn out by the time we got to Barcelona, we didn't see very much.

Tip 3 when taking night trains pay the extra for the hotel train & book as early as possible, you get to your destination refreshed and make more of your time there.

By this point I started to realise we were not going to do everything we had planned as we would not get to spend any time in each place but all of our time on the train. So fed up with Spain we rushed to France with a stop over in a small costa beach village. France just seems so much better if your camping... really good sites everywhere. our next stop was the small town of Anduze. 10 years previously I had been here, nothing much had changed & just as well because its quite beautiful. When I visited in the late 80's we had a very good meal at restaurant for just 57 francs... 10 years later in the same restaurant the 57 franc menu was still just as good.

A long train ride via Monaco and into Italy saw the standard of campsites slip & the grade of pasta & pizza get better! Pisa was a one day stop to take in the sights then onto Rome for 2 days followed by Pompeii. A trip to the ruined city of Pompeii was not as we had expected with many of the artefacts being moved to a nearby museum in Naples. Whilst in Pompeii we also took a trip to Capri, hired a canoe and made our own much cheaper tour of the grotto.

It was at this point we changed our plans & decided to head for the alps for a few days instead of rushing around the rest of Europe. Aosta was our new destination & a very good choice it was too. An ancient roman town with en route to many ski villages. Our campsite was above the town on the hillside in among cherry trees that were just starting to ripen. As well as a few walks we also went parascending with a local group of enthusiasts in the shadow of the Matterhorn. 

Our next stop was to be Zurich in Switzerland to visit a friend who had recently moved there. Our train journey took us back to Turin and Milan before boarding a Swiss train to Zurich. Immediately you noticed the difference, very clean & very well thought out & leaving exactly on time! the rail journey to Zurich through the mountains was very spectacular & I would highly recommend taking the slow train (about 6 hrs) The restaurant car at the tail of the train was excellent - no microwave or reheat meals here! An excellent way to enjoy the scenery.

A few days in Zurich before our final train journey to Pau in the south of France via Paris. where we picked up bikes and cycled back to the UK but that's another tale.

Our 1 month trip including the inter-rail pass cost around £800, others we met on our trip had spent more staying in hostels & hotels. The Americans has spent more on overnight & high speed trains as they all seemed to want to see the whole of Europe in 15 days!

The official inter-rail site can be found here