Travel Without Booking Hotels [East Europe in Particular]

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obenns
obenns

Hello all, new here, hope I can grab some great advice as this will be my first trip abroad planned by myself!

I'm going with a friend who is also a student, so cheap is the key.

We are Inter railing for a month, starting in Athens (flight from UK) and heading up through Croatia, the Alps to Italy and maybe France.

We are booking up until Croatia but feel we want to be flexible in where we go from there on. Things happen, we will spot something fun, we climb a mountain and realise it's late, trains won't run - I'm sure there'll be several things like that on the way.

So we are considering not booking hotels/hostels in both rural and urban (capital) areas. Is this a bad idea? We are on a cheap budget being students and of course don't want to be stranded at 2am in a city! Nor do we want to have to pay for a 1 star place .

Any advice would be great, thanks :)

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bristolnewbie
bristolnewbie

You`ll get far more useful opinions if you post this question on the Western Europe and Eastern Europe branches!

Booking or not booking is up to you!

Ive been to 35 countries and usually didnt book. Most of the time it is quite easy to find a place to stay in 1 hour, sometimes it`s more difficult and can take a few hours, sometimes you spend more than you planned or accept a bad place, but I never had to sleep on the street.

Interrail pass is a very bad idea if you travel from Greece to Croatia!

  1. There are very few rail lines in Greece, you have to pay expensive supplements for most trains.

  2. Greece is not connected to any country by rail.

  3. The shortest way from Greece to Croatia is mostly by bus and/or ferry.

  4. There are very few rail lines in Croatia.

  5. Ticket prices are reasonable in the Balkan, Croatia and even in Italy.

Save your money and don`t buy a railpass!

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obenns
obenns

Yes its deffo worth considering going without a railcard.

We were thinking of going up to Meteora and then through Thessaloniki to Skopje.

Are you serious that there are no lines AT ALL ? Interrail tends to state they do.

If I consider a ferry or bus to Croatia, where could I get one from? We are staying in Athens so is there anywhere there?

Greece is awful when it comes to public transport. I come to problem after problem looking into it and I haven't even been yet!

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bristolnewbie
bristolnewbie

The lines are still there, but OSE(Greek Railways) stopped all cross-border trains last year as part of the austerity measures.

How closing down intenational rail connections contribute to economic growth that you have to ask from the IMF gurus, I`m afraid! ;)

You can take a bus from Thessaloniki to Skopje

If I consider a ferry or bus to Croatia, where could I get one from?

Thats not very straightforward Im afraid. Just stick to you original plan and go to Macedonia and than Albania, Montenegro, Croatia or Macedonia - Kosovo - Montenegro - Croatia.

Here are the options from travelling Greece to Croatia:

[http://www.balkanology.com/overview/article_croatia_to_greece.html]

Greece is awful when it comes to public transport.

It is indeed! Youl realise its basically a Balkan country with Western European prices.

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gawkabout
gawkabout

I only book ahaed, from the hostel I'm at now. I look at hostelz.com to see if most are booked up. I do it especially on weekends.

But mostly I just take my chances. If its a festival there, prices will be jacked too.

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joolz2
joolz2

I normally only book ahead if I'm arriving somewhere late at night and don't want to traipse around in the dark looking for accommodation. Or if I know it's going to be hard to find somewhere to stay, for example if there is a special event on (though I tend to avoid those anyway.)

Even then I would only book a few days in advance - it's easy to book on the internet these days.

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