Travelling around Europe is a very popular thing to amongst college students in Dublin however planning your first holiday can be quite a daunting and overwhelming experience. This blog post aims to give you a detailed itinerary that works efficiently on a student budget including the tops do’s and don’ts to ensure you get your money’s worth.
Before you go any further…
You need to book your initial flights in advance to ensure you’re not spending a huge chunk of your budget on it. I booked my flights as early as September for the trip that was commencing at the beginning of August… I did three countries which I will go into more detail throughout this blog. The countries I visited were Budapest, Lake Bled in Slovenia and ios in Greece. So I would suggest booking your initial flight to Budapest and flight home from Athens first as these are most likely to fluctuate in price the longer you leave it. The other internal flights/ trains can be booked as time goes on as they don’t tend to hike in price too much. The next think I would say would be to also buy your inter railing pass. These costs roughly €200 and enable to you to take trains in 30 different European countries. (This pass is particularly ideal if you’re doing the full interailing experience which also includes, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague as well as Budapest, Lake Bled and ios.) You can purchase this pass on https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes .
European inter railing Itinerary
1st stop – Budapest, Hungary
Budapest, only a short three hour plane ride away, is a common place to begin your trip if you’re only doing half of inter railing like I did. The airport is only 16km away from Budapest city centre and cost about 8045 HUF in a taxi which is the same as €25 or only about €6 each if you’re sharing with friends which I suggest you do. Budapest is considered one of the most photogenic cities in Europe. The dramatic skyline that Budapest is most famous for is peppered with 19th-century architectural wonders alongside the Danube River. Although Budapest is absolutely stunning it is known for its pick pocketers so I would suggest having your wits about you and to not leave your phone in your back pocket.
There are many accommodation options in Budapest but being on a student budget we opted to stay in a hostel located in the heart of the city centre. The hostel we stayed in was called the ‘Hive hostel’.http://thehive.hu We stayed here for 4 nights at a nightly rate of €15pp per day. My friends and I booked a room that slept 8 via 4 sets of bunk beds. I highly recommend this hostel due to its locations, atmosphere and cleanliness however I would note that its often considered a ‘party hostel’ as music is often playing late into the night.
The top 3 things to do in Budapest are
1. Go to of the famous bath parties and also check out Szcheni baths during the day. Tickets range from €40 -60 but an absolute must in my experience. You can buy tickets at https://spartybooking.com/events/sparty-bath-party-6-june-2020-szechenyi-bath/ . here is a YouTube of what the party looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iLScT9X6ac
2. Secondly, I recommend to do the boat party. You are picked up in the city and are brought on 4 hour party down the Danube River where you get the opportunity to see amazing architecture. You can buy tickets starting at €25 at https://boatpartybudapest.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA1-3yBRCmARIsAN7B4H2c3_Qz-iIY-uSSS9M6VGzyy9sajlO39wD581uAqHrMSqaJ82IWmxEaAvQ4EALw_wcB
3. There are many spectacular ruin bars throughout the city that are filled with culture as well as great cocktails. The ‘360 bar’ was also gorgeous.
2nd stop – Lake Bled, Slovenia
The cheapest and quickest way (4 hours) way to get from Budapest to Lake Bled costs only €33 and is via bus. Taking a bus is definitely the smartest way as the train can take up to 10 hours. Lake bled is a popular ski destination in the Winter which makes accommodation during the summer very reasonable and affordable. Once again we stayed in a hostel called 1A adventure hostel. Located inside an old monastery, which already makes this into one of the coolest hostels in Lake Bled. It’s a pretty big building with a lot of rooms and a decent sized homely communal kitchen. The location of this place is also great, it’s really near the international train station and has a free daily shuttle to the lake. https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g274863-d10256465-Reviews-1A_Adventure_hostel-Bled_Upper_Carniola_Region.html
The top 3 things to do in lake bled are
1. Definitely take a hike up to Bled castle, its only about a 30-minute walk and the view is incredible.
2. Spend a day hanging out and enjoying the lake. The water is so fresh and clean and they have plenty of activities to do to keep yourself occupied such as taking a rowing boat out for a day.
3. Lake bled is filled with bakery’s and its almost a necessity to indulge in one of their famous cream cakes.
3rd and final stop – ios, Greece
In order to get here from Lake Bled it requires quite the journey to say the least. We had to take 2 buses, 2 flights and a ferry to get to our final destination but I can definitely say it was worth it as it was probably my favourite stop. In order to make our travel as cheap as possible we had to take two flights to get to ios. One from Slovenia to Serbia, then one from Serbia to Athens and then a 4-hour ferry to ios. Travelling this way made our flight very cheap and we only spent €130 travelling including buses, flights and ferry’s.
Ios is absolutely stunning but definitely know as a party island amongst tourists and seen as famous for its nightlife, bars, cocktails and pulsing music. Ios is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea and also quite a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. Its situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini.
As far as accommodations goes, my friends and I stayed in a hostel called ‘Markos Village’ and I couldn’t have recommended it more. I would go as far to say that is was more like a hotel than hostel. The staff were so friendly, the location was ideal, they had a lovely pool and also offered complimentary breakfast in the morning. http://www.markosvillage.com
Top 3 things to do in ios
1. As ios is quite a hilly island, quad bikes are almost a necessity get anywhere. Throughout the town there are many places renting quad bikes and they’re all competing with each other’s prices but the lowest price we got to was €30 per bike per day and you can often have two people on a bike at once. You need to have your driver’s licence to rent one so it’s essential you don’t forget it. Quad bikes are the most ideal way to explore the beautiful island in my opinion.
2. Ios is famous for its beach clubs and nightlife. The best two beach clubs we went to were Far-out beach club which is located in the heart of the town and Pathos sunset lounge which requires a 15-minute bus ride to get to. Both extremely fun but I would say pathos is a bit nicer due to its stunning views when the sun sets.
3. Ios is also famous for its delicious food, ‘gyros’ basically like a Greek kebab being extremely popular amongst tourists after nights out. I would also highly recommend a restaurant called ‘Harmony’ located in the centre of the town. They offer amazing food and live music from a traditional Greek band.