This summer I embarked on a journey to travel by train throughout Europe, hitting some of the most famous European cities and trekking through some of the most infamous mountains of the Alps. Joining me on this journey was my best friend Derek from the United States and Julia but only for Switzerland.
To undertake this journey, we bought the 7-day travel interrail ticket for 250€. We started in Koblenz, Germany, and then travelled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Paris in France, Zermatt in Switzerland, Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, Venice in Italy, Milan in Italy, Rome in Italy, Innsbruck in Austria, and then lastly Munich in Germany.
Most nights we slept in a tent but in Paris and Rome we took cheap hostels since the campsites in those cities were far away from the city centre. Everything that we carried with us during this 4-week adventure was packed in one backpack that each person carried. For food we bought a bunch of camping pastas, minute oatmeals, and granola bars which we ate throughout the entire trip. That said, we ate out in Rome because how could we be in Rome and not have pizza. Don't worry though, if you want to do to Rome but don't want to travel on a budget, you can buy a pizza there for 5€ and a litre of wine for 4€.
I hope you find this journey of ours interesting and hopefully it will inspire you to embark on your own adventure of this sort.
Stop 1: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Days 1-4
July 19th
We officially start our journey in Amsterdam, the city of freedom and progressive culture. We arrived in Amsterdam Central Train Station at about 16:00. From there, we started with a small quick city tour. Our campsite was just outside the city centre so we decided to walk there to get a small glimpse of the city before actually going out and exploring it. We stayed at the Camping Zeeburg which was a nice big campsite alongside the water. It was the perfect place to stay as there were many amenities making it very convenient, the most convenient being the campsite grocery store which had the same prices as any other grocery store in Amsterdam. Other amenities include rentals of bikes, a kitchen, guided tours, etc. We took advantage of the bike rental and rented our bikes for our entire stay, because how can you stay in Amsterdam and not travel by bike. After setting up our tent, getting settled in, and eating some dinner, we headed out into the city. At this point it was a bit late and also a Tuesday evening so there was not too much going on where we planned to go. We decided to visit the Javastraat, a famous street known for its vibrant student culture, lots of pubs, and other student events. We ended up sitting at one lovely bar, had some beer and then went back to our campsite to get some rest.
July 20th
Museum day! After much deliberation on which museum to spend our day in, we finally chose to go to Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art. Before going there, we decided to explore some of the city. We went to city centre and just walked along the canals. In all honesty with all the canals, Amsterdam gave me a bit of a Venice vibe. While biking around the canals and exploring random alleyways, we finally made our way to the Stedelijk Museum where we spent most of our day. I have to be honest, I am not the biggest enthusiast of modern art, but being in the museum was an amazing experience. Taking an audio guide with us, the displays really evoke emotion and feeling in you. They layout of the museum is brilliant and so is the actual architecture of the museum itself, you can easily spend the entire day in this museum examining the art, learning about the history behind it, and trying to explore every exhibit. The museum basically every style of art possible, ranging all from different cultures and corners of the world, I highly recommend a visit.
After the museum, I of course had to visit the local fire department, being the big fire enthusiast that I am. The firefighters working their shift at the time that I stopped by were very friendly and welcoming. After speaking to them for a bit they invited me into the fire department to see it and all the firetrucks they have as well as the equipment they carry. I know, I sound a but like a little kid speaking about firetrucks but being a firefighter is still a passion I have in me.
Afterwards we headed back to chill on a canal and then headed back to our tent and clocked out for the night.
July 21st
This day we unfortunately had rain all day wrong. The good part of this is that it was a good test to see if our tent truly is waterproof before we trek out into the mountains in Switzerland and I was very pleasantly surprised, we had no soak-through at all. If you are looking for a cheap but good quality versatile tent, I highly recommend the Quechua MH100 for only 30€. So this day we basically sat in the tent all day long and I took advantage of this time to edit some photos from the trip as well as make some tiktoks. So here, enjoy one of my tiktoks that I made on this rainy day:
July 22nd
Our last full day in Amsterdam, so we have to go full out. We woke up to the extremely bright sun, warming up our tent like a sauna. Waking up I was covered in sweat so I immediately had to open the tent and lay down outside in the sun. After waking up, we went to visit a Coffee Shop next to the Rembrandtplein. All I can say is that the coffee here was very good... maybe a bit too good. We then enjoyed walking around the city once more and it started getting dark soon. Once it was completely dark, we knew that we had to visit the Red Light District so we made our way there. The closer and closer you get, the more and more people. It was actually a bit shocking to me how touristic the Right Light District is. Security and barricades at every corner, foot traffic is only allowed in one direction, but it is a must visit place when you are in Amsterdam so I get it. It was not everything I expected, I mean yes there were red lights everywhere and you know what else, but the street itself is quite short and there are drug dealers on every corner hustling you to buy some cocaine, and I am not exaggerating when I mean on every single corner.
After experiencing the Red Light District is was time to celebrate our last night in Amsterdam. Derek and I made our way through the busy streets, hopped on our bikes, and headed towards the Rembrandtplein, a famous party square in Amsterdam. The nightlife is very touristic in Amsterdam, but again what to expect when it is one of the most famous cities for tourists to visit. If you want to go to a real Dutch party you have to search for events online or through facebook groups, or get invited by a Dutch person to some type of underground party. Anyways, we went to the some random club just because it said "student's night". Had a blast partying, and we made sure to party all night long so we wouldn't oversleep our train at 7am the next morning.
Stop 2: Paris, France
Days 5-7
July 23rd
After a lot of stressing on how to make it to Paris as all the trains were fully booked, we finally find a connection with no seat reservations required and we take it and finally make it to Paris! In Paris, we took a budget hotel located in the 11th district since the camping was located far outside the city and was not even that much cheaper than a hotel. If you need a nice budget hotel I recommend Hotel Leonard De Vinci, it has good public transport access, scooter access, and in general is located in a good place in the city, next to the Place de la République, a good place to be for happy hour drinking.
Anyways, we get to our hotel quite late, around 20:00, and then we prepare to meet an old high school friend who was actually living in Paris when we were visiting the city, how cool is that! Once we met up and caught up a bit, Melanie took us out to show us some of the local clubs that she knows. There is only one issue with this, as you know Paris is known for its fashion and trendy styles, and well, Derek and I were not dressed in the acceptable Parisian way. When packing for a four week long trip through different climates and the mountains, you have to sacrifice good looks and good style for the ease of packing and carrying everywhere. Anyways, long story short, the only shoes I had for the city were either sandals or hiking shoes and Derek only had white vans which got ruined by the rain in Amsterdam or hiking shoes. Well yolo, Melanie said let's give it a try. Walking up to the first club and we immediately got rejected because of my sandals, but, the second club did let us in! Was a blast partying together, and Derek ended up partying so hard the the security even put him in a five-minute time out. If you want a laugh watch the video below:
July 24th
Paris is one of my absolute places to visit. Before going on this trip I have already visited it four times and it never gets boring, such a fun and beautiful city for a vacation which so much history. But our day started off rocky, in the morning while cleaning the room, I somehow managed to drop our hotel room key out of the fifth story which we were on into the courtyard. Now, the fix seems easy, go to the hotel staff, explain the situation, and ask for them to get the key in the courtyard. Such a solution would be easy, but the only impediment here was that the hotel had no access to the courtyard! They told me I had to look through all of the apartment buildings, call random French people who spoke no English, and find someone who had access into the courtyard. After an hour of looking and no luck, I went back to the hotel staff and proposed a rather crazy idea to them, the idea being me and Derek setting up our climbing gear for the mountains outside the window and rappel down to retrieve the key. Surprisingly the staff said yes, but very firmly informed us that they bear no responsibility if something happens to us. Anyways, our Mission Impossible plan proved to be a success, though we probably got judged by some Parisians as we passed by their windows.
After this successful mission, we were fully ready to take on the city of Paris, and Melanie had even offered to take on the responsibility of being our guide through the city. So we are walking through the city and many famous places are closed, no idea why. We later learn from a police officer that it is the Tour De France finale today, and a lot of monuments and buildings are closed due to this. Derek had perfect luck for his first and only day in Paris, even the entire Louvre was closed! We still had a blast though, Melanie showed us all around the city, all the famous landmarks and monuments. I cannot even describe how beautiful of a city Paris is, there is deep history in every brick in every building, absolutely astonishing.
To watch a beautiful sunset, Melanie took us to the absolutely breathtaking Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Brilliant idea by her, watching a beautiful sunset overlooking the entire city of Paris. If you are in Paris and want a good sunset spot, this is 100% the best place to be. Afterwards, we headed to a small restaurant so that Derek can try some snails, cause how can you be in Paris and not try the famous snails?
Stop 3: Zermatt, Switzerland
Days 8-10
July 25th
We arrive in one of the most famous Swiss villages, Zermatt. The village is most notably known for its view of the famous Matterhorn, or best known as the mountain on the Toblerone chocolate (my favourite chocolate). Here Julia was coming to meet us, or I should say we were meeting her as she got there much earlier than us. Anyways we met her after her hike and them went to set up our tent at a small campsite called Zermatt Camping. While we set up our tent, we had a beautiful view of the Matterhorn, but as it turned out this would be the only day that we would see the Matterhorn as the rest of the days it was always covered by the clouds.
July 26th
Rising up and early for a long day of hiking! Just kidding, we slept through all of our alarms this morning, probably cause it was a bit of an uncomfortable night. Why you ask? It is most likely due it the fact that we squeezed three people into a tent meant for two people, while still fitting our hiking mattresses in there and backpacks, guess you can say that we were all cuddling throughout the night. But, I take it as an achievement that we fit three people in this tent! We actually slept all week long in Switzerland this way, the three of us in a two-person tent.
Anyways, with daylight running away, we quickly get ready and head out for our hike, with our end goal being Riffelsse, a beautiful small lake that has an awe-inspiring view of the Matterhorn. From Zermatt the hike was about 4,5 hours long, a lot of incline, we did around 900m of incline, but 100% worth it. Enjoy some of the beautiful pictures that were captured along the hike.
Stop 4: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Days 11-14
July 27th
Leaving Zermatt and heading towards Lauterbrunnen. I worked last year in Lauterbrunnen, well Wengen to be more exact, as a medic intern. Lauterbrunnen is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life, it is indescribable. Lauterbrunnen, also known as the valley of 72 waterfalls is one of the most famous places in the world, you have probably seen pictures or videos of this place somewhere on the internet. The first day we get here we get off at the train station and walk to our campsite located somewhere in the middle of the valley in a small village called Stechelberg. If you ever want a peaceful campsite with crazy views, then Camping Breithorn is your place to go.
July 28th
Got up early in the morning on a mission to do a long hike through Mürren. As we are hiking we get stuck in a big storm and have to take shelter in some houses in a small Swiss village. Then later on we run to a cable car during a clearing in the storm so we don't get stuck in the mountains all night throughout the storm. We then go back to the campsite and sleep throughout the storm hoping for better weather tomorrow.
A good thing to know about the Swiss Alps is that they are very accessible. This is good in terms of safety because when you get stuck in a sudden storm like us, you will be able to find a way down off the mountain most of the time.
July 29th
Unfortunately we wake up to a forecast full of rain so it will be impossible to do any high mountain hiking as the weather is too unpredictable and too slippery to be safe. We decide to do a small hike to the old town that I used to work at, Wengen. To get there we high through the valley from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen, and then from Lauterbrunnen we hike all the way to the top of Wengen. There we walk around the village a bit and I visit my old place of work! In the evening we have some good weather and a clear sky at our campsite.
July 30th
Finally, some good weather! When you visit Lauterbrunnen it is important to know that the valley is infamously known for its rain fall. Last year when I worked there it rained once almost every day. Normally just in the norming and the rest of the day is nice, but sometimes it would rain all day long.
With our good weather we took the opportunity to finally do some real hiking! We went from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen, from Lauterbrunnen to Mürren, and then back and down around the valley back to Stechelberg. It was basically a ridge walk along the edge of the cliff walls.
Stop 5: Milano, Italy
Day 14
July 31st
Julia left the night before to go back home but Derek and I stayed one more night in the valley before we left for Italy. We actually decided to sleep at the train station in Lauterbrunnen since our train was at 6am and it was a 1,5h walk from our campsite to the train station. It was a cold night but worth it to make our train to Italy!
We decide to hit three cities in one day. Our first stop is Milan where we have two hours, we do a quick walk around of the city just to see what it is like and to get a feeling, plus to be able to say we have been there.
Stop 6: Venice, Italy
Day 14
July 31st
Our next stop from Milan is Venice, we arrive in Venice around 16:00 and are here for 2,5 hours. We explore the canals, speak to some Italians, and grab our first pizza in Italy. The best thing about Italy in my opinion is the prices of pizza and alcohol. In Venice, for two pizzas and two aperols we paid only 20€.
Venice is beautiful, unlike anything that I have seen before, everyone really is on boats; taxis, police, firefighters, private boats, it is truly an amazing sight.
Stop 7: Rome, Italy
Day 14-15
July 31st
Finally at 23:00 we make it to Rome on the some day, and we even make it back to the hotel before midnight. Since Rome is such a huge city, there was nowhere nearby to set up a tent so we took a budget hostel-like hotel which is next to the train station Rome Termini. It is very good for travelling on a budget. If you are interested then I highly recommend Hotel Felice Rome.
August 1st
Early morning wakeup and time to take on the city of Rome! We have a good itinerary planned out to see all the most important places in Rome in one day. If you only are in Rome one day I highly recommend that you follow the same schedule (note, be ready to enjoy a lot of Italian food):
Colosseum
Lunch at Trattoria Luzzi (with a view of the Colosseum), enjoy pizza for 5€ and a litre of wine for 4€. The place is authentic Italian, the older man serving us his food even had tomato sauce all over him
Piazza Navona, an elegant square from the 1st century
The Vatican (make sure to be dressed appropriately or else they give you a cap to cover yourself, like they did to Derek)
The Spanish Steps
Lunch #2 at Pasta Fresca next to the Spanish steps. A small Italian family run pasta place open since 1918. They only serve two different types of pasta per day. If you ask the server to eat inside they will give you a complementary glass of wine
The Trevi Fountain
The Pantheon
Dinner at I Buoni Amici Roma (I highly recommend the calamari and make sure to ask the waiters for limoncello after your dinner, make sure to bring google translate as they do not speak English)
This should be an itinerary that take up your entire day. I recommend walking all of it, it is a long day so make sure to be prepared with water if you are going in the summer.
Stop 8: Innsbruck, Austria
Days 16-17
August 2nd
We arrive in Innsbruck, set up our tent and relax with a beautiful view. For a mountain city there are not many campsites to choose from and they are quite far away by foot, but there is perfect bus service which will take you from the train station to all the campsites. We stayed at the Camping Kranebitterhof, about a 30 minute bus ride from the central train station. I do not know much about campsites in Austria, but this one struck me to be a bit expensive. In all fairness, we booked it last minute, called once we got to Austria all the campsites and Camping Kranebitterhof was the only one which had any spots left. That being said, I don't know if there were any cheaper ones but in my opinion for what it was this camping site was quite expensive. If you decide to go by bus, it will be best if you buy day tickets at the train station since you can travel as many times as you want within that day, it is the best bang for your buck unless you're simply planning to stay at the campsite the entire time (don't do that).
August 3rd
City trip! We wanted to go hiking but realised we did not have enough time for what we planned to do so we decided to do a city trip. Innsbruck, also known as the Olympic city, is a very lovely city! Astounding mountain views around the city, beautiful architecture, and delicious pina coladas.
Stop 9: Munich, Germany
Day 18
August 4th
We only stop in Munich to get a good Bavarian beer. We make sure to have a transfer time for the train of 1,5h and the second we get off the train we run to the closest place to get a traditional Bavarian beer.
Stop 10: Koblenz, Germany
Day 18-21
August 4th-7th
We spend some days with Julia's family to explore the Rhineland region. It is a beautiful wine region of Germany where you can travel from village to village along the Rhine river trying different wines from each village as you go along. Each village is known for producing its own style of wine with its own taste. The atmosphere in Rhineland is lovely, every village with an old medieval style, some with castles on the hills.
Stop 11: Berlin, Germany
Day 21-22
August 7th-8th
The techno city. We truly only went to Berlin to party, we had one evening and we used it to our advantage. We had quite ambitious goals, we wanted to try to get into Berghain, one of the most famous and selective clubs in the world. Again, with our hiking attire we had very little chances of getting in and yup, we did not get in when we tried. We went to a different club named Sysiphos and we actually got in there. Some good things to know about Berlin clubs is that they are very open, so make sure you are comfortable with this when you go there. You will not be pressured into doing anything you don't want, but you will see some drugs and you might see some nudity as well. Also make sure you have cash everywhere in Berlin as basically nowhere accepts card! This was a huge culture shock for me as in Poland it is the opposite, some places only accept card. The last thing to mention is that you are not allowed to take pictures in Berlin clubs, it is strictly forbidden. If security catches you trying to sneak a picture or video they will kick you out. Some clubs make you put on stickers on your phone cameras before answering. Obviously you are still allowed to use your phone to text and call, but make sure you don't try to take any pictures.
Next stop, back to Poland, home! Our journey has come to an end.
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