Easter Weekend in Europe

[185143]

I've got a period of annual leave next month which I've just realised involves the Easter weekend.

I know in the UK that means engineering works and buses galore, with long distance travel usually being heavily disrupted.

But how is it on the continent? I've got an Interrail penciled in for 2 weeks and haven't even begun to think about planning it yet.

My only real thoughts so far are that I've never been to Portugal (either as a "normal" or a crank!), I wouldn't mind going to that train restaurant in Prague and I'm not ruling out Istanbul.

I'm pretty new to European travel so any advice/suggestions would be appreciated. I've done a week in Switzerland before and I've been to Minatur Wunderland, so that's probably the most obvious two taken out. Oh and I've done the train ferry to Sicily too.

Is it just France and Spain where Interrail is poor value with chingy reservations? I was considering doing the ferry down to Santander to start things off, I'd pay for a few reservations if I had to but would obviously prefer not to be paying for too many.

 

[Nunners]

I've got a period of annual leave next month which I've just realised involves the Easter weekend.

I know in the UK that means engineering works and buses galore, with long distance travel usually being heavily disrupted.

But how is it on the continent? I've got an Interrail penciled in for 2 weeks and haven't even begun to think about planning it yet.

My only real thoughts so far are that I've never been to Portugal (either as a "normal" or a crank!), I wouldn't mind going to that train restaurant in Prague and I'm not ruling out Istanbul.

I'm pretty new to European travel so any advice/suggestions would be appreciated. I've done a week in Switzerland before and I've been to Minatur Wunderland, so that's probably the most obvious two taken out. Oh and I've done the train ferry to Sicily too.

Is it just France and Spain where Interrail is poor value with chingy reservations? I was considering doing the ferry down to Santander to start things off, I'd pay for a few reservations if I had to but would obviously prefer not to be paying for too many.

Italy and Sweden can be difficult with mandatory reservations on Intercity/high speed trains as well. Poland and Hungary have some mandatory reservations but these are very cheap.

What are you looking to do? If loco haulage then Belgium, Czechia and Poland can be good.

I like Austria as well, and normally focus around Austria, Germany and Switzerland to get good value out of the ticket.

 

[jfollows]

For what it’s worth, Orthodox Easter coincides with UK non-Orthodox Easter this year. I only know because I’m visiting my sister who lives in Greece and want to coincide with her holiday, and found that for once it was the same as ours.

 

[Bemined]

The Netherlands also has a habit of using that weekend for engineering works, this year there is a big one south of Rotterdam with full suspension on Thursday evening and Monday morning and very limited service (international and freight only) service on Friday till Sunday.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

over Easter (18 to 27 April), Karlsruhe-Freiburg is closed so I'd avoid that general area of south-west Germany

 

[nwales58]

... I wouldn't mind going to that train restaurant in Prague and I'm not ruling out Istanbul.

there are many long-distance train restaurants in Czechia (and good value and decent food) ...

On Istanbul, see recent threads on the joys of routes through Romania and Bulgaria

 

[HS2isgood]

On Eastern Europe, avoid Serbia and Turkey due to political turnoil. The rest of the Balkans are okay tho. About Portugal, the only problem is that if you want to get to it by train is a pain. If you have any questions about Spain and Portugal don't hesitate to ask!

 

[JonasB]

I guess that in most countries easter means a lot of engineering works as it is a pretty long period with less daily commuters than usual.

 

[RailWonderer]

On Eastern Europe, avoid Serbia and Turkey due to political turnoil.

I would say avoid political demonstrations rather than avoid these countries outright.