Editorial Team
Our content team
8 min read
Budapest Keleti station, 10:17 PM. The Nightjet to Vienna was boarding. I grabbed my backpack, slung it over one shoulder, and walked on. No check-in counter. No baggage scale. No argument with a gate agent about two extra centimeters.
That was day 9 of my Interrail trip. My Interrail backpack had 40 liters on it. Nothing else.
Sounds extreme? I thought so too before I left Munich. But after 14 days through five countries, here's what I know: I'd do it exactly the same way. Probably with even less stuff.
Why a Backpack and Nothing Else?
Honest answer: picking an Interrail backpack over a suitcase was never really a question for me. I watched a friend, Marco, do this trip last year with a rolling suitcase. He lasted five days before he started texting me pictures of cobblestone streets with angry emojis. Old train stations in Central Europe have stairs. Lots of them. And a 23-kilo suitcase on wheels is a nightmare when you're sprinting across a platform to catch a connection in Prague.
Here's the thing most people don't realize: trains in Europe don't have luggage rules like airlines. No 55x40x20 cm limits. No 8-kilo scale at the gate. Deutsche Bahn, Austrian Railways (OBB), RegioJet, and most other operators follow one simple principle. If you can carry it yourself and stow it safely, you're good.
That's a massive difference from Ryanair or easyJet, where every centimeter counts. If you've got a carry-on backpack that works on planes, it'll work on trains with room to spare.
The Route: 5 Countries in 14 Days
Nothing groundbreaking here. Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Berlin. One of the most popular Interrail routes through Central Europe, and for good reason.
| Leg | Travel time | What you should know |
|---|---|---|
| Munich to Vienna | about 4 hours | OBB Railjet, no reservation needed |
| Vienna to Budapest | about 2.5 hours | Hourly direct connections |
| Budapest to Prague | about 7 hours | Longest stretch. RegioJet runs direct |
| Prague to Berlin | about 4 hours | EuroCity, every 2 hours |
The big advantage of this route? Eastern Europe. On the Vienna to Budapest and Budapest to Prague legs, you don't need expensive mandatory reservations like on France's TGV. You just hop on. Spontaneously. That's what makes Interrail with a backpack so relaxed.
The Vienna to Budapest stretch was probably my favorite. Two and a half hours, views of the Danube, cold beer in the dining car. Doesn't get much better.
My Interrail Backpack and What I Packed
I traveled with an Osprey Farpoint 40 as my Interrail backpack. Forty liters of volume, 1.3 kilograms empty, available from around 108 euros. It opens from the front, like a suitcase. That sounds minor, but on a train trip it's genuinely useful. You don't need to unpack everything just to find your socks at the bottom.
If you want to spend less: the CabinZero Classic 44L weighs only 760 grams and costs between 60 and 75 euros. No hip belt, so it's not great for long walks. But perfectly fine for train travel.
For those willing to invest more, there's the Deuter AViANT Access 38. German brand, solid materials, rated 7.6 out of 10 by Pack Hacker. Costs 150 to 170 euros though.
My Interrail Packing List for 2 Weeks
Clothing (yes, this is really enough):
3 t-shirts, two of them merino wool
2 pairs of pants, one short, one long
5 pairs of socks and underwear
1 lightweight rain jacket
Running shoes on my feet, flip-flops in the backpack
Merino wool was the best thing I packed. You can wear those shirts three or four days straight and they still don't smell. One merino shirt costs between 40 and 70 euros. Sounds steep. But it cuts your clothing load in half. I was skeptical before the trip. I'm a convert now.
I did laundry every four to five days. Hostel machines cost 3 to 6 euros per load. In Budapest, I washed everything in the sink one evening. Dry by morning.
Beyond that: microfiber towel, travel-size toiletries, power bank, noise-cancelling headphones, universal adapter. And two packing cubes. They keep things organized. Sounds boring, but by day 6 you're grateful that your dirty clothes aren't mixed in with your clean shirts.
What Worked (and What Didn't)
I'll admit it. Day 1, I was nervous. Forty liters for fourteen days? Did I really think of everything?
I did. I actually packed too much. Never opened my book (had Kindle on my phone). Wore the second pair of long pants twice total. And the travel alarm clock? You don't need one when you have a smartphone. You just don't.
What worked brilliantly: spontaneity. In Vienna, I decided two hours before departure to catch the earlier train to Budapest. Interrail backpack on, go. Try doing that with a 23-kilo roller bag across Viennese cobblestones. Travel blogger Daniela Leitner from planBvoyage puts it best: "Backpack! You're more flexible, faster, and travel more comfortably."
What didn't work: my rain jacket. Too thin for that rainy day in Prague. Should've brought a proper softshell. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that was my only real mistake the entire trip.
Why Interrail Instead of Flying?
Sure, flying is faster. Munich to Budapest in 90 minutes instead of seven hours. But the math isn't as simple as "faster equals better."
First: carbon emissions. According to co2online.de, a train journey produces up to 96.5 percent fewer emissions than a comparable flight. Specifically: Munich to Budapest by air generates about 227 kg of CO2 return. By train? 7.4 kilograms. That's not a rounding error. That's a different category entirely.
And then there's the experience itself. On a train, you look out the window, read, sleep. At the airport, you stand in line, get scanned, wait for boarding. When you factor in getting to and from the airport, the time difference is often smaller than you'd think.
My whole Interrail experience confirmed what a lot of people already say: the train is just better for this kind of trip. And Interrail is booming, by the way. According to official Interrail statistics, over 1.2 million passes were sold in 2023. That's 25 percent more than the previous year. Germany is the single biggest market with 142,000 passes sold. Something's shifting.
If you're curious about night trains: we've got a detailed piece on packing for the night train from Berlin to Paris.
My Best Tips After 14 Days
Pack everything you want to bring. Then put a third of it back. Seriously. As Interrail themselves recommend: pack small and light.
Merino wool over cotton. Yes, it costs more. But you need half the shirts.
Packing cubes. Sounds boring. Saves your sanity from day 4 onwards.
Noise-cancelling headphones for night trains. Non-negotiable.
And the most important tip: no suitcase. An Interrail backpack. 35 to 44 liters is enough for two weeks. For a detailed look at carry-on backpacks, check out our comparison test. And if the idea of traveling with carry-on only (Coming Soon) appeals to you, read my colleague's experience report too.
Would I Do It Again?
Yes.
Without hesitation. Maybe even with 30 liters instead of 40. The feeling of standing on a platform, backpack on your shoulders, knowing you can hop on any train because you're not weighed down like a pack mule. That's freedom. Not the kind from a marketing campaign. The real kind.
14 days, 5 countries, 1 Interrail backpack. It works.
