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Train connections & reservations

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gregohbFull steam ahead

asked in Train connections & reservations

Can I make seat reservations beforre I activate the pass?

I would like to make seat reservations before I actually arrive in Europe. Can I reserve seats with a non-activated pass? I am thinking Eurostar, ICE, etc. I have tried searching this forum for this topic - and indeed it has come up before. But usually the only answers side-step the question, and ask about the specific travel plans of that person asking. Can someone please let me know if it's possible to make reservations without activation? If not, then it's possible to find trains completely full.

4 days ago

GorangRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Can I make a reservation on Eurostar before I buy my pass?

We are planning a trip next year from 28 June to 12 July. We are holding off buying the pass to see if there is an Autumn/Black Friday offer. We can now book the Eurostar for our dates. Is it possible to make a booking before we buy the pass?

4 days ago

StuchNew aboard

posted in Train connections & reservations

Haven't even left for trip yet and already disappointed

Like the title says. My partner and I purchased two two-month passes a couple weeks ago in anticipation for our upcoming trip of Western Europe and I can say, without a doubt, that the user experience of this website/service has been incredibly poor, confusing, unhelpful, and unnecessarily stressful. There are a multitude of reasons why so I’m going to list them out numerically.Consistent missing data - Whenever we first wanted to make reservations/plan out our trip, the entire country of Ireland and the majority of the UK stations were missing from the search bar. They simply would not appear. We kept scrambling around to figure out what to do and if we misread the locations served. We eventually went on the Irishrail website and placed a reservation just in case. A couple of days later both Ireland and a handful of different UK stations were functioning again on the app/website. It worked out either way because we wanted to place a reservation leaving the Dublin Station anyway and it

4 days ago

Naz4815Right on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

Need Help in Train booking without seat reservation from Zurich to Aalen, Germany.

Hi Friends. I have a Eurail global pass till 14 June. I wish to book a train today from Zurich to Aalen (Germany) to travel on 30 May. The Eurail Planner shows Train EC 8 from 10.59am to Karlsruhe HBF Arriving at 2.10pm. After changing train in 56 mins to IC 2161 at 3.06pm to Aalen 4.57pm. It says for both trains reservation is not required and Im ready to board. When i click to receive a printout from home, there is a charge of about $26usd (3 pax) from Zurich to Karlsruhe and from Karlsruhe to Aalen $65usd. It says i can buy a seat reservation but its not required.So does it mean I just go to Zurich station and board the train with my Eurail global pass and no need to have a printout showing my tickets and seat number. Please advise. Its my first time booking a no reservation seat. So i can sit at any of the available seat in both trains? Another train timing shows 6 min transfer at Karlsruhe, but im not sure if the time is enough to alight and change train as we have 2 big and 2 sma

5 days ago

Naz4815Right on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

Asking for suggestions : Travel Plan in Switzerland

Hi Friends. This is my family (Wife and adult daughter) 1st time travelling to Europe. We will be arriving in Paris in the next few days and from there intend to go to Switzerland by train. We have already bought the Eurail Global Pass for 22 days.Im not sure if we should go to Zurich, Bern or Geneva. We want to see Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, all via train. We would appreciate if you guys can suggest a suitable route via train including the train number and if its covered in the global pass and if reservation is a must. Eg Zurich 3 day stay, then train from Zurich to Lucerne & at lucerne stay for 3 days, then from there go to Interlaken etc. We are ok to pay the reservation but not sure about the Swiss pass and which route it covers.We want to see the scenic routes by train, but not sure which route to take and how many days is it sufficient in each city. We would like to travel from Switzerland to Italy to Lake como via train. We are not sure which train routes are not covered

7 days ago

Naz4815Right on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

Train to Granada from Paris

Hi. I am travelling as a family of 3 adults. I wish to know what is the best way to travel via eurail from Paris Gare Du Nord to Granada. I see same train number 9713 leaving from Gare du Nord and Gare du Lyon to Barcelona. Are they the same? We are hoping to see the Alhambra, and from there going to Malaga by train.We intend to go to Morocco by ferry for a day or two and after that planning to go Switzerland. We would like to avoid long stopover if possible. Else we have to book a hotel for the night. Which is the best ferry to take to Morocco. Is it covered in the Eurail Pass. Thanks

7 days ago

NEPALFANRight on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

Juhi_csRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

train from Spiez

Hi, I am travelling from spiez to milan and then to Florence on May 29. From spiez to Milan I have taken 08.05 EC 51. Please suggest which train to take from Milan to Florence trainitalio or italo? How much gap we should take between the two train change based on EC51 reaching milan on time. Thank you.

9 days ago

JosieJoJoJoKeeps calm and carries on

asked in Train connections & reservations

If I can't find the station in the planner how can I know whether I can use an Interrail pass for this journey?

I’m considering whether to buy an Interrail pass. I have already decided on the journeys I want to take and they are on fixed dates to fixed places. When I look for the route in the Interrail planner I can’t find the stations - I’ve read the FAQ and see that you can ‘add stations manually’. But before I buy the pass I’m wondering what happens if/are any lines not covered?

9 days ago

NathanBuquetNew aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

Questions about the trains that don't need reservations

Hello everyone, my name is Nathan and I will be travelling with 6 of my friends all over the Europe this august between the 1st and 17th of August. We planned to do : Paris → Amsterdam Amsterdam → Berlin Berlin → Vienne Vienne → Ljubljana Ljubljana → Zagreb Zagreb → Budapest Budapest → Prague and then take a flight between Prague and Paris We will stay in each place for 1 to 2 nights and sometimes take a train during the night in order to not pay any hostel (for ex. between Berlin and Amsterdam). However, when we try to reserve any seats, it says that we don’t need any reservations. Does that mean that we just go to the train and enter it hoping there are any places left ? If there any places available, can we just stay in the corridor or we must go out ? If we must go out of the train, we are in a pretty sh*tty situations since we have all of our hostels reserved in advance. How does we active a travel-day on our pass ? We just have to show our phone with the reservations ?

9 days ago

sunnath

asked in Train connections & reservations

Prices in Italy

Hello, I’m preparing for my Interrail this summer and I am booking some seat reservations. Is it normal to pay 15 euro for a 40 min train? I find it kind of expensive to pay 30 euros for two trains when the total travel time is 2 hours, when I have already paid for my Interrail pass. I did not find it expensive in other countries.

10 days ago

Jonathan HuismanRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

How can I indicate on external sites that I have an Interrail ticket?

How can I indicate on external sites that I have an Interrail ticket? This is so poorly stated. It is not attractive at all to travel like this. What a hassle.

10 days ago

Linda in EnglandRail rookie

posted in Train connections & reservations

Buy your Paris metro tickets on your train

On the Eurostar, and on TGV trains, you can buy Paris metro/bus/RER tickets in the cafe on board.It is so easy and means you don’t have to use the very complex ticket machines in Paris. Saves so much stress!Tip no 2: watch how other people go through the metro barrier before going through yourself - the ticket comes back out where you put it in - confusing! There are wider places for big suitcases - or a side entry where you can slide your case through, or push your suitcase through ahead of you as you go through the open gates. If you pull your case after you, it can get trapped as the gates close!

10 days ago

martingntrNew aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

Denmark Arriva GoCollective

Since the 16th of April, Arriva Denmark calls itself “GoCollective”, since Arriva Denmark was bought of “Mutares”, a German company which tries to return the company to recognized and undisputed profitable market leaders...The question now is: Is Interrail still valid at these trains, now operated by GoCollective? Please update your information concerning the valid danish transport operators as Arriva is still named.

10 days ago

ShandonRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Using Interrail Europe for Ireland inbound/outbound same day

Hello,I have one day left on an Interrail Europe pass. I would like to use it to travel from Cork to Belfast and back on the same day.from my reading on this forum it seems that tit is acceptable to use inbound/outbound on the one travel day. However I cannot add these trips to my journey or even find them on the planner - is this normal ?

10 days ago

KadeRight on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

Rail pass seat reservations - Lausanne to Paris

I have been looking at reserving seats on this route via either the Eurail or Rail Europe website.Seats can be booked on Eurail using my Eurail global pass, but on Rail Europe it says that the rail pass is not valid, for the same trip/date/time.Any reason why the Eurail global pass would not be recognised by Rail Europe for this journey - it was for some time previously?

10 days ago

LikhooRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Can't book nightjet in August (Vienna - Strasbourg, Munich - Budapest)

Hi, I am planning my first Interrail trip for this summer (~5 to 16 August, approx). My desired trip would be something such as: Lyon (departure city, I am not staying there) → Mannheim → Munich → Budapest → Bratislava → Vienna → Strasbourg → Lyon (arrival). I am flexible on dates and visited cities. I would like to book night trains in this trip, and Munich - Budapest then Vienna - Strasbourg seem to fit perfectly. However I can’t book any using the nightjet website: “no offers available”, but there are offers in July. Do you know what is going on there ? I’ve tried contacting OBB via their phone number but no answer. Thanks!

10 days ago

BadgerKeeps calm and carries on

asked in Train connections & reservations

A travel day with no journeys – still a travel day?

I gather (from the angels that hover over this forum) that it’s best to wait until just before boarding each train to activate that journey.As AnnaB, for example, put it in a reply on this forum last year:The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is also never to activate a travel day, that is connect a journey to your pass and create the ticket (QR code), until just before boarding the train, otherwise you might lose a travel day if your travel plans change at a late stage.So i’ve activated my pass; all 10 travel days are listed. I linked the journeys to them and then unlinked them again. The travel days are therefore “empty” in that they are waiting for me to reattach the journeys in “My Trip”, but they still exist. In “My Pass” under “Travel days” it says “10/10 used”. (I can cancel them and i can still deactivate the pass, so no probs there).However, this is where i’m (characteristically) confused:I’d like to leave those 10 empty travel days as they are, and add j

10 days ago

HawkshawRail rookie

posted in Train connections & reservations

Not allowed on train without reservation

My daughter is currently traveling with an itinerary of London-Italy-Croatia-Austria-Brussels-London. Her group tried to get a train today from Trieste, Italy into Croatia, but they were not allowed on without a reservation, even though the app said no reservations were required and the train wasn't full.They booked a bus journey instead but she is now worried that she will hit the same problem with later trips. Her itinerary includes high speed trains between Villach-Salzburg on Wednesday and Salzburg-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Brussels next Sunday (she has a reservation for Brussels-London).Again, the app says no reservations are required but might could this be changed leaving them stranded the last minute again?

11 days ago

Sajjad_TamimiRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

seat reservation from Frankfurt to Paris

Hi everyone, I want to book my trip Frankfurt to Paris with DB ICE. It is an DB train and I dont need seat reservation when I try to buy from DB application. But, I dont understand why do I need seat reservation when I check it from Interrail website and it is asking me to reserve a seat. Does anyone know why do I see seat reservation in my trip?Thanks,

11 days ago

vitorabfNew aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

8 minute transfer in Tournai

Hello, I’m looking to book a train from Lille to Brussels and the cheapest option seems to be an intercity with a transfer in Tournai.The problem is it only shows me a transfer of 8 minutes and that seems quite short. I imagine this isn’t an unpopular route, so is it enough time with 1 suitcase?

11 days ago

Linda in EnglandRail rookie

posted in Train connections & reservations

Tips for Interrailing in Spain 2024

Top insights (details below):Spain is only partly bookable in advance with Interrail – a real headache if you want to plan your journeys, connections and accommodation in advance!! It works best if you are physically in Spain, travelling around Spain is a large country, so train journeys are long – allowing time for a safe connection time means you may not arrive till 9-10pm Turn up at least 20-30 minutes beforehand for the intercity trains – luggage security scans, ticket checks and takes time to board, as trains are usually almost full Need to join Renfe for internet access – complex as wants your passport number, ticket info etc Coaches are the alternative if the train can’t get you there Have just done my first ever Interrail trip from London to Spain and Portugal. I am an experienced train traveller and seat61 and Rail Europe are my faves.Planning via seat 61 is great, but actually putting it into practice for Spain was very stressful and frustrating. It took me weeks of care

11 days ago

nadiajuliantoKeeps calm and carries on

asked in Train connections & reservations

Italy Train "Better" side of the train

Hi there! I’m reserving the seats for my trip from Switzerland to Venezia Mestre. I’m looking for which side to book for two of my trains, anyone has any recommendation or experience when taking the train? I also included the screenshot of the available seats illustration from the RailEurope (there are other coaches still available as well, but i’m not sure which direction will the train go, as the raileurope doesnt give an indication of that.. are both sides equally as good?):Bellinzona - Milano Central (free on choosing seats) Milano Centrale - Venezia Mestre this train cost 2 more euros to choose per seat, if i opt not to choose the seat, will the three of us be seated next to each other automatically?another question: I saw the next train does not require a reservation. Will this be safe considering i’m travelling on 26 July (peak summer)? Do you think it will be busy that we cannot get seats?

11 days ago

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