It can be a bit of a mess. Often it's not possible to buy a single ticket for the journey you're making.

That's one reason why a railpass can be the better option, even if it's not the cheapest on paper. Because it gives you the flexibility to re-route (subject you any reservations you need to make).

Seat61 explains it a bit here, but to be honest it's difficult to work out exactly what the situation will be for your combination of tickets. And sometimes even harder to get a railway employee to agree!

https://www.seat61.com/european-train-travel.htm#if-things-go-wrong

For a long journey like yours, I would definitely opt for a pass, especially as a family group. I would also avoid the need for Eurostar / TGV reservations by going via Switzerland.

One other thought: the risk multiplies considerably when you add more and more trains to your itinerary - especially if there's a key train that you can't afford to miss.

If you're connecting onto a frequent regional train, perhaps to reach a city where you're spending a couple of nights, then the risk of major disruption is low.

If you're doing a big non-stop journey with tight connections and two night trains, then one 5 minute delay o the first train might cause your whole itinerary to collapse!

Thanks a lot for your thoughts @ralderton! Sounds like we would be better off with rail passes then. One follow-up question though: you suggested we should avoid the need for Eurostar/TGV reservations by travelling via Switzerland, how would the journey look like from Hamburg onwards then with Antibes being our final destination? 

I would suggest a look at this rail map, and some of the routes on Seat61. Also have a search for timetables on www.bahn.com. 

But off the top of my head, you could take a sleeper or day trains from Hamburg to Zurich or Basel, then continue on the Eurocity to Milan (€11 reservation fee, avoidable if you take a slower regional train). Then Intercity or Regional trains to Ventimiglia, then TER to Nice and Antibes.

If you take any of the routes between France and Germany, you have reservation fees to pay on the ICE/ TGV. As well as reservation fees on any French TGVs.

Details of all reservation fees also on Seat61.

Another option would be to go ‘the other way around’: ferry to Tallinn, then train through the Baltic countries and Poland.

There’s a new train service linking Riga with Vilnius, and Vilnius to Poland. But for Tallinn to Riga, a bus is quicker than train.

It could be interesting to go one way and come back the other?

An example with sleeper to Zurich. You'd need to pay the supplement for the sleeper, plus €11 for the Eurocity and €3 for the IC Milan-Ventimiglia.

If instead you take day trains Hamburg to Zurich, there's no reservaton fees on those (but you need a hotel somewhere).

Thanks again @ralderton, your ideas help a lot with our planning! I wasn't aware of the new train service from Riga to Poland and will definitely look into that option. We're not especially keen on travelling via Milan since we travelled on the exact same route last summer when visiting lake Como, but the reservation costs from Germany to France and on the French TGV don't seem like a good option either. Fortunately there's still plenty of time to check all the options

No problem. 

The reservation costs can be minimised a bit. The key is to avoid Eurostar as it’s the most expensive, avoid high speed trains if you can get away with a slightly slower option like TER. And if you are paying a reservation fee, try to pick a train that covers lots of distance, rather than a short hop - the price is the same.

Another option would be:

• Hamburg to Baden-Baden by ICE (no compulsory reservation, but recommended, €3)
• Baden-Baden to Lyon, Aix-en-Provence or Marseille by TGV (€18 fee)
• (hotel)
• Continue to Antibes next day by TER (no fee), or TGV (€10 or €20)

So you could in theory do that itinerary for €18.

I can also think of doing Lyon - Antibes by TGV (10-20€ as usual) : the latest train is 18:04 - 22:12. Geneva - Lyon by TER beforehand.

The same TGV leaves Strasbourg at 13:37 or Mulhouse at 14:40 so that's an option too.

Hello again, I'm back with some more questions, I hope you don't mind me using this old thread.

We've done some more planning and have checked the links that were kindly given previously. I hope you guys could check our plans so far and point out if you can see that we've missed something or if there are better alternatives.

September 27th ferry from Turku to Stockholm

28th train from Stockholm to Copenhagen

29th train from Stockholm to Hamburg and on to Berlin

30th night train from Berlin to Paris, one night in Paris

October 2nd train from Paris to Antibes 

And back:

October 24th train from Antibes to Genoa and a night train from Genoa to Munich

25th train from Munich to Hamburg and on to Travemunde and Finnlines ferry to Helsinki (departing on 26th)

So we are looking at 6 pass days as far as I can see. We were thinking of getting the 7 days in a month global passes and using the 7th pass day for travelling home to central Finland from Helsinki.

Any thoughts and help woul be very much appreciated!

Sure, looks good!

I don't think the 7th day will be useful for the last journey within Finland though as the trip is a little over a month long (28th September - 27th October).

I believe there is a Finnlines sale right now for the ferry (at least on the Finnish version of the website) : you should have a look as otherwise it's pretty expensive (but convenient) !

Nightjets are quite expensive now as they use dynamic pricing even for Interrail reservations. However as long as you book well in advance it should be fine (too early now for sure). You'll probably get a 4 couchettes compartment. :)

Thanks a lot @thibcabe ! You're right about the 7th pass day, good point. Maybe we could get 5-day passes instead and look for single tickets for the TGV ride from Paris to Antibes well in advance, do you think that could work? I think it would be safe to get those tickets separately since we would be spending the previous night in Paris so no worries about missing the train because of delays.

Yes, I noticed the Finnlines sale, it would save a lot of money but I'm worried about buying non-refundable and non-changeable tickets without the rest of the journey figured out, so not sure what to do.

When do you think would be a good time to book the nightjets, I'm not familiar with the changes that have come with dynamic pricing?

You should make the reservations for the Nightjet as soon as possible as the the prices will raise closer to the departure. That's the idea with dynamic prices. 

If you start the validity of your pass on the 27th of September to get a discount on the ferry to Sweden, then the last day of the validity will be the 26th of October.

If you plan to get a discount on the ferry back to Finland, you must check if the pass has to be valid on the day the ferry arrives in Finland. In that case you must arrive in Finland no later than the 26th of October.

Hello again, I'm back with some more questions, I hope you don't mind.

So it looks like Berlin will be hosting a huge marathon event when we were planning on staying there and the hotel prices are way higher than normally. After considering other options we thought about travelling from Copenhagen to Hamburg and taking the nightjet to Zürich. After that we would still be looking at two nights to spend somewhere on our way to Antibes. Maybe from Zürich to Lausanne for one night and then on to Lyon for the second night? I suspect this would mean paying quite a lot for seat reservations though. I would appreciate any comments on this itinerary and any suggestions about the alternatives. I'm especially keen on hearing @thibcabe's ideas since you seem to know that area well (hope you don't mind being tagged).

Looks like a cool idea too!

Lausanne is definitely a great place to stay, I'm a bit less convinced by Lyon (I've been there multiple times).

Maybe you could swap Lyon for Annecy ? Or directly go south to somewhere like Nîmes.

Only TGVs from Lyon to the south would require reservations. Otherwise Geneva - Lyon/Annecy are regional trains and Swiss trains don't require anything. Simply hop on hop off :)

Thank you @thibcabe, I knew I could count on your advice

Good to hear that Lausanne is worth staying at. Since it seems to be only a few hours train ride from Zürich, we wouldn't mind making a detour if there is a more scenic route that you could suggest?

Also thanks for the tip about Lyon. I'm not familiar with any of the French cities that you mentioned but will definitely look into those options.

Just to makw sure, travelling from Switzerland to France doesn't require seat reservations? That would help us to stay within our budget!

You could do something like Zurich - Lucerne - Interlaken Ost* - Montreux - Lausanne.

*Feel free to take a boat between Brienz and Interlaken Ost -> fully included in Interrail! :)

Interlaken - Montreux has a few direct trains. Otherwise you change in Spiez and Zweisimmen (hourly). Use SBB app.

Indeed the TER regional trains don't have reservations.

Great! That looks like a good plan! I will have to look into the timetables with more time but so far it seems to be a good option. We might even end up spending both of the nights in Switzerland since it looks like we could make it all the way from Lausanne to Antibes in a day. Thanks again!