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what pass, how do I make reservations and does it matter that I have an irish passport?

Hattie Locke

EURAIL HELP

Hi guys, I'm a little confused about booking Eurail and would really appreciate it if someone could help me. I have attached my itinerary for reference, however, I am going to be getting a train 4 trains during the month I am in Europe and the rest I am flying.

  1. london to amsterdam

  2. prague to munich

  3. nice to paris

  4. Paris to Barcelona

What eurail pass would be the best option for me? Also, how do I make seat reservations once I have bought the pass?

Ps. I do have an Irish passport, so Im not sure whether this effects my eligibility for a eurail pass?

 

Thanks so much!

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Best answer by AnnaB 5 July 2022, 08:33

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M
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You did not say the most important: WHEN.

In fact for this summer you had better replan, as after most of covid restrictions fell and due to giant staff shortages in about all transport its overloaded.

YOu also did not plan very smart, as you double track-at usually high cost most of the hi-speed railline from Paris to south-only near Marseille it splits going east to Nice and west to ESpana-plus that the effort to get REServ for just this train is the highest there is. Its likely better to put Paris in between Lon and AMS.

EUrail is for those who live out of the continent EUrope-so as long as you have official govmtal proof you are registered in Ozzieland its OK. But as such it does not make much difference-Irish living in IE buy INterRail=much the same, except that it only allows 2 days /trips in the home country-you did not mention any.

Before you even start the buyapass process, better check first IF seats are available on your days wished-as it seems due to booked flites you must be pressed into a tight schedule. And then compare if its not more str8forward to simply book - fixed trips right away.

(hint: Pr->Mu is unlimited for 29€-buy locally-or use a cheaper bus in shorter time - regiojet)

A
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If those are the only 4 trips you will take it will probably be cheaper to just buy them as single tickets and it will definitely be easier, all of those need to be booked in advance, London - Amstrdam in particular will likely sell out well before it runs.

Hattie Locke

You did not say the most important: WHEN.

In fact for this summer you had better replan, as after most of covid restrictions fell and due to giant staff shortages in about all transport its overloaded.

YOu also did not plan very smart, as you double track-at usually high cost most of the hi-speed railline from Paris to south-only near Marseille it splits going east to Nice and west to ESpana-plus that the effort to get REServ for just this train is the highest there is. Its likely better to put Paris in between Lon and AMS.

EUrail is for those who live out of the continent EUrope-so as long as you have official govmtal proof you are registered in Ozzieland its OK. But as such it does not make much difference-Irish living in IE buy INterRail=much the same, except that it only allows 2 days /trips in the home country-you did not mention any.

Before you even start the buyapass process, better check first IF seats are available on your days wished-as it seems due to booked flites you must be pressed into a tight schedule. And then compare if its not more str8forward to simply book - fixed trips right away.

(hint: Pr->Mu is unlimited for 29€-buy locally-or use a cheaper bus in shorter time - regiojet)

I am going away august 22nd to September 22. I have checked and there are seats available. 

Hattie Locke

If those are the only 4 trips you will take it will probably be cheaper to just buy them as single tickets and it will definitely be easier, all of those need to be booked in advance, London - Amstrdam in particular will likely sell out well before it runs.

Thanks for your response! Where can I buy single tickets from? 

A
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If those are the only 4 trips you will take it will probably be cheaper to just buy them as single tickets and it will definitely be easier, all of those need to be booked in advance, London - Amstrdam in particular will likely sell out well before it runs.

Thanks for your response! Where can I buy single tickets from? 

 

It is usually a good idea to use the sites of the actual operators so:

 

London - Amsterdam: eurostar.com

 

Of course in the case of certain operators their websites are just a massive ball of **** so I’d say avoid SNCF like the plague.

 Nice - Paris: https://www.b-europe.com/EN or https://www.raileurope.com

 Paris - Barcelona:  https://www.raileurope.com or https://www.renfe.com/es/en

Prague - Munich, either wait until in Prague as previous poster suggests (availability on this route at short notice seems quite good) or buy from https://www.cd.cz/en

Looks like €60-€120 for Eurostar, €50 Nice - Paris, €100-€130 Paris - Barcelona and €25 Prague - Munich, although that is based on a random day in your window.

 

To get the best prices you need to book in advance and of course, as with airlines, the cheapest fares are the most restricted and come with the risk of not being able to get full or any refunds if your plans change.

 

 

 

Hattie Locke

If those are the only 4 trips you will take it will probably be cheaper to just buy them as single tickets and it will definitely be easier, all of those need to be booked in advance, London - Amstrdam in particular will likely sell out well before it runs.

Thanks for your response! Where can I buy single tickets from? 

 

It is usually a good idea to use the sites of the actual operators so:

 

London - Amsterdam: eurostar.com

 

Of course in the case of certain operators their websites are just a massive ball of **** so I’d say avoid SNCF like the plague.

 Nice - Paris: https://www.b-europe.com/EN or https://www.raileurope.com

 Paris - Barcelona:  https://www.raileurope.com or https://www.renfe.com/es/en

Prague - Munich, either wait until in Prague as previous poster suggests (availability on this route at short notice seems quite good) or buy from https://www.cd.cz/en

Looks like €60-€120 for Eurostar, €50 Nice - Paris, €100-€130 Paris - Barcelona and €25 Prague - Munich, although that is based on a random day in your window.

 

To get the best prices you need to book in advance and of course, as with airlines, the cheapest fares are the most restricted and come with the risk of not being able to get full or any refunds if your plans change.

 

 

 

The global pass is almost $400 for my partner and I each as we are youths plus $75 reservation fee each to book seats. It appears that booking individual trains seem more expensive than the Eurail? Am I looking in the right places? 
 

also when I booked seat reservations through the Eurail website it just bounced and doesn't process my order. I don't know what is going on :( 

A
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If you live in Ireland, or any other European country, you must buy an Interrail pass. Eurail is only for persons living outside of Europe. 

You can't see the actual availability of free seats on the Interrail/Eurail website unless you have a pass and are logged in. We see many persons in the community who have bought passes only to discover that there are no seats available on the train, mostly the Eurostar, that the want to travel with.

Here is some useful information from the experienced travellers in the Community regarding both planning, reservations and activation of pass and travel days. 

 

Planning

The rail planner is normally not up to date, as it only is updated once a month, so to be sure of the time table you better check the timetable and availability on the websites of the national railways. The bigger national railways, like DB (Germany) SBB (Switzerland) and ÖBB (Austria) cover several countries. 

 

Reservations 

 

The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is to use other ways to make reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website.  You can look at the guide in the link:

https://community.eurail.com/train-connections-reservations-47/how-to-get-reservations-105

If you, after having looked at the guide, have questions about how to make specific reservation, please give your travel details (departure date, time and route) preferably in a new topic, and you will get advice.

Please note that Interrail/Eurail charges an extra fee of 2 EUR per person and ticket in addition to the fee for the seat reservation.

 

Activation of pass

During the activation process, when you choose the start day of the validity of the pass, the first day of the validity period is automatically made a travel day, even if you don't enter a journey, the advice is therefore not to activate the pass before the first travel day as you only can deactivate the pass before 00.00 on the day the validity starts. If your travel plans change in the last moment you will loose travel days if you have activated the pass in advance.

It can be wise to make a test and activate the pass with a start date well in the future and then deactivate the pass immediately, just to see that everything works.

 

 Activation of travel day

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, until just before boarding the train, otherwise you might loose a travel day if your travel plans change in a late stage  You can't delete a travel day in the past. A travel day can only be deleted until 23.59 CET the day before the travel day.

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.
Hattie Locke

Hi there,

thanks for the response. I didn't realise this about the activation and because I was panicking about booking trains, I activated my pass thinking that would help me with the reservations issue. See attached screenshots. How do I reverse this as I don't want to lose one of my days? It says activate by 5 july (which is today)
 

 

Hattie Locke

I would really appreciate some help on making the following reservations as I seem to be struggling.I have a global mobile pass 4 travel days. I would prefer the trains to be all direct.

London to Amsterdam 26th August 2022 (preferably afternoon departure)

Prague to Munich 31st august 2022 (preferably morning or afternoon departure)

Nice to Paris 7th September 2022 (preferably afternoon / evening departure)

Paris to Barcelona 13th September 2022 (preferably afternoon) 

thanks so much in advance! 

A
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If it is active by today, then the validity has started. Do you have a continuous pass or a flexi pass?

When do you plan to travel?

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.
A
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Can you post a screen shot of "My Trip"?

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.
Hattie Locke

If it is active by today, then the validity has started. Do you have a continuous pass or a flexi pass?

When do you plan to travel?

A flexi pass 

Hattie Locke

Can you post a screen shot of "My Trip"?

 

Hattie Locke

Can you post a screen shot of "My Trip"?

I have attached screenshots 

R
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Userlevel 7
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I would really appreciate some help on making the following reservations as I seem to be struggling.I have a global mobile pass 4 travel days. I would prefer the trains to be all direct.

London to Amsterdam 26th August 2022 (preferably afternoon departure)

Prague to Munich 31st august 2022 (preferably morning or afternoon departure)

Nice to Paris 7th September 2022 (preferably afternoon / evening departure)

Paris to Barcelona 13th September 2022 (preferably afternoon) 

That does not really work if you have to activate the pass by 5 July (did you buy it in August 2021?), since you must then use your travel days within one month, i.e. until 4 August.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
A
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Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Is your pass active? If so, what is the start date of the validity?

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.
A
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Userlevel 7
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Regarding the question about you having an Irish passport and living in Australia. If your country of residence is different from your citizenship, you must be able to show proof of residency in that country.

I would think that this is especially important if you are a European citizen using an Eurail pass in the country where you are a citizen. 

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.

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