I plan to travel from Porto to Vigo, from Vigo to Barcelona en from Barcelona to Paris in three days. Therefore I have to buy the Seat reservation at the same days as I travel. In Vigo my train leaves at 07:42, is the desk allready open at that time? As I arrive in Vigo at 22:34 the day before I am afraid time is too short to get my Seat reservation.
Solved
Is the seat reservation desk at station 24/7 open?
Best answer by rvdborgt
There are still pass holder seats Barcelona - Paris available on 2 May. You can buy them on the Interrail website (plus 2€ booking fee plus 9€ postage fee). Or you can call Deutsche Bahn at +49 30 2970, who can also book this train and who can also book domestic trains in Spain. DB don't have a booking fee and can send the reservations by post for € 5.90. Have the train number ready when calling them because they usually need that because of the way their booking system works and because Spanish railways don't share their complete timetable with the rest of the world...
+15Carefull the Route Barcelona - Paris have just limited seats for Railpass user and these seats are usually sold old days in advance currently sometimes even a couple of weeks in advance :/
You can buy the reservation Barcelona - Paris already in Vigo :)
I´ am not working for Eurail or Interrail i just share my knowledge here. Please ask in the Community and not via private message as this is the fastest way to get an answer. I prefer English/German/ Czech for my answers. In case of Reservationquestions please share some details like Route, Date, Trainnumber as otherwise we can just provide general advices or answers
1 person likes this
The train Barcelona - Paris usually sells out a week in advance for pass holders, if not longer. You can check availability here but the first available seats are on Sunday 27 March.
If you're planning to travel before that, you won't get an Interrail reservation for this train.
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.
1 person likes this
Hmmm, sells out more than a week in advance and i found out that i can reservate the Seat reservation by phone but only for 72 hrs… how do people do this, it seems impossible…
is this track always this popular? Also in april or just in high season in july and august?
Barcelona - Paris only has 1 direct TGV in winter, I believe 2 in summer. There are limited seats for pass holders (rumours say about 20 per train) and they're only available on paper. RENFE and SNCF have limited the possibilities to make reservations for other companies and this means that the only ways to book them are:
- French railways (ticket office and maybe also by phone, not sure)
- German railways (ticket office or by phone; they can be sent by post or collected at a DB ticket machine)
- Spanish railways (ticket office or pre-booking by phone, the latter with limitations)
This is all made possible by 2 of the least customer-friendly railways in Europe.
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.
On which exact day do you want to travel from Barcelona to Paris? There are some alternatives, most notably via Portbou/Cerbère.
rvdborgt wrote:
Barcelona - Paris only has 1 direct TGV in winter, I believe 2 in summer. There are limited seats for pass holders (rumours say about 20 per train) and they're only available on paper. RENFE and SNCF have limited the possibilities to make reservations for other companies and this means that the only ways to book them are:
- French railways (ticket office and maybe also by phone, not sure)
- German railways (ticket office or by phone; they can be sent by post or collected at a DB ticket machine)
- Spanish railways (ticket office or pre-booking by phone, the latter with limitations)
This is all made possible by 2 of the least customer-friendly railways in Europe.
:) thanks, you are very experienced, this helps me a lot
Katja
1 person likes this
rvdborgt wrote:
On which exact day do you want to travel from Barcelona to Paris? There are some alternatives, most notably via Portbou/Cerbère.
On monday may 2nd. I see, over portbou, stay overnight in montpellier and the next day to Paris. But then i have one day short at my card and i have to be at work at tuesday haha, plane is far more easier but i am just determind to not take the plane this time
Katja
1 person likes this
There are still pass holder seats Barcelona - Paris available on 2 May. You can buy them on the Interrail website (plus 2€ booking fee plus 9€ postage fee). Or you can call Deutsche Bahn at +49 30 2970, who can also book this train and who can also book domestic trains in Spain. DB don't have a booking fee and can send the reservations by post for € 5.90. Have the train number ready when calling them because they usually need that because of the way their booking system works and because Spanish railways don't share their complete timetable with the rest of the world...
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.
Hint/tip: I did this last autumn-due to strikes in ESpana then: a BUSticket BCN-MOntpellier (or perpignan or whereever along this coast with also TGV) cost around 15€, flix or blabla=less as the Surcharge for the TGV alone. This can save you that precious travelday. INland TGV IN France run much more often and cost 10/20€ extra.
rvdborgt wrote:
There are still pass holder seats Barcelona - Paris available on 2 May. You can buy them on the Interrail website (plus 2€ booking fee plus 9€ postage fee). Or you can call Deutsche Bahn at +49 30 2970, who can also book this train and who can also book domestic trains in Spain. DB don't have a booking fee and can send the reservations by post for € 5.90. Have the train number ready when calling them because they usually need that because of the way their booking system works and because Spanish railways don't share their complete timetable with the rest of the world...
Check:), I booked the seat reservation for Barcelona-Paris through DB, they were very helpful, just like you. The trains Porto-Vigo en Vigo-Barcelona were not in the system yet, so I have to wait. Do you know when they will go online?
Katja wrote:
Check:), I booked the seat reservation for Barcelona-Paris through DB, they were very helpful, just like you. The trains Porto-Vigo en Vigo-Barcelona were not in the system yet, so I have to wait. Do you know when they will go online?
The RENFE timetable (or booking module) already contains this train (train 621 Vigo 7:42 - Barcelona Sants 21:35) until well into the future. In any case, until after 2 May. It runs on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays only, so it's not daily. Was that maybe the problem?
I also see that the DB timetable only contains this train until 18 April. However, that is not where DB staff should be looking for this train, since we know (and they should know) that the RENFE timetable data are very incomplete. DB ticket staff must use the direct reservation module (Direktreservierung / manuelle Eingabe), enter train number, tariff code (TC44) and class (T, C or P, not 1 or 2; T is equivalent with second class). This is the only way RENFE domestic trains can be booked. It also works for RENFE trains that do not appear in the DB timetable, as long as they're open for reservation, but that seems to be the case.
rvdborgt wrote:
Katja wrote:
Check:), I booked the seat reservation for Barcelona-Paris through DB, they were very helpful, just like you. The trains Porto-Vigo en Vigo-Barcelona were not in the system yet, so I have to wait. Do you know when they will go online?
The RENFE timetable (or booking module) already contains this train (train 621 Vigo 7:42 - Barcelona Sants 21:35) until well into the future. In any case, until after 2 May. It runs on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays only, so it's not daily. Was that maybe the problem?
I also see that the DB timetable only contains this train until 18 April. However, that is not where DB staff should be looking for this train, since we know (and they should know) that the RENFE timetable data are very incomplete. DB ticket staff must use the direct reservation module (Direktreservierung / manuelle Eingabe), enter train number, tariff code (TC44) and class (T, C or P, not 1 or 2; T is equivalent with second class). This is the only way RENFE domestic trains can be booked. It also works for RENFE trains that do not appear in the DB timetable, as long as they're open for reservation, but that seems to be the case.
Ah oké, thank you, I will try it again :). Just to be sure… these are the right trainnumbers? Porto-Vigo: 423 and look: I think I found a train from Vigo Urzaiz -Barcelona Sants that runs on sunday. It is even quicker than the other (09:20-19:15) trainnumber LD-AVE 97707?
Katja wrote:
Ah oké, thank you, I will try it again 
. Just to be sure… these are the right trainnumbers? Porto-Vigo: 423 and look: I think I found a train from Vigo Urzaiz -Barcelona Sants that runs on sunday. It is even quicker than the other (09:20-19:15) trainnumber LD-AVE 97707?
Porto - Vigo Guixar is indeed train IC 423. By the way, I see on the RENFE website that the normal fare starts at €5.25 and runs up to €15.95. Normally that's too cheap to use a travel day for. Reservation probably €5 or €6.50.
Vigo Urzaiz 9:20 - Barcelona Sants 19:15 is with a change in Madrid. It's not directly clear on the horrible RENFE website, but it's like this:
Vigo Urzaiz 9:20 - Madrid Chamartin 13:42 (train ALVIA 04254). Reservation €6.50.
Madrid Atocha 16:30 - Barcelona Sants 19:15 (train AVE 03163). Reservation €10.
There are frequent suburban trains (Cercanías) between Chamartin and Atocha. You should be able to use them with Interrail but you'll need to ask the staff to let you through the gate to the Cercanías platform. Also note that you leave from another station in Vigo than the one you arrive at.
The direct train Vigo Guixar - Barcelona (Mon/Thu/Sat) would be €6.50 for a reservation.
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.
1 person likes this
Addition: the reservation Porto - Vigo would be free of charge, see this message in the Facebook group.
rvdborgt wrote:
Katja wrote:
Check:), I booked the seat reservation for Barcelona-Paris through DB, they were very helpful, just like you. The trains Porto-Vigo en Vigo-Barcelona were not in the system yet, so I have to wait. Do you know when they will go online?
The RENFE timetable (or booking module) already contains this train (train 621 Vigo 7:42 - Barcelona Sants 21:35) until well into the future. In any case, until after 2 May. It runs on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays only, so it's not daily. Was that maybe the problem?
I also see that the DB timetable only contains this train until 18 April. However, that is not where DB staff should be looking for this train, since we know (and they should know) that the RENFE timetable data are very incomplete. DB ticket staff must use the direct reservation module (Direktreservierung / manuelle Eingabe), enter train number, tariff code (TC44) and class (T, C or P, not 1 or 2; T is equivalent with second class). This is the only way RENFE domestic trains can be booked. It also works for RENFE trains that do not appear in the DB timetable, as long as they're open for reservation, but that seems to be the case.
I called again today with DB but it didn’t work. They advised me to call again after next week tuesday because on tuesday and friday the dates are being updated. Apparently the system doesn’t respond to the trainnumbers. She asked her collegue from the technical department and this was the advice he gave her.
I will call on wednesday:)
As you wrote here below the train Vigo-Barcelona through Madrid is not ideal. So this is my plan:
fri 29.04 Porto-Vigo (trainnumber 423) 19:10-22:34
sat 30.03 Vigo-Barcelona (trainnumber 621) 07:42-21:35
Tuesday and Friday are the days when the DB timetables are updated, with a new update from the European Timetable Centre.
But again, this sounds like they're first trying to find the train in the timetable but that is not where they should be looking because RENFE timetables are incomplete because they don't share all of them. They should go straight to their manual reservation module as I explained earlier. That also works when the timetable module doesn't know the train.
If however, they did go and look in their reservation module, then I don't know what the problem is.
A DB agent that also knows how to book Spanish trains is this one. I've used them before for Spanish trains (and others did too) so maybe they manage too book it.
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.
1 person likes this
rvdborgt wrote:
Tuesday and Friday are the days when the DB timetables are updated, with a new update from the European Timetable Centre.
But again, this sounds like they're first trying to find the train in the timetable but that is not where they should be looking because RENFE timetables are incomplete because they don't share all of them. They should go straight to their manual reservation module as I explained earlier. That also works when the timetable module doesn't know the train.
If however, they did go and look in their reservation module, then I don't know what the problem is.
A DB agent that also knows how to book Spanish trains is this one. I've used them before for Spanish trains (and others did too) so maybe they manage too book it.
Yesss! This DB agency fixed it, they will send the seattickets by post. Thank you very much for your help!
Just curious, did you end up making the reservations through DB via email or by telephone? I am also looking to make reservations for Porto to Vigo to Barcelona. I’d rather use email if it is an option.
Yes I did reservate per telephone. It was not easy, above you can find the very useful tips of rvdborgt. Let them know when you need the tickets, because for my case the date is 2 May but i leave home at april 19, so they did not send the tickets because they thought there was stil tume, but after my second call they send them
Reply
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.