Between Interlaken and Montreux I'd recommend taking the Golden Pass line, either the daily direct train or with easy changes in Spiez and Zweisimmen.If you'd like to avoid people Montreux and especially Interlaken aren't necessarily the best choices. They can be busy towns, although nothing to compare with big cities... It will be less crowded in May of course anyway.Let me know where you plan to start and end your journey and I could make you a sort of "tour". I've taken almost all Swiss railways. :-) You'll have lots of fun in the country I'm sure ! I love the railway network and it's easy to use.
Okay it looks great !What my itinerary would look like.DAY 1 Geneva - Lausanne (Olympic Museum by the lake or city centre), Lausanne - Vevey (nice town), night in MontreuxDAY 2 Montreux - Montbovon - Gruyères (castle and old town) and/or Broc-Fabrique (chocolate factory)Broc-Fabrique/Gruyères - Montbovon - Zweisimmen - Spiez - Interlaken (easy journey)DAY 3 Interlaken area, be aware that the railway to Lauterbrunnen/Grindelwald only offers a 25% discount. Boat trip around Lake Brienz (included), Brienz is a nice town (look up Ballenberg museum, maybe it is of interest to you)DAY 4 Interlaken - Spiez - Visp - Zermatt (Base Lötschberg Tunnel - 35 km) OR Interlaken - Spiez - Brig - Visp - Zermatt (older panoramic line but 1h longer)Up to the Gornergrat in the afternoon : 110 CHF return, up to you if it is worth itDAY 5 Zermatt - Visp - Domodossola - Locarno (Simplon Tunnel and Centovalli Line through Italy, Eurail Pass Switzerland is valid as is the Global Pass ofc)Night in Ascona, Locarn
If you have to switch trains, yes it'll count as 2 travel days.Check if you can maybe take the night train earlier, before midnight.
Not necessarily long travel days but yes you'll need to travel a bit every day.DAY 1Marseille - Strasbourg direct TGV (10€ seat reservation fee) 08:11 departure (5h32)DAY 2Strasbourg - Offenburg - CologneFor example 09:20 departure (3h44)DAY 3Cologne - Hamburg 4hDAY 4Hamburg - Copenhagen 4h45
I'd exactly do as @ralderton advised.I definitely recommend the 52 CHF Saver Day Pass for the Zurich - Engelberg journey + 96 CHF for climbing up Titlis.It gives you more freedom too. For example on the way back you could decide to stop in Lucerne and then take a boat to Brunnen/Flüelen + train to Zurich.Almost all trains, boats, bus, trams are included for that price (except for going to the top of the mountains, like Titlis)
Btw the 17 y.o. youth will pay the same price as an adult in Switzerland and in France I think it depends.For the 11 y.o. I recommend you getting the Junior Card at the first train station counter (Zurich Airport in that case).For 30 CHF the child can travel for free all over Switzerland including up to the Titlis.It'll save you a lot of money ! Let me know if you've got any questions.
You should buy the reservation on the company operating the train... but there are dozens of exceptions.For example IC and Frecciarossa trains within Italy should be bought on ÖBB website (Austrian Railways).There is a very good thread here "how to get reservations" Almost everything is explained.Let me know if you've got any questions.PS : The Interrail planner is not reliable and you should not buy reservations on Interrail website (there are extra booking fees)
@ralderton What do you mean by starting before 07:34 ? These connections all seem fine to me.If you meant having plenty of time to transfer in München Hbf, yes of course !
Yes it would seem very very strange
Do you really need to go via Munich ? It can be quicker going via Basel.For exampleBologna Centrale 16:56 - Milano Centrale 18:00Milano Centrale 18:20 - Basel SBB 22:37A 20-min connection in Milan seems quite tight, especially with your onward journey, but you could leave Bologna earlier.Basel SBB 23:13 - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf 02:54Of course I'd recommend an earlier connection but it depends on your schedule. There is a direct train between Milan and Frankfurt leaving at 11:20 every day too.I guess you know but be aware of the mandatory seat reservations in Italy for the high-speed trains (Frecciarossa, IC, EC)
Seat reservations usually open between 60 and 90 days before but there are some exceptions.For the Madrid-Lisbon journey please have a look at seat61.com, an excellent website for train travel. It is not straight-forward but still perfectly doable. Do you have an Interrail/Eurail pass ? This forum is all about them. If you want to book normal tickets (and not a pass), they should be available on the companies' websites again aboit 3 months in advance
As you said, Leeds to London might be the biggest problem.For that journey there are Megabuses between Leeds and London Victoria Coach Station. The tickets are quite low, around 8£. You could leave at 7:50 or 9:30.This seems to me the best solution as it doesn't involve an extra night somewhere.
First I don't know a company but it is certainly doable to do it by yourself. You've got on this forum plenty of advice.Of course people here will help you with specific questions.The website seat61.com will help you a lot too.Let me know if you've got any questions. I could help you a bit but I'm not qualified to organize a whole trip (although I often help my family)
That's because the other trains are already full for passholders. The 16:25 train only has seats for 1st class passholders left. And no you can't travel in 1st class with a 2nd class passSunday 21st May is on a holiday weekend so a lot of people will be travelling.If you can't take the 08:07 train I'd recommend searching the availabilities for TGVs between Paris-Nord and Lille (Flandres or Europe stations) and then take a regional train to Kortrijk and an IC to Brussels Or travelling another day...
Well it's true that it has become more complicated recently…Before you just turned up at the train station and they would give you this paper ticket for 30 CHF. Now you indeed need a SwissPass for the child. You could get it for you instead but there's no need to.To get a SwissPass (free) they'll take a picture of the child at the train station and give you a temporary paper ticket while waiting for the concrete card which will come later (and which I guess you'll never use) It's still a better option than the 19 CHF children day pass as I believe that this one doesn't include the ride up to Titlis
As @KBT isn't buying a Eurail Pass (not worth it), they'll buy saver day passes + tickets to Paris.To travel inside Switzerland I recommended saver day passes (from 52 CHF) and a Junior card for the 11 y.o. child as it gives a free ride to Titlis (and Jungfraujoch for that matter for example).Since December 2021 the Junior card cannot be printed anymore. At first it was only available on the child's SwissPass but due to complaints it is now also available on the parents SwissPasses.I don't think you can get it still printed unless you make a SwissPass and then you'll get the temporary paper ticketHope I've been clearer
There is a direct TGV leaving Rennes for Brussels at 06:23. It would be the best solution.There are 10€ passholder fares until Lille-Europe but I don't know how to get a seat reservation direct to Brussels.Hopefully someone will be able to help you
Okay so they can still get a paper ticket for 30 days, that's great to know. I thought that it was only with a Swiss Travel Pass...At Zurich Airport train station they'll sinply print it for you then @KBT Sorry for complicating everything !
Okay thanks !So @AshleyL Interrail is your best option unless you are fine with taking the TGV to Lille (direct, 10€) and then a regional and an Intercity train
Yes that's it !And you should buy the TGV Lyria tickets for 12th June right now, the 11:34 TGV is quite cheap : 3 x 49€ for the adults and the 17 y.o. youth + 34,30€ for the 11 y.o. childThere are only 8 seats left at that price
Yes I'd travel via Bellegarde.10€ seat reservation fee (if bought enough in advance)These are the best connections (and if whatever problem happens, there'll be a later train)- TGV Paris - Bellegarde 08:14 - 11:00- TER Bellegarde - Geneva 11:07 - 11:35This connection isn't any longer (less than 10 min)Or a bit later :- TGV Paris - Bellegarde 10:15 - 13:00- TER Bellegarde - Geneva 13:33 - 14:00
For your other journeys :Eurostar to Paris needs to be reserved ASAP : 30€Interlaken - Venice would be :Interlaken Ost - Spiez 07:30 - 07:51 Spiez - Milano Centrale 08:05 - 10:40 11€ seat reservation Milano Centrale - Venezia S. Lucia 11:45 - 14:12 10€ seat reservationAs already said you’ll need seat reservations on Italian high-speed trains, best bought on oebb.atFlorence - Pisa doesn’t need any reservations. But you say that you only have a 4-day pass… so you’ll have to decide which journeys you’ll make with the pass and which with regular tickets.Paris - Geneva can be cheap if bought way in advance and no need to use a day between Florence and Pisa (tickets are 17,80€ return) for example Let me know if you have other questions.Edit : I’d at least use the pass between Geneva and Interlaken, Interlaken and Venice. For the last day it’s up to you. :)Between Geneva and Interlaken I’d travel via Montreux and Zweisimmen, it’s a panoramic journey (Golden Pass). No need to reserve anything
You could also board the train in Arnhem at 22:02.IC ‘s-Hertogenbosch 20:54 - Arnhem 21:37 Nightjet Arnhem 22:02 - Zürich HB 08:05There is a supplement for couchettes and sleepers (book way in advance, they sell out quickly).As @rvdborgt said, don’t count on the 8-min connection as Nightjets are notoriously late. I’d recommend going as far as Zurich, you could maybe sleep a little bit more on the train.EC Zürich HB 09:33 - Milano Centrale 12:50 11€ seat reservation Frecciarossa Milano Centrale 13:10 - Roma Termini 16:49 10€ (or the 13:58 train which arrives 21 min later but gives you more time in Milan)Edit : As @ralderton suggested, you should board in Arnhem. But the Nightjet is already full for the dates you mentioned (I could just get my tickets last weekend for 5th August) so you’ll need to adapt your journey.And btw the Italian timetable has not been yet published for summer. You can check for the next days and it certainly won’t change much
For the return journey there are more Nightjet options (but be aware that it won’t stop in Arnhem on selected dates due to engineering works) :Basel SBB - Utrecht Centraal 23:13 - 09:22 176€ for a (private) 4-people couchette (for example on 19.08)I’d leave Naples at 10:30 and this journey will enable you to see another area of Switzerland :Frecciarossa Napoli Centrale 10:30 - Milano Centrale 14:58 EC Milano Centrale 15:20 - Basel SBB 19:32You then eat dinner somewhere in Basel before catching the night train at 23:13. :) You could also travel via Simplon/Basel SBB on the way to Italy and back via Gotthard/Zurich as you prefer...
Yes I wouldn’t wait for buying Nightjet reservations. For example there seems to be availability on Sunday 06.08 (Utrecht/Arnhem - Zurich) and Saturday 19.08 (Basel - Utrecht) if that fits your schedule.Please check nightjet.com or oebb.at (add Interrail discount) You don’t need a pass to buy the reservations though but there is a sale right now on interrail.eu so I’d buy both anyway ! :)And as you don’t need to select a starting date for the pass, it doesn’t matter when you buy it. Edit : A 4-day pass should be enough but a 5-day pass is not much more expensive if you’re planning a day trip from Rome or Naples btwDay 1 : ‘s-Hertogenbosch - Utrecht/Arnhem + night train Day 2 : Zürich HB - Rome Day 3 : Rome - Naples Day 4 : Naples - Basel SBB + night train
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