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Replies posted by BrendanDB

1456 Replies

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AmystravelsNew aboard

posted in Travelling by train

MarwaRail rookie

asked in Travelling by train

1st class global pass worth it?

Hmmm, for that leg I wouldn’t consider it.TGV has a more comfortable and wider seats in first, but no extra at-seat service or newspapers like you have on some other trains like Railjet or ICE with 1st class “or standard première” in central Europe. Business première is not included in the pass. The longer the journeys, the more worthwile 1st class gets. Your trip isn’t too long.And indeed, very expensive reservations, like Angelo said. Not worth the price difference in my opinion. Second class TGV has also comfortable seats.Local trains in France and Switzerland often don’t have a first class. If you really fancy a bit of quietness and comfort you can consider it, but if you travel off-peak and off-high season it’ll be equally quiet and laidback in second class.Note that the Jungfraubahn and the BOB are not included in your pass. You get a 25% discount though. And Jungfraubahn rates are astronomically high (and don’t even have 1st class), but quite the experience I gather. Never tried

1 year ago

Angela Halvorsen BogoNew aboard

asked in Eurail & Interrail Passes

Understanding the statistics in the app

If you planned some trips, but you didn’t add them to your pass by pressing the the ticket switch, the statistics will stay incomplete.Also, manually added trains don’t show up.If you’re a neat statistic lover, you can just delete the the not used planned itineraries or add them to your pass, and you’ll have a nice overview of the route you did for your memory box :)

9 months ago

mommie4kidsRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Eurostar London-Paris reservation. What are the costs?

im just trying to book some eurostar reservations and it says its 90 euros!! have i made a istake or has it suddenly got expensive Could you add more details?Which website you used, the travel dates, number of people travelling,...?

1 year ago

sherNew aboard

asked in Eurail & Interrail Passes

Interrail or Eurail ?

So you don’t plan going by train to Paris from Sweden?Do you plan to travel a whole month? Then it might be wise to have a bit of extra days, in case you’re fed up with the (bigger) cities and you just want to enjoy and chill out in nature somewhere out of town or get away from the busy cities. Plenty of mountains with good scenery for hikes, or winter sport possibilities on your route, depending on when you go. But that depends on your own travel preference of course ;).If you buy the Eurail and if you would happen to have one or two traveldays left over after your trip, you can use them to visit other places in Sweden and get the most out of your pass and save you some money. With interrail you won’t have that option, since you reside in Sweden. And Sweden is a big country, so more difficult to get abroad to use those remaining days.A good tool to help you decide which pass suits you the best is this one:https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/choose-right-interrail-pass

1 year ago

LeevoRail rookie

asked in Eurail & Interrail Passes

Cancel travel day

Edit: @AnnaB was quicker to reply ;)Yes if, it shows up in “My Pass” it is activited.A travel day can only be deleted until 23.59 CET the day before the travel day. You can normally hit the “Travel Day” button again, and then it doesn’t show up in the pass any more. If you travel e.g. today 15/09, it’s too late to cancel your travel day.BUT! You can always adapt your journey or change the times in “MyTrip” by adding trains and/or deleting trains you don’t want to use on this travel day. This doesn’t cancel the travel day.This can happen even last minute, or during your trip, or even afterwards if you made a mistake, but it never cancel your travel day on the day itself or afterwards.Can you be a bit more detailed about your planned route, it might clarify a lot for us?The typical European rail lingo can be a bit confusing :)

1 year ago

Marcus LynchNew aboard

asked in Eurail & Interrail Passes

Fined on French trains

Indeed, the pass is your ticket, and you always need a valid ticket when travelling by train.Now, quite some inspectors are quite understanding (to tourists) and let you do it if you forgot it, and just warn you. But some are more principal, like the one you met.Technically the inspector was right, and he even showed goodwill by reducing the fine to 50 EUR. Reporting him will be a waste of your time, since they will never answer in your favour.

1 year ago

Jesse WonninkNew aboard

asked in Routes & destinations

suggestions for short trip

In Belgium there are some really nice hikes from station to station, with good hiking guides. The nicest and quietest ones are in Wallonia, in the Ardennes. Here some suggestions (most of it, is in Dutch, maar dat moet geen probleem zijn ;) ):https://www.caersbart.be/wandelen-treinstappers/#Overzicht_per_provincie-2http://www.groenehalte.be/wandelingen/https://www.belgiantrain.be/nl/leisure/b-excursions/more/green-stops/by-foot-green-stops

1 year ago

GazPatNew aboard

posted in Routes & destinations

Looking to plan for future trip - tips please

An important thing to note is that on the 12th of december there’s a major timetable change all over Europe. So if you start planning today, it might not be possible to see the timetable in some countries for next year, since they’re still working on it. Some countries are quite late in putting the timetable online. Don’t panic, but just wait until it shows up online. Sometimes quite last minute :)When travelling, make sure you always have the apps of the (national) operators installed, for the latest real time information in case of delays or detours because of construction works. The schedule in the interrail app is always theoretical.When it comes to planning trips, I always start with this (theoretical) route planner in the link below:https://hafas.bene-system.com/bin/query.exe/en?protocol=https:&L=profiThis planner also make it very easy to customise your search. You can choose your “core journey”, potentially choosing slower, but more scenic routes if you’lld like that.You ca

10 months ago

Bread boyFull steam ahead

asked in Routes & destinations

advice on getting to oslo

Norway has a very difficult geography in comparison to Sweden and Finland, and therefore not a lot of border-crossing railways. A lot is single track indeed, which means an incident or engineering works can screw it up a lot indeed.If you time it well, what could save you a bit more time (but also not more then 30 minutes) is to take the train from Copenhagen to Helsingor, take the ferry to Helsingborg. Superb connection with both station, costs only 7 euro’s for foot passengers. Ferries are every half hour and only take 20 min.From Helsingborg there’s also relatively frequent (at least more than the trains) direct busses to Oslo. Bit it also takes about 7-8 h to get from Copenhagen to Olso via Helsingor-Helsingborg.If you’re lucky, you can see the working heritage steam-trains in Helsingor. :)

1 year ago

GazPatNew aboard

posted in Routes & destinations

Looking to plan for future trip - tips please

I had the impression this planner basically uses the MERITS data, updated twice per week? That should then include any updated timetables, if they were provided in time. I don’t know if it uses the MERITS data, not an expert in that. :) The international ticket offices of NMBS/SNCB use this planner for route planning.That planner is updated constantly. It also has real time info of (some) but not all countries. Western and Central Europe is usually covered. With the exception of the UK though.Like this random example of today:

10 months ago

GazPatNew aboard

posted in Routes & destinations

Looking to plan for future trip - tips please

Thankfully we brits have little need of UK plans for Interrailing - we only need links to E* or airports/ports for our 2 days use and we have excellent planners available for domestic use. Which planners do you recommend then for the UK - out of curiosity? :)

10 months ago

geustahRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Are Interrail holders disadvantaged when standing passengers on full trains are asked to disembark for security?

It happens sometimes, but mainly in high season. I only had it once on an ICE (in Frankfurt) and once on a EC (in Slovenia). Lucky thing high season is over now.It’s very annoying for the people who have a reservation if some people refuse to leave the train, delay just adds up and then the whole train is screwed, reservation or not. If nobody moves the police sometimes shows up. But that I didn’t see yet.In the ICE that was overcrowded that I was on, they said the following: “Passengers that don’t have a destination Amsterdam or Brussels should leave this train and take others. No matter the ticket.” So I wouldn’t say an ordinary ticket improves your chances, it would be a waste of your money. Just buy a reservation or try to plan around fully booked trains, if your schedule permits it.If it happens in Frankfurt, there’s plenty of other ICE’s to continue your journey.

1 year ago

geustahRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Are Interrail holders disadvantaged when standing passengers on full trains are asked to disembark for security?

Even if you would miss your connection there’s always a possibility to get to Brussels. If you can get to Köln hbf around 19h (or 20h:15 at the latest), you can still get to Brussels by local trains. (Cologne-Aachen-Welkenraedt (or Verviers) - Brussels.The last ICE Köln Brussels is at 21:42 in Köln.The ICE’s to Brussels and Amsterdam are quite unreliable at the moment, they break down a lot. So you absolutely wouldn’t be the first one doing this.

1 year ago

gilbertaueRail rookie

asked in Train connections & reservations

Vienna to Brussels

The nightjets are extremely popular, and the proper bed places often sell out months in advance. The capacity is also limited, especially to Brussels (it’s only 2 sleeper cars, 1 couchette, 1 seating car). There’s a bit of a shortage of sleeping carriages.If you really want to take the nighttrain the option via Paris seems the more viable.If the 1st class seats of the Thalys are fully booked, you might want to reserve an ordinary TGV from Paris-Nord to Lille, and then take another TGV or Eurostar from Lille to Brussels. Or you can go via the hourly local trains from Lille to Courtrai/Kortrijk and then to Brussels (3 direct trains per hour to Brussels in Kortrijk on weekdays, 1 direct train every hour in the weekend). That option, without Thalys, will have cheaper reservations.Interrail reservation on Thalys is a bit expensive, and Thalys often sells out too on sundays, since everybody returns from a weekend in France for the work week.Please note that the night trains can be often dela

1 year ago

Chloe WongNew aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

January 1st Metro in Paris

Hi all, need help with metro/train timetable on January 1st in Paris. I will take the flight from Paris to Italy on January 1st, 2023 in the morning but I am worried that there will be less metro service as it is the first day of the year. I am worried that it will be hard to get to the airport. Does anyone know if the metro/train will run as usual? New years day is usually not something special. It’s usually is the regular reduced sunday and holiday service. Nothing to worry about.Only on Christmas and Christmas Eve you’ll find a very different timetable, or one that stops much earlier.

1 year ago

maehne95New aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

Reservation Highspeed Trains to Paris

GreetingsCould you add a bit more details of your planned route? Which trains do you want to take? Where do you want to switch trains? Where are you trying to book?

1 year ago

AleckRight on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

When is my seat reserved?

If you want real time information on your trains and connections you should consult the respective railway apps or websites.DB Navigator for Deutsche Bahn trains (ICE - RE - RB and all the sorts): https://www.bahn.com/enNS (for the Dutch railways): https://www.ns.nl/enand NMBS (in Dutch) or SNCB (in French) for the Belgian Railways: https://www.belgiantrain.be/en

15 days ago

maehne95New aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

Reservation Highspeed Trains to Paris

We usually recommend to avoid the Thalys trains, their reservation policy is very disadvantegeous for Interrail users.Details on getting TGV (SNCF) reservations you can find here:TGV’s regularly sell out, sometimes well in advance, especially in weekends.

1 year ago

Daniel GellerRight on track

asked in Train connections & reservations

Reserving a seat from Barcelona to Marseille

After this I will be visiting Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland and possibly Italy. If you avoid the Thalys (or Eurostar, or TGV) to travel to, in or between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany almost all of it can be done without reservations. On all other trains in Belgium and the Netherlands it’s not even possible to reserve.For your own comfort it might be adviseable to buy a modest seat reservation fee for the long distance trains in Germany (€4,5) and Austria (€3).Cross border traffic via ICE between Germany and the NL and/or Belgium has had some serious hiccups the last months. But you can always travel by local trains. This link sums it up quite nicely what you need to know for these countries:But by then, you already did the hard part ;)

1 year ago

shannonloneill12New aboard

asked in Train connections & reservations

Help with planning and seat reservations

Could you add more details?Your “jump on the go” can be very nice, but it doesn’t work on Eurostar. Trains can fully book out, since there’s only limited places for pass holders.The first available Eurostar to Paris from London St. Pancras with a pass is Thursday 29 Sep 2022 at 20h (for now), then on Saturday 1st of October at 15:31. Please you need to be there well in advance for passport and security checks. You can check availability and book your reservations here: https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWishOR! You might want to check if you can get to Lille by Eurostar (didn’t check that in aforementioned website). From Lille you can get easily to Paris as well.You might want to check if you can travel to Dover and then go as a foot passenger from Dover to Calais with the ferry. Prices are fairly decent usually. It also has very nice views on the White Cliffs btw. Plenty of ferries during the day normally. From Calais you can get to Paris without reservations with TER trai

1 year ago

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