I am aiming to book a couchette or sleeper within Poland through the intercity.pl website. Hektor's explanation is perfectly clear and applicable when it comes to seats. But for couchettes and sleepers the interrail option does not appear in the list. This means I would have to buy both the bed and the ticket. Is this a general rule in Poland, or was I unlucky to only select couchettes and sleepers that were sold-out to interrail users?I tried the same for a sleeper train in Italy and there I could book one and only pay a surcharge for the bed, but not for the ticket. Thanks.
I have just done Sofia to Bucharest and then on to Valea Lui Murai by Romanian nighttrain, and loved every minute of it. While us westerners think that 1 train per day is not very much, the good thing is that these trains wait for each other. The pace of travel is relaxing rather than the 100km/h western style.Go do it and I hope I can still do it when I am 86!
Looking at timetables your journey Dimitrovgrad - Bucuresti I believe your journey actually consists of three legs:Dimitrovgrad-Gorna Orjahovica Gorna Orjahovica-Ruse Ruse-Bucuresti I traveled the latter two legs 2 weeks ago and was worried myself about the required reservation, which I was in the same practical impossibility about as you are. It turned out that the reservation wasn't as compulsory as suggested. The train was half-empty, I showed my ticket, and it was OK. I did not have a reservation. Extrapolating this to the first train, I would suggest you just jump on. I can imagine things get more busy towards the summer, and then the situation might be more busy and managed more strictly.
When it comes to Scotland thibcabe has already said it all (and I was there in April 2023 and can only confirm). In addition to the scenary outside, I found it a particular atmosphere as we all boarded the training knowing that we would be in it for over 4 hours but with very few places to get off along the trip. Like going to the moon together. But then you also mentioned Wales. Machynlleth to Pwllheli is definitely scenic too and has the additional feature of passing right along the shore. This is also a feature of the Exeter to Paignton line in the very South. When the sun was shining it was like being in the Mediterranean!
To limit your time on the bus, in favour of time in trains: Sofia-Nis by bus: Nis EkspresNis-Belgrade by train.I am preparing a post about this route for this forum.
Just wanna add there is one passengertrain on that Route Villach - (Ljubljana) - (Zagreb) - (Belgrade) - (Sofia) - Edirne it´s the optimaexpress. A very expensive Train and no public stops along the Route :/ This is fantastic input that I was not previously aware of, thank you! It confirms my hypothesis (which was based on seeing freight trains along that route) that the track is available all the way through Serbia, and that only the (passenger) trains are lacking. While Optimatours is not a public train and therefore not accessible through any of the passes from Eurail, it is of course a celabration of travelling by train and with a total journey time of 32,5hrs (21:32 on day 1 to 06:03 on day 3), I would think it is the longest train-ride in Europe (comments welcome), bringing up comparisons to todays Orient Express. €207 for a single journey (fixed price it appears, return = 2x single) is not cheap compared to buying tickets locally, but then considering it includes 2 nights a
While the trainplanner in the app may not be accurate for timings and the latest changes, I have never read any complaint that it wouldn't be accurate with respect to whether a train is included in the pass or not. So when filling in your journey I see that:IC-trains, without any intermediate stops, are included RE (regional) trains, with many intermediate stops, are not included This is likely to be due to different operators for the 2 types of trains but one would need to use another app (e.g. bahn.de) for that. Bahn.de says that the IC-trains are operated by Ceske Drahy (the national railways), while the RE-trains are operated by “GW Train Regio”. So this confirms what MartinM says.
Technically, Poland is all great. But I have found the obligation for reservations on its intercity trains, as well as the presence of non-pass local operators to be ‘pass-unfriendly’. It takes a lot of freedom out of your journey but if you schedule it all, then it may not bother you. To avoid the trodden paths (that is: all EC-trains), I would like to encourage you to use local trains to cross the (mountainous) border between Poland and Slovakia. Mind you that this requires scheduling as some only operate in summer, or even only on weekends.
I believe the lesson-learned here is that users like Vilma and myself thought of a ‘trip’ as 1 journey on a single day from point a to point b, using one or more trains. However the app uses the wording ‘trip’ for the full validity of one's pass.I had a 2 months pass and that makes a lot of scrolling! So me too I thought to be clever and subdivide the 2 months into smaller segments, but that was not how the app-developer had intended it to be.
I made a reservation via PKP for an intercity train within Poland on my smartphone and the cost of this turned out to be 1 złoty (€0,23) and I had to laugh. Once you know how to do it, it is not difficult.
Two options for adventure, but also lots of pleasure before that to figure out what the exact connections are:Option 1:Zagreb - Splitbus Split to PlocePloce - Sarajevo - Tuzlabus Tuzla to Brcko, then walk to Gunja in CroatiaGunja to Tovarnik, see:Sid - Beograd - Nis-Sofia see here: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/belgrade-to-sofia-by-train.htmSofia - Budapest - Bratislava - Vienna Option 2 (without Bosnia):Zagreb - Splitferry to Ancona (Italy) and continue overland to BariIn Bari, ferry to Bar (Montenegro)Bar to Beograd via the famous route!Beograd - Nisbus Nis-Sofia see here: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/belgrade-to-sofia-by-train.htmSofia - Budapest - Bratislava - Vienna(this option contours Bosnia so you will need to squeeze that in somehow, which is another challenge) Wow I am jealous!
Just a final remark on 'Statistics':Every screenshot I have seen says 'up to 90% less CO2 than flying' which made me think that this is just a fixed text rather than a calculated number.I have been doing planning for nearly fully electric trains, as well as journeys that were fully diesel-trains... but the 90%-number did not change. Surely it would be very demanding to incorporate all this in the app, but as it is now, it is just a generic advertism.
Use a good planner such as bahn.com and DB Navigator app to start, they're more reliable than Rail Planner. When would you like to travel ? I know that the expert-opinion on the app in this community is not to use it for any planning. However I disagree for the current situation of Mohsin02, which is the very first moment of idea-generation for a trip:the app immediately shows which trains are included in the pass; the app even calculates long journeys of multiple days with many trains. I have soon official journey planners like DB refusing this; the app shows a map of the journey, nicely visualising the cities where you get to, and what excursions could be added.Once the trip gets more firm, I do agree it is better to use official planners like DB.
Any map would have given this answer. It appears to be a situation where one station is the old one, and a newer station nearby with its underground tracks for high speed trains, like Lille Flandres vs Lille Europe. Out of curiosity: was the train planner you used clever enough to give travel options where you would be switching transferring by foot between the two stations?
The Deutschlandticket is valid from the German border so you need a normal ticket for the Czech part of the travel. Crossing borders and railway tickets is always tricky, and actually on a few stretches the Deutschlandticket is valid in the neighbour countries too up to a certain station, which is specified in this table:https://www.bahn.de/faq/deutschlandticket-verkehrsmittel-deutschlandKatty's border crossing at Bad Schandau is not in this table, so a ticket needs to be bought for the Czech stretch.Interestingly, the validity abroad (if any) is typically until the end of a line, but it is not necessarily the first station after the border. For example the Deutschlandticket is valid until Hengelo in the Netherlands, which means that you could commute between the Dutch stations of Hengelo and Oldenzaal, which are both in the Netherlands, with a German rail ticket.
I am not an expert in this but seeing nobody else replied this is what I tried:bahn.de shows the nighttrain but you cannot book it there, regardless of interrail. OBB does show the train (no 407) but it says it is going to Graz and wants you to change at Breclav at 04:00, to another nighttrain that does go to Budapest. OBB also conveniently shows (https://live.oebb.at/train-info?trainNr=407&date=2023-08-27&station=5100028&time=22%3A40) that the train is pretty much loaded (status just now). On OBB you can buy a reservation for €3 for the day-train on the 28th. Search for the discount-card 'Interrail / Eurail - Globalpass’I am interested in hearing what other people recommend, but I would suggest that this is a situation to ask at the ticket counter in Poland, and to do so as soon as possible considering it appears to be many's favorite train.
There are regional (RE) trains on the section between Muerzzuschlag and Payerback-Reichenau, so definitely there are more trains than the high-speed ones only. Wikipedia tells me that the speed on that line is 140km/h so it is not that high speed.
A supplement is required if you use the ICE for journeys inside the Netherlands, basically to reduce the demand on using those trains, as they are known to be busy. Again to reduce the demand on these trains, a requirement for reservation was imposed this summer: https://www.nsinternational.com/en/news/ice-summer-2023 ...however it appears that you are going to travel after this period of reservation requirement. As you have got your reservation, your are comfortable and covered.It does not state anywhere that a supplement is required as well, and hence you are ready to go.
In my humble opinion Germany is actually perfectly located in the middle of Europe to make a train ride around Germany (make the circle as great as you want to) that will open your eyes. On the North you will need to swim, or for example take a ferry to Norway, or cheat with a cheap Flixbus between the Netherlands and Denmark. You are also lucky to reside in a country where you can travel anywhere during a month for just €45, and when I was looking into its conditions, you can even travel up to stations abroad with that ticket, such that there is no ticket needed between that silly piece of track between the last station in Germany, and the first station in the neighbouring country. I believe it is the limitations of it that will make your journey worthwhile. After all, you've got 2 months to do it.I was just thinking that you might even be able to make 2 spirals around Germany, with the challenge being to not travel any same track twice. I am jealous!
Maybe you can avoid it by taking a ferry somewhere in DK to NO (Frederikshaven, Hirsthals or CPH) ? What I would do: have a look at what ferries offer discounts and then make the limitation the challenge.
Your pass only permits you to do two inbound or outbound trips, but you are planning to do 4 of them, so that won't work. Regarding Eurostar (and I mean the connection from/to London), this community is full of warnings that it sells out quickly if you want to use that train. But there is good news, as there are also ferries crossing the North Sea.
Just to be sure you can test it if you switch your phone to flightmode.
You can make as many journeys as you want on your travel day. A travel day is a calendar day, starting and ending at midnight. There are some specialties with night trains but that is not relevant now.
If you miss the connection because the 1st train is delayed, then DB is generous and the Zugbindung is released. So you can still travel, but only if there is space. Priority goes to those passengers already booked on that train.
Don't be shy and let us know about your challenge.
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