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Help us plan our family trip

  • September 7, 2023
  • 8 replies
  • 249 views
D

Hi everyone. We are from a country in Asia, our Europe trip will be in November (me, my husband and our 3yo son).  We have read so much information about Eurail pass, all the positives negatives related to train travel but still we are interested to try this kind of sustainable mode of travel. And yes, we feel like we are still lack of insight 😅

So this is our plan:

  • We will reach UK first, and on 10th November we plan to go to Bruges (quoted from railplanner: London - Bruxelles Midi 1104-1405, change trains 24 mins, Bruxelles Midi 1429-1530).  Would the change trains of 24 mins doable, with the walking distance, passport control, check-in process?  How about delayed trains, how often is it happened for Eurostar London-Bruxelles? 
  • Spend 1 day there, and go to Paris on 11th Nov (quoted from railplanner: Bruges - Bruxelles Midi 1209-1308, change trains 13 mins, Bruxelles Midi-Paris Nord 1321-1444). Again, is it possible for us to change trains in 13 mins?
  • Travel to Iseltwald Switzerland on 13th Nov (quoted from railplanner: Gare De Lyon-Basel Sbb TGV9203 0722-1026, change trains 1h 30min, Basel Sbb - Interlaken Ost ICE275 1156-1358, take bus10337 1405-1426)
  • Iseltwald - Grindelwald - Iseltwald on 14th Nov
  • 15th Nov, Iseltwald - Interlaken - Zurich (Bus10328 1028-1050, IC817 1100-1258).

As this is our very first trip, please comment on the above plan and advise if we must take another train schedule.

  • Is the flexible 5 days in 1 month the correct Eurail pass for us? Some of the train require reservation, please advise where we can do the reservation.
  • How often is delayed train happen in London, Bruxelles and Switzerland, and how long usually it will be delayed? 
  • How about luggage, where we will place it in the train.
  • Also, where and how do we check in, how long does that security/passport control process take, etc etc. Understood each train station check-in process is different, but it would be nice if  we get heads up of what would we face there.

Sorry for the long post and thank you for any help and advise you can provide 😄

T
Full steam ahead
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  • thibcabe
  • Full steam ahead
  • September 7, 2023

Passport controls happen in London before you board the Eurostar, arrive at the station 45 min-1h in advance. This is the only train in Europe with such airport-style boarding process.

Otherwise you show up 10-15 min before your train and walk to the platform (sometimes there are ticket barriers to cross but that's it). Luggage is placed overhead or between seats. Delays can happen but they're rare. Tight connections in Switzerland are usual, don't worry about that !

Trains are frequent between Brussels and Bruges so add the one you'd like to take just before boarding. Reservations are not possible in Belgium.

You'll have to pay some expensive seat reservations, those can be made on eurail.com :

- 30€ Eurostar London - Brussels (unavoidable) -> passholder quota so book in advance

- 27€ Thalys Brussels - Paris -> passholder quota (can be reduced)

- 29€ TGV Lyria Paris - Basel (can be reduced)

No need to have a 1h30 break in Basel unless you'd like to have a quick look at the city.

Suggestions : instead of taking Thalys to Paris, take this route via Lille

- IC Brugge - Kortrijk 11:16 - 12:05

- IC Kortrijk - Lille-Flandres 12:13 - 12:51

- TGV Lille-Flandres - Paris 13:12 - 14:13 10€

To Basel take the TGV only as far as the border (Mulhouse or Strasbourg) -> 10€ limited fare (then 20€) instead of 29€. For example :

- TGV Paris-Est - Strasbourg 07:58 - 09:59 10€

- TER Strasbourg - Basel SBB 10:21 - 11:38

- ICE Basel SBB - Interlaken Ost 11:56 - 13:58

The bus to Iseltwald is not covered. You get 25% discount with the Eurail Pass on multiple mountain railways in the area (no need to use a pass day).

On your way to Zurich I'd suggest going via Lucerne, the journey is particularly scenic !

Do not hesitate for further questions.

D
  • dwitasios
  • Right on track
  • September 7, 2023

Hi thanks for your suggestions!

However, I could not find IC Brugge - Kortrijk 11:16-12:05 and Kortrijk - Lille Flandres 12:13-12:51 in Railplanner app? Or is there any app I can use to make sure about the train schedule?

Also if we make reservations for TGV Lille Flandres - Paris 13:12-14:13 but one or two things happen and we could not be on time to onboard that TGV, do we need to make another reservations for the next TGV?

BrendanDB
Full steam ahead
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  • BrendanDB
  • Full steam ahead
  • September 7, 2023
dwitasios wrote:

Hi thanks for your suggestions!

However, I could not find IC Brugge - Kortrijk 11:16-12:05 and Kortrijk - Lille Flandres 12:13-12:51 in Railplanner app? Or is there any app I can use to make sure about the train schedule?

Also if we make reservations for TGV Lille Flandres - Paris 13:12-14:13 but one or two things happen and we could not be on time to onboard that TGV, do we need to make another reservations for the next TGV?

Could be that there are works, or no definitive timetable. Check on www.belgiantrain.be/en 

11 November is a typical weekend to have more extensive works (Public holiday, Armistice day, remembrance of Word War I in Belgium, France and the UK.) But no need to plan this far ahead in Belgium, since trains are frequent, non-reservable and well managed when works (replacement busses or detours).

You can always go via Gent-Sint-Pieters, will take about the same time, frequent connections.

Yes, or ask to be rebooked. If you miss it, but availability is usually good from Lille. Take a train earlier if you want to be safe.

T
1 person likes this
  • T
    thibcabe
D
  • dwitasios
  • Right on track
  • September 8, 2023
BrendanDB wrote:
dwitasios wrote:

Hi thanks for your suggestions!

However, I could not find IC Brugge - Kortrijk 11:16-12:05 and Kortrijk - Lille Flandres 12:13-12:51 in Railplanner app? Or is there any app I can use to make sure about the train schedule?

Also if we make reservations for TGV Lille Flandres - Paris 13:12-14:13 but one or two things happen and we could not be on time to onboard that TGV, do we need to make another reservations for the next TGV?

Could be that there are works, or no definitive timetable. Check on www.belgiantrain.be/en 

11 November is a typical weekend to have more extensive works (Public holiday, Armistice day, remembrance of Word War I in Belgium, France and the UK.) But no need to plan this far ahead in Belgium, since trains are frequent, non-reservable and well managed when works (replacement busses or detours).

You can always go via Gent-Sint-Pieters, will take about the same time, frequent connections.

Yes, or ask to be rebooked. If you miss it, but availability is usually good from Lille. Take a train earlier if you want to be safe.

 

Hi sorry, what do you mean by “ask to be rebooked”? Means we have to pay for another reservation fee for the rebook? And how do  we ask to be rebooked there? Understood that it would be a typical weekend so i doubt there would be an officer at the station who would help us on the rebook thing.

Thanks!

D
  • dwitasios
  • Right on track
  • September 8, 2023

For those trains with no reservation required, is there any way we could reserve or pay for a seat? We travel with toddler and it would be great if our boy could sit so he won’t throw tantrum during travel time 😅 

A
Railly clever
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  • AnnaB
  • Railly clever
  • September 8, 2023

Please note that you must get a free children's pass for your 3 year old son in order to be able to make reservations for him. 

Please note that I don't work for Interrail/Eurail and that I don't reply to personal messages.
A
Railly clever
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  • AnnaB
  • Railly clever
  • September 8, 2023

Below you can read about how to make reservations.

 

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 train in addition to the fee for the seat reservation.

 Activation of pass

During the activation process you choose the start day of the validity of the pass. Once the validity has started it can't be changed even if you haven't travelled. The advice is therefore to wait with activating the pass and starting the validity until the first day of your travel as you only can deactivate the pass no later than 23.59 CET on the day before the validity starts. If your travel plans change in the last moment you can't deactivate the pass and change the validity. 

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 and create the ticket (QR code), 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.
BrendanDB
Full steam ahead
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  • BrendanDB
  • Full steam ahead
  • September 8, 2023
dwitasios wrote:

 

Hi sorry, what do you mean by “ask to be rebooked”? Means we have to pay for another reservation fee for the rebook? And how do  we ask to be rebooked there? Understood that it would be a typical weekend so i doubt there would be an officer at the station who would help us on the rebook thing.

Thanks!

If you notice a delay, that will make your foreseen connections to trains with mandatory reservations impossible, speak to staff to get you rebooked. Ask on the train for proof of delay, and go to ticket offices to get your new reservations fixed.

There’s always staff in the bigger stations in Europe, even during the weekend. Opening hours might be a bit shorter than during the week.

dwitasios wrote:

For those trains with no reservation required, is there any way we could reserve or pay for a seat? We travel with toddler and it would be great if our boy could sit so he won’t throw tantrum during travel time 😅 

No, non-reservable is non-reservable. No seat reservations possible on domestic trains in Belgium.

As long as you don’t travel during rush hour on weekdays, you’ll have aaaaaall the space you’ll need. Seek out the outer ends of the train, if you want to have plenty of seat choice.

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