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Itinerary

Pauls_pad2002
Keeps calm and carries on

I have now fixed my Itinerary for Europe as hectic as it goes but this is the best we can do in the space we have seeing all the things we want to see and meeting my son in Rome through to Krakow
The parts not mentioned lon -rome & venice to krakow & Krakow to Munich are flights

We have set rail journeys we wish to take and here they are below.

What i would like to know is apart from Duss to Paris on Thalys and Paris to London on Eurostar ,  do any of these other trips need mandatory reservations on top of the seat cost.
I am currently working out if individual train journey tickets for 1 adult and  2 youths 25 and under will cost more than say a 4/6/7 day Eu rail pass. plus any extra like Eurostar reservation
The part i am unsure of is if i get a EU rail pass and apart from the two journeys mentioned above are reservations mandatory if i buy EU rail or not. Does buying a Eu rail pass mean we have to buy reservations for every trip[

 

Dusseldorf Paris 26th Dec

 
Paris London 29th Dec  
London Manchester 29th Dec  
Manchester London 31st Dec  
Rome Pisa 7th Jan  
Pisa Florence 7th Jan  
Florence venice 8th jan  
Munich Garmisch 13th jan  
Garmisch Munich 13th jan  
Munich Dusseldorf 14th Jan  
Dusseldorf Amsterdam 15th jan  
Amsterdam Dusseldorf 16th jan  

Best answer by rvdborgt

Italian long distance trains (IC €3 and Frecce €13) need reservations, so probably Rome-Pisa and Florence-Venice. Munich-Düsseldorf and Düsseldorf-Amsterdam have optional reservations but they may be recommended depending on the time of the day (€3 via tickets.oebb.at or free of charge in 1st class).

Reservations Manchester-London are optional and can be booked free of charge.

If reservations are mandatory, then they're mandatory for anyone. But if you buy regular tickets, then the reservations will be included automatically. If you buy a Eurail pass, reservations are only mandatory for trains that require it.

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R
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  • rvdborgt
  • Railmaster
  • July 8, 2023

Italian long distance trains (IC €3 and Frecce €13) need reservations, so probably Rome-Pisa and Florence-Venice. Munich-Düsseldorf and Düsseldorf-Amsterdam have optional reservations but they may be recommended depending on the time of the day (€3 via tickets.oebb.at or free of charge in 1st class).

Reservations Manchester-London are optional and can be booked free of charge.

If reservations are mandatory, then they're mandatory for anyone. But if you buy regular tickets, then the reservations will be included automatically. If you buy a Eurail pass, reservations are only mandatory for trains that require 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.
Pauls_pad2002
Keeps calm and carries on

here's the crazy thing. i just checked the reservation cost for duss - paris and its 37 USD with a pass.  
The ticket on Thalys is only 32 euros all up which includes the reservation cost how on earth is a Eurail pass cheaper. Imce i add up all the reservations cost i can see its not really going to be a savings at all
 

R
Railmaster
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  • rvdborgt
  • Railmaster
  • July 8, 2023
Pauls_pad2002 wrote:

here's the crazy thing. i just checked the reservation cost for duss - paris and its 37 USD with a pass.  
The ticket on Thalys is only 32 euros all up which includes the reservation cost how on earth is a Eurail pass cheaper. Imce i add up all the reservations cost i can see its not really going to be a savings at all

From your previous post I gather you're travelling at the end of December. Thalys can't be booked yet for those dates so can't look up the fare yet. Prices in 2nd class for Thalys Düsseldorf-Paris start at €32 but go all the way up to €145. You'd be very lucky if you can find such a cheap ticket for such a busy travel period, even if you book in advance.

Of course, you can find cheap(ish) tickets if you book in advance, but those tickets will often be non-refundable and non-changeable, whereas a pass is flexible. If you want to do a calculation, then it's too early. You could do a rough estimation and check fares the number of weeks from now that you'd be willing to book in advance. But it will still be a very rough estimation because the whole holiday period at the end of December/beginning of January is a very busy travel period.

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.
Pauls_pad2002
Keeps calm and carries on

Yes thats what im doing im checking the prices for every single journey plus ive calculated which journeys require reservation costs which is quite a few of them.
after this i am deciding which journey would be a Eurail journey and im working out this against the 4/5/7 day passes. My spreadh sheet is looking pretty detailed by now and yes i too agree that prices might change but looking ahead we are going to be in the middle of winter. im not sure if prices are cheaper over there then but ive looking currently at bookings that are as far advanced as i can go so at this stage i'm looking in september
At the moment choosing the best options on the  4 day pass its coming out at 1502 USD for  3 ppl for all journeys combined with reservations against 1464 USD doing them separately at the best pricing currently 
I am still working out the 5 and 7 day options

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