Unfortunately only possible at Spanish ticket counters (not necessarily in Barcelona). Deep in renfe.com’s booking process you can check how many seats are left → right now over 200 seats are available (the train is basically empty).

It should be fine since you’re travelling on a weekday outside school holidays.

You should book the Lyon - Brussels early as there’s a passholder quota on this service. Rail Europe (desktop version) works well → no fees.

Brussels - Cologne is available through OBB for 3€ (only ICE services, not Eurostar).

General guide : https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

Thanks for the reply I am too looked at the alternative leaving Barcelona at 9:28 with TGV9708 and change in Paris, but this too has prices unavailable. so their too I cannot book a seat reservation with eurail for this part of the trip. I tried to go to www.raileurope.com and to SNCF, but they want to sell a full ticket and their is no seat reservation only available. I checked the seat61 site, if I understand it correct I should be able to make a seat reservation on the TGVF as a eurail passholder?

Can anyone please explain it to me.

Thanks and Regards,

Horst

You can book the TGV on www.raileurope.com, but you need to use the desktop website. Only there you will see "Add rail pass”.

Thanks, I found it.

In Paris I arrive at Paris Gare de Lyon and have to transfer to Paris Nord. I have two options,

1 with a 43 minutes time for the change

2 with a 1h and 42 minutes for the change

I am not familiar with Paris if I take a taxi between the two stations is the 43 minutes enough or is it more

save to use the longer time in case the train to Paris is delayed.

Taxis take longer than RER trains with traffic so do not take them for sure! Looking at Google Maps right now -> 40 min by taxi and 10 min by RER.

43 min is still too tight for my liking in Paris. Choose 1h42 for a more relaxed experience. The 17:54 Eurostar also goes straight to Cologne so it's convenient.

Usually you can get RER/métro tickets onboard the TGV to save time queueing.

With a taxi in Paris you don't know how long it will take.

The quickest way from Gare de Lyon to Gare de Nord is with line D of the RER (suburban train). It's 2 stops, quite frequent and takes less than 10 minutes. Including the way to and from the RER, it should take less than 30 minutes (usually 25 for me from platform to platform, but I'm familiar). You should be able to get a ticket for it at the bar of the TGV.

43 minutes between trains in Paris is possible in theory, but you'll have little margin for any delays.

We will travel on Thursday 23th of May from Lyon Part-Dieu to Barcelona Sants with Renfe AVE INT 9742. However, it was not possible to book a seat reservation. I called Renfe (Spain), DB (Deutsche Bahn, Germany), SNFC (France) and SBB (Switzerland). It appears that nobody, even Renfe itself, has the possibility to reserve a seat for this train...

Only Renfe can book it (their choice), but you have to go to a ticket office in Spain, or if you call them you can pre-book, but you still have to pick it up from a ticket office in Spain, within 72 hours after pre-booking and also at least 24 hours before departure.

Departing from France, the only way is to speak with the AVE staff before boarding. They will then sell a seat reservation if there are still seats available.

Ok here's some first hand experience as I am currently on the way from Lyon to Barcelona.

I cloud buy a 2nd class reservation from the train staff at coach 6 for 20€ (cash or card) upon entering the train. There were no gate controls at Lyon Part Dieu. Train staff is well aware of this situation and was very friendly throughout the process.

However I have asked renfe's customer service beforehand, how to handle this. This is renfe's reply (after insisting that there is a flaw in their system when taking a train from outside of Spain):

"Currently, international passes, due to an incident on the Interrail web, which is pending repair, reservations are only allowed at ticket offices in Spanish principal stations.

However, the french international train staff are allowed to make the formalization (reservation) of your Eurail ticket during the ticket control access. Therefore, you can go to the desired train to make this transition the day of your trip. Moreover, if that day the train is complete (no seats available), special access authorisations have been stablished in order to allow travellers to make their route."

Especially that last sentence is the interisting one I think.

Hope this helps any future travellers on this route.

Kind regards,

HaPe

Interesting is also that you paid €20, whereas the regular fee is only €10 in 2nd class. Or did you pay for 2 seats?

Until now, I only read reports that people paid the same as at the Spanish ticket office.

I actually was astonished about the 20€ as well but his handheld told it is 20€ and not 10€. There was little room for discussion.

My receipt states 

"Viajero sin billete (estación sin venta)"

("Traveler without ticket (station without ticket sales)")

and

"Venta de tarifa non disponible"

("Ticket type not available for purchase")

Bumping this thread, as I will be trying this out in May.

I plan to arrive at Lyon on the TER from Geneva, and buy a reservation onboard for the AVE to Figueres-Vilafant.

Good to know that there are no controls to access the platform at Lyon (there were on my last trip from there, on the Frecciarossa to Paris). That suggests my 10 minute connection is less of a problem!

I’ll be interested to discover the price in First Class - I’ve seen €10, €13.70 and €20 mentioned as plausible amounts so far. Perhaps more in First?

The regular price for 1st class is €13. Do let us know what they want on the train.

And also, if you count on the 10-minute change: have a plan B.

Actually, I think common sense will prevail and I’ll get the TER an hour earlier!

I did have an idea to get from St. Polten to Figueres in one travel day (departing 0001 on the EN to Zurich), but some of the connections are probably not sensible!

It's indeed risky as the EN often arrives an hour or so late in Zurich. The Geneva - Lyon TER is also not a punctual line.

Definitely make the safe choice. The AVE arrives in Lyon at around 1:30pm so you can speak to staff in advance.

In the end, I was charged €20 for first class.

The train only arrived <10 minutes before departure, and there’s no indication on the screens or on the train where first class is. A useful tip is to wait on the platform by car 4/5, as that’s where the Train Manager will be.

She told me it was full in both classes, and directed about 10 Interrailers to wait in the bar car (standing only).

After about an hour, she found me a seat in First Class. It was half full (albeit more people got on later). As far as I know, all the others got seats, but it took a lot of extra  work by the crew to find them.

I’m going to raise it with Eurail, because RENFE shouldn’t be charging the extra €10 for buying onboard where there’s no other option. And €20 or €23 if you have to stand for 5 hours doesn’t appeal!

If that’s what it’s like in May, I dread to think what it’s like in August.

As another data point, I booked my onward reservations at the ticket office at Figueres.

They didn't ask to see my pass, so maybe that's still an option for people who have friends in Spain.

€23.50 + €1.30 Gastos gestion for an AVE - Premium with restauracion

€10 + €0.55 for Alvia - Elige Confort

Both reservations have Combinado Cercanias printed on them