France and Spain - How to travel on trains with minimum or no extra fee ( France : TER, Intercitie, regional, etc. Spain : Largo Recorrido, Regional, Cercanias, ( Talgo ? )) in other words, NOT on TGV or AVE high speed, so as to avoid extra costs : do some need a seat reservation ? Can this be done in advance / or at stations ? I'm asking for advice from experienced Interail travellers about how to keep any seat reservation costs to a minimum or travel free on slower services...Is it better to book through national rail providers websites ( SNCF / RENFE ) rather than on the Interail site or links, to avoid extra admin costs, etc. ? or does it seem that we are directed to tickets with extra costs - or is it a case of being flexible and travelling more slowly on regional trains in order to be able to use Interrail Global Pass with the least costs or none, to improvise if referred on a daily basis - though you might find Interail quotas not available and be forced to pay extra to travel...? Any advice for this long winded question ? Thanks, Ricky
Hello
Usually no reservations are required or possible for the TER in France, but some exceptions are possible, for example the TER fluo Paris - Troyes - Mulhouse or Paris - Châlons - Strasbourg. But note that TGV reservations are not expensive, from 10 € if you reserve in advance. You can obtain a full refund if you change your plan.
For the TGV, Intercités and TER in France, you can reserve seats on raileurope.com.
I don’t have any experience in Spain.
In France, most TERs are reservation-free. Exceptions are TERs between Paris and Normandy and on Paris-Strasbourg/Mulhouse. In those cases, reservations are mandatory only for journeys from/to Paris and not for other journeys. SNCF however have implemented this incorrectly in their timetable data.
There are also a few Intercité routes with only optional reservations.
In Spain, Cercanías/Rodalies and some regional trains are reservation-free. In Catalonia, also MD trains are reservation-free. Some routes can however only be done with a reservation. In such cases, look for MD trains (€4 reservation). bahn.de or the DB Navigator app usually give the correct indication whether or not reservations are mandatory. Cercanías/Rodalies timetables however are not in there because Renfe doesn't share them. (DB label MD trains as IR for some reason.)
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