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Dear Interrail Community,

I am planning my outbound train from Germany to France but have to fight against restrictions everywhere. It seems like there is no escape from Germany.

My aim is to reach Paris (FR) from Aachen (GER). Traveling with the Thalys via Bruxelles (BE) is not included in the Interrail pass since its journey crosses Belgium. For all DB trains like the ICE which are crossing borders to France (somewhere via Mannheim/Saarbrücken (GER)) a reservation is required. But it is not possible to get a reservation especially for this type of train without booking a ticket. 
I already had a pretty short call with the DB support and they redirected me to the Interrail support (looks like you 😄). So they where not able to support or offer any other solution.

How is it possible to leave Germany without paying for an extra ticket?

 

Thank you in advance,
Jonathan

 

To mention:
German France Interrail Pass (Friendship Pass 7days in 1month)
Aachen -> Paris (probably via Saarbrücken)

You should be able to buy a reservation on interrail.eu or at ticket offices of DB.

Also possible to take IC/ICE trains till border region and from there regional trains to France and from there TGV to Paris or TER.

From Collogne there is 1 time a day a IC to/from Luxemburg. From there TGV to Paris.

Reservations are optional in Germany and Luxemburg for IC and ICE.

Reservations for TGV inside France use https://travel.b-europe.com/Eurail-GE/en/booking-tgv#TravelWish with the pass cover number from here: 

 

There are quite some option though. But one needs to get creative ;)

Best option seems to be to go to Offenburg, take the frequent regional train to Strasbourg there, from which you can continue your journey. Book domestic French TGVs via the links mentioned above.

Depending on the travel date, via Luxemburg is also an option (since public transport is free there). Head to Trier, via Luxemburg, get to Thionville or Metz (Fr) from where you can board a TGV with your pass again.

Maybe even via Belgium, with regional trains from Aachen, to Liège, through the Ardennes to Luxemburg and then into France. That’s quite a scenic route (If you’re under 26 you have very cheap tickets https://www.belgiantrain.be/de/tickets-and-railcards/gopass1 )

Use www.bahn.com to plan. When filling out the search module, you’ll see a button “further options”. Click it and you can customize your search. Add stopovers of 5 minutes to find a route to a border region (stations like Trier, Saarbrücken, Karlsruhe, Offenburg,...)

Aachen-Maubeuge can be bought for €13.60 on b-europe if you're under 26. Although it should actually be cheaper because you don't need the parts in Germany and in France but that can't be done online.

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