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Travel in France and Italy; are reservations required, how much do they cost and can they be avoided?


Hello, considering buying a 50% FLASH SALE: 2 months continuous.

I plan to travel in October from Prague to Barcelona, go back to France and stay a month travelling in France and the other month in Italy. And want to answer three questions

  1. How much additional cost does it take to get to Barcelona if I need not use TGV and want to use the cheapest way possible?
  2. Is it possible to use regional trains in France without reservations. For example, from Toulouse to Montpelier, from Montpelier to Marseille, etc.?
  3. And how about travelling in Italy, from Genes to Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice, is there a way to travel without additional costs? And if not, how much it will usually be?
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Best answer by Angelo 8 May 2022, 21:10

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Userlevel 7
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  1. 35 Euro and you need to get it by mail on official ticket paper. No e-ticket possible. Deutsche Bahn can sell it, maybe can CD Ticket Office in Prague sell it, because they should have a counter running with DB Ticket System. You can not find trains in the planner because RENFE in Spain do not send the timetable to rest of Europe. You can find it on RENFEs Website. 
  2. Most regional trains are without reservations, but some have also reservations. You see at the planner or best option use bahn.com. If it says Globalprice train or reservation compulsory than you need a reservation. 
  3. Yes sure, regional trains and regional express trains. You can use high speed trains 10€/train or Intercity 3€/train (via ÖBB How to get Reservations :) | Community (eurail.com))

1 - 0 € / this possibiliy is available.

2 / 3 - already answered. 

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Userlevel 7
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@1. you probably cannot escape at least 1 domestic TGV In FR-or maybe use the overnight train from P to FR/ES Border (POrt Bou), for 10€ extra, but the rest can indeed be done to BCN with ´bezplatne´

The major thing is to NOT use such trains OVER borders-In countries the supplmt is usually much lower.

General: use bahn.de for planning-can set to ´nur nahverkehr´ then it EXcludes trains like IC/ICE etc so you get an idea of what options are available then. In IT it really varies a lot per sector how do-able the ALTernative is-or not. On the IR-app seems also to be a feature for ´NO REServ needed´ but Ive never used it

Userlevel 7
Badge +9
  1. Most regional trains are without reservations, but some have also reservations. You see at the planner or best option use bahn.com. If it says Globalprice train or reservation compulsory than you need a reservation. 

"Global price” does not necessarily mean you need a reservation. Many trains in Portugal have this label, including regional trains for which reservations are not possible. The same for the trains from Portbou to Barcelona.

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