Amsterdam - Central Europe - finishing in Lyon

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Hey mmcinerney!
The train from Prague to Kraków stops in Oświęcim (the town where the Auschwitz Camp is located) at 04:39am. It is definitely too early to visit the place, because the Camp is opened as follows:
08:00am - 03:00pm - December, January, February
08:00am - 04:00pm - March, November
08:00am - 05:00pm - April, October
08:00am - 06:00pm - May, September
08:00am - 07:00pm - June, July, August
The distance between the train station and the Camp is about 2km (20min).

Between Kraków and Oświęcim there are 13 regional trains daily. The journey takes 2h one-way.

I see that you want to continue from Kraków to Budapest, so you can also get the Kraków-Budapest train in Oświęcim (the train departs from Kraków at 22:03, from Oświęcim at 23:47, and arrives Budapest 08:35am the following day). Remember that the train consists only of couchettes and sleeping cars. If you would like to get a free seat acommodation, enter the seat acommodation car to Prague in Kraków, and then change the car at the station of Bohumin in Czech Republic - you'll have a 50-min long stop there to do it), or use the Warsaw-Budapest train (you can catch this train from Katowice - 2h by train from Kraków).

Greetings!

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Thanks for the info :) I was thinking that the night train wouldn't work out.

I will definitely think about getting that late train from Krakow to Budapest.
Thanks

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi!

You're route is pretty straightforward without any really complicated connections.
You will need a reservation to travel from Prague to Krakow, have a look at the connections here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/prague-to-krakow[/u]

From Milan to Zurich have a look at this route: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]


Flo 8)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Hi flow,

I will definitely be using the MIlan-Zurich route you suggest. Do I need to reserve any section of that or is it all free?

For the Prague-Krakow route how many days ahead would I want to reserve those places and can I use this website to reserve them from?

Thanking you
Mike :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej Mike!

If you travel the Bernina route using regional trains only as described (so Milano - Tirano - Pontresina - Samedan - Chur - Zürich) you do not need a reservation.

You should be able to get the Prague - Krakow reservations from [ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/reservation[/ux] however I recommend to just get it at a station which will be cheaper. It should be sufficient to do so for instance in either Hamburg or Berlin (dont do it in Amsterdam as they will charge you extra booking fees there).


Flo 8)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Flow,

Ok that it great to know. When my group (7 people) are booking their interrail tickets I'll get them to do it through here. Ye are doing fantastic work.

Mike.

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej Mike,

thank you, always glad to help. Just let us know when any problems during the planning stage occur. :)


Flo 8)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Hi again :)

So I got a little burst of energy the other day and I have pretty much planned all of the route now that we will take. Some slight alterations but general gist is still the same except that we are flying home from Geneva.

However I am torn about what to do in Switzerland.

We are most definitely going on the Bernina. But as I researched it I was wondering if it would be possible/worth it to go from chur to Brig or at least Disenti/Muster on the way to Zurich. (I realise from Disentis/Muster onwards we pay 50% but I wouldnt mind if it was worth it) Is it realistically an option or are we dashing around too much?

We could leave on earliest train from Milan and arrive in Zurich late that night?

I am open to all suggestions regarding how far along a line to go/not go. What do people think?


Another possibility is that when we are on the way from Zurich - Geneva that we go via Interlaken? Is that a silly idea seeing as we will only be there for a few hours ?

Just general comments would be great.

Oh and when should I get the actual Interrail ticket itself?

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej!

It'd be possible to make a detour via Andermatt - Göschenen, paying extra for the part Disentis/Mustér - Göschenen, which will be 11,40€ with the IR reduction.
The route is quite scenic itself, especially the descent from Oberalppass to Andermatt followed by the short trip through Schöllenen Gorge down to Göschenen; also the Gotthard route from Göschenen through to Arth-Goldau and Zug is really nice and in summer it should be still bright enough outside to enjoy the scenery (although the early departure from Milan might actually be better still).

Possible timings:

Milano Centrale 0620 - 0850 Tirano :arr: get your discounted ticket here; should be enough time as well to get some supplies if needed, a supermarket is straight down the street if you exit the Trenitalia station.
Tirano 0940 - 1150 Pontresina
Pontresina 1202 - 1208 Samedan
Samedan 1217 - 1352 Reichenau-Tamins
Reichenau-Tamins 1405 - 1511 Disentis/Mustér
Disentis/Mustér 1514 - 1622 Andermatt
Andermatt 1628 - 1642 Göschenen
Göschenen 1708 - 1806 Arth-Goldau
Arth-Goldau 1813 - 1849 Zürich HB

From Tirano onwards there are similar connections every hour: if you want to have a break somewhere you could still get to Zürich in daylight.

This option is more interesting than to continue from Andermatt to Brig and go to Zürich from there.

Interlaken is not that interesting IMO - it is just the gateway to the Jungfrau region. Instead, I would suggest to head for Luzern for just one or two hours, continueing via the Brünig Line (and Interlaken...) to Geneve. In fact it should be possible to also include the MOB and thus travelling the complete Golden Pass Route if you leave early from Zürich:

Zürich HB 1004 - 1049 Luzern
Luzern 1305 - 1455 Interlaken Ost
Interlaken Ost 1508 - 1616 Spiez
Spiez 1625 - 1813 Montreux
Montreux 1818 - 1927 Genève

Depending on the delivery you choose your ticket will come within 2-7 days; I'd buy it about two weeks before you go to be 100% safe. :)


Flo 8)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Hi flow

Thank you so much for the comprehensive reply. That route sounds awesome. Which is cheaper to stay in Lucern or Zurich as some members of my group are very worried about the price of Zurich for a few days, from looking up Lucern it looks beautiful and would definitely justify 2-3 days doing day trips maybe.

The Golden pass line looks beautiful and I will most definitely be using it going to Geneva.

2 members of my group will be continuing onto Lyon from Geneva on the same day, is there late trains they can use or will they have to leave earlier than us?

Sorry for so many questions

JoySeeker
Traveller
77 comments

Zurich is slightly more expensive than Lucerne, yes. The youth hostel in Zurich for example is 40 CHF/night while the one in Lucerne is 36. It will be similar with other price categories I guess. Have a look on youthostel.ch, there are quite a few ones which are on your route but not in big cities. Those might be a little cheaper (around 30). Everything is so close in Switzerland anyways :)

The trip Geneva-Lyon takes roughly two hours and the last train leaves at 19:29. Easy to find out with an online schedule planner like this one: [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux]

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Thank you very much Joyseeker :) . That is great information.

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Hey guys,

Back again, god exams got in the way of my final bit of planning for this.

We have decided against Switzerland and are now going to go via south of France.

I was thinking Florence to Genoa (1-2 days) then genoa to Marseilles or somewhere along there...... and finally Marseilles to Lyon/Annecy (4 of group going to lyon other 2 going to annecy.

Is that route possible and would there be any extra costs?

Also Flow/Peter who do I send the pics of the interrail ticket numbers to as 5 of us have booked via this site and the last person is boooking next week. I was wondering if I could become a premium member ?

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi.
I just need your order-PNR (it is the one beginning with AA you got on the e-mail confirmation of your order).
And the user names.
Just send it to me by personal mail (click on my photo and on my profile send me a mail).
Thank you for supporting! :)
Peter :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi,

thanks for supporting!
You can do all trips without any extra reservations.

Florence - Genoa: Regional train either via Lucca to Viareggio or via Empoli to Pisa; change to regional train to La Spezia and change again to Genoa. There are several IC trains from Pisa and Viareggio directly to Genoa as well which you can use without a reservation (but we recommend to make the 3€ reservation to have your seat guaranteed).
Genoa - Marseille: Regional train to Ventimiglia, change to Nice, change to Marseille. There are several long distance TER (regional train) services between Nice and Marseille, take one of these instead of a TGV or Intercités services which would require a reservation.
Marseille - Lyon: There are long distance TER trains without reservation every two hours; from Lyon you can then continue to Annecy.

If you need detailed schedules, just let me know.


Flo 8)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Thanks guys,

I have sent on the PNR Peter,

Ya I was hoping to avoid the TGV :D .

We will decide on Marseilles or Avignon depending on what the others in my group want :)

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Got your mail! :)
Thank you for supporting! :)