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Seanbaker23
Traveller
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Posted 10 years ago

Hi,

Sorry this is completely off topic but I can't seem to set up my own forum post on here! So we've booked interrail tickets and all hostels, the journey will take us from London to Madrid (flight) then train to Barcelona, Pyrenees, Perpignan, Paris, Geneva, Bern and finally down to Milan.

The trouble is that It seems extortionate booking reservations on the high speed trains in comparison to the prices listed in this section of the site:

[ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/alta-velocidad-espa%C3%B1ola/renfe-ave/23[/u]

For example it says on here AVE trains in Spain are 10 euros reservations, then when we tried to book it online through this same site it says it's £13 each from Madrid to Barcelona (around 16 euros).

[ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/reservation[/ux]

This has been the same for each high speed journey we have looked to book (Paris-Geneva and Bern-Milan) and now it looks as though we'll be paying double what we had originally thought. Obviously we could risk it and leave it until were in each country but then the chances of actually getting a reservation are very low, I was just wondering if there's a cheaper way as on both the railcc website and SNCF the actual figures are so much different to figures quoted. I imagine these prices are higher for 2 reasons - availability and the cost of handling and sending the tickets, to which I will say that I'd be quite happy to get an e-ticket or pick the tickets up at the station if it's cheaper...

Many Thanks in advance,

Sean

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Peter
Traveller
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replied 10 years ago

Hi Sean.

First I hope you bought your Interrail pass via the railcc partner link [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
As it is simply fair to buy there where you get all the free information from. Thank you. :)

Read the yellow box at the link:
Note: the given prices may vary due to service or handling fees. Depending on whether you purchase the reservations/tickets online, at a ticket machine or at a railway station.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/alta-velocidad-espa%C3%B1ola/renfe-ave/23[/u]

You can avoid extra reservations on most parts of your trip. Especially in the Alps, travelling the longer, more scenic but free route. :)
In fact, you only have to pay extra for Madrid-Barcelona, all other trips you can travel slower than high-speed, but free. :)

If you want service and book online, you have also to pay the person who print out your reservation, put it in a letter and send it to you (for free in the UK). Nothing is free in life - and railcc does not earn a cent trough this service of reservations offered via our partner ACPRail.
The common way is to buy reservations during your trip at stations.

To make a post in the topic, select a main category and press the big green button in the left top corner new topic. :)

Peter :)