Family interrailing: Zermatt-Rome-Florens-Venice-Maribor

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej Helena!

Thank you! :)
Your route looks good - IMO you could even add some extra cities here and there if it is not too much for your kids.

Copenhagen - Mulhouse can be indeed done with the night train from Hamburg; keep in mind that the direct EC/ICE services to Hamburg will require a seat reservation during the summer. I'd recommend leaving early so you could still spend the day in Hamburg before getting on the night train (maybe visit Miniatur Wunderland?).

Depending on how your plans will develop you may also think about going to Montreux and Zermatt first and maybe add another city in Switzerland: That way you could stay on the night train until Zürich and sleep a bit longer; then travel to Luzern and either stay here and maybe visit mount Rigi: [u]http://rail.cc/blog/lucerne-and-mount-rigi/[/u] or continue with the Golden Pass Route (via Meiringen - Spiez - Zweisimmen - Gstaad) to Montreux - a very nice scenic route at no extra costs.

Going to Zermatt will cost you extra as MGB (Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, the operator) does not accept Interrail (and only grants a 50% reduction for Youth Pass holders).

To continue to Rome you will have to change at least once in Milano; to avoid paying two reservations (for the EC to Milano and the Frecciarossa high speed train to Rome) you could travel to Milano using local trains. I would recommend using the Frecciaross though at least on the way from Milan to Rome as it is significantly faster as all other trains and the 10€ are well spent. It might also be interesting for the kids to travel at 300 km/h. :)

Rome - Florence - Venice can be done quite easily using regional trains; these will take longer as the high speed trains but you can save 10€ on reservation costs.
You may also think about including Assisi and/or Perugia on the way to Florence and maybe do a quick day trip to Siena from Florence? Or even go to the Cinque Terre?

Venice - Maribor is not that difficult:
a) Take a regional train to Gorizia Centrale; walk across town to Nova Gorica (the city is divided between Italy and Slovenia); board a train to Ljubljana and continue to Maribor
b) Take a regional train to Trieste; take the tramway to Villa Opicina and walk from the terminus to the station; board a train to Ljubljana and continue to Maribor

All night trains to Copenhagen (from Prague, Basel and Amsterdam) have been cancelled by DB and DSB...
So either travel during the day via Berlin - Hamburg or have a look at Berlin Night Express from Berlin to Malmö: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/berlin-malmoe-en-300/58[/u]

We are official partners of interrail.eu - to support the free information and the forum on railcc, please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/plus[/u]
Thank you! :)


Flo 8)

PS: You may also contact MarinaFbg who did a similar trip with her family: MarinaFbg

Cosmos
Traveller
3 comments

Thank you Flo for your reply,

I don't think I would ever find all that information by myself! I think we will plan for some extra stops on the way, and according to our energy level ( us parents, our children hardly get tired before us :D ), we will see if we do it all or skip some places. I quickly looked up the places you mentioned, Lucerne, Assisi, Cinque Terre - they all seem lovely!

How long time in advance is it needed to book night trains, and the fast trains in Italy? We are a bit concerned about the hostels/hotels, this we might have to book a bit longer in advance since it is peak holiday. That might do us a bit less flexible.

Is it possible to reserve everything online at dbahn? Do you know how much it cost if we want to have a compartment by ourselves in the night train?

I will contact my fellow-countryman that did a similar trip last year :)

We will for sure support you buying the tickets here!
Thanks again,
Helena

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

The Hamburg - Basel/Zürich night train should be booked well in advance, at least one month. In principle this is possible online at [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] as explained here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/hamburg-zurich-cnl-479/25[/u]
However, unless you want to book two sleeper compatments which would be pretty expensive there's the issue that only 4bed and 6bed couchette compartments are available and you are a family of five.

Reservations for Italian high speed trains can be bought locally at short notice normally; unless peak times on Friday/Sunday evening but even then you should find seats at some point - services are frequent, especially on the main line from Milano to Roma via Bologna and Firenze.
Reservations are available also on easy to operate ticket machines at stations in Italy - to get an Interrail reservation you would have to select the Global Pass option.

Apart from the night train and the high speed train(s) in Italy you can do the whole trip without extra reservations.
However, if you want guaranteed seats together, especially when travelling longer distances you may also buy regular seat reservations - but do this locally at the train stations. :)

Cosmos
Traveller
3 comments

Hi,

concerning the 6-bed couchette I´ve heard that you can book all the 6 beds even if you only are 5 people and pay an extra cost for the sixth bed, but I don´t know to what price.

Thanks again for the information

/Helena

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Yeah, I have been in touch with DB/CNL and was confirmed that it is sufficient to book six reservations so you could use the whole cabin for you.
Prices and how-to-book online: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/hamburg-zurich-cnl-479/25[/u]

Cosmos
Traveller
3 comments

Great,
I will see if I can make the reservation work
/Helena

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

It should be no problem doing so online as explained in the link I posted. :)

If you still are planning on going to Zermatt, have a look at the new post of [u]https://rail.cc/blog/brig-visp-zermatt-gornergrat/[/u]