Interrail Pass Validity - Country of Residence

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi Anja.
You need a valid residency permit of France if you travel with a French Interrail pass.
If your residency permit isn't valid anymore for France while traveling and you only have a Serbian passport left, then you will need a Serbian Interrail pass. Which is in fact much better - as you can not travel for free in your country of residence, you only get a discount: [u]https://rail.cc/en/how-to-interrail[/u]
And Serbia is much smaller as France - with as well much cheaper train tickets. So you can travel for free (except reservations) in France with a Serbian Interrail pass. :)
As interrail.eu for a refund.
And buy your new one again via the partner link [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] - thank you,
Pete :)

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

Hello Pete,

Thanks for replying. I'll see if by any means I can renew my residence permit in France before the trip, only because I find the exchange/refund of the pass quite stressing :)

If not, I'll make sure to refund it and use the partner link again.

On a slightly different note, I have looked a little bit at the prices, discounts and validity issues, and found this:

TGV (France, Spain)
Route: Paris - Barcelona/Figueres Vilafant and Marseille - Madrid
1st class reservation: Fare depends upon route
2nd class reservation: Fare depends upon route
Reservation: Compulsory
[b]Your pass only needs to cover France or Spain.[/b]
(I found it here in the Reservation Fees table, just scroll a bit further down: http://railcc.interrail.eu/trains-europe/high-speed-trains/tgv#routes)

And this:
Reservations on the Renfe-SNCF en Cooperación high-speed trains are compulsory. [b]Your pass needs to be valid in either France or Spain.[/b]
(Here: http://railcc.interrail.eu/trains-europe/high-speed-trains/renfe-sncf-high-speed-train)

Now, my question is: if, hypothetically, I wanted to go from Paris to Barcelona by TGV with a French Interrail Pass, would the bolded part mean that I could do so with my Interrail Pass only (+ reservation of course), because it is valid in Spain (though not in France)?

Just in case I manage to renew my permit so that I don't have to change the pass :D

Thanks a lot,
Anja

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

That is a quite interesting question. :)
IMO you should be fine with your IR pass and just pay the regular reservation fare, even with country of residence France or Spain.
Similar rules have been/are in effect on the withdrawn Elipsos sleepers between France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland as well as on the Berlin-Malmö night train.
I try to get more information on this...

PS: If you pass by Gare de Lyon at some point, maybe you could ask there at the ticket office (although they dont have a dedicated office for these services I think)

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

Thanks Flo :) please let me know if you find anything interesting related to this. Usually I don't mind taking a small risk when travelling in principle (even if it means hoping for the best), but I would like to gather as much information as possible prior to the trip, especially considering that I still need to define my route completely etc. 8)

EDIT: [quote]PS: If you pass by Gare de Lyon at some point, maybe you could ask there at the ticket office (although they dont have a dedicated office for these services I think)[/quote]
That's what I thought as well :D I'm afraid that French staff in public services is often ignorant of those things though, but it's worth a try.

ntrain
Traveller
123 comments

I am afraid that this is not at all the bargain as suggested-its for (just like on THalys) the 1-COUNTRY passes-the extra to pay then also covers the fare for the country not covered. Which makes ik likely even more expensive as any presale special offer.

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

So basically it is only for One country passes (for example if I have an Interrail France Pass, I can go to Belgium by Thalys or vice versa), but it's not applicable for Global Passes? That's a pity :( I will stop anyway by Gare de Lyon to ask, but thanks for the insight :)

P.S. Btw it's a little bit weird though, on the website there is nothing about the type of pass you need to use, it says only pass... They should make it be more precise to avoid confusion.

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

Just saw this...

Travel conditions
Interrail Global passes and Interrail One Country passes are not valid within your own country of residence. In combination with a reservation for the RENFE-SNCF high-speed train, the Thalys or the TGV Lyria (Pass 2 or 3 fare), an Interrail Global pass is valid for travel in your own country on the route/day/time of that reservation. Alternatively, a discount may be applicable for trips to the border in your country of residence if you have an Interrail Global Pass.

( :arr: http://railcc.interrail.eu/terms-and-conditions/booking-conditions)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

OK, that sounds nice.
However, it would be interesting to get a price quote now - maybe the reservation fare with a Spanish or French pass is indeed higher. Would be great if it werent, of course :D

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

Stopped by Gare du Nord today to ask about Thalys (I reckoned it would be the same for TGV SNCF-Renfe at least concerning validity, according to the information on interrail.eu), but they couldn't tell me anything I don't already know :D

I went both to the info point and the ticket office, but they basically said that the country of residence is only important for sending the pass to your address :D (I'm not joking though) and that the reservation fee for Thalys would be 25 EUR for 2nd class.

I will certainly go there once again to try to find somebody to calculate precisely the amount of reservation fee (both for TGV and Thalys).

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Mh okay. :)
Sadly, the reservations for the RENFE-SNCF trains are only available at stations in FR and ES, so I cant check myself here in Austria. I also tried to contact them but couldnt reach them yet. :P
So it is really great that you can help out. Also to help other travellers in the future. :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

So, while I still couldnt reach SNCF-RENFE I came across the fact that you can apparently buy reservations for their trains online on the UK version of [ux]https://rail.shop/sncf/reservation[/ux] (click on the UK version on the top right).
There, it clearly says: Passenger must be an InterRail France, InterRail Spain or InterRail Global passholder. Travel permitted in class specified on Rail Pass only.
While this is no definitive proof that you wouldnt have to pay extra with country of residence France or Spain it is still a hint that this may be the case as you apparently could also use these trains with only a one country pass for either one country.

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

Hi,

Sorry it took me so long to post :( I have just found time to check again at the station and:

1) yes, you can use Interrail Pass with French residence (or Spanish residence) on RENFE-SNCF trains Paris - Barcelona and Marseille - Madrid, reservation prices are standard ones (9/18 EUR), I checked with my own pass.

2) you can use the Pass on Thalys trains as well (Paris - Brussels, Paris - Amsterdam etc.) under the same conditions (the Pass must be valid in at least one country of travel). Reservations are more expensive, for example the one I tried to get now for Thalys Amsterdam - Paris for the end of August was 35 EUR in 2nd class.

3) I think that anyone can make reservations for SNCF trains on the English or Swiss version of SNCF website (Swiss version: [ux]https://rail.shop/sncf/reservation[/ux])

I hope this is helpful :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej!

1) OK this is good news! :) However, are you sure the 9/18€ prices are correct? As far as I know the prices are much more expensive, about 25€ for Paris - Barcelona.

2) Hmm...35€? Where did you get this price quote? At the station in Paris? Was this 1st class? 2nd class should be 25€...

3) Unfortunately, rail pass reservations for international services to/from France are only available on the UK version of [ux]https://rail.shop/sncf[/ux] (yet). On the CH version you dont get Interrail reservations for trains to Spain or Benelux, only for domestic trains in France. :|


Flo 8)

anjajankovic
Traveller
10 comments

For 1) and 2), that's what the lady at the desk told me :| She asked me to specify the exact dates of travelling and for that precise situation 35 EUR was the price for Thalys 2nd class. And for Paris - Barcelona she only said that my Pass is valid and the prices are 9/18 EUR :|

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

OK. :D
Thanks anyway - some things always remain unclear apparently. ;)