frizzlyy
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 8 years ago
Hello there! Me and my girlfriend have been working hard on planning our Interrail trip through Europe, a lot of the information on this site has helped us greatly thus far.
Recently we've hit a bit of a stump. We have a 30 day continuous pass and intend to visit all the countries listed above. We had been using the Interrail app to figure out our route and we noticed that we couldn't avoid reservation fees on some of our routes.
Here's the list of our trip
Copenhagen-Hamburg-Berlin-Munchen-Vienna-Venice-Rome-Ventimiglia-Barcelona-Malaga-Sevilla-Madrid-Nantes-Paris-Brussels-Brugge From Belgium we intended to find a way to get to London and end our trip there.
We don't get any search results when we look for trains that don't require reservations, are we going about this wrong? Are some trains that don't require reservation not listed for some reason we've missed? Should we be focusing more on going from point to point? According to our calculations we should be able to do this within 30 days but obviously we'll be spending a lot of time on trains. We'd love some feedback.
TL;DR
Copenhagen-Hamburg-Berlin-Munchen-Vienna*-Venice*-Rome*-Ventimiglia*-Barcelona*-Malaga*-Sevilla*-Madrid*-Nantes*-Paris*-Brussels*-Brugge
* Can't book trains between these locations without reserving, are we doing something wrong or is it necessary to reserve?
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Hi Frizzlyy,
If you want to travel from Rome to Barcelona (via Ventimiglia), without reservations, you'll probably end up with an overnight-stay in Ventimiglia. See here the route that I will travel coming month (a part of your journey):
## Day 20 - 12.05.2016 - Thursday ##
V 15:57, 07hr45, Roma Termini (IT)
A 23:42, 05hr35, Ventimiglia (IT)
## Day 21 - 13.05.2016 - Friday ##
V 05:17, 00hr25, Ventimiglia (IT)
A 05:42, 02hr39, Monaco Monte Carlo (MC)
V 08:21, 00hr19, Monaco Monte Carlo (MC)
A 08:40, 00hr18, Nice Ville (FR)
V 08:58, 02hr35, Nice Ville (FR)
A 11:33, 01hr19, Marseille St Charles (FR)
V 12:52, 01hr49, Marseille St Charles (FR)
A 14:41, 00hr57, Avignon Centre (FR)
V 15:38, 03hr50, Avignon Centre (FR)
A 19:28, 01hr00, Port-Bou (ES)
V 20:28, 02hr11, Port-Bou (ES)
A 22:39, 15hr21, Barcelona Sants (ES)
So this is a route that will not cost you any extra reservation. When planning the first part of your route (Vienna to Rome via Venice) I get plenty of options that do not require reservations (this will at the same time result in many transfers). > See http://railcc.interrail.eu/plan-your-trip/interrail-timetable and click on 'Avoid trains that require reservations').
I'm not sure about your first part in Spain (perhaps somebody else will know this). To leave Madrid in the direction of Paris you can go with regional trains, but I would recommend trenhotel (only 7 E for InteRail, overnight). When making your transfer in Hendaye, it is possible to continue with regional trains all the way to Belgium. (Use the trick ont he interrail website I mentioned above).
PS: Looking for a cheap way to go to London? Try the IC-Bus from deutsche bahn, 4.50 reservation costs for InterRailers. By far the cheapest option, although it is not sure yet how/when they will resume.
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
PS, for inspiration... check
LINK TIMED OUT
:D
Coryza
Traveller
57 comments
Oh btw.. If you're looking far ahead (>June) it might be that the timetables are not known yet! Timetables will usually be updated in December and June. (Sorry for another post, but I can't figure out how to edit my previous message).
frizzlyy
Traveller
1 comments
Ok awesome, thanks for your post! I've just recently started looking into this again but I still have the same problem with only finding trains that require reservation. If I look for your route through the app in July it doesn't show any results. So I think it probably has something to do with timetables not being updated for july? :/
Anyways appreciate your input and btw, your trip looks awesome :) have fun!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Yes, there is a small timetable change in mid June in mainland Europe and timings for dates beyond that may not be available yet (each railway has a different policy about releasing timetable data).
Regarding your route and trains with compulsory reservation. Maybe try also looking for trains at [ux]http://plan.rail.cc/[/ux]
Vienna - Venice: I'd recommend the direct night train. There is a direct day train too with compulsory reservation; if you want to avoid reservations, look for a route via Nova Gorica/Gorizia at the Slovenian/Italian border.
Venice - Rome: The hourly Frecciargento high speed trains require a 10€ reservation; alternatively there are a some slower IC services (3€ reservation recommended); going by regional trains takes too much time IMO
Rome - Ventimiglia - Barcelona: Do you want to visit any city in between or just want to get from Rome to Barcelona? In the latter case you could also have a look at the Civitavecchia - Rome ferry operated by Grimaldi Lines.
Barcelona - Malaga - Sevilla - Madrid: No way to avoid reservations
Madrid - Nantes: You'll need at least a reservation from Madrid to Irun at the border, then you can go without reservation via Bordeaux to Nantes.
Nantes - Paris: Regional trains available via Angers - Le Mans - Chartres or via Angers - Tours - Orleans.
Paris - Brussels: Regional trains available via Amiens - Lille - Tournai
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]
Thank you! :)
Flo 8)