anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 6 years ago
Hi,
We\'re a young couple going interrailing for the first time this July. We\'ve decided on our route but we\'re a bit confused about the whole paying for train reservations and were wondering if someone could help us? Our route is:
Barcelona --> Montpellier ---> Nice ----> Genova ----> Venice ----> Como -----> Geneva
We\'ve tried to book reservations online but for one reason or another it won\'t work! We\'re a bit reluctant to start booking accomodation because what if we can\'t get the trains that we want?
What would you reccommend doing!
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi and welcome to rail.cc :)
First news is a good one: no worries about reservations, you can travel your whole trip for free with your Interrail pass. Not high-speed everywhere, but the Interrail way: a bit slower on the interesting routes. :)
[b]Barcelona - Montpellier[/b]
Have a look at this blog of Flo. He describes how to travel from Barcelona along the coast up to Marseille and Nice for free, avoiding the high-speed trains: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/barcelona-marseille-nice-train/[/ux]
Beside, there is an absolutely scenic trip from Barcelona trough the Pyrenees including the amazing Little Yellow Train. A kind of roller-coaster railway down the mountains with wagons without roof. I really like! :)
First by free local train from Barcelona to Latour de Carol. Then by Little Yellow train (also free) to Villefranche. And finally by free local train to Perpignan, where you continue by regional train TER (free with Interrail) to Montpellier.
Read ere and watch the video: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/little-yellow-train-video/[/ux]
[b]Montpellier - Nice[/b]
Like explained in the blog above, by free regional trains.
An interesting detour: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/scenic-train-cote-bleue/[/ux]
[b]Nice - Genova[/b]
Please read this blog: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/marseille-milan-train/[/ux]
By free TER trains to the French-Italian border Ventimiglia.
There you continue instead to Milano in direction of Genova by IC train (free, but reservation recommended for Euro 3) or direct regional train. Easy.
A scenic detour: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/tenda-railway-nice-turin/[/ux]
[b]Genova - Venice[/b]
Possible by free regional trains within six hours. No reservation required with Interrail.
[b]Venice - Como[/b]
There you have to travel back to Milan, then to Como. All possible by free regional train with change in Verona.
[b]Como - Geneva[/b]
First travel by free local train from Como to Lugano. Then in Switzerland take every train you want to travel to Geneva - it\'s free with Interrail.
And again a very scenic detour which I absolutely recommend! From Como by free regional train to Monza, there you change to the free regional train to Tirano.
In Tirano you change to a trip trough the Alps on free regional trains. Read the blog here: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/ux]
You see, avoiding the main routes, using regional trains (possible on the most routes), you are sometimes slower but you see more of the country and people living there. Your Interrail trip can be done absolutely free of extra reservations! :)
If you like all this free (wow, I\'m really often using this word in this post) content and help, support our work and buy your Interrail pass via our partner link [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] - the official Interrail pass at no eatra costs for you, but you support rail.cc - thank you! :)
The same for hotels [ux]https://rail.shop/bookingcom[/ux] or hostels [ux]https://rail.shop/hostelworld[/ux]
Enjoy your trip and ask if you have further questions, Pete :)
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
To find the regional trains, use our tool [ux]https://plan.rail.cc[/ux]
There you can de-select types of transport like "ICE" (=high-speed trains in general), "IC/EC", etc... :)