CarbonCapture
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 5 years ago
How can I find in 5 minutes if Interrail is worth the investment for traveling between Sweden-Germany-France-Belgium this summer with 2 adults+2kids.
By checking the 3 trips I plan to do in db.de, oui-sncf and sncb website, it is virtually impossible to know which part of the tickets will be already paid by Interrail card.
The pricing is otally opaque: interrail.eu requires FIRST to buy a card to be able to make the reservations (and hereby to check their price).
Any advice?
Peter
Traveller
9331 comments
Hi.
From where do you start?
And which cities do you want to visit exactly?
How old are your kids?
Do you know your exact travel dates or do you want to be flexible?
It\'s important to know to tell you the train types you will meet.
At the beginning, "Interrail" seems to be complicate - but you will find your way after a short explanation. :)
[b]Sweden-Germany[/b]
Interrail: you will probably meet the Snabbtåg [u]https://rail.cc/interrail-train-reservation/snabbtag-sj/39[/u] which requires an Interrail reservation. Also the trains [u]https://rail.cc/interrail-train-reservation/eurocity-dsb/71[/u] from Copenhagen to Hamburg require an Interrail reservation, but only in the summer months. Read our blog here: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/hamburg-copenhagen-train/[/ux]
Normal tickets: saver price tickets from Sweden (Stockholm/Göteborg/Malmö/...) are available at Deutsche Bahn [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] and Omio [ux]https://rail.shop/omio[/ux] from Euro 39 per adult.
[b]Germany[/b]
Interrail: no reservations required for Interrailers.
Normal tickets: cheap save fares are available from Euro 19 if you book early in advance. Kids travel for free with their parents. Tickets at Deutsche Bahn [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] and Omio [ux]https://rail.shop/omio[/ux]
[b]Germany-France[/b]
Interrail: direct TGV/ICE trains available which require an Interrail reservation [u]https://rail.cc/interrail-train-reservation/tgv-alleo/172[/u]
Other slower options available.
Normal tickets: saver prices available.
General: more details if I know your exact route. :)
Small kids travel in general for free with Interrail or train tickets.
Pete :)
CarbonCapture
Traveller
3 comments
Hi,
Thanks for all the details. It\'s sad that planning with Interrail requires so much time and still has elements of uncertainty.
In the end I bought savers tickets (db.de prices are really low when well in advance).
The main reason was that TGV seems not so friendly with "The number of seat reservations available on each train is limited. " see en.oui.sncf/en/pass/seat-reservation + the fact that you can only book 3 months in advance.
Peter
Traveller
9331 comments
Hi.
Yes, with the Sparpreis of Deutsche Bahn [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] you often make good deals! I use them as well frequently. :)
And also yes: the TGV is not that Interrail friendly, especially if you use it for border crossing (Germany-France) [ux]https://rail.shop/sncf/reservation[/ux]. In reverse, Interrail is very good for other countries, like for example Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc...
Enjoy your trip! :)
Pete :)
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
"The number of seat reservations available on each train is limited." is worded a bit unfortunate since it is supposed to be a general information, meaning that on trains with compulsory reservation (such as TGV/inoui) reservations are only available if seats available (ie if the train is fully booked you cant get a reservation anymore). This does not mean that there is a limited number of reservations available for Interrail passholders (ie there are still seats available on the train but all Interrail reservations are sold out)!
You can easily check on the oui.sncf website by looking for Interrail reservations - for instance I can still get a reservation for the last TGV from Paris to Lyon today, as well as for all TGV Paris - Lyon tomorrow. The only thing to observe is that there is a limited number of reservations available for 10€ and as soon as these are sold out reservations cost 20€, which are available as long as seats are available on a train.
This applies for all domestic TGV, there can be different rules on some international services.