maxmoy
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 4 years ago
Don't use interrail. It's completely bullshit now. Very sad.
- You've either got 1 Country Pass, or Global Pass (all of the countries) = making it expensive.
- Global Passes are all 1 month minimum = making it expensive
- You will need to reserve for most legs of your journey. Reservation fees can easily be 40 Euros each. Interrail will tell you "well it's only on the high-speed/modern trains, but now most international trains are high speed and modern. = Making it way too expensive.
- There are LIMITED SEATS for interrail travelers on trains that need reservation. On intl. routes, you're likely to NOT find a space. So you'll have to buy a real ticket if you want to travel that day.
I think it's in the best interest of human dignity that Interrail just disappears. As a form of protest.
Peter
Traveller
9331 comments
Hi Maxmoy.
The past was always better. ;)
1) "You've either got 1 Country Pass, or Global Pass (all of the countries) = making it expensive."
Answer: in the past you had zones (A, B, ...) which made it more complicate to understand. Now you have ONE or ALL. Simple and in fact not more expensive. People don't travel more or less. Interrail got more expensive compared to the past like all other products as well.
2) "Global Passes are all 1 month minimum = making it expensive"
Right. In the past you also had "5 days in 15", etc.
Example for Youth pass, 2nd class:
2018: 5 travel days within 1 month = 208 Euro
2019: 5 travel days within one month = 217 Euro
Also now you have the in- and outbound days to leave you country of residence and to turn back home for free.
3) "You will need to reserve for most legs of your journey..."
Depends on your route. Some countries are "Interrail friendly", some not. Close to the "40 Euros": are only the trains France-Spain, which you can easily make cheaper by just going to Perpignan (TGV inside France = 10 Euro) and continue from there with the "Little Yellow Train" (= adventure, nature and free) or free regional train.
Eurostar with 30 Euros. But it is really fast.
TGV France-Italy for 31 Euro, what you can also avoid.
Therefore to make it sound like every train needs a reservation which is going close to 40 Euros is simply wrong. These are 3, 4, 5 trains out of hundrets you can use from Norway to Portugal, from Lithuania to Turkey...
I'm not a friend of all these high-speed-trains and how these "networks" were planed and now exist within Europe. In the past you had more slower trains, but more night trains. Today you travel at high price by high-speed-train, but then have to stay somewhere overnight as no connection is available to continue in the evening. In the past you just used a slow train combined with a night train = it was cheaper and in total the same speed. I read an article of a "rail nerd" some months ago who compared the past to the now with focus on ticket prices and travel time. I try to find it and post the link here.
4) "There are LIMITED SEATS for interrail travellers on trains that need reservation."
Which ones?
To summarize: you seems to be somehow frustrated? But to just post sentences without giving examples and proves, is not professional. I personally don't say "Interrail is perfect", but it has a lot to do with national railways if they like the "Interrail" product or not. For example Germany: you travel for free with Interrail on all trains (except ICE Sprinter which you usually won't meet). That's really cheap!
Pete :)