soumeet
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 15 years ago
Hey,
I am currently studying in France and am a non european citizen. I and a few friends of mine were planning on going to a few places in Europe during the C'mas break (between 20th Dec & 2nd Jan). We plan on going to Italy,Austria, Czech Rep, Germany, Switezerland/Belgium....I had a couple of questions
1. Are the number of countires too many given the short period of time?
2. I am over 25 but not 26 yet, am I eligible for the student pass?
3. I did not quite understand the country of residency bit, does it mean that when I travel in France I will have to pay 50% of the cost of tickets if I have the inter rail pass?
Any other recommendations are welcome, as we are planning to book tickets by this week end
Thanks
Soumeet
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi Soumeet...
If you stayed 6 or more months in France, you can buy a French InterRail Pass - you only have to proof it by official documents like a visa printed in your passport or an official residency permit.
The go on [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] , select the ticket you want, fill in the data - and as country of residence select FRANCE - as passport number the one of your Non-European passport. That's it. :)
To your other questions...
1) Depends if you want to relax or not - I always recommend to stay at least 2 or 3 nights in a city - not only to rush trough.
If you use night trains, you will save money and travel time (have a look at the country topics of our forum here where you will find information about night trains - I recommend to buy the reservations early, as the night trains might sometimes be full over Christmas).
2) The date of the departure is the important date - not the date of purchase of your ticket. If you tour starts the 20th of December 2009, you can travel by a YOUTH ticket when you are born before the 20th Dec. 1983 - if you are older (for example born the 19th Dec. 1983), you need an ADULT ticket.
3) The rule of the country of residence is sad. || Yes you only get a reduced ticket from the city you live in France to the border. Maybe have a look at the SNCF website where you often can find special fares - might be cheaper than reduced tickety...
All the best, Peter :)
soumeet
Traveller
2 comments
Hey,
Thanks for such a quick response!! :P
I also saw that despite having an interrail pass, i might need to pay some supplements when travelling by trains....for most of them i saw that it is between two different countries (for example between germany and france).....is there any supplement to be paid if i travel inside the same country (like between munich and berlin for example).....also if the supplements are lower, does it necessarily mean that the trains would be very few (like 2 or 3 in an entire day?)
Soumeet
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
A supplement doesn't depend on the quality or frequency of a train.
In some countries like France, Spain, Italy the supplements are higher, in other countries like Germany even the high-speed and very comfortable ICE trains are completely free of supplements.
A list of all supplements is here:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u]
Peter :)
Robert_Antonio
Traveller
53 comments
Be aware, the ICE trains are free of supplement only in domestic courses inside Germany! International ICE trains have supplement 5€ in 2nd class. And there are ICE-Sprinters (in addition to ordinary ICEs), that have compulsory reservation 11€ in 2nd class.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
[quote]Be aware, the ICE trains are free of supplement only in domestic courses inside Germany! International ICE trains have supplement 5€ in 2nd class.[/quote]
Nope.
ICE to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Switzerland do not require reservation.
Flo 8)
Robert_Antonio
Traveller
53 comments
Mea culpa, I checked it two years ago :os
Now the only ICE lines with compulsory reservation are between Germany and France.
soumeet
Traveller
2 comments
Hey,
The other thing I wanted to check is booking hostels, I and my friends know which cities we want to travel to...but we are not sure yet how may days we will be spending in each city....so since we will be travelling during C'mas and New year of 2009, do you think it is a good idea to book hostels from now or is it ok if we arrive in the city and then book the tickets?
I am asking this question because I and my friends are students and we have a limited budget to work on......and we want to know if student hostels will charge us anything extra due to C'mas and New years if we do not have an advance booking and just want rooms on our arrival?
Regards
Soumeet
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi Soumeet...
I definitely recommend to book the hostels in advance especially for New Year !!
You are maybe already a bit late for the good and cheap hostels. I am sure you will find a hostel to sleep even without booking, but it won't be one of the good ones - maybe fare away from the centre, expensive, ...
New Year is every year one of the peak travel times in Europe.
And no - they won't charge you anything extra if you pay on arrival.
Peter :)