whitama1
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 14 years ago
Hello,
My husband and I are planning to travel the month of April 2010. We live in Basel CH and when looking at a european map have decided to do a spoke/wheel travel plan. We have pets, so we cannot be gone 30 consecutive days. Our routes as of now are
Basel to Venice to Rome to Basel
Basel to Geneve to Marseille to Barcelona to Basel
Basel to Berlin to Prague to Vienna to Budapest to Basel
We could use Zurich as the base also. We do not have set plans on how long to stay in each city and may even change which city we go to at some point.
My questions are
Is this a good use of the InterRail Global Pass?
Will this pass cover the costs up to the border of Switzerland?
And for Switzerland the tickets would be 1/2 price?
Do we have to make reservations?
For the longer train times we would take the overnight trains, but since we are not sure of the dates, how will that affect our travel plans?
Is there a book of Train schedules for all the places or maybe separate books for the train schedules that we can take with us?
Once we arrive in a city should we book the reservation for leaving the city to the next place at that point?
Sorry for all these questions, but we have never done anything like this before. Any help is greatly appreciated.
whitama1 (An American in Switzerland)
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi whitama1 ...
here are your answers. ;)
these are three good routes... for Marseille to Barcelona you will need one day. I recommend to travel back from Barcelona to Switzerland by night train:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/barcelona-geneva-bern-zurich-night-train/f1098[/u]
1) Is this a good use of the InterRail Global Pass?
yes it is ... you travel a lot of kilometres. definitely worth if you want to stay flexible and free. simply have a look at the country topics - there I listed nearly all night train connections with the fares. you will see, using InterRail is cheaper. :)
2) Will this pass cover the costs up to the border of Switzerland?
in your country of residence you will have to pay. but as Switzerland is small, it won't be too expensive. check the website of SBB to find out the prices to the border. or just cross the border and travel via France or Germany - as you live in Basel.
3) And for Switzerland the tickets would be 1/2 price?
only the first one to leave Switzerland and the last one to return. you can not officially (!) get 6 tickets with reduction as you leave 6 times Switzerland.
4) Do we have to make reservations?
yes. for night trains it is worth to do.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u]
5) For the longer train times we would take the overnight trains, but since we are not sure of the dates, how will that affect our travel plans?
at peak times in summer, trains are easily full. often you will get a seat - but if you want a bed, you will have to book at least 3 days in advance or if you are very flexible, don't buy a reservation - ask the train staff directly. sometimes you have luck.
6) Is there a book of Train schedules for all the places or maybe separate books for the train schedules that we can take with us?
yes. it is called Thomas Cook European Timetable. available via Amazon.
7) Once we arrive in a city should we book the reservation for leaving the city to the next place at that point?
this is the way a lot of travelers do. as you immediately know on arrival, when you will leave. if the train is full on your preferred departure date, select an other one. so you can plan your hostel stay and everything else in the city.
if all this will help you, support our forum, this answer and the whole project by purchasing your official InterRail ticket via [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
thank you. :)
Peter :)