Interrail: do you have to book all international tickets?

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi.

When traveling on an InterRail pass, you need only on some trains a supplement.
These trains are listed here:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u]

There are a lot of free trains without supplements at all. In most cases you have the option to take a slower train if there is one with supplement which you want to avoid.

It depends on the time you travel: in the summer months of July and August, I recommend to buy the supplement (if needed) some days in advance. Especially for night trains.

But you will always find an other way - I try as well to stay as flexible as possible.
Peter :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi!

InterRail works like this: With your InterRail pass you can use all trains of all participating countries and railway companies for free. If you get a Global pass, this means free travel in 30 European countries. The other option are the One Country passes, but for a month long trip the Global passes usually are the better solution.
However, there are some trains in certain countries which require an additional supplement/reservation. This is no disadvantage of InterRail, since these additional fees are payable with regular tickets as well. You can find a list of trains requiring such a supplement/reservation here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u] Usually it is enough to get these reservations some days in advance - you can get them at most railway stations (if the have ticket counters with staff). If you know that you are going to take a certain train on a certain date you can make reservations up to three months in advance; otherwise you can stay flexible and make them one or two days in advance or even on the day. There are certain periods though (ie friday afternoon) where a lot of people travel so it is advisable to get reservations for these periods in advance - or you try to avoid these periods at all.
There are some trains or railway companies (ie TGV in France) which have a certain amount of reservations for railpass holders only; so again, if you need to take a certain train it is advisable to get the reservation as soon as you can.

Dont let you frighten by these regulations since you will find lots of alternative travel routes where you dont need reservation. Just ask if you need further details. :)


Flo 8)

outspan
Traveller
3 comments

[quote]Hi!

InterRail works like this: With your InterRail pass you can use all trains of all participating countries and railway companies for free. If you get a Global pass, this means free travel in 30 European countries. The other option are the One Country passes, but for a month long trip the Global passes usually are the better solution.
However, there are some trains in certain countries which require an additional supplement/reservation. This is no disadvantage of InterRail, since these additional fees are payable with regular tickets as well. You can find a list of trains requiring such a supplement/reservation here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u] Usually it is enough to get these reservations some days in advance - you can get them at most railway stations (if the have ticket counters with staff). If you know that you are going to take a certain train on a certain date you can make reservations up to three months in advance; otherwise you can stay flexible and make them one or two days in advance or even on the day. There are certain periods though (ie friday afternoon) where a lot of people travel so it is advisable to get reservations for these periods in advance - or you try to avoid these periods at all.
There are some trains or railway companies (ie TGV in France) which have a certain amount of reservations for railpass holders only; so again, if you need to take a certain train it is advisable to get the reservation as soon as you can.

Dont let you frighten by these regulations since you will find lots of alternative travel routes where you dont need reservation. Just ask if you need further details. :)


Flo 8) [/quote]

Thank you... a friend told me that maybe I needed to book a ticket every time I was going from one country to another (eg sweden to norway, germany to poland, etc) so I guess that wasn't true :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Nah, that seems to be a persistent rumor on the internet. :| However, its [b]not true[/b]. There might be some (high speed) trains with supplements crossing borders but their supplements have not really much to do with the crossing of borders.
That's one good thing about this website - from travellers for travellers. :)


Cheers,
Flo 8)