doeternietoe
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 14 years ago
Hello,
July 28 I will be traveling to Switzerland using an interrail Europe Pass. Since I have a particularly tight schedule, I can't afford to miss any trains and I want to be absolutely sure that I get everything right. Maybe some more experienced interrailers could lend me a hand. :)
I travel with a friend, so on each train I need two seats, preferably close to each other.
My Journey starts in Utrecht Centraal in the Netherlands and I need to be in Zürich by 16:00. I have been told to avoid traveling via Paris, since both the Thalys and the TGV require an expensive supplement and have a limited number of interrail seats available. Changing in Paris might be troublesome as well. I am however afraid that I don't really have another option, since the ICE via Köln and Frankfurt doesn't arrive at Basel before 14:47 and it doesn't really give me a lot of time to get to Zürich.
So I want to take this route:
- Thalys Rotterdam-Paris, departure at 06:56, arrival at 09:35
- TGV Rotterdam-Zürich, departure at 10:24, arrival at 15:00
I want to reserve seats, but seat reservations for interrail passes are not available online. I found an excellent tip on this website to select 2nd class daily card to get only the seat reservation, but those seem not to be available either. I only get normal priced tickets with the text last tickets available, both for the Thalys and the TGV.
So what should I do next? I know that some of the seats can't be reserved until hours before departure. Do you know if some of those seats are also for interrail passes? What are the chances that seat reservations for 2nd class daily cards will still be available? Will I be able to buy them in Rotterdam for the Thalys in the first place?
I have roughly an hour to walk in Paris from Gare du Nord to Gare de l'Est, to buy reservations and to board the train. I have heard some pretty horrible stories about people queing for hours to get a seat reservation for interrail passes and finding out in the end that all of them were gone. Does anybody know how long it will take to get a reservation, if available?
Also, I am willing to take a risk and buy the wrong type of seat reservation, but only if I will have to pay some extra money in the train. I can't afford to be kicked out of the train at the next stop(which is Strasbourg). Can you remain in your seat if found out and fined?
Any other tips?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
- Hi!
- If you are making reservations, your booked seats will always be together, only in case that there are very few left it can happen that you will get separated reservations.
- Going via Paris indeed requires going with expensive Thalys as well with TGV. Changing in Paris however is no problem. Gare du Nord and Gare de l´Est are max 10 min apart by foot.
- However, you can save yourself the hassle of getting reservations by taking on of the two alternative free routes:
Utrecht 0729 - 1034 Frankfurt Flughafen
Frankfurt Flughafen 1054 - 1124 Mannheim
Mannheim 1136 - 1347 Basel
Basel 1407 - 1500 Zuerich
Utrecht 0829 - 1224 Mannheim
Mannheim 1244 - 1600 Zuerich
Flo 8)
doeternietoe
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks for your reply.
So there is not a great chance that I end up being in Paris and finding out that all seats have gone?
I plan my routes via the website of Deutsche Bahn and the 07:29 train from Utrecht to Franfurt doesn't seem to exist on 28 July. It does on the 21st for example, but not on my departure date.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Connection for 28th July:
Utrecht 0741 - 1224 Mannheim
Mannheim 1244 - 1600 Zürich
[quote]
So there is not a great chance that I end up being in Paris and finding out that all seats have gone?
[/quote]
If you try to make a TGV reservation on the day in Paris it might be no more space available for InterRailers.