ChesterandDom
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 13 years ago
Hi There,
Great website by the way, it's very helpful. We are Dominic and Chester (both 17) and we're planning our first Inter-Rail
tour in July-August for 22 consecutive days. (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam-Hannover-Berlin-Prague-Bratislava-Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Ljubljana-Bern-Paris).
I have a few questions for anyone willing to help on here.
1. What is this rule regarding 2 travel days if boarding an overnight train? I found it confusing on the site...
2. What is the quickest and CHEAPEST way to get around in these cities (Just a couple would help through experience)
3. Is Bern predominately French or German speaking? Switzerland confuses me a bit haha!
4. Where to make train reservations and when?
Many, Many thanks :D
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Dominic and Chester,
here are the answers to your questions:
1) This rule only applies to the InterRail Global Flexi passes - there are two variations of this type: 5 travel days to freely choose from within a period of 10 days and 10 travel days within a period of 22 days. The 1900-rule says that when you are boarding a night train between 1900 and 2400 in the evening of day A and leave it after 0400 in the following morning of day B you only have to fill in day B as a travel day (of course this is only useful if you dont travel between 0001 and 1859 on day A).
It should be all explained in detail here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train[/u]
2) Have a look at the country boards of the forum: [u]https://rail.cc/en/countries[/u] There you will find a lot of connection between the mentioned cities. In general I can say for your route that you wont need a lot of reservations in addition to your InterRail ticket. Maybe think about a night train between Budapest and Beograd and Ljubljana and Zürich (where you can continue to Bern). Also from Bern to Paris the best way is to take the TGV which costs 10€ for a reservation extra. But otherwise you should be fine just with your InterRail pass.
3) Bern is in the German part of Switzerland.
4) In general you cant make reservations for mainland Europe at UK train stations. As I've said before you wont need a lot of reservations so it is sufficient to get them while travelling, maybe a few days in advance at the main station of the city you are currently staying at.
Flo 8)
LucasJV
Traveller
25 comments
I've travelled on many of these routes, so here's a heads up.
Paris-Brussels: take the Thalys, requires a supplement. Unless changing trains a couple of times is no problem for you of course.
Brussels-Amsterdam: take the normal intercity to Amsterdam, which doesn't require supplements or reservation. Fyra/Thalys do (generally not worth it).
Amsterdam-Berlin: just hop on at Amsterdam Zuid station and sit all the way through, it's a busy route so during peak hours I'd make a reservation.
Berlin-Prague: again, just hop on no reservations whatsoever.
Prague-Bratislava: no reservation/supp needed.
Vienna-Budapest: there's a highspeed railjet train by the ÖBB, I made a reservation just to be sure. There's also normal EuroCity trains but the RailJet is pretty comfortable and modern.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Paris - Bruxelles are no direct TGV services running! Only expensive Thalys trains. Read here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/thalys/41[/u]
LucasJV
Traveller
25 comments
Sorry, I meant the Thalys. Sometimes it's confusing all those names :)