Interrail: leaving my country of residence - Spain

felippeduran
Traveller
6 comments

Hi there again, sorry to be annoying, but I really need to know this stuff the soon as possible. I'm doing this trip in holy week, which gives me less than a month! Hope you can help me.

Thanks again!

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi,

soryy for answering late.

Four cities in ten days is OK, especially if you are travelling parts of the route overnight. Regarding the direct night trains from/to Barcelona. I'm not totally sure if you are allowed to combine a regular ticket to the border and then continue with InterRail, and I cant check at the moment due to lack of time. Anyway this is what I would recommend:

Barcelona - Paris: Get a regular ticket with the InterRail discount either to Latour de Carol or to Cerbère and then continue with the domestic French Lunéa night trains to Paris. They are much cheaper then the direct Elipsos train! Compare costs for reservation here [u]https://rail.cc/en/barcelona-paris-night-train/f1040[/u]

Zürich - Barcelona: As I'm writing I came across this: For using the Elipsos trains it is enough to have an InterRail pass valid in at least one country that the train is crossing. So in your case you should be fine to get a reservation for the Elipsos, ie Zürich - Barcelona and then travel with your InterRail Global Pass until Barcelona. I'll try to verify this in the evening, no I'm in a hurry, sorry.


Flo 8)

felippeduran
Traveller
6 comments

Thanks a lot for your tips and time Flo! Sure they will be incredibly helpful. With this informations I can start reserving my trains.
I'll wait for your confirmation about the Elipsos. If you don't have time for this, can you say to me how could I look for this information? The route Zurich-Barcelona can wait a bit more as it is a day train, so no need to reserve it, right?

Felippe

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

HIi Felipe,

the info regarding Elipsos is from their website. However, it is not clearly stated whether this rule is also valid for residents of Spain. Maybe contact them directly? I think it will be enough to have the reservation, but it'd be interesting anyway. ;)

Zürich - Barcelona:

You have different possibilities here:

Either go with TGV Geneve - Montpellier, then TGV Montpellier - Figueres and finally Alaris Figueres - BCN. This is the most expensive option. Keep in mind that it has proved quite difficult to get reservations for the TGV from/to Geneve in the past. That's why I would recommend the following, cheaper but slower alternative:

Zürich 0832 - 1115 Geneve
Geneve 1128 - 1320 Lyon Part Dieu
Lyon Part Dieu 1507 - 1844 Perpignan :arr: TGV, 6€ reservation
Perpignan 1926 - 2011 Portbou
Portbou 2027 - 2239 BCN :arr: MD train, regular ticket with InterRail discount


Flo 8)

felippeduran
Traveller
6 comments

Hi again. I was planning the trains I would get and ended with this plan:

15th 17:16 R15839 Barcelona-Cerbère
15th 21:19 NZ 3730 Cerbère-Paris
19th 06:01 THA 9405 Paris-Brussels
19th 08:16 IC 9209 Brussels-Amsterdam
20th 19:01 CNL 457 Amsterdam-Berlin
23th 22:14 CNL 1258 Berlin-Zurich
25th 20:32 IC 740 Zurich-Geneve
25th 23:41 EN 274 Geneve-Girona
25th 08:47 IR 15066 Girona-Barcelona

The point is that it seems that I'm not using properly the 1900 rule. To buy the tickets with discount, do they need to be inside the validity time of the Interail? And I should choose as the first day of travel the 15th, isn't it?

Regards,

Felippe

felippeduran
Traveller
6 comments

One more thing, I have double nacionality Brazilian-Spanish, should I buy the Eurail with the Brazilian passport instead of the Interail with my Spanish one? I live in Brazil and I'm doing Erasmus for this semester. As doing so, I would take out from my trip Zurich and put another city so I get 3 countries.

Thanks again!

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi.

15th 17:16 R15839 [b]Barcelona-Cerbère[/b] - buy a normal price ticket for EUR 11. It will save you one of your travel days.

15th 21:19 NZ 3730 [b]Cerbère-Paris[/b] - use the rule for night trains - [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-night-train/france/fr[/u]

19th 06:01 THA 9405 [b]Paris-Brussels[/b]
19th 08:16 IC 9209 [b]Brussels-Amsterdam[/b]
Avoid the THA (=Thalys) trains. They are horrible expensive:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/paris-brussels-bruxelles-train/f3992[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/paris-to-amsterdam[/u]

20th 19:01 CNL 457 [b]Amsterdam-Berlin[/b]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/amsterdam-berlin-train/f2346[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/amsterdam-prague-night-train/f3747[/u]

23th 22:14 CNL 1258 [b]Berlin-Zurich[/b]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/berlin-basel-zurich-night-train/f3755[/u]

25th 20:32 IC 740 [b]Zurich-Geneve[/b] - free of supplements

25th 23:41 EN 274 [b]Geneve-Girona[/b]
26th 08:47 IR 15066 [b]Girona-Barcelona[/b]
Do not change th train in Girona. No need to do - stay as long as possible in the night train:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/zurich-bern-geneva-barcelona-night-train/f1099[/u]
Buy this reservation as early as possible - maybe even in Spain. Otherwise do it in Berlin main station (Berlin Hbf) - and think of it that you have to pay the part on Spanish tracks.

If you want to use discounted tickets, they have to be inside of the period your InterRail ticket is valid.
Concerning your two passports: the official rule says that the country you lived in the last six months is your country of residence. The reality says: as long as you travel with a Brazilian passport, no train staff will understand, that you are European resident - the same for your Spanish passport: if you use it, everyone will accept your European nationality.
As well as you are in a bit of special case - in between of two countries.
I recommend you the InterRail pass, as it is cheaper: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] - thank you. :)

Peter :)

felippeduran
Traveller
6 comments

Thanks Peter, your tips were really helpful!
But I didn't understand one thing, which day should I say it's my [b]first day of travel[/b], the 15th or 16th? They asked me that on the website and I don't know if it determines the [b]validity of the ticket[/b] or if it's [b]just for the shipping[/b].
I've been searching info about the [b]1900 hours rule[/b] and it says that I can't use it in the first day of travel. If it's the 15th, then my last day of travel will be the 24th, right? Can I use the 1900 in this day for going from Zurich to Barcelona and arrive in the 25th by morning?

Regards,

Felippe

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi Felippe.

Select the 15th as first day of travel. As you will use the rule for night trains for the connection [b]Cerbère-Paris[/b].
The night train leaves on the 15th, that's why your ticket has to be already valid on the 15th. But you fill in your InterRail pass (you can do it manually with a pen) the 16th - using the rule.

If the first day of travel ist the 15th, the last one is the 25th. So it is NOT possible to use InterRail later than the 25th at 23:59h at night. The rule for night trains isn't available for arriving on the 26th in the morning.
Either you use the night train overnight 24th to 25th, or your try an other connection.
Possible as well to have a look for a special price offer for the night train Cerbère-Paris (sometimes around EUR 30 at sncf.fr) and start with your ticket from the 19th in Paris.

Peter :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi,

just to add, dont go Zürich - Genève by IC train, you can instad use the EN 274 directly from Zürich, departure is at 1927, so you can use the 1900 rule.


Flo 8)

felippeduran
Traveller
6 comments

Thanks for all your help! I arrived from my eurotrip yesterday, and despite a few full trains and arriving late at the station to get the train, everything went great!

Greetings,
Felippe

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

That's good to hear you had a nice trip. Peter :)

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your trip! :)


Flo 8)