Joaniee
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 12 years ago
Hi, I'm going to do a 10 day interrail and I've planned the entire route since it's a long way in few days. I just have a few questions and would like to know if you have some suggestion to our route:
day 0 - Lisbon 16.30--> Hendaye (7.10) #17 €
day 1 Hendaye 08:45 --->Bordeaux, Limoges--> Paris Austerlitz 18:18
day 2 & 3 - Paris
day 4: Paris Nord 10.04 – Amiens –-> Lille Flandres 12.58
Lille Flandres 16.08 --> Antwerpen Centraal 18.08 (to to a short tour in Lille)
Antwerpen Centraal 19.00 --> Amsterdam Centraal 21.14
days 5 & 6 - Amsterdam
day 7: Amsterdam 6.56 --> Hilversum 07.17
Hilversum 07.21 --> Berlin 13.19
day 8: Berlin
day 9: Berlin 20.07 --> Paris (Est) 09.24 #9€ City night line
day 10: Paris (Montparnasse) 14.29 --> Irún 20.19 #3€ TGV
Irún 22.20 --> Lisbon 10.30 #17€
My questions are:
1. I know that the interrail pass is not valid in the country of origin but give us special prices, but does that mean that the first travel in our country is the DAY 1 of the travel or can we consider it a DAY 0 (since we are paying the trip)?
2. I've marked the trips that have additional reservation prices with a #x€. Is it possible for you to confirm that those are the only trips when we're actually going to pay? So we can arrange the money we're going to spend.
3. I've read that in some countries, for example France, there are a limited number of tickets with the low reservation fares (like 6 euros), but after that number of reservation the fares double or more (like 18 €). Is this true? And can we have the lowest fares if we reserve it a long time before?
4. Can I buy all the tickets in my city of origin (Lisbon)? I've read I can, I just want to confirm it.
These are the question that I can remember so far, thank you very much :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi,
I'll answer your questions first:
1) If you want to get any kind of discount with your InterRail pass, it has to be valid. So, if you want to get the 50% discount for the travel to the border your pass has to be valid the day you leave Lisbon.
Also, since the Sud Expresso crosses the border before midnight, your IR ticket has to be valid on the day you leave Lisboa anyway to be able to use the 1900 rule for night trains. Now, this puts you in a little trouble at both beginning and end of your trip! :( You'll actually lose two days because of that - your IR pass has to be valid when you leave, so Day 0 actually is Day 1, and on the trip back home the IR pass still has to be valid when you return to Lisboa since the Sud Expresso crosses the border well after midnight, so you would have to leave Paris on day 9 and arrive in Lisboa on day 10.
2) Surex, 17€ for a seat should be correct as you are Portuguese resident - please tell me if you pay another sum so I could update it.
Then, your route to Paris does not make sense. In fact, the Limoges - Paris train needs to be reserved, at the same cost as a TGV. Better take the direct TGV from Hendaye to Paris which connects with the Surex - you wont get to Paris without paying an extra reservation.
Berlin - Paris night train :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/night-train/berlin-paris-cnl-450/19[/u]
TGV reservations are 6€ regular. It can happen that the contingent available for IR travellers is sold out, then you can only get an on board reservation for 18€. To avoid that you can use Abo Forfait reservation as described here at your own risk (it is usually no problem) :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/tgv-sncf/42#p13819[/u]
3) see above
4) IR pass and reservations for Surex and within France should work; I dont know if you can reserve the CNL train - just ask. If not you can do it online, the how to is described in the above link about the night train
If you want to support our work, for instance this answer I gave you, you can also buy the IR pass in our partner. :)
Flo 8)
Joaniee
Traveller
1 comments
Thank you very much,
it's sad that we lose 2 days, Portugal is really far away from the rest of central Europe. But we will rearrange our schedule with those informations. :)
After our trip I'll write here if 17 euros, the price for portuguese travelers, is right.
Keep the amazing work guys!
nltrainer
Traveller
1405 comments
re 2;the supplmt in FR; this money-robbing system is ONLY in FR.
Alas-and esp. in main summertime, the 6€ places are near to zil/zero/none. Expect to have to pay 18€/and this is NOT onboard-but also beforehand at the ticket window. They will tell you what the computer says it wil be-ditto at CP at Lisboa/estacao.
day 7-you can sleep longer-can do that ev 2 hours onward till late. (thus also dep. 8,56 etc.
Maybe better-depending on where you stay in hash-terdam, to take the metro the ohter way to ZUID-WTC station-as the Berlin trains stop there too-at even.58 mins. 6,58,8,58 etc.)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
You can always go to a TGV train and ask the staff for free places - but expect to then pay the bord tariff which was 15€ two years ago but is no supposed to be that 18€. However, you might be lucky and get a free ride as well - depends on the conductor.