sofie1992
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 12 years ago
Hi, me and a friend are planning a trip through Europe in September with an InterRail Global Pass.
We would like to go from our home (Belgium) to the South of France, then to Italy (especially Rome and Napels and lago maggiore or lago di garda) and then back to Belgium with a stop in Prague or Berlin.
Can anyone tell me whether this is possible in 10 days with 5 days of travelling by train?
We don't mind nighttrains, but our budget is small.
[b]And anyone suggestions for a nice place in the South of France?
[/b]
My idea was: 1. Belgium -> south of France (short stop in Paris)
2. in the evening a train to Rome, stay in Rome for 2 days
3. nighttrain to Napels, stay there for 1 day and in the evening a train to the North of Italy (lago maggiore or lago di garda), staying in the North for 2 days
4. train to Berlin or Prague (cheapest possibility)
5. train to home
I know how to get in the South of France & how to get home from Berlin or Prague, but [b]I need advice how to get from the South to France to Rome and how to get from the North of Italy to Berlin or Prague[/b].
It would be great if anyone could help us out! :)
Thank you,
Sofie
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Sofie,
your plan wont really work out with the 5in10. The problems are:
- South of France (let's say Marseille) to Rome is a whole day in the train, no overnight option available
- Rome to Naples is only one hour by high speed train and two hours by IC so overnight travel makes no sense
- Northern Italy to Berlin or Prague is also a whole day in the train; overnight train is not a good option since you cant make use of the 1900 rule because there is no direct night train from Lago Maggiore or Lago di Garda to Germany; only if you decide to go to Prague you could take the direct night train to Wien and then continue to Prague, although this night train has no seated accomodation so it wont be very cheap.
Travel days needed:
1) Belgium - Paris - South of France
2) South of France - Rome
3) Rome - Naples
4) Naples - Northern Italy
5) Northern Italy - Berlin/Prague
6) back home
You see, you would need one extra travel day. If you manage to do all stops within the 10 days validity period of the pass, you could get a regular ticket for the short leg Rome - Naples and use this IR travel day for the trip back home instead.
Or, you could rearrange your trip like this:
1) Belgium - Paris - South of France
2) South of France - Northern Italy
3) Northern Italy - Naples (overnight) - stay in Naples and go to Rome in the evening
4) Rome - Berlin/Prague (overnight)
5) back home
Flo 8)
sofie1992
Traveller
3 comments
Thank you very very much Flo! :) I like your second option, so we will think about it!
Where do I find the hours of the trains or the travelroutes I need?
And if I have to reserve the seats, how can we do this? + How do I know if I have to reserve them?
Is there a website for this or do we have to reserve the places in the train stations?
Again, thank you very much!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi,
maybe have a look here: :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/first-time-interrail[/u] ;)
Flo 8)
sofie1992
Traveller
3 comments
Thank you, again. I think I get it and now I can start planning the trip.
I have just 1 more question: If I make reservations on this website on the following link: [ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/reservation[/ux]
Is that everything I have to do to make a reservation? And will I get my tickets by email? Or how does it work? Can we just jump on the train when we've made this reservation in advance?
Thank you very much, this website is amazing! :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej,
glad we can help. So...a few things regarding reservations.
The standard way to get reservations is to do that directly at a railway station. Usually you can make domestic and international reservations (at least for the bordering countries); in Belgium however I think they charge a certain service fee for doing that. You can ask our user Alcolin, who works at a SNCB station. ;)
Getting online reservations for IR is only available for certain routes, and might cost a little more than at a station due to extra service costs.
If you want to order reservations via railcc, they will be sent to you by mail so order early enough to get them before you leave for your trip.
For your trip, I recommend to get the reservation for the TGV Paris - southern France in advance; then, the next reservation would be for the night train to Napoli - you can get this online via railcc or directly at Trentialia.
For the train Naples - Roma it will be sufficient to get the reservation at a machine while you are in Italy, this is really easy. ;)
Then, only the night train from Rome is left. If you take the CNL to Munich, you can make it easy at [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] , if you take the EN to Vienna, you can do it via Trenitalia or railcc.
Anyways, if you like our site, you can support our work by purchasing your IR passes at our webshop, thank you. :)
Flo 8)
sofie1992
Traveller
3 comments
Okay, thank you very much! I think I have all the information I need to plan the trip! :)