Benelux States and Paris: three weeks by train

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi Lisa.
In Benelux and to Paris, you have several trains which require high extra reservation fees. So it is often cheaper to travel this area not with Interrail. Buy instead some point to point tickets.
For the long distances, for example Brugges-Paris, buy tickets some time in advance. Then you get cheap special fares: [ux]https://rail.shop/beurope[/ux]
Also there are local rail passes available like the Go-Pass for Belgium: [u]http://www.b-rail.be/nat/N/tarifs/passes/go/index.php[/u]
In the Netherlands the distances are as well quiet short. So check out the prices for point to point tickets: [ux]https://rail.shop/nsinternational[/ux]
Maybe there are similar products like Go-Pass, but I don't know. Maybe someone else? :)
If you want to have some stops in between on your way from Austria to Benelux, then an Interrail pass might be worth.
Otherwise use for example an Europa-Spezial of Deutsch Bahn to travel from EUR 39 from Graz to somewhere at the border of one of the Benelux countries (has to be a German station like Aachen, Trier, ...).
Buy here (same price like on DB for you, but you support railcc to keep the servers running. Thank you.): [u]https://rail.shop/bahn?s=Graz&l=de[/u]

Peter :)

cini_mini_
Traveller
3 comments

thank you for all the information! :)
so, it would be cheaper to buy seperate tickets for benelux instead of the interrail-benelux package?

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej!

As Peter already said, InterRail might not be the best option for you...but it depends. ;)
For domestic travel within Belgium you can use Go Pass which is really cheap; in Luxembourg you could use very cheap day passes for the whole network (I think around 4-5€) and would just need extra tickets to cross the border. What would be more expensive is travel in France and also Netherlands, depending on how flexible you want to be (tickets bought as you go will be considerably more expensive than tickets bought in advance - but with the latter you would be fixed to a certain train).

However, a 10in22 IR pass still could be the way to go since you would be able to travel without extra reservations on most legs of your route and be a lot more flexible. A possible route could be:

Graz - night train to Zürich - Luxembourg - Paris - Brugge - Gent - Bruxelles - Antwerpen - Rotterdam - Den Haag/Delft - Amsterdam - night train to Prague - Graz
Extra costs with InterRail: 6€ for TGV Luxembourg - Paris; night train reservation to Prague (you could also take the night train to Munich instead) plus the ticket to/from the border within Austria

I think this would make more sense than to take just an InterRail pass for Benelux plus regular tickets to go there and for the trip to Paris...but again, it depends on how flexible you want to be on your trip.

:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/de/interrail-zum-ersten-mal[/u]


Flo 8)

cini_mini_
Traveller
3 comments

thanks so much!
I will defenitely consider to buy point-to-point ticktets for Benelux!
Do you have any experience when I take a interrail ticket for the Beneux states where I would have to pay some extra fees?

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Thalys (Amsterdam - Bruxelles - Paris)
TGV (Bruxelles to other cities in France than Paris)
Fyra (Amsterdam - Bruxelles and Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Breda)

:arr: [u]https://rail.cc/de/interrail-zugreservierung[/u]

However you can easily avoid all of those trains. Fyra trains to/from Bruxelles are currently suspended, maybe they will run again in September, no one can tell for sure. If they do, you might cosider using them at least at some point since the reservation is only 4€.

cini_mini_
Traveller
3 comments

thank you! :)