anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Or maybe the questions is, how crazy?
My brother's going to be in Frankfurt for a short time and I'd really like to visit him next week. Airfare is pushing 350 euros, and if I could do the trip on a 181 euro global pass, I might think about taking the crazy long train trip.
What is the best route? Here are some options I've thought about. I'm not sure how long either would take or where exactly to find schedules.
-Night train from Madrid (with pricey supplement) to Paris, then some other train from Paris to Frankfurt.
-AVE from Madrid to Figueres, TGV from Figueres to Paris, some other train from Paris to Frankfurt.
Do I have any other options? Has anyone taken this trip before on an interrail pass?
Weigh in, railccs: crazy? or possible?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
The idea itself is not crazy at all - but I wonder whether the IR pass is the right solution. Remember that the IR ticket is not valid in your country of residence. You get a discounted ticket though in your country of residence, I think RENFE grants 35% discount. You should check though whether this discount or a regular Estrella or Web fare ticket is cheaper for the part of the journey in Spain.
Only if you would use the direct Elipsos night train Madrid - Paris you would not need an extra ticket for Spain, just the reservation - which is not cheap as you know. However this would be the fastest and most convenient solution, then travelling with a direct ICE/TGV from Paris to Frankfurt. These require an extra reservation of 13€ for InterRail travellers.
Another option would be to travel to Portbou - Cerbère and use a night train from Cerbère, either to Strasbourg (which would be the best option) or to Metz - Luxembourg or Paris. These require a seat reservation of 6€ or couchette of ~20€.
I would compare prices though and check fares of regular tickets:
[ux]https://rail.shop/sncf[/ux] (France)
[ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux] (Germany)
Flo 8)