Interrailing reservations?

hcass

Myself and boyfriend are thinking of going interrailing. I've been looking at the website and it says we will need to reserve seats on most international train journeys. Just want to know can this be done in advance in Ireland before we head off or will we have to reserve at each train station in Europe? It would suit us a lot better to have the journey planned and reserved before we go to avoid any messing around, thanks for any help you can give. We are getting first class passes - don't know if that is relevant but maybe it may mean we don't have to reserve at all????

insinkerator

I did a mini interail trip (in hindsight the ticket was a waste of money as we only took two train journeys, but they both crossed the border and we didnt make an reservations.

The only thing we had to do, was pay extra for a sleeper train. Something like €4 per trip or something small anyway.

Hamiltonion

We didn't reserve anything from Amsterdam to Berlin and had no problems, however from Berlin to Budapest was a nightmare. Screamed at in German by conductors who gave no helpful advice, threatened with being put off the train etc. Had to keep moving to find an unoccupied seat as commuters got on and off at their destinations.

Eventually found out we could pay E17 each for a sleeper carriage and did, except we weren't told we were switching trains in Vienna and the sleeper ticket wasn't valid there hence another 5 hours of moving about and hassle.

Moral of the story, reserve a seat or carriage in advance

Civilian_Target

My experience has been: unless you're in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Holland or Scandanavia, the Interrail pass is not worth it - it's cheaper to just buy each train ticket.

For TGV, ICE and certain long distance trains (eg. Vienna - Venice, Paris - Nice slow train) you need to reserve tickets in advance. For the rest, it's not usually a problem. You should reserve at the station in Europe.

billyhead

I was thinking of doing this next Summer (interrailing across Europe) and wanted to know has anyone any experience with organising it. I wil be travelling on my own. Is it to early to start booking flights,trains and oraganising it. Also would anyone suggest a good route to take and I presume you stayed in hostels in each city. Also roughly how much would it cost and how long would you need for a decent trip?

delta720

billyhead wrote: »

I was thinking of doing this next Summer (interrailing across Europe) and wanted to know has anyone any experience with organising it. I wil be travelling on my own. Is it to early to start booking flights,trains and oraganising it. Also would anyone suggest a good route to take and I presume you stayed in hostels in each city. Also roughly how much would it cost and how long would you need for a decent trip?

Brussels (Brugge)-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Krakow-Budapest-Lake Bled-Dubrovnik. 2,000euro for a month if you want to do a trip or activity/going out everyday, which you may aswell! Book hostels and flights around March/April (or whenever there's flight deals on). Book train seats in the station during your trip, bring a good book and your all set!

Civilian_Target

That's a good route actually. I would tend to go down through Munich and Vienna to get to Slovenia, but other than that it's hard to fault it. I would actually go a little further though - once you get south of Croatia, things are cheaper and a lot more interesting. I would continue to Mostar, Belgrade, Skopje, Thessaloniki and then fly back from either Athens or Istanbul. You don't need an interrail pass for that part, the trains are cheap anyway.