Interrail reservations

tomsco

Hey all, just wondering if anyone could help me in my situation.

I'm heading to mainland Europe soon and will be travelling around on an interrail pass. I know I'll need to reserve seats on most trains, and I also was wanting to do a few night journies, so will need to book sleepers.

I found raileurope.co.uk that allows me to book the reservations, but I was wondering if I'd be better off waiting till I'm at the stations in Europe to book.

As far as booking ahead goes, I've pretty much planned the whole trip, so know what dates I'll be on the train. My thing I want to know is if it's cheaper booking in Europe, if I risk missing out on reservations because I cut it too close to the train ride and also where I can make the bookings (ie. can I do all my Spain trains at my first stop (Barca) and if I can do the tail end of my trip in Spain, or if I'll have to book through the company that runs the train).

Sorry for such a big post, just really excited and don't want to mess it up.

Voyager2002

No, you will not need to reserve seats on "most" trains. A minority of high-speed and luxury services will only accept passengers with prior reservations (and usually charge supplements), but these are the exception rather than the rule. Anyway, most passengers on these trains would reserve their seats within a couple of days of their journey.

The whole point of getting an inter-rail pass is the flexibility that it allows you. If you are highly organised and are willing to commit to specific trains, the cost of your travel will be a good deal less if you simply buy advance-purchase tickets for each of your journeys.

Rail Europe tend to over-charge by a spectacular margin, so it is unlikely that they will offer seat reservations without making something for themselves. See if you can compare what they charge with prices displayed on the websites of national railways like Die Bahn.

Have you visited the site for the man in Seat 61? That is an essential resource for planning journeys by rail.

peachyprice

I agree with Voyager, if you're following a set itinerary you'll probably better off booking tickets, you're paying for the felixibility of an interrail pass that you're not benefitting from.

As for reservations, you'll really only need them on the popular high speed routes and the sleepers, the rest you won't.

tomsco

Thanks for the responses. I guess I'm sort of in between. I'm organised in the sense I've planned out all dates/trains. But too late too book them in advance to get cheaper options, hence why I'm choosing Interrail, as it does seem cheaper overall (at least for tickets I've seen via Rail Europe).

Thanks for pointing out seat 61, I've seen this page before, but didn't save it - will have a thourough look now.

I've done a bit of comparison, such as via Renfe for one leg I'll be doing outside of Interrail, and Rail Europe did come up with a better price, but I'll keep looking into it.

Unfortunately (after a quick look on seat 61) it seems all trains in Spain need a reservation, which is where I'm doing most of the journey. Although once again, from looking on rail Europe, the most expensive reservation is coming up as £9.50 while most are coming up as £4, which is OK by me.

Thanks again for the responses.

Voyager2002

I repeat, Rail Europe is horribly expensive since their main business is selling rail passes. For example, I once found them re-selling a ticket for travel in the UK for about 80 pounds when the fare from Virgin was 12 pounds. If you are going to do any price comparisons, use sites such as RENFE, voyages-sncf and Die Bahn.