Rusky
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 15 years ago
I'm resident in Spain and me and some friends want to Interrail, starting with Bern. There's not too many issues although the recurring problem of the country of residence not being included in the pass that makes things that much harder. Since doing Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille-Lyon-Bern doesn't only take forever but it is also quite tiring I was looking for other travel options. I couldn't find any Madrid-Bern train (although if you have the link for one it would be greatly appreciated) but I did find (on this site) the Barcelona-Bern night train.
First off is there a day train to Bern, either from Madrid or Barcelona?
Secondly, since I'm a resident in Spain would the prices with IR quoted on that thread ( [u]https://rail.cc/en/barcelona-geneva-bern-zurich-night-train/f1098[/u] ) still be true or would then increase and if so can I calculate the increase?
This same problem arises when we plan to come back. We plan to do Paris-Madrid but since the trip with standard trains would take bout 18/20 odd hours I was looking for alternatives. I came across the Paris-Madrid night train and, again would that price increase due to me being a resident in Spain? (the thread of Paris-Madrid is [u]https://rail.cc/en/paris-madrid-night-train/f1133[/u] )
Thanks in advance for any replies!
Peter
Traveller
9332 comments
hej hej ... :)
here are the answers...
for the night train Barcelona to Bern/Switzerland have a look on this link:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/barcelona-geneva-bern-zurich-night-train/f1098[/u]
there are no direct day trains ... nor between Barcelona to Bern or Madrid to Paris.
for train schedules look here:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]
and I know ... this rule of the country of residence is really annoying ... especially when living in big countries like Spain, France, the UK or like me in Germany ...
even if you only want to leave the country (not travelling within) you have to pay. :(
here is a topic which explains a little bit the situation:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/how-to-interrail[/u]
and in Spain you only get 35% reduction on a normal train ticket from your city to the Spanish border...
[u]https://rail.cc/en/how-to-interrail[/u]
concerning the night trains from Spain to France/Switzerland: they are special trains and have global prices. so you normally need a valid ticket for Spain (!), France or/and Switzerland... there is the problem ... you do not have a ticket for Spain as of the rule of the country of residence. so officially you can not use the night train to the InterRail fare. try and ask them directly, maybe you have luck... but normally not...
sorry for this answer... most of the travellers living in such big countries use a cheap flight by Ryanair or Easyjet to one city, stay there for 3 days and then start their InterRail tour. so they even save some travel days. :)
it is not the ecological way, but if you do not have too much money, it is the only way... :o
all the best, Peter :)
Rusky
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks for the reply Peter. I realise that we could get a cheap flight but since one of my friends isn't allowed to fly that's out of the question. We could however take a TGV from Paris to Bordeaux and then take a train to Madrid. I'm going to keep looking for trains to Madrid from Bordeaux although from what I saw the cheap one takes around 8 hours to get there O.o. Do you know of any faster one? Thanks!
Peter
Traveller
9332 comments
mmmh... take some good food with you and some beer... that's the old romantic way of travelling 8 hours by train ... ;)
there are no faster trains then...