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Pendolino
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Posted 5 years ago

This July I have planned my next Interrail trip, which takes me to Portugal this year. I have already booked my reservations for the trains in Spain and France, and I have also booked my accomodations. The travel days are as follows:

11 July | Rotterdam - Paris (IC and TER) [1]
12 July | Paris - Pergignan (ICN) - Madrid (AVE) [2]
13 July | Madrid - Vigo [3]
VIGO
16 July | Vigo - Porto (IC) [X]
PORTO
18 July | Douro Valley
20 July | Porto - Castelo Branco
CASTELO BRANCO
24 July | Castelo Branco - Viana do Castelo
VIANA DO CASTELO
26 July | Viana do Castelo - Ponferrada [5]
PONFERRADA
29 July | Ponferrada - Irún [6]
30 July | Irún - Hendaye (EUS) - Paris (TGV) - Rotterdam (THA) [7]

Because of a change of plans, I now have more travel days than I would like to, but that\'s just how it is. I have an Interrail 7 day global pass. I still don\'t know whether an Interrail pass is value for money in Spain, but we\'ll see that next time. I have paid like €113 for reservation fees, which is almost 50% of the Interrail pass itself. But it includes the night train from Paris to Perpignan.
The days between brackets are my fixed travel days, so all my trains outside of Portugal are already reserved. That leaves me one travel day I can spend in Portugal. As railway travel in Portugal is relatively cheap, I still haven\'t decided what journey to use my travel day for. That said, perhaps you can answer a few of my questions.

1) I would like to travel the Douro Valley railway all the way to Pocinho. I was thinking about stopping at Vargelas to hike to the Vargelas lookout point. A friend told me about Pinhão, a town along the Douro. Do you think it\'s worth spending some time there? Do you perhaps have other recommendations on things to do in the Douro Valley, apart from sitting in the train hehe.

2) My idea was to travel the Vouga narrow gauge railway line from Aveiro and visit the railway museum in Macinhata do Vouga, on my way from Porto to Castelo Branco. On my way from Castelo Branco to Viana do Castelo I still have time for a stopover. Any other recommendations on places to visit on this route?

3) When I have a seat reservation, is it possible to take another seat if that suits me better, especially on the trains by Renfe. I remember last year I was able to take another seat because the train was almost empty, but I don\'t really know how strict railway companies are about seat reservations.

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Flo
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10723 comments

replied 5 years ago

Hi Pendolino!

It would be interesting to read about where you bought your reservations and what you paid for each individual reservation. :)

Regarding your route...I never travelled along the Douro valley. It would be certainly interesting to travel with the MiraDouro train, comprising of vintage Schindler cars from the 60ies... :)
[ux]https://www.cp.pt/StaticFiles/horarios/regional/comboios-regionais-porto-regua-douro.pdf[/ux]
Maybe also make a stop at Regua, which is the largest city in the valley.

For your stopover from Castelo Branco to Viana do Castelo I could think of Aveiro (or Espinho if you want to go to the beach quickly).

Normally it is no problem to take another seat that isnt occupied.
I did so on my trip with the Celta service from Vigo to Porto: [ux]https://rail.cc/blog/santiago-vigo-porto-train/[/ux]

Flo

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Pendolino
Traveller
17 comments

replied 5 years ago

Hallo Flo,

Thank you for your reply. I will definitely look for the MiraDouro train. It looks really interesting. Aveiro looks like a nice city, a sort of Portugese little Venice. I think it is possible to include it in my itinerary.

I bought most of my reservations at Deutsche Bahn (DB) via phone. The inividual trains cost the following:
TGV - €10
Intercité de Nuit (with couchette) - €22
AVE Perpignan - Madrid - €27 (the price depends on the distance travelled)
Arco/Alvia/Avant - €6.50
IC Renfe - €6.50
MD - €6.50
Regional Renfe trains with compulsory reservation - €4
Trenhotel - €7.60 (It was not possible to book a couchette for the Lusitana at DB. Couchette reservations for night trains to/from Portugal have to be made with Renfe or CP)
Celta - free
Deutsche Bahn does not charge a booking fee, unlike for example ACPRail. The shipping costs are €4.90 if you are outside Germany. Tickets can also be printed at any German railway station at no extra cost.

Thalys reservations can no longer be made at Deutsche Bahn (this was possible until last year), so the reservation has to be made at Thalys or NMBS for €25. There are no extra costs like a service fee or booking fee. You can either print the ticket at home, or you can open the QR-code on your smartphone and show your phone to the conductor.

Reservations for trains in Portugal have to be made at a train station in Portugal.

Mattheas

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Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 5 years ago

Hi Mattheas,

thanks for the reservation prices.
Interesting to see that a MD now costs 6,50€.

I find it quite curious that couchette/bed reservations were not possible; maybe they used the wrong tariff code or class codes...this was never a problem since I travelled on the Surex in 2008.
Will try to check it with my local ÖBB train station.

Have you explicitly asked for a couchette reservation (= Liegewagen in German)? That could have been the problem then, since the Talgo night trains do not have couchette accomodation; they "cheapest" category besides regular seats is the "Cama Turista" four-bed sleeping car. This should be bookable by booking a T3/Triple compartment (even though it is actually a T4)...

Thalys reservations are available online at [ux]https://rail.shop/beurope/reservation[/ux]
Thalys tickets should also become available again at DB stations, probably at some point during the next year.

Aveiro is definitely worth making a stop. :)

Flo

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Pendolino
Traveller
17 comments

replied 5 years ago

Hallo Flo,

It seems to me that reservation fees for regional and MD trains depend on the connection. What I find interesting about reservation fees in Spain that on some regional you need a reservation, while on others you don\'t. I think most MD trains still cost €4.50, and that\'s what the Interrail website tells me. The MD from La Coruña to Vigo was however €6.50, while the slower regional train was only €4.00.

I have explicitly asked for a couchette on the Hoteltrain. He even inquired for me about the possibilities. He told me that it was only possible to reserve a regular seat or an expensive private compartment. If I wanted a bed in a normal couchette, I had to contact the Portuguese railways.

It\'s nice to hear that it will be possible to reserve the Thalys at DB, though I found the reservation system of NMBS International quite straightforward.

Then Aveiro it is. :)

Mattheas

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Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 5 years ago

Hmm...I\'m still not 100% convinced due to the reason I explained above (no "real" couchette available on this night train. ;)
Havent had the chance to check on my own though. It would really surprise me that the T4 compartments should not be available while seats and Double/Single/Deluxe appartments would be available. I still suspect that he was looking for a couchette (Bc4/Bc6) instead of a T3 sleeper compartment.

Yeah, the reservation prices for regional trains of any sort in Spain are quite mysterious since prices vary depending from region to region and train to train - just as you said.
It could also depend on the type of track used - since the 6,50€ MD between La Coruna and Vigo uses the high speed line while the 4€ regional train travels on the old conventional line.
In any way it is kind of a joke to charge 6,50€ for a trip from Santiago to Vigo (for example) while a regular ticket is only 11,10€...