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Elilje
Traveller
11 comments

Posted 7 years ago

The first time our family was travelling by train we were only five and we had no problem booking tickets on our own, but then our youngest was born, and we found out that it\'s a lot more complicated to book tickets for six people as the booking sites don\'t agree with booking more than five tickets at the time.

Last time (two years ago) we gave up and asked a travel agency to help us book our tickets. That worked, of course, I would love be able to book myself. (I imagine that would allow us to be more flexible if we would change our minds and would want another route or stay a extra day or so somewhere...)

We\'re now planning our trip from Sweden to Italy, France and Austria, and my question is if you would advise us to book through the travel agency again. We could divide ourselves into groups of three of course, but we would rather be seated together as we\'re travelling with a bunch of kids, especially at night when we want to sleep in our own six-berth couchette compartment.

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Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 7 years ago

Hej!

What route are you going to take? :)
Which trains do you think you are going to reserve?

Flo 8)

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Elilje
Traveller
11 comments

replied 7 years ago

Thanks for a quick reply! :-) I\'m so happy I found this forum!


We\'re going to start in either Gothenburg or Falkenberg and travel in June/July with Interrail Global Pass with 7 travel days. Apart from the trains between Sweden and Copenhagen (and the other way around) , the day trip from Diano Marina to Menton, and Salzburg - Innsbruck I think we would like to have seat reservations for all trains. Our children are 13, 10, 10 and 4 years old.

Travel Day 1
Falkenberg or Gothenburg - Copenhagen
Copenhagen - Hamburg
Hamburg - Munich (night jet)

We\'ll be spending the day in Munich and continue with night train the same evening

Travel Day 2
Munich - Milan (night jet)

Travel Day 3
Milan - Diano Marina

We\'re going to stay in Diano Marina for over a week, but would like to do a day tour to France at some point.

Travel Day 4
Diano Marina - Menton - Diano Marina (as a day trip, we would change trains in Ventimiglia, and with ordinary train, not Thello)

Travel Day 5
Diano Marina - Milan
Milan - Salzburg (night jet)

We\'re just spending a few hours in Salzburg

Travel Day 6
Salzburg - Innsbruck

We\'re going to stay in Innsbruck or a village nearby for a couple of days.

Travel Day 7
Innsbruck - Hamburg (night jet)
Hamburg - Copenhagen
Copenhagen - Falkenberg or Gothenburg

Do you think the day count above is correct? I\'m a little nervous about day 7 (because it\'s actually two days counting from the evening in Innsbruck, but with the 7 pm rule it would be alright, wouldn\'t it?) Would the 7 pm rule apply to the day in Munich too (saving a travel day from the calculation I\'ve made?)


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Elilje
Traveller
11 comments

replied 7 years ago

I\'m sorry for double posting...

I forgot to tell you that I\'ve tried booking a group ticket from Bahn, but as our youngest is under five he doesn\'t count as a traveller (and wouldn\'t neeed a ticket, at least in Germany?). But we would really need all six berths on the night train, so I would like to buy a ticket for him too.

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Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 7 years ago

Hej,

I hope we can help you organize your perfect trip! :)

Your route looks fine; on the last trip from Innsbruck back home you\'ll need just one travel day as you can use the 1900 rule.
On the way from Munich to Diano Marina you dont want to make an intermediate stop in Milan, right? If you are travelling straight to Diano Marina you will only have to use one travel day as you can use the 1900 rule as well.

Regarding reservations...I recommend booking them from either ÖBB or DB via phone:
DB: +49 180 6 99 66 33
ÖBB: +43 5 1717
That way you can make sure that you get six Interrail reservations that are also located in the same compartment (for instance bed numbers from 61 to 66). Make sure to book the nightjets early enough to get a compartment on your own. Reservations can be sent to you by post (at least ÖBB does that) or collected at a ticket machine (in Germany or Austria).
Another alternative would be the reservation service of our partner interrail.eu; they should be able to book all your reservations as well and send it to you. This comes at a small booking fee as well. If you want to use this service you have to get your Interrail pass from interrail.eu - please use our partner link [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] to support our work. Thank you! :)

Also, you should get Interrail passes for all children (free for the kids aged 4 and 10; a youth pass is needed for the 13 year old): [ux]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-global-pass[/ux]
Then get six reservations so that everyone of you has an own seat/couchette.

Flo 8)

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Elilje
Traveller
11 comments

replied 7 years ago

Thank you again!!! :-)