3 weeks by train next spring - flexible days, reservations, and the Schengen clock?

Question

Hi everyone! Planning my first long Interrail trip next spring: about three weeks, starting in Amsterdam and heading south through Germany, Austria and Italy, with a few bases I want to properly linger in.

1) For a trip like this, do you find flexible travel days on the Global Pass worth it, or do most people end up wasting pass days and would go for consecutive instead?

2) On the busy scenic stretches (think Innsbruck-Munich or Munich-Verona), how far ahead do seat reservations actually sell out? I don't want to miss the window and end up standing for six hours on the prettiest route of the whole trip.

3) One extra: I travel on a non-EU passport (resident in Europe), so the 90/180 Schengen clock is on my radar. Has anyone combined an Interrail trip with a short hop outside Schengen mid-pass? Any border gotchas to plan around?

Thanks in advance - the archives here are a goldmine.

Andreas1099 · Answer

1)This really depends on your travel plans. If you intend to stay at some places several days and would only need about half of the days of your 3-week trip actually for train travel get a 10-day flexi pass. If you should need one travel day more, you can always buy a regular ticket for one day. Preferable for a day you need a rather cheap ticket only. If you plan to use more travel days then a 22-day contiguous pass gives you in addition fully flexibility with your travel. It costs €33.- more than a 15-day flexi pass, or €25.- more for a youth pass.2)Usually reservation do not sell out at all. However it might be difficult to find a window seat or a seat at all at peak travel days. Four to three weeks ahead of your travel day enough seats to choose from should be available on the mentioned routes. Buy seat reservation from the railway company, for the routes you mentioned from ÖBB where you can select your seats from a seat map, at least for railed trains. Peak travel days in spring are to be expected in May. The weekend around May 1st, May 6th to 9th (also between these periods) and in Austria May 15th to May 17th (or 18th).3)As I am an Austrian citizen I do not know anything about the Schengen rules.

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