Train connections & reservations

We are a family of 4 planning to travel on night trains in Norway this Summer. We have 1st class passes but this isn't always available which leaves my partner and 2 sons in a 3 berth cabin and me sharing with 2 female strangers. Is there any way to book 2 x 2 berths so we can travel together?

Hello there, Trying to get a seat to go from Lyon to Bruxelles in July but it seems impossible to get a reservation. It tells the price and all but apparently we cannot make a reservation. Does someone know why ? Can we just not use interrail to go to Bruxelles from Lyon ? But then why does the price appear on this website ? It seems to be the same evryday, so not a problem of avaibility.At my train station they say they cannot book seat for interrail, but do you know if there i s a spot/train station I could ask for it ?   Thank your for your reply !Sarah.

Hi,I am looking to do a night train from Zurich to Ljubijana on May 23rd for the 20:40. I am very confused on the person. It says I need to buy a seat reservation of USD $18.53. Okay makes sense there. However when I go to OEBB website and click Seat Reservation only it says no tickets available. When I unclick that box, it shows me the cost of OEBB ticket starting at 55 euros and then whatever seat I want. I guess my question is, when I pay on Eurail for the seat reservation of $18.53, am I getting some sort of seat on OEBB or do I have to do something else on OEBB website?   

Hello,I’m travelling with a few young girls and want to make sure my first few days of travel go as smooth as possible. I’m planning to travel from Amsterdam to Istanbul. I need to be in Istanbul on a specific date for a wedding! Therefore, my question is… do I need to take ‘buffer’ days into consideration? Or do the trains typically run when they are supposed to run in these countries? Thanks a lot!Cheers, Bauke/Anne

I want to make a seat reservation for the train from milan to ventimiglia. I can do this through the interrail page, but I would like to choose the seats so that I am on the right (coastal) side. This is not possible with interrail. Via OBB I can find the train (one way & discount interrail) but there it says “no ticket available”, while I clicked “only seat reservation”. How/where can I make a seat reservation for this train? 

I plan to travel from grindwald to Lucerne with golden pass. And I have eurail pass. Do I need to book seat revervstion or other pass for the train? If yes I need to buy it onlime or at train station? If I can buy at train station which one, at grindwald or interlaken station? 

I’m planning to travel to Sicily from Belgium by train in a few weeks. I was able to book seat reservations from Brussels to Messina using the Interrail web planner. However, I need to get from Messina to Palermo, and I can’t find an available ticket online, even on the ÖBB website, as recommended by other Interrail users.Has anyone encountered this issue before? Do you know the best way to book this ticket?  

We are travelling this summer from Marseille to Brussels with five people on Interrail passes. There is almost or no availability on this route for seat reservations, I tried a few seconds after they were available to book to no avail. So I ended up booking seats to Lille (easy and great availability) and figured I’d pay cash for the remainder of the trip to Brussels.However, the very same train with the same number 9868, was “Fully booked” from the moment the tickets were released, even for cash tickets, from Lille to Brussels. Though a very similar TGV train, with the number 9864 travels the exact same route at the exact same time.  I managed to book tickets on this one. But my question is, is this actually the same train? It seems odd to run two TGV services at the exact same time on the exact same route, and having one be basically unbookable. This is all very to confusing, and Im hoping we just have to change places/carriage at Lille, and not run to a different platform (with only

TLDR: Allow plenty of time, at least 30 minutes, to change trains.I’m coming to the end of a 5 week cross-Europe trip, it’s the first time I used the Eurail Pass. I booked all the seats and checked all the times of the trains through the Eurail website and I think that was a mistake.Some of the journeys involved 2-3 changes, and the plan that was presented by the Eurail site at first seemed OK; a lot of changes were 10 minutes, and at the time I thought that would be fine, 10 minutes is plenty of time to get from one platform to another I thought, and we only have hand luggage.Not so - quite a few of the trains arrived late, which involved a dash to the board to check the departing platform (although some trains display these as you arrive), then running up and down stairs and along corridors to the next platform. My wife fell at one and bruised her knee, and one train we got to as the doors were closing.The algorithm used by Eurail doesn’t seem to take into account trains may be delay

I’m trying to book ICE319 from Brussels to Cologne on Friday 27th June, but the reservation systems are telling me that it can’t be booked because the carriage layout isn’t available.I’ve tried booking the same train on other dates and the layout is there alright.I’ve checked the train running dates (banhof.de is my new favourite planning tool) and it should be running that day.Any ideas on what the issue is?Normally I would be happy enough to worry about it later, but I’ve just booked a Eurostar into Brussels and plan on taking the EC7 from Cologne the next morning and my options for getting between the 2 cities is limited at that time of night.There’s also a Thalys/Eurostar, but the reservation fee is enough to put me off. An error has occurredThe carriage layout is temporarily unavailable. Please continue your booking without selecting a seat in the carriage layout or try again at a later time.

Hi there,Can anyone advise whether Eurostar in Brussels is likely to accept late boarding (approx 20 mins before departure)?On 30 July I’m catching the 20.56 Eurostar from Brussels to London, which is the last train of the day.I’ll be travelling to Brussels from Hamburg via Cologne, and am due to arrive into Brussels on a DB train at 19.35. However, given DB’s reputation for delays I’m feeling slightly anxious about missing my connections. If I miss my Cologne transfer, there is a eurostar service from Cologne to Brussels that will get me into Brussels at 20.35. Hopefully it won’t come to this, but if it did, would I still be able to catch the 20.56 Eurostar service onto London?Any insights appreciated!Thanks.

If I board at Bruges on way to Brussels on Eurail, transferring in Brussels to Eurail train to London, is 36 min enough time? Note says to allow 45-90 minutes to check passports, etc.  

If the train is not fully booked on Romanian domestic trains like IR trains, is it possible to ride without reservation and buy reservation ticket through conductor?Traveling from Suceava to Bucharest I tried to reserve at Cluj Napoca, but they said it must to be reserve at Suceava station. So I am worrying if the connection is short to buy at Suceava.I heard SNCF is possible to ask conductor buy as there is a vacant. How about Romania?

I will be reaching Chur Switzerland by Glacier Express on 16 Sept 2025 and want to go to Munich by train the same day. I would like to know where would I board the Munich train 2224 Alpenrhein operated by SOB from?The same train station or different train station?If different train station then name of the station and how do I travel to this station? 

Hi all,Im trying to get to Valencia, but Interrail (mostly eurostar, tgv and inoui )are making it very difficult and expensive for me.. I want to get from Rotterdam to Narbonne on May 31st, and then travel the next day to Valencia. The first day is the problem, especially the part between Bruxelles Midi and Montpellier (where i need to change)For basically every option i see the pass is either not applicable or I have to pay a genourmous reservation fee (ie around 160 euro on top of an already pretty expensive pass). My ultimate route was: Rotterdam - Bruxelles midi 06:40-08:03 - no need for reservation Bruxelles midi - Montpellier Saint Roch 08:17-14:30 - IMPOSSIBLE Montpellier - Narbonne 14:50-15:53 - 10 euro reservation The only affordable option is leaving Brussels at 14:00 and arriving in Narbonne really late (around 22:00), which kind of defeats the purpose of the journey. Can somebody help me get an alternative route? Otherwise I'm afraid I have no choice but to take the plane….

I selected a London to Amsterdam trip that said reservations required, I added the trip to my pass activated the passes and went and went to purchase the reservations but I can no longer find that train trip, it is offering me very few options on the reservation site compared to the Eurail Planner App. can anyone help please, it makes no sense to me, it clearly said limited seats available (be quick) and reservations required. Than you in advance.

my wife and i are travelling from Lucerne to Florence SMN on 2o September via Arth-Goldau and Milan. How do I find an see which seats are available?  and the cost? Eurail wants $170.00usd for seats!!!I have to stlll book seats from Florence to Lamezia and then to Rome, If I book a point to point ticket the seat is included Sorry 4 Euros total for seat selection

I’m aware they recently added this as part of the eurail pass but has anybody tried booking a seat reservation on their website?. Cause I cant find an option on their website for it and I want to know in order to find out how much a seat reservation cost?. If anyone has booked a seat for it do you just do it through eurail and not iryo site?

Hello train travelers,I’m planning a trip between Berlin and Warsaw(Warszawa), as well as one between Warsaw and Prague(Praha). I can see on Polish, German, and Czech train website direct connections with Warsaw.However, the interrail app does not show them to me, whatever the dates (only with at least one connection).I have no problem to find the seat reservation, but I need to have the trip on the Interrail app as well.Do you experience the same issue?Thank you in advance!

HelloMy wife and I are doing a bucket list 8 week tour of Europe in a few months time.  We have purchased a Eurail Global Pass with 15 train days 1st Class to use in 2 months, we are flying into London from New Zealand, then using Eurail to go to France, Belgium, Germany, Czechia, Austria, Switzerland then Italy, and fly home from Rome.Train Seat Reservations are a confusing issue.  Some sites say you must have them for Eurostar, France & Italy, not elsewhere.  Others say just hop on and choose your seat.  I don't want to pay for something I don't really need or is not required.My biggest question is when to purchase a seat reservation?  We are still a few months out, I have bought the train tickets, when do I need to book and pay for seat reservations, now, one month prior, or the day before travel?All advice most appreciated.  Cheers, KiwiPete

Hi there, I’m currently booking seat reservations after purchasing my eurail pass for this summer. I’ve managed to buy 2, but a couple of others I’m trying to buy pops up with a message saying “no price results were found” does anyone know what this means or what I do in this situation?

HiPlanning to travel from Krakow to Bratislava.Please see screenshot below.Do anyone know if the EC131 train wait for the IC114 train? Its only 18 minutes between and Im not sure if its safe to booke with this or not.   Best regards Maren 

Hi Anyone had this issue when trying to reserve seates? I have tried several times and Im not slow so I dont understand why I get the "We couldn't add the reservations to your cart because the offer expired. Please refresh the page or search again." Error when I try to reserve.Please see screenshot below: This is the train I try to order seats for:  Best regards Maren 

Hi everyone!I am desperatly looking for train connections between France and Portugal.I am planning a trip with my son and we will be having to go back an forth a bit inbetween Lissabon/Coimbra and Biarritz/San Sebastian … or somewhere around there.The perfect connection would have been this “Southexpress” from Hendaye to Lissabon but that doesnt seem to exist anymore? And so far I couldnt find any satisfying alternative. I would love to avoid having to take a bus.The interrail-search engine doesn’t really help, as it seem to be unable to find any connections in that area.Does anyone have more informations abot this?Thanks in advance!Catharina

Im Planning on taking the Night Train EN 443 Slovakia/ EN 406 in August 2025. I figured i have to book the seat reservation on CD but when I'm looking for the train it sends me to a "Special Page" which is the same once I pick English as the language again. Looking for the same connection in may 2025 gives me the option to book a ticket or seat reservation. Does anyone have experience if these tickets are sold out or just not yet available? Thanks in advance