Interrail query - use on OBB sleepers

[philjo]

I am planning a trip to Austria in July.
Please can someone confirm what the procedure is with Interrail tickets on the OBB sleepers? Am I correct in theinfo ont eh tinerrrail site that you have to use the day of arrival, not the date of departure on the ticket?
THat is a bit annoying as the plan is Longon-Brussels-Cologne then OBB sleeper to Vienna. then stay for 2-3 nights so would not use the train for rest of that day after arrival in Vienna.

so if I needed to mark the arrival day that would need a 8days travel ticket instead of 7 (I think they are only avilaable in 5,7 or 10?

unless it is chepaer to book the outward journey separately then use the 5 day interrail for the return legs, starting from Vienna unless it is cehaper to get a swiss pass instead

then single trip vienna to Schladming.
later that week - Schladming to CHur (using the EC Zurich train & changing at Buchs) - probably 3 nights in Switzerland & using trains each day

I will probably return from Switzerland via Strasbourg then TGV I think to Lille as in the past I found Lille better to check in for eurostar than Gare de Nord? (not used it for a couple of years)
Thanks

 

[Groningen]

The nighttrain is Koeln 21.21; arrival Wien Hbf at 8.19.

English: http://www.oebb.at/en/leistungen-und-services/schlafplatz-reservieren

 

[bspahh]

I am planning a trip to Austria in July.
Please can someone confirm what the procedure is with Interrail tickets on the OBB sleepers? Am I correct in the info on the interrrail site that you have to use the day of arrival, not the date of departure on the ticket?

Yes, that is correct.

THat is a bit annoying as the plan is London-Brussels-Cologne then OBB sleeper to Vienna. then stay for 2-3 nights so would not use the train for rest of that day after arrival in Vienna.

so if I needed to mark the arrival day that would need a 8days travel ticket instead of 7 (I think they are only available in 5,7 or 10?

http://www.seat61.com/InterRail-pass-guide.htm says:

The 'after 19:00' rule: Although a Flexi pass day normally runs from midnight to midnight, direct overnight trains leaving after 19:00 count as running the following day, so this only uses up one day of your pass. So for example, if you had a 5-day flexi InterRail pass and travelled on the Nightjet sleeper train from Cologne to Vienna leaving Cologne at 21:21 on August 2nd and arriving in Vienna at 08:19 on August 3rd, then travelled on to Budapest later that day, this would only use up one day of free travel, and the date you'd write in the box on your pass would be August 3rd. But if you wanted to travel from Amsterdam to Cologne on 2nd August before catching the sleeper, that would require another travel day, 2nd August.

 

[Groningen]

If you use a Flex Pass for that EN from Koeln to Wien than Germany and Austria would have both have the same day.

 

[laird]

Whilst it will be more to pay you could given your plan to travel in July book far enough ahead to get the cheapest through fares with from London to Cologne, since you would have needed to add both a pass holder reservation for Eurostar and Thalys or the ICE the marginal cost increase for a one way St. Pancras to Germany will not be that great (typically an extra EUR26 over your pass holder reservations).
FYI for some reason the DB ICE from Brussels to Frankfurt shows as compulsory reservation for pass holders (although weirdly its not compulsory for other ticket holders!).

You might also want to consider joining the Night Jet Sleeper at Düsseldorf to give you a slightly longer sleep.

If you have business lounge access Paris is a better choice, if not then Lille can be a good choice. You should check though the pass holder reservation fees vary on SNCF routes quite considerably, Strasbourg to Paris is a cheaper route from memory and the walk between Paris Est and Nord is easy (with plenty more connections from there to London when compared to Lille).

 

[30907]

You might also want to consider joining the Night Jet Sleeper at Düsseldorf to give you a slightly longer sleep.

Only if you are an early-to-bed type: 8pm UK time is rather earlyou for me!

 

[dutchflyer]

so use it!
ON the arr. day in Wien you could do the 3-country circle trip via Bratislava/SK-Budapest/HU and come back-thus adding 2 more EU-countries! and all for free.