Inter rail questions

[Citybreak1]

Looking for advice I travel alot round Europe and I have one Rotterdam trip booked and one Thalys. Looking at a 5 day pass but this may be better for this summer https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/one-country-pass/benelux

From what I can see I can take many trains without paying a thalys reservation. I’ve seem free? So my questions are..

Should I book a seat on ice to say Aachen or can you stand? Or is there usually seats?

I have 3 Eurostar standard tickets would they refund if I want to go interail?

What’s the slow train to Rotterdam like? Is it busy?

I seen LNER tickets for 5 euros reservation is it better value to buy a pass at say £250 each rather than pay LNER £230 for two tickets with a rail card from Edinburgh?

 

[dutchflyer]

Once again: on community.eurail.com most of this has been handled many times.
Right now I sit using the free WiFi in a dutch NS-train and have just finished a 2-mo IRail a few days ago.
REServ in UK are free-at counter or online (On that community about any new one asking gets a link to a long list of how to do RES easier and cheaper.
It is a bit confusing for me if you mean BeNeLux or not, but IN these 3 (LUX is free transport anyway) noone does RES for domestic and it is in fact even impossible-think of South East or the like in GB. Applies also to the the hourly BeNeLux trains Ams-Rotterdam-Antwerpen-Brussel, which are indeed a bit slower as €* or Tls, but still run up to 150 km/hr.
There are at least 4 ways to reach Aachen (Aix la Chapelle in french, Aken in dutch) and only this Thalys has mandatory RES-and is by far the most expensive, and ICE, quite often cancelled, has optional. On all such IC/ICE trains in DE (to which I am heading right now) the seats have tiny signs showing from where to where they are RES-or open. BNL will not be valid to Aachen, have to pay for the few KMs on german grounds.
Refunds on €* look to me quite unlikely-plus that they only do a small quota for passholders which is often sold out weeks ahead summertime, so your chance of getting on is small, but trying will not hurt.
HInt: as DE=Germany now offers its 49/month LOCAL season, also for all metro/trams (some 60+ systems)/buses, but NOT the fast IC/ICE trains (in german this is called ´nur nahverkehr´) you cpould combine it with BNL and have a blast of slowly going around and seeing more. Getting this is a bit tricky-see seat61.com, most advice to do via HVV-switch., as this easily will accept cr-cd payments.

 

[DanielB]

Should I book a seat on ice to say Aachen or can you stand? Or is there usually seats?

Seat reservations are optional on the ICE, but don't know how busy the Brussels ones are. Do be aware however the Benelux pass you're linking to isn't valid in Germany.

I have 3 Eurostar standard tickets would they refund if I want to go interail?

When you'd choose the Benelux pass, you'd still need Eurostar tickets to get to Brussels as your pass isn't valid there.

What’s the slow train to Rotterdam like? Is it busy?

The slow one from Brussels you're referring to I presume. Can be very busy during summer and it's just a very basic train: no amenities at all, so make sure you've got enough food and drinks with you prior to boarding.
And yes, it's slow despite reaching 160 km/h. Might even be quicker to take a domestic Belgian IC that doesn't make the detour via Brussels Airport and then change in Antwerp.

It also has a lengthy stop in Breda to reverse, so in your case with Rotterdam as the destination it's actually slightly faster to get off in Breda and change for the IC to The Hague. (Arrival is xx.18 from Brussels, the IC to The Hague departs at .23 and is then followed by the IC from Brussels (departure xx.26)) Does involve changing platforms however, so not advised with lots of luggage.

 

[rvdborgt]

Seat reservations are optional on the ICE, but don't know how busy the Brussels ones are. Do be aware however the Benelux pass you're linking to isn't valid in Germany.

The Brussels ICEs usually have some free seats until Aachen, which is where they become really busy. But an extra ticket from the border will be needed in combination with a Benelux pass.

 

[Citybreak1]

So it seems booking seperate may work better unless I fancy Bruges Ghent and Rotterdam slow train. Perhaps it’s better value for travelling down to Rome? I am sure I spent over £800 for two 5 years ago when I did Milan Zurich in a 4/5 day trip. I am just looking for savings LNER has got expensive and Lumo not much cheaper. I notice some Thalys are cheaper but the times don’t match well. The one I did book is the early one which tends to be the only cheapest one. I was hoping now Thalys and Eurostar merge they would offer a better refund policy similar to Thalys but seems not.

 

[30907]

So it seems booking seperate may work better unless I fancy Bruges Ghent and Rotterdam slow train. Perhaps it’s better value for travelling down to Rome? I am sure I spent over £800 for two 5 years ago when I did Milan Zurich in a 4/5 day trip. I am just looking for savings LNER has got expensive and Lumo not much cheaper. I notice some Thalys are cheaper but the times don’t match well. The one I did book is the early one which tends to be the only cheapest one. I was hoping now Thalys and Eurostar merge they would offer a better refund policy similar to Thalys but seems not.

Interrail (Global pass only) is cost-effective from Scotland (or indeed most parts of England and Wales) because your first and last days cover home to Paris/Brussels (and considerably further if you want) for the price of the Passholder fee on top of the Pass.
So roughly £350 First Class return for that and two more days.

 

[biko]

What do you want to do? It's not fully clear to me. The most cost-effective option really depends on where you start, where you want to go and during how many days you like to travel.

 

[Citybreak1]

What do you want to do? It's not fully clear to me. The most cost-effective option really depends on where you start, where you want to go and during how many days you like to travel.

Usually if In Brussels I visit Holland and Germany. From Paris I visit Italy and Switzerland. I don’t have a schedule as I tend to take more than one short break per year.

 

[biko]

Still really depends on what you intend to do and how you like to travel from the UK to Belgium or France. Interrail global pass gives freedom to use any train you like, but reservations are required on most high-speed trains and can be quite pricey in France. That also applies to Eurostar. Therefore, if you travel mainly by TGV for example, Interrail is not always worth it. In Germany, it is sooner useful as reservations are optional and cheap. If you intend to travel around on many regional trains, Interrail can be good, but sometimes regional tickets are cheaper if not travelling long distances on a day.

 

[Citybreak1]

Still really depends on what you intend to do and how you like to travel from the UK to Belgium or France. Interrail global pass gives freedom to use any train you like, but reservations are required on most high-speed trains and can be quite pricey in France. That also applies to Eurostar. Therefore, if you travel mainly by TGV for example, Interrail is not always worth it. In Germany, it is sooner useful as reservations are optional and cheap. If you intend to travel around on many regional trains, Interrail can be good, but sometimes regional tickets are cheaper if not travelling long distances on a day.

Yes mostly high speed trains so it doesn’t sound like a good plan then. I think it was worth looking at and maybe an option for visiting Bruges but this summer I was looking at high speed trains.

 

[30907]

Yes mostly high speed trains so it doesn’t sound like a good plan then. I think it was worth looking at and maybe an option for visiting Bruges but this summer I was looking at high speed trains.

If you can book well in advance, then IR and TGV isn't a good combination - but, booking 6 weeks ahead I was surprised this spring at how high TGV fares were (it's several years since I last booked, to be fair).

As always, it's a case of doing your sums