I did say 'I' the letter in that post.
As I understand it, your pass is valid for a month from its first use, so your Germany trip a "few weeks later" needs to be within the month of validity.
Are you sure you have an Interrail pass, rather than an Eurail one? Assuming you're a UK resident, that would be a serious problem.
Correct, since there's no way of doing the latter. The only thing they can do is match the given paper pass cover number with the known series that have been released. But there's no way of knowing whether a certain PCN has already been used, and if so, on which pass with which validity.
Yes, it's sorted now. The number was on the back of the glossy ticket holder, the number on the paper ticket itself wasn't the one.
It's not without reason that it's called the pass *cover* number
Interrail reservations for Eurostar aren't refundable AFAIK. You can change the time and date (but not route) on the Eurostar website, at a cost of €15 or €20 IIRC.
That was the case but, since the changes at the beginning of last month, the Interrail web site is now saying (my bold):
Purchased it in January so that would explain it.
Yes, the 'latest activation' date doesn't mean the pass expires by then. It's simply the last day on which you must activate it.
Thanks!!!
The latest possible start date is then 13/11, and the last day of the validity period would then be 12/12 (30 days indeed in this case).
Yes, because Eurostar crosses International borders by default.
Eurostar can be booked a long time ahead, possibly as far as they sell 'public' tickets. You can do so on the Interrail website if you already have a pass, or otherwise through RailEurope or HappyRail. RailEurope is the only fee-free option but their passholder site doesn't work on mobile for me at the moment. I got it to work on desktop by pressing F5 (note: not Refresh!) after it fails to load the first time.
If you're looking on the Interrail website: that's the last place to look for either timetables or reservations.
If you're looking on the Interrail website: that's the last place to look for either timetables or reservations.
In general, use this page as a guide to pass reservations:
For Eurostar, raileurope.com is recommended, since it indeed does not have any added fees. Do change the currency to euro to avoid their 5% mark-up for other currencies.How to make reservations with an Interrail pass
A practical guide to making seat, couchette or sleeper reservations to go with an Interrail or Eurail pass.www.seat61.com
That just means reservations have not been opened yet. Not surprising, honestly. Just keep trying.
Going by past experience, it may be late November before they load the 2026 timetables.
If you tried that on the regular bahn.de booking page, then you're trying to book the wrong reservation and you'll have to pay for a new one on board, of course with an added on-board fee. DB don't make a lot of effort to make it clear that the regular €5.50/6.90 reservations are not valid with an Interrail pass for a journey from/to France on that train and just limited the online booking horizon to 2 weeks.
Useful advice, thanks!
It's a pain trying to get across the border from France using inter-rail. Even Strasbourg to Karlsruhe attracts their (in my opinion) inflated reservation fee. Whilst it is possible to bale at Strasbourg and continue by regional trains into Germany then resume the journey it makes it a pain when you've luggage. What's perhaps better is to buy an advance ticket from SNCF to the first stop in Germany (using a Railcard, eg senior) then resume using Inter-rail which is not restricted within Germany.
Yes, I checked that and it's about €22 single ICE Strasbourg to Karlsruhe a week in advance.
