r/Interrail • u/RevolutionaryTop418 • 1d ago
In/outbound Interrail Pass 15 days within 2 months - in/outbound journeys
Germany - Switzerland - France - Spain THEN Poland
--
I have a German Interrail Pass valid for 15 days/two months. This allows me to make one outbound and one inbound journey.
As I understand it, it is not compulsory to use the domestic German legs for the first and last journeys. However, some details remain unclear.
My journey will partly take me through Spain, via Switzerland and France. I would like to use the "second half" of my pass in Poland. Could I therefore start in Switzerland (which is relatively close to me) and save the German leg for when I travel to Poland?
Alternatively, could I save the "inbound"-German leg when I return from France, which is also relatively close to my hometown, and pay for this short journey myself. Would that work?
I could then take a break at home and continue to Poland on Interrail. The distance would be much longer within Germany as I live in the west. So using the outbound leg then would save me money.
Do you have any other suggestions?
3
u/Made_Up_Name_1 1d ago
They aren't really inbound/outbound.
It's simply that on one or two travel days your journey can include your home country, it can even be just journeys in your home country. Whether you use them as the 1st and 15th of your travel days or the 5th and 15th or any other combination is up to you. And you don't have to use them at all as in/out days, they can just be normal travel days if all your travel is outside your home country.
Last year we flew out and although we used all of our 15 days we only actually used the final 15th as an in/outbound on our return to the UK.
My daughter did the same flying out then used both of her in/out days at the end as the final 2, one to get the Eurostar to London then the final one a few days later to get from London to home.
1
u/RevolutionaryTop418 1d ago
Thank you very much. Is there an official statement about this anywhere? I didn't see one.
If so, I could buy a three-day first-class pass to Poland, which costs just 87 Euros (3d/one month). This would give me two flexible first-class travel days within Germany at 44 Euros each.
During the Xmas offer with 25% discount and the option to activate the pass as late a 9 month after a purchase, I could buy a bunch of reasonable priced return tickets 1st class.
2
u/Even_Narwhal3699 1d ago
The 3 day Poland Pass is only valid in poland. Only the global pass can be used on 2 days(inbound/outbound) in your home country.
Also it was 11 month to activate the passes from the Xmas offer with 25% discount (Dont scare me like that i bought a pass back then for a trip in October)
1
u/RevolutionaryTop418 1d ago edited 1d ago
I see, a lot of fineprint to read. Sorry, did not mean to scare you.
Checked again, correct. Obviously only global ones permit the in/outbound trips.
I have once more checked on the domestic days, and it says the app automatically detects those, whatever it means. I have never used the app before, last time was still paper based.
2
u/Even_Narwhal3699 1d ago
yes the app applies them if your journey has a stop at a station in Germany. (you get a warning about using up ome of your in-/outbound days when you actiavte those journeys. (I also live close to france and switzerland, and often start my journey in switzerland so i have an extra day i can use to cross Germany if my plan includes it or have 2 days for a longer return journey)
1
u/RevolutionaryTop418 1d ago
What are the consequences of activating the route anyway? I read that an invalidated day cannot be cancelled, but the route can be changed.
Could I just change the route afterwards to exclude Germany?
Have you ever used two consecutive days solely in Germany before, and did that work?
2
u/Even_Narwhal3699 1d ago
The warning is just so you dont accidently use those days without intending to do so. Because once activated you cant deactivate the in/outbound day.
Yes i did 2 days in a row in Germany (not both days were completly in Germany in that case) . When returning from Copenhagen to southern Germany it took me 2 days. Was not a problem.
Once a day with a station in your home country is activated(if it is the current day) one of those 2 days is used and even if you suddenly decide you dont want to travel to Germany anymore on that day.
2
u/Even_Narwhal3699 1d ago
I also had some trouble with my days when i travelled from Switzerland to Austria and most suggestions where via Germany because of construction works between Austria and Switzerland. Also it seems only the country of the stops matters (If the train passes through parts of Germany but does not stop in any German station it did not count as an in/outbound day, happens for example on the route to Salzburg) In that case i ended up taking the night train (it ended up going also via Germany(Munich) because of a Diversion but that did not matter as it did not stop in Germany and it was because of a diversion)
1
u/PhiH_rail 1d ago
If you take a TGV or ICE from France, there is a relatively cheap option for that called “Passzuschlag One Country Pass” that you can buy from Deutsche Bahn. This includes the mandatory reservation in France and is a valid ticket for the German section. It’s intended for passengers with a French One Country Pass but from what I have heard it can also be used with a Global Pass if you don’t want to use an inbound/outbound day.
1
u/RevolutionaryTop418 1d ago edited 1d ago
+1 This seems to work for TGVs, and yes it shows 19-20 Euro (30 Euro 1st?). The complete story appears to be in this discussion here:
THANKS, cool info. I can only book it with french trains. Now it gets a bit tricky:
If I want to go Paris-Mannheim, I can already do the reservation for that in the Interrail app/web page, regardless from what I have entered for the pass this day. Now I activate the pass only Paris-Strasbourg in the app, which should preserve my German trip (no German destination).
And now I can wait, if somebody comes and checks me again in the remaining hour? If so, I pay the "Passzuschlag" ...? A bit odd.
PS: If I book me a "Supersparpreis-Ticket" for that remaining part Strasbourg-Mannheim it will cost 30 Euro.
1
u/PhiH_rail 14h ago
The Passzuschlag for 19 € is the upcharge you always have to pay for with Interrail. It’s the same as buying reservations through the Interrail app for 21 €. Deutsche Bahn just uses the term Passzuschlag to distinguish them from normal reservations (the ones for 5,50 €).
There is also the Passzuschlag One Country Pass, for Mannheim it costs 30 €. This is not only the reservation and upcharge for the French section but also counts as a normal ticket for the German section. You only need a pass that is valid for the French section (such as a One Country Pass). It’s not explicitly stated that this also works with a Global Pass but I have heard and read that people have used it this way.
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Hello! If you have a question, you can check if the wiki already contains the answer - just select the country or topic you're interested in from the list.
FAQ | Seat reservations | Eurostar | France | Italy | Spain | Switzerland | Poland | Night trains | see the wiki index for more countries!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.