chevre

I have a 4 country Eurail Pass (Benelux, France, Germany and Switzerland) that I plan to use in July. I have been trying to book my reservations. Some work some don't. For example, I had no trouble booking a reservation for Lucerne to Interlaken. When I tried to book from Interlaken to Zermatt, the Rail Europe sight said I was unable to book at this time. I had the same issue in trying to book Zermatt to Nancy, France. I could call them of course, but I bet there's an expert on here who will be able to tell me where I'm going wrong. Thank you!

twk

I'm no expert, particularly on Eurail, but most Swiss rail routes do not require reservations, or accept reservations. We road the rails for two weeks last summer (using a Swiss Pass) and the only reservation we made was for the VIP seats on the Zweissimen to Montreux leg of the Golden Pass line, and we would not have needed reservations for a normal seat on that run either.

PalenQ

Unless the train requires reservations just hop on -especially if you have a first-class pass as 1stcl has more empty seats often.

Even to Zermatt just show up unless - except Glacier Express trains which you do not have to take.

For lots on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

When I tried to book from Interlaken to Zermatt>

that is actually three different trains -Interlaken to Spiez-Spiez to Visp -Visp to Zermatt - again just show up - you can always board.

PalenQ

RailEurope charges about $12-15 per seat reservation per each train I believe - Interlaken to Zermatt thus may cost $40 p.p. - if you want to book at European prices - about $3-5 per reservation go to the national rail sites of each country (www.sbb.ch for Switzerland) and do it online -can do with a pass and just make seat reservation but these IME are simply not needed and if want can easily do at any Swiss station.

PalenQ

plus RE I believe will also charge a handling fee as the total will not be their free shipping limit (unless e-ticket reservations and then still a handling fee-all in all save tons by waiting till Switzerland where it would be rare if trains were full - and you still can board and wait till next stop when seats open up - 1st class again very very rare to have all seats full.)

If you want to go thru RE and have someone help you check Byron at www.budgeteuropetravel.com - a RE agent but gives personal attention IME with him for years buying various passes.

But again I'd just wait to Switzerland but trains involving high-speed routes in France do require reservations and they sometimes have a pass-holder limit on seats even if the train is not full-so those you may want to make- like from Basel to Nancy -that one could be hard to do in Europe -may be able to do online at www.voyages-sncf.com (French Railways site) but may have to go thru RE with a pass -not sure.