JulieVikmanis

Can I buy a ticket for roundtrip from Stockholm to Uppsala and take any trains operating on the day for which I've purchased it or must I specify which train for which time for each leg of the trip in advance? Same question for travel on trains within Finland. Thanks for any help given. Not doing well finding the answer on-line.

PalenQ

You have check www.seat61.com? Generally full-fare tickets can be used on any train but sometimes those booked online have different restrictions - you could always buy tickets at station but if wants discounts those are usually train-specific - Uppsala from Stockholm is probably a commuter train with fairly low cheap fare. But you can always get on trains by buying full-fare tickets once there. There are some locals who hopefully will see this.

Odin

Seeing that each train service has a different pricing, I would say the opposite of PQ. IME you purchase a ticket to travel on a specific train, at least that is how I have found it is in Sweden. Some trains get sold out if not purchased in advance and some need seat reservations.

https://www.sj.se/en/home.html#/

PalenQ

Seeing that each train service has a different pricing, I would say the opposite of PQ>

But trains to Uppsala from Stockholm - www.bahn.de/en that there are both IC trains with compulsory reservations and Regional trains without any compulsory reservations or any reservations possible apparently. So, those regional trains may have different conditions.

SJ site says: <If you are travelling on a SJ High-speed train, SJ Night train or by certain IC trains, you will need a seat reservation on the train.> Assume no reservations required on Regional trains and maybe a full-fare ticket can be used on any one if there is a flat fare as typical for Regional trains in Europe?

Odin

PQ: I don’t look at the German railways website for Swedish rail service info.
Try looking at https://www.sj.se/en/home.html#/ plug in Stockholm to Uppsala with random dates and tell me what you see, is it one price fits all or different prices per train service?

PalenQ

Yes for slower trains, a flat fare it seems of 117 SK
For faster IC trains from 95 SK so cheaper if booked in stone I guess.

I think maybe that the Regional trains are flat fare with no reservations and that any valid ticket for that type of may - may not sure - be valid on any train that day at least. Not sure as does not say - faster IC trains (30 min vs 54 min) for slower trains, which seem to match non-reservable regional train times on bahn.de/en can be cheaper though but are reservations compulsory - and can sell out though there are so so many trains. I'd advise julie just to forget advance booking until in Stockholm and ask - I checked for Monday and plenty of 95 SK IC tickets available - on every train so I suppose those would be available on short notice.

Will be interesting to find out - doing a day trip OK to lock in outward trip but would want to have a flexible return.

Odin

If it’s a flat fare of SEK117 on regional trains then it would be valid on any train. If the prices varies in the faster train services the ticket will be valid only on that service. That’s how I would interpret it.
I tried recently to book at short notice and the fares were very expensive with some trains sold out. We don’t know when the OP is travelling & with a short train journey like this I would leave it until I got to Sweden to buy the ticket, unless it was midsummer or Christmas etc.

JulieVikmanis

Thanks to both of you. I'll go armed with these questions and see what I can do when I get there. But I promise to return and post with whatever I've learned from my experience.

PalenQ

You could book faster train going to Uppsala - a fixed time train and back if sure you're fine with it but that 85 SK saving over flat fare 117 Kr that you seemingly can use any ticket on and save 24 minutes each way and 22 SK - about $2.50 all together. But seems you can always buy those 117 kr tickets at station as no seat reservations are required.

JulieVikmanis

Yes, actually the best strategy seems to be to book ahead for the train to Uppsala and leave return open to book while there depending on when we decide we want to leave in the moment. Thanks for the guidance.

JulieVikmanis

Wound up just going to station and taking next available train--no reservations, just got on. Never reached Uppsala since they were having an air show and had some kind of accident which caused them to stop our train and send us back to the Stockholm station. Sorry my experience doesn't allow me to shed any light on return trips, etc. since ours was free given they couldn't take us to our desired destination. So much for trying to plan ahead.

Otherwise, we had a delightful trip to Stockholm and Helsinki. Thanks again for the help you all so generously offered.