bonjour,
je souhaite revenir de mon tour d'asie tranquillement par le transsiberien en juin prochain. j'ai vu sur le forum qu'il était plus intéressant d'acheter les billets sur place, plutôt que de passer par une agence.
est-ce que qqn l'a déjà fait dans ce sens là, en achetant des billets à pekin?
ça revient à combien à peu près, par rapport aux agences?
est-ce qu'on a besoin du billet de train pour demander le visa russe?
merci d'avance à tous ceux qui auraient des infos!
amel
Le vrai voyage ce n’est pas de chercher des nouveaux paysages mais un nouveau regard.
(Marcel proust)
Pas besoin de billet de train pour le visa Russe, mais toute une serie d'autre documents sur lesquels on s'est tous un jour arrachés les cheveux (dont le fameux voucher).
Ensuite faire pekin à Moscou le transsiberiens en lui même n'est pas ce qu'il y a de plus pratique parce que le demande est telle (surtout en été) que tu dois acheter les billet longtemps a l avance et donc fixer tes dates.
En revanche, tu peux parfaitement faire ton trajet, tranquillement comme tu dis 😉, le long de la ligne du transsiberiens en faisant des sauts d'étape en étape, l'avantage est une plus grande flexibilité(et dans une certaine mesure un moindre cout en jouant sur les classes selon la duré du trajet).
Si je devais te donner un conseil ce serait de ne pas faire chine russie en train directement, mais plutot (si tu a le temps et que ton budget te le permet evidemment ce qui ne fut pas mon cas)chine mongolie russie, le trajet de pekin au baikal en passant directement par la russie et en contournant la mongolie n'ayant pas grand interet...)
merci pour ta réponse!
j'avais effectivement prévu de passer par la Mongolie, quel dommage en effet de contourner et de passer si près d'un pays qui me fait déjà rêver.. avec arrêt d'une semaine à UB et qqs jours au lac baikal.
en fait, j'ai entendu dire que le trajet pekin-moscou était moins touristique que dans l'autres sens, et je me demande si du coup je peux risquer de prendre mes billets sur place? sachant que je dois être à moscou à une certaine date (si je me prends 1 semaine dans les dents parce qu'il y a plus de places dans le train, je suis mal!!)
avais-tu acheté tes billets avt de partir? ou sur place?
merci pour tes infos!
amel
Le vrai voyage ce n’est pas de chercher des nouveaux paysages mais un nouveau regard.
(Marcel proust)
Sur place, les acheter d'ici coute horriblement cher, j'avais les mêmes imperatifs que toi quand j'etais là bas, pour des questions de visa et de billet de retour je devais etre à moscou à une certaines dates.
Tu es sure d'arriver à moscou à temps mais en faisant peut etre des sauts de ville en ville.
Maintenant si tu prends tes billets dès maintenant tu graves tes dates dans le marbre pour toute la durée du voyage et ce sera passablement cher mais au moins tu seras sure d'être à temps à moscou...la sécurité quoi!
Slt!
j'ai regardé via le site transsib-travel et là c'est 140 euros un pekin - ulan bataar par exemple, ou 214 pour irkutsk-moscou. (en 2nde)
Pb: pas moyen de réserver en 3eme classe.........
en fait, je sais pas trop si c'est cher par rapport à une agence voyage classique, mais j'imaginais que les billets achetés directement en gare là bas pouvaient être moins chers.....
enfin bref, je sais pas encore ce que je dois faire!!
Le vrai voyage ce n’est pas de chercher des nouveaux paysages mais un nouveau regard.
(Marcel proust)
Heu, bah 214 euros ça fait 7000 roubles, quand j'ai voulu faire le même trajet en aout ça coutait 4000 roubles en seconde (130 -140 euros), donc bon c'est à voir...Pour ce qui est des prix de la chine de la mongolie je ne peut pas te dire...
Ca dépend de ton budget (il faut savoir en plus que les prix des trains ont triplé en 3 ans en russie), mais il est sur que ce sera moins cher sur place en seconde et evidemment en 3ème.
Maintenant pour voyages en train je dois dire que je n'ai jamais eu à retarder un depart de plus de deux voir trois jour au max...
Ca dépend vraiment de tes dates et du fait que tu sois au jour près ou pas (et en cas d'urgence absolue Irkutsk Moscou en avion c'est 250-280 dollars au max et 5 heures de vol, j'ai fait moscou vladivostok irkutsk en train et n'en pouvant plus j'ai fini le reste en avion).
MAintenant le bon plan c'est d'acheter tes billets de départ dès l'arrivée à une étape, exemple tu arrives à irkutsk pour deux ou trois jours, et bien tu achètes tes billets dès la descente du train.
Bonjour Amel!
Je ne sais pas où tu en es dans ton voyage, vu que ca fait qq temps que tu en as parlé. Je suis un peu ds le même cas que toi, j'ai 'intention de faire Pékin Moscou en transsibérien en décembre et je voulais savoir si finalement tu avais trouvé un bon tuyau pas cher pour prendre des places? Et comment tu t'y es pris pour les visas finalement?
Merci d'avance!
Luc.
je te reponds d inde, ou je finis mon sejour bientot... direction la thailande pour la suite!!
aloooooors.
pour les billets, apres mure reflexion ( et surtout demandes de conseils!) j ai prefere acheter les billets avant, ce qui d ailleurs facilite la chose pour l obtention du visa russe ( niveau des dates d entree dans le pays)
je les ai achetes chez espace est ouest, ou un truc comme ca ( desolee jene me souviens plus du nom!! effet indien...), c est serieux, ils te donnent des bons d echanges pour recuperer les billets sur place ( qui ne sont reserves que 45j avt la date de depart). niveau prix, ben j ai pas trouve de tuyau pas cher, mais le plus economique semble etre de prndre les billets sur place, ce que je n ai pas ose faire car je fais le voyage en juin, soit au debut de la saison touristique...
concernant le visa, donc, je m y suis prise a la bourre, donc je suis passee par action visa pour la russie, plus cher, bien sur, mais au moins tu galeres pas.
enfin voila, j espere avoir repondu a tes questions!!
namaskar
amel
Le vrai voyage ce n’est pas de chercher des nouveaux paysages mais un nouveau regard.
(Marcel proust)
merci beaucoup Amel!
J'hesite encore pour prendre les billets sur place. je ne sais pas si en décembre ca se tente ou non. D'ici là j'ai le temps de continuer mes recherches.
Profite bien de l'Inde et de la thaïlande!
Luc.
Je compte moi aussi prendre le transsibérien au mois de décembre cette année.
Qu'en est-il de ton expérience ?
As-tu finalement pris les billets sur place ?
Et la température ?
Je suis actuellement a pekin et je souhaite acheter un billet pour Moscou sauf que personne ne parle en anglais et apres plusieurs tentatives impossible de…
Nous allons partir en couple faire le transsiberien cet été, à partir de fin août. Nous souhaitons relier Moscou à Pekin en nous arretant pour qq jours à…
Je planifie un voyage de 8 à 9 mois avec mon compagnon avec départ en octobre prochain. Comme je ne ferai ça qu'une seule fois dans mal vie, j'ai vraiment…
Il y a pas mal d'infoS sur le trajet mais elles sont datés et pas non plus adapté à mon projet, donc voila, je suis actuellement enceinte et je prépare mon…
Le trajet Pékin – Moscou Train K3 départ le mercredi a 7h40 arrivée le lundi a 16h30 Train K19 départ le vendredi a 22h50 arrivée le jeudi a 18h34 K19 départ…
I’m planning our very first trip to mainland France in January 2027. There’ll be 2 adults and 2 kids, and we’ll mostly be traveling by train.
Here’s our itinerary:
Paris
Rouen (Normandy)
Lyon
Aix-les-Bains (with day trips to Annecy and Geneva)
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (with Chamonix and a day in Aosta)
Back to Paris
Do you think this itinerary is well-balanced? Any tips, must-see spots, or mistakes to avoid for a first-time visit?
Hi! I’d like to make stops across France, starting from Reims, and travel by train using the Intercités. I want to discover the landscapes and picturesque villages, and make some stops along the way. Could you give me some tips? Thanks!
I can’t seem to complete the payment for my trip on the IRCTC (Indian Railways) site. No matter which payment method I choose, my Visa card isn’t accepted.
Has anyone here managed to do it, and if so, could you share the method you used?
Thanks in advance!
Charlie
I’m planning a family trip in a year. Our goal: traveling to China (and maybe Hong Kong) by train.
I’m all set with the route up to eastern Turkey.
However, I’m just starting my research for the rest of the journey—namely the Caucasus (no trains as far as I know, so buses and/or ferries), then Central Asia and China.
So, I’d love to hear any info or tips (general and forward-looking at this stage) about the train route through Central Asia and China to reach the east coast.
I’m particularly interested in details on:
- How far in advance to book / any potential difficulties with reservations
- Whether there are PASS systems (or equivalent) between countries and/or if some tickets allow stopovers, meaning you can hop on and off as you please
- Day trains vs. night trains (the latter option lets you explore cities between two legs of the journey)
- A rough idea of ticket costs
...
A huge thank you to anyone who can share some info or experiences. It’s also a great opportunity to chat about adventure after (way too) many years away from this forum.
I’m planning a trip around Italy using only trains or public transport in October (hoping the weather stays nice!).
I’d obviously like to see some tourist destinations, but I also want to get off the beaten path a bit, and I’m hoping to find some help here? I don’t plan to linger too long in the cities.
Starting in the north, I’d like to visit Lake Como or Lake Orta, pass through the Cinque Terre for some hiking, spend a few days in Naples and Rome, then head down to Sicily.
Hi there,
I’ll be traveling to Japan this coming August. We’ve finalized our itinerary and booked our flight tickets. Now I’m at the stage of buying train tickets for the few segments we’ll need to cover:
Tokyo - Hakone
Hakone - Kyoto
Kyoto - Osaka
Osaka - Tokyo
Here are my questions:
a) Is it possible to buy train tickets for these segments from Canada?
b) If so, which website should I use to do this?
c) And if it is possible, will we be able to print our tickets from Canada?
d) If it’s not possible, where in Tokyo should I go to buy these tickets when I arrive?
Hi everyone, I wanted to take the Paris-Berlin overnight train with a sleeper berth, the new service operated by European Sleepers.
24/05/2026 17:45 Paris-Nord (actually 16:00 from Paris Bercy Seine) -> 25/05/2026 9:59 (actually 7:30 in Berlin)
05/06/2026 18:31 Berlin (actually 20:00) -> 06/06/2026 10:00 Paris Nord (actually 12:30)
Part of the journey was operated by bus instead of the promised overnight train.
For 2 people: 340 € round trip
A total disaster. Never again. I was really looking forward to taking the overnight train, but we faced last-minute changes and truly unpleasant travel conditions. Here are the details:
1) 2 days before departure: email announcing a change of departure station for the outbound trip—Bercy Seine bus station instead of Gare du Nord.
2) Change of schedule: 4:00 PM from Bercy instead of 5:45 PM from Gare du Nord.
3) Change of transport mode!! A bus from Paris to Brussels, then an overnight train from Brussels to Berlin. No functional toilets on the bus. No children under 4 allowed on the bus.
4) On the sleeper train at 9:30 PM: no functional toilets in our carriage, so we had to go to other carriages, even in the middle of the night, to find working ones.
5) The onboard staff, though very friendly, were as lost as we were. In particular, they didn’t know how to handle the lower berths, so people using them had less space (armrests and backrests). Berth numbers weren’t respected, so some passengers had to move. The staff also didn’t know who was supposed to join the compartment during the journey.
6) Arrival at 7:30 AM in Berlin instead of 10:00 AM. No arrival announcement. Passengers had to search for staff to get breakfast and ended up with just a coffee (breakfast = 15 €, not bad for just a coffee).
7) Return trip: drastic schedule change announced by email on 26/05/2026—departure at 7:30 PM instead of 6:30 PM, with arrival between 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM in Paris instead of 10:00 AM. No change in transport mode announced.
8) Change in transport mode announced by email on the same day (05/06/2026)!! Overnight train from Brussels to Berlin, then a bus from Paris to Brussels. No functional toilets on the bus. Children under 4 banned from the bus, and families in this situation were asked to find another way—after being notified the same day.
9) The overnight train arrived at Berlin station with a 30-minute delay on top of its initial delay (scheduled for 6:31 PM, then 7:30 PM, finally arriving at 8:00 PM). The heating was blasting in the compartment with no way to turn it off. No functional toilets in the carriage. From that point on, customer service stopped responding to my messages.
10) Woken up at 5:00 AM with an announcement in all carriages about arrival in Liège.
11) Woken up again at 6:00 AM to be told we’d arrive in Brussels at 7:00 AM.
12) Arrival in Brussels at 7:00 AM and a one-hour wait for the bus to Paris. No functional toilets on the bus.
13) Arrival at Paris Nord at 12:30 PM, so 2.5 hours late compared to the originally scheduled time.
14) The overnight trains used are very old—I recognized the carriages from 20 years ago!! No functional power outlets, no Wi-Fi, no air conditioning. Five people per compartment is a bit cramped, but I consider these conditions expected (especially the air conditioning), so I’m not complaining about that. There’s already plenty to gripe about with the travel conditions.
I have little hope of getting even a partial refund. Customer service emails acknowledge the discomfort but only offer to reimburse the cost of a coffee on board if we send them the receipt... a bit weak.
I’m sharing this experience in the hope it might help others.
Hi there,
I’d like to take the Train of the Clouds from Lima to Huancayo.
I’ve heard it only runs during certain periods.
Does anyone have info on this?
Thanks!
HuancayoHuancayo
As part of my professional thesis, I’m conducting a study on the evolution of long-distance rail transport in France, particularly since it opened up to competition.
I’ve put together a very quick (about 5-minute) and completely anonymous questionnaire. Your answers will help me better understand users' expectations regarding pricing, frequency, and environmental impact.
We’re planning a 15-day trip to Uzbekistan in March—classic independent itinerary: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva. We’d like to take the train between each city, but I don’t want to lock down the whole trip before we leave.
So, my question is: is it absolutely necessary to book train tickets before departure, whether for the high-speed trains or the regional ones? Is booking really essential for the regional trains?
Hello,
We’re traveling as a family with two boys aged 10 and 12 to Cairo in February. During our trip, we’re planning to take an overnight train (with or without a sleeper) for the Cairo-Aswan route.
Do you know how I can book this remotely?
Also, I’m looking for:
- A local contact to sail the Nile by felucca for 3 days from Aswan
- A contact to guide us in Cairo
Looking forward to your tips, and thanks in advance!
Marie
Hi everyone,
I first traveled solo to Japan in 2019, exploring the Kyushu region (28 days), and I’m planning to return with my daughter (she’s an adult and it’ll be her first time in Asia) from April 25 to May 9.
I’m reaching out on this forum to ask for route ideas—this time north of Tokyo, but without heading to the Sapporo island (I’m saving that for a future trip).
I’d love to take advantage of the cherry blossom season and its festivities.
I’m looking to create a route that’s a little off the beaten path while staying within 5-6 hours by train from Tokyo to avoid spending too much time on transfers.
Thanks in advance for sharing your suggestions and experiences!
Michael
I'm heading to MEXICO IN NOVEMBER 2025. Since private guides and drivers are really expensive—over 300 € per day—I'm thinking of exploring the Yucatán by train. CAN YOU SHARE ANY INFO ON THIS? Thanks
Hi there!
We’re planning to visit Serbia (1 week) and then Montenegro (2nd week) with our kids from April 18 to May 4. We’d prefer to travel by train (overnight if possible), but we’re not sure which platform to book on or when to do it (is it too early?). If anyone has any tips, I’m all ears!!
I wanted to know if it’s possible to go from Tashkent to Almaty by train without passing through Kyrgyzstan. I’ve heard the border is often closed 😕 between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Thanks in advance!
Olivier
Hi there!
We’re planning to head back to Istanbul next year—obviously by plane—and then take the train from Istanbul to Antalya. Has anyone here already made this trip by train with TCDD?
I’d love any tips or info that could be useful for us!
I'd like to go to Montserrat on my own from Barcelona. Share your suggestions with me.
Which train should I take, where to get off, what to see once I arrive, etc.
I need to take a sleeper train from Bangkok to Vientiane in January.
I found some ticket options on 12Go Asia, but booking doesn’t seem possible at the moment. I’ve tried simulations for several dates, but no luck.
I’m wondering if it’s already fully booked, if they’ve stopped selling tickets… yet 12Go still features it every day 😕
Has anyone else run into this issue?
Can I find tickets on another site? (I tried Baolau, but no sleepers left for January 8th.)
Hi there,
I’m a bit late to be worrying about this, but hopefully someone can help me before I leave.
Tomorrow afternoon, I arrive at Lyon Part-Dieu on the TGV at 5:50 PM and take the TER to Mâcon at 6:16 PM. Is a 26-minute transfer doable? Are the TGV and TER on the same departure board? And are they on the same platforms too?
I’ve been to Lyon before but never had to make a connection after arriving.
Thanks
Starting November 15th, I’ll be arriving in Thailand, and during my stay, I plan to visit the north, around the Chiang Mai area, then head south to the Krabi region.
After Krabi, I’m planning to take an overnight train to Bangkok. I was wondering if there’s a train that leaves from Krabi or Trang, or if I absolutely have to go to Surat Thani?
Also, which official website can I use to book my ticket?
Next, since I’ll be arriving at dawn in Bangkok, I’ve planned to spend 2 days in Kanchanaburi. What’s the most convenient way to get there—bus or train? And if you know any companies or websites, that’d be great.
Hi there,
Does anyone know if there’s a bus from Luang Namtha to Boten to catch the train coming from China to Vientiane? If so, what’s the name of the company? Also, how long does the bus take to cover that distance? What’s the condition of the road like?
Thanks for your help!
Tom
I just realized there’s only one payment method accepted for booking the Mombasa-Nairobi express train ticket online: M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service used in Africa. Would it be impossible to book as a European?
I’d love to know if any of you have recently eaten on the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
We’ve always ordered food on the train, and it was really good (and super convenient).
But in 2022, we ended up feeling like total idiots (with our 4-year-old daughter...) when we boarded the train only to find out that this service was no longer available... (It was the first time we’d traveled right after COVID.)
That’s also when we saw once again how kind Thai people are—they all offered to share their food with us, even though we were mortified. In the end, we managed to buy some instant noodles, which was better than nothing. Anyway, that’s the little story behind it.
In the following years, we’ve always brought our own meals.
I’ve read online that meal trays are back in service (could you confirm this, please?), but that the quality is really poor. I’ve also seen multiple reports that, even though you can eat well everywhere in Thailand, the train meal was the worst food travelers had during their trip...
Could you give me a recent opinion on this?
We’ll be departing from Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Station—do you know if there’s anywhere to buy a meal there before boarding the train?
Thanks so much for your help,
and have a great Sunday!
We’re heading to Thailand in February 2026 and we’d like to take the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Can we book two first-class tickets? I’m only seeing second-class options.
Hi everyone,
For traveling in Rajasthan by train and bus, could you give me some info: where to buy tickets, cost, purchase locations, websites, etc.?
Any tips you have would be super helpful.
Thanks
We’re traveling to Java on October 23, just the two of us.
I’ve read that it’s best to book train tickets in advance on tiket.com.
Is that true, and how far ahead do you recommend?
Are the tickets changeable?