Nous partons en avril prochain (en partie pendant la golden week) rendre visite à notre fils à Tokyo
Peut-il acheter les billets de train pour notre circuit et réserver nos places ?
Combien de temps à l'avance cela peut-il se faire ?
Compte tenu des trajets que nous ferions, le coût serait similaire à un JR pass mais nous pourrions réserver ainsi nos places beaucoup plus tôt qu'à notre arrivée et nous pourrions également emprunter le nozomi plus rapide
Pour info, le circuit serait 3J tokyo, 7j kyoto, 3J hiroshima et 1J osaka
Bien sûr, on peut faire acheter/réserver ses billets à l'avance par un tiers, ils ne sont pas nominatifs. Ceci étant, vous vous faites du souci pour rien: pas besoin de s'y prendre des semaines à l'avance et il n'est pas indispensable de le faire dans la gare de départ (si votre fils habite en banlieue de Tokyo, par exemple, il peut acheter des billets de shinkansen, ou réserver vos places si vous avez un railpass, quelques jours à l'avance dans la gare JR la plus pratique pour lui, pour autant qu'il y ait un guichet "Midori no madoguchi", ce qui est le cas quasiment partout).
Le Nozomi ne fait gagner qu'une demi-heure sur un trajet de 3 h, il ne mérite pas la différence de prix avec le Hikari. N'oubliez pas que le railpass vous permettra de faire divers trajets en plus des grandes lignes si vous décidez d'une excursion de dernière minute, sans avoir à vous soucier d'acheter un billet (Nara, Arashiyama et Sagano, lac Biwa, voire les bords de la mer intérieure depuis Kyoto; Kamakura, Nikko depuis Tokyo, ...).
Encore une chose: 3 jour à Hiroshima, c'est beaucoup pour ce qu'il y a à y voir et faire ...
Je pensais qu'il fallait réserver longtemps à l'avance compte tenu de la période
mais vous dites quelque chose d'important et je voudrais être sûre de bien comprendre : si nous achetons des jr pass, il peut réserver des places dans nos trains avant notre arrivée sans payer ? parce que ça change tout
Nous pouvons effectivement faire des excursions non prévues et j'ai pensé après coup au ferry de miyajima ou à l'osaka loop line
Nous ne sommes pas non plus obligés de prendre un jr 14 jours
Je vais regarder les sites mentionnés que je ne connais pas : Arashiyama et Sagano, lac Biwa
Nous sommes déjà allés en 2008 à Tokyo, Nikko et Kamakura
Pour les 3j à Hiroshima, j'avais en fait dans l'idée de rayonner autour pour aller à okayama, voir le jardin koraku-en, et à miyajima passer la journée ; nous pouvons également dormir une nuit à okayama puis 2 nuits à hiroshima, ça fait moins d'aller et retour
je voudrais être sûre de bien comprendre : si nous achetons des jr pass, il peut réserver des places dans nos trains avant notre arrivée sans payer ?
Non, vous devez activer votre jrpass une fois au Japon et il faut votre passeport avec le visa touriste tamponné dedans. Le truc, c'est de le faire à l'arrivée, au bureau JR de l'aéroport, en donnant la date d'activation souhaitée (= le jour du départ de Tokyo vers une autre région), ainsi que de réserver le shinkansen pour ce jour-là, ou alors de réserver ensemble avec votre fils durant votre séjour à Tokyo avec lui.
Pour les 3j à Hiroshima, j'avais en fait dans l'idée de rayonner autour pour aller à okayama, voir le jardin koraku-en, et à miyajima passer la journée ; nous pouvons également dormir une nuit à okayama puis 2 nuits à hiroshima, ça fait moins d'aller et retour
Okayama et le Korakuen se visitent sur la journée depuis Kyoto, donc les mains libres, ou au retour de Hiroshima en remontant sur Kyoto. Pour ma part, je trouve que le Korakuen ne vaut pas, et de loin, le jardin de Takamatsu, le Ritsurin. Je vous suggère donc depuis Hiroshima/Miyajima (1 nuit) l'itinéraire Okayama (1/2 journée) --> Takamatsu (1 nuit) --> Kyoto, en ayant fait envoyer vos bagages encombrants de Tokyo directement à Kyoto. Encore une bonne façon de rentabiliser votre JRpass ;-)
Effectivement, pas besoin de s'y prendre très à l'avance pour réserver des billets de train, même pendant la Golden Week. Il y a aura probablement des jours chargés, voire des jours pleins (le premier samedi, sûrement...), mais si tu n'es pas à une demi-journée près, ça te donnera davantage de souplesse de prendre tes billets une fois sur place.
Les billets ne sont pas nominatifs et, avec le JR, tu ne paies rien, mais il faut quand même réserver tes places (il y a en général un wagon sans places réservées, mais c'est bête de payer quand même assez cher et de prendre le risque de voyager debout...). Attention aussi, il y a souvent un wagon fumeur !
Nous partons au Japon du 25 avril au 10 mai 2010. Nous avons prévu de nombreux déplacement en train (Kyoto, Nara, Miyajima, Vallée de Kiso, Takayama, Zanazawa…
Nous en sommes à notre dernière étape d'organisation de voyage au Japon... soit celle de réserver les trains. J'ai fait les recherches grâce à vous via le site…
Nous partons au Japon fin Juillet/Aout (16j). Nous sommes en train d'étudier les différents prix des différents moyens de transport au Japon. J'étais plutôt…
J'aimerais savoir si on doit réserver les trains d'avance pour voyager facilement au Japon. Nous partons le 15 août, donc nous avons encore le temps, mais…
Nous partons pour le Japon dans un peu plus de 15 jours et j'aimerais savoir s'il est indispensable de réserver les trains pour 1° Narita- Gare Ikebukuro…
Je prévois un voyage uniquement en train ou transports en commun sur toute l'Italie au mois d'octobre (en espérant qu'il fasse encore beau !).
J'aimerai voir évidemment certaines destinations touristiques, mais aussi sortir un peu des sentiers battus, et j'espère trouver de l'aide ici ? Je ne compte pas m'éterniser dans les villes.
En partant du Nord, j'aimerai faire le lac de Côme ou d'Orta ; passer par les Cinq Terres pour un peu de randonnée, quelques jours à Naples, à Rome, puis descendre en Sicile.
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!!
Je voulais savoir si il etait possible d'aller de Tashkent à Almaty en train sans passer par le Kirkistan. On m'a dit que la frontière etait souvent fermee 😕 entre ces l'ouzbekistan et le kazakhstan
merci d'avance
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 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
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
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?
Hi everyone,
I’m planning to travel from Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk by train this summer but I’m a bit worried about crossing the borders. How does it work? Could anyone share their experience? (I’ve found quite a few accounts of people going *from* Russia *to* Mongolia, but entering a country is never the same as leaving it—especially in this context!)
Can anyone tell me how to book train tickets online? We're planning to travel from HANOI to HO CHI MINH CITY by train, making several stops along the way. I'd also like to find the schedules and the stations where the trains stop.
There are four of us, and we've already planned stops in HANOI / DONG HOI / HUE.
I’m heading to Japan for the second time with my 20-year-old son. During our first trip, we spent two weeks in Tokyo and Kyoto (plus the surrounding areas).
This time, we’re planning to stay in Tokyo for at least 4-5 days and then head to the island of Naoshima.
I’m looking for suggestions and advice:
Is getting to Naoshima from Tokyo complicated? If so, do you have any recommendations for a stopover somewhere? Given that we’d prefer not to move every day, we’d rather settle in one place and then explore on day trips...
Do you think it’s possible to do something like this:
5 nights in Tokyo (Shinjuku)
3 nights in Kyoto
2 nights in Naoshima (or is one night enough??) and if one night is enough, where could I spend a second night on the way back to Tokyo?
2 nights in Tokyo (I’d love your advice on staying in a different neighborhood—last time we stayed near Ueno Park)—keeping in mind we’re flying out of Narita.
I’m considering maybe skipping Kyoto, which I love but has apparently become *very* touristy...
Not really keen on Osaka... since we’ll already have done Tokyo as our "big city." I’d prefer towns where nature is present... (a bit like Kyoto, which offers all that...)
For info, we’ll be traveling by train.
Thanks in advance for all your suggestions and help!
I have one last little question:
Is cash still widely used in Japan, or not at all anymore?
We’re planning this *very* last-minute—I know! But we’d love to spend 4 days soon (within the next 10–12 days) on a city getaway with our young adult kids. Ideally by train, and for this short trip, we’d prefer not to spend more than 4–6 hours in transit, leaving from Lausanne (Switzerland). We’ve been considering Milan, Strasbourg, or Freiburg im Breisgau, but I’ll admit I’m feeling a bit lost...
Venice was our original plan, but the connection changes in Domodossola or Milan are making the travel time longer this year.
It’s peak summer, so there’ll be tourists and it’ll likely be hot, but oh well...
Any suggestions? We love wandering around, taking photos, exploring cities on foot, trying out restaurants, and keeping things low-key.