Eurail

Basically, there are two types of Eurail Pass: One Country Pass and Global Pass. As you could guess from the names:

• Eurail One Country Pass is only valid in a single country or a small region (like the Benelux pass and Scandinavia pass). It’s the best option if you’re going to travel a lot within a single country.
• Eurail Global Pass is valid in all 33 participating countries, including cross-border trains. It’s the best choice if you’re going to visit multiple countries.

Regarding the validity period there are:

• Flexible pass is valid for a number of days during one or two months. It means that you could use trains, for example, 3 days during a month. Available for both Global and One Country passes.
• Continuous pass is valid continuously during the whole validity period. Available for Global Pass only.

The pass price, like train ticket prices, depends on the traveler's age and class (first or second).
By traveler’s age there are four groups:

• Child, 0-11 years, free of charge.
• Youth, 12-27 years, discounted price.
• Adult, 28-59 years, full price.
• Senior, 60+ years, discounted price.

All passes come into two classes: 1st class and 2nd class.

• The first class offers high comfort, more legroom and more comfortable seats. Overall, the passenger has more space and service available.
• The second class in Europe is very comfortable as well. Most Europeans travel in second class. People are usually more communicative compared to the first class where you will find mainly business travellers.
The main difference is that first class is usually less crowded which is an advantage on popular routes at peak times.

With a first class pass you can also travel in second class. Vice versa, an additional ticket upgrade is required.
If you’re not sure which pass fits best to your journey, place your question in our travel forum. Briefly describe your route and our travel experts match the best pass for you.

Eurail Global Pass prices for 2020:

Pass type	Youth 12-27 years		Adult 28-59 years		Seniors 60+
	2nd class	1st class	2nd class	1st class	2nd class	1st class
4 days within 1 month	€185	€246	€246	€328	€221	€295
5 days within 1 month	€212	€282	€282	€376	€254	€338
7 days within 1 month	€251	€335	€335	€446	€302	€401
10 days within 2 months	€301	€401	€401	€534	€361	€481
15 days within 2 months	€370	€493	€493	€657	€444	€591
15 days continuous	€332	€443	€443	€590	€399	€531
22 days continuous	€389	€518	€518	€690	€466	€621
1 months continuous	€503	€670	€670	€893	€603	€804
2 months continuous	€548	€731	€731	€975	€658	€878
3 months continuous	€677	€902	€902	€1202	€812	€1082

Eurail One Country passes prices varies from country to country. Here is an example for Eurail Italy Pass price 2020:

Pass type	Youth 12-27 years		Adult 28-59 years		Seniors 60+
	2nd class	1st class	2nd class	1st class	2nd class	1st class
3 days in 1 month	€105	€135	€127	€169	€114	€152
4 days in 1 month	€126	€163	€153	€204	€138	€184
5 days in 1 month	€146	€189	€177	€236	€160	€213
6 days in 1 month	€164	€212	€200	€266	€180	€239
5 days in 1 month	€198	€256	€240	€320	€216	€289

To check other One Country Pass prices choose a county from the list below

Austria	Great Britain	Romania
Bulgaria	Hungary	Scandinavia
Croatia	Italy	Serbia
Czech Republic	Ireland	Slovakia
Denmark	Latvia	Slovenia
Estonia	Lithuania	Spain
Finland	North Macedonia	Sweden
France	Norway	Benelux
Greece	Poland	Turkey
Greek Islands	Portugal

In short: you hop on & off different trains which you need to fill in the travel diary attached to your pass. For some trains you have to make a seat reservation online or at the train station before departure.

Let’s take a closer look at Eurailing. An average Eurail trip consists of the following stages:

1. You choose a pass type and buy it online via the official seller. It’s impossible to buy Eurail inside Europe. The pass will be delivered to your home address (only paper tickets are available).
2. You make/buy reservations before your journey. Reservation might be optional or compulsory, free of charge or with an extra fee. Usually regional trains don’t need any reservation, while high-speed and night trains require a reservation. You could check reservation guidelines here.
3. Before your first train trip you have to activate your pass at a railway station - an official will fill in the start and end day of your pass, your passport number and stamp your Eurail pass. New: you can now activate your Eurail pass for free when ordering on the official reseller website.
4. While travelling you fill manually in a travel diary attached to your pass with a pen: before you board a train fill in the departure time, the departure station and your destination station for each train segment! Only then your pass is valid in the eyes of the train staff.

Eurail Pass has to be activated within 11 months upon purchasing date.
You have two options for activation:

• Pre-activate your pass at the purchase via the official reseller. It’s the easiest way, as you avoid queues at the train station and your pass will be ready to use. You have to fill in travel dates and your passport number while placing an order.
• Activate your pass at large train stations in Europe. An official at the train station will fill in the start and the end date of your trip and your passport number. You could choose this option if you’re not sure about your travel dates and buy a pass in advance.

Travel day - is a day when you use any Eurail transport (train/ferry/bus).

One travel day is from 00:01 am until 11:59 pm. You can use as many trains as you want in this time frame.

If you enter a night train in the evening (example at 8:30 pm), fill in the date of your departure day. It counts as only one travel day (the date of departure) even if the arrival is on the next morning.
Example: In the morning you travel from Rome to Venice. You spent the whole day in Venice for sightseeing. In the evening you get in the night train in Venice to Paris. All this is counted as ONE travel day on your pass - with the date of your departure in the morning in Rome.

There are two ways to make Eurail reservations: online or at the train station before departure. We recommend making reservations in advance online: since some trains have a limited number of Eurail seats, the reservation upfront guarantees you a seat.

To make a reservation online:
Let's have a look on the famous Nightjet night train of Austrian State Railways ÖBB. They cover their network Central and Western Europe. To make a reservation for the type of accommodation you prefer in the Nightjet, go to the website of Austrian State Railways. Fill in departure and destination (example Vienna and Rome). Select the option “Seat only (no ticket)”. Under “Who is going?” select “Add discount” with the option “Interrail/Eurail Pass”. In the next step choose the seat type, couchette or sleeper and make the payment. Your Eurail reservation comes per email. Now your Nightjet ticket is booked and you can enjoy the journey overnight.

Reservation price depends on train type. Here is the price range for the most common trains:

Train type	Reservation	Price range
Regionals	Not required or optional	€0-€10
High-speed trains	Optional or required	€5-€40
IC/EC/Eurostar	Optional or required	€3-€38
Night trains	Required	€1-€144

We recommend to buy Eurail Pass on the official website eurail.com.
They offer worldwide delivery and provide the best prices.

Eurail usually offers promotion in the spring and in late autumn. They provide up to 10% discount.
You can buy a Eurail pass up to 11 months in advance.

You can choose between an Eurail Pass and normal train tickets. There are other regional passes, but they are less relevant (Swiss Rail Pass, Balkan Flexi Pass, ...).

What advantages do you have with an Eurail Pass:

• ✅ Flexibility: you can move freely in Europe without having to plan and fix every day of your journey in advance. Follow the sun or join other travellers.
  It's convenient not to have to plan your entire trip to Europe in advance. The longer you travel, the more you would notice how your travel habits change, e.stay at one place longer than planned or travel all day long.
  Eurail takes the pressure off you and makes your trip a pleasant experience.
• ✅ Value for money: Of course, you will always find discounted train tickets. But these are limited and restricted. Do the calculation for your trip and you will soon find out that the cost per day is often lower with Eurail than with normal train tickets. This is especially the case if you travel long distances.
  Best examples are Great Britain and Germany: standard train tickets are very expensive - a train pass will save you a lot of money here.

What you have to consider with an Eurail Pass:
❌ Reservations: some trains require an extra reservation. These are usually high-speed-trains and night trains. In some countries you can travel free with Eurail (e.g. Germany). In others you need a reservation for nearly every train (e.g. Spain).
Often you can easily buy these reservations online - we explain how to do here on rail.cc. Of course, they can also be sold out in high season, so you have to be flexible. But there is almost always a way to avoid these extra reservations and find an alternative route. I promise!

What are the advantages of normal train tickets:
✅ Cheap with fixed travel plans: if your travel time and destinations are fixed well in advance, you can buy cheap discount tickets online from the different railway companies. It usually works quite simple.
In my opinion, this is an interesting option for trips of less than two weeks and a maximum of five trips.

What you need to consider with discounted tickets:
❌ No flexibility: with your discount tickets you are bound to booked dates and times. Since these are usually neither exchangeable nor refundable. This means that you cannot spontaneously change your travel plan.

At the end of the day it is also a question of what type of traveler you are.
Rather the "everything must be planned exactly in advance" type - which is better served with discount train tickets. Or the "comfortable, free and flexible" type for whom the Eurail Pass is the perfect choice because of its simplicity. Just get on a train and start your journey - of course, check with us beforehand for reservations - see above.
Of course, you also have to take a look at the costs and calculate roughly. But if you have time, if you want to be comfortable, if you like it simple and relaxed, choose the Eurail Pass. You will collect unforgettable memories to share with your families and friends over and over again.

Buy Eurail pass or ask a question in our travel forum!