They also have a web based timetable search on their website, should you not have an iPhone or android. Should you still prefer a printed timetable, Eurail now recommends to buy them since they no longer provide them printed. You can check them here. Thanks Norbert! Five countries… 10 weeks… lots of planning!
That sounds like an amazing trip!! Let me know if you need any additional info or have any question! I have a travel plan…. The train leave Hannover at around My travel date is Apr So which date should I consider on my Global pass?
I am still curious as to when we are travelling that day with a Eurail pass that I will not need to purchase anything unless its a reservation train that travel day? So I can basically find a train route and time hop on it and not have any problems? Thank you for your article!
It really did help a lot. If no reservation is needed, you can just walk in, grab a seat, and just wait for the train conductor to check your pass. Have in mind, though, that now some stations have gates before the platform that only open after scanning your ticket. Hi Norbert, First of all let me put it on record that yours is by far the best blog on Eurail passes.
My congratulations to you. You have done a great service to the entire world of travellers. We are a family of 3 adults travelling to Europe in April I have a few questions:- 1. The transfer time at Zurich main station is 14 minutes for catching another train to Lucerne and it involves moving from platform numbers 6 to 9 with three large suitcases. Will it be possible or not?
Reservation on Eurail. Regarding your questions: 1. As long as it is not a reserved seat, yes, you can just walk in and sit wherever available within your class — 1st or 2nd.
Have in mind, though, that lately some major train station have put some automated gates to access the platforms that open with a valid ticket. In these cases, you should head to an agent so they produce a valid ticket with your passes.
Tough to say, but I think you should be ok. Swiss trains tend to be on time, but delays could happen at any time. I would recommend being ready and standing by the door the moment the train arrives so you can just walk out and change to platform 9. Hmmm, you should be able to book them through trenitalia.
Not sure if the site is glitchy at the moment? Here are some instructions on the Eurail site showing you how to make reservations via trenitalia and even via their app. This is a great guide! The most comprehensive so far. Still, could use some advice. Traveling as 2 adults and 2 kids, both 9, for 2 weeks. I feel like the Europass is the way to go. And could I make reservations now for a trip in late September? Hi Kelly, thanks! So, Eurail now only has two passes, with are the country-specific passes and the global passes.
From the route you mentioned, you will need a global pass — probably a flexipass for either 5 or 7 travel days within a one-month window. Hi, I have a question regarding the eurail global pass. When I buy online 3 days within 1 month it gives me an option to activate the pass.
It needs a starting date though. Is the starting date just the start of the 1 month clock or its considered the first day of the use of the card and I will have 2 more days left? Seems like back then it could be used for the streetcars, buses, subways and ferries basically anything but a taxi.
I was just wondering if that is still the case or even if my memory of me doing that is correct? Not sure if buses are included, but maybe some do. These all depend on the country. Do I go to any kiosk and get them with my Eurail number? Do I have to go to a ticket window and get tickets? Thank you in advance for the help. If you do not need a reservation for that specific train, you just validate the travel day on your pass at the stamp machine at the station, and go straight to the train sit wherever you like.
If you need a reservation, then you must go to a ticket kiosk at the station or purchase it online if available. Then, just head to the appropriate reserved seat. How do you know if you need a reservation or not? You find that out when checking the routes online on the Eurail website or their app. I am currently 27 and looking to purchase my Eurail Pass in the next couple days.
But, I will be 28 by the time I get to Europe. Can I still get a youth pass or will they see my Date of Birth on my passport and wind up charging me full price on all of my train rides? For the 7 PM rule, if I ride a train in the afternoon on Monday and then later that same day take a 7 PM train to a new city that arrives at 12am on Tuesday, does that count as 2 days travel? Does the answer change if the train arrives at 4 am Tuesday?
I believe you should purchase the adult pass as they check your passport and pass when activating the pass. On the 7 pm rule, if your train after 7 pm arrives after midnight but before 4 am of the next day, it still counts as 1 day, with that day being the day you boarded the train Monday.
The original trip was to Germany, but he has also mentioned interest in Scotland, Ireland, and Italy. Could such a trip be done on Eurail Passes in two weeks time with very specific destinations and 3 — 4 days per country?
After the trip my grandson will be going into the military. What tickets would I purchase, etc.? Any help and information would be deeply appreciated! Thank you very much. Hi Rebecca — Apologies on the delayed reply. You can easily spend two weeks just in Germany and Italy which seems to be the easiest option. It also depends on how many cities you wish to visit. You can spend two to three days per major city in each country.
Know that the Eurail pass does not work for Ireland. It does work for Scotland, Germany, and Italy, so for that, I recommend a Global Pass with 5 or 7 days of travel within one month.
My recommendation… if it were me planning this trip. Focus on Germany and Italy. That will keep you busy those two weeks and more! Hi Maureen — Thanks for letting me know. The 7 pm rule is no longer in effect. Now, the travel day that counts on overnight trains is the departure date. Great post. We want to go to Switzerland on the last leg of our journey.
My question is … if we used up all 7 days on pass. Can we still book the freebies train tour in Switzerland? Normally, if the transportation benefit is a discount, it does not count as a travel day, so you can use it at any time. If it is for free like a free ferry , then it does count as a travel day. If the benefit is for tours and other stuff not transportation-related, then it does not count as a travel day either. My 1st visit country is Switzerland, can I validate my Italy pass in Switzerland?
I think you may be able to validate both passes in Switzerland. Should you not be able, ask them what is the best option to validate the Italian pass before crossing the border, or, quite probably depending on the train you take , you will change trains right at the border when crossing from Switzerland to Italy, so you can head quickly to a clerk, validate, and hop on the next train. Morning Norbert, Thanks. Afraid that time not permitted for the ticket pass validate.
I did get advise from agent before make any arrangement and hope to they will help. Anyhow, good to known about ur Globotreks! But do you know what train stations in Paris might sell the Eurail pass? Have in mind, though, that it will cost more, so you might want to check the point by point ticket prices to compare them. Hi Very good and useful post. I am planning a trip for more than 3weeks -Italy, Switzerland, France. But how can I puchase and get it as I live in Bangladesh?
I have days only before starting the journey. So I was checking the shipping info on their site to see if things have changed, and they now ship worldwide! Ask the hotel for permission to use their address too, just in case. Hello Norbert. Good tutorial. When boarding non reservation trains do you just hop on and fill out the pass Tony.
Thanks, Tony! That is correct. For non-reservation trains you can just hop on and fill out the pass. Kudos to you for being available in the comment section for over 7 years and counting. Allow me to share my itinerary. I bought the Eurail Global Pass 7 Days in 1 Month and had to strictly follow the plan because of several accommodations and attractions booking. I will be spending 1 day for most of the cities, and travelling the next morning. Is registering an account on Eurail website mandatory?
However, all of the trips except for one says Reservation Optional. What does that mean? Am i guaranteed to board the train even if there are no seats? Do i have to reserve seats if not i will not be allowed on the train no matter if standing spaces are available? I have a huge confusion in this because different website gives different information the agent that i got my ticket from — Klook says that ond of my trips for Second-Class tickets are sold out 6 Is it still safe to say that if seating reservation is necessary, i can do so a day before given that i need to board the train.
This is because i will only be in the destination on the day of arrival and leaving the next morning.
So they are considered regional trains right? What do i need to take note? I owe you this one, Norbet! Hi Wel! Thank you so much. I will be spending 1 day for most of the cities and traveling the next morning. But, all the cities mentioned are impressive. My favorites on that list are Prague and Berlin. Make sure to visit some of the museums in Museum Island in Berlin.
They are world-class. The old town in Prague is beautiful, especially at this time of the year. Just walk around and visit the main square, the castle, Charles Bridge, and the cathedral. I believe you got your pass through a third party? Eurail allows you to activate your pass online when you purchase it, but not sure if your agent did that for you.
Check with them. But, you can activate it at a train station before you hop on the first train. Just go to a ticket booth with your pass for activation. Am I guaranteed to board the train even if there are no seats?
Yes, any train that is reservation optional allows you to board and just stand around if there are no seats. This mostly happens on regional trains.
The reservation, of course, will guarantee a seat. Do I have to reserve seats if not I will not be allowed on the train no matter if standing spaces are available? See if there are train changes along the way so that maybe one train has optional reservations while the other is required.
I have a huge confusion in this because different websites gives different information the agent that I got my ticket from — Klook says that one of my trips for Second-Class tickets are sold out. You can do this on the local website for each train company or right at the station. Regarding fully booked trains… chances are that there are still seats available, but Eurail is only allowed to book up to X amount of seats per train with their passes. This happened to me in France once. I went to the station to reserve my seat, they told me it was full for Eurail passes, but that I could purchase my seat because there were seats available.
In that case, I purchased my seat at the very last minute. This is because I will only be in the destination on the day of arrival and leaving the next morning. Overall, yes. What do I need to take note? No, regional trains stick to their region in their country. Now, border crossings with non-regional trains like the ones requiring reservations are usually a non-issue as the train will usually take you from start to finish for example, from Berlin to Prague without stopping at the border or changing trains.
The Eurail timetable will show you this too. Hi Norbet. Just another question. What happens when you fill out your diary only to decide to get of at a sleepy little town. Using the global pass two month. The next day, then just fill Florence to Milan on the next row. This is why I recommend only filling the info once on the train. You are incredible for putting this together, and continuing to keep it updated and respond to questions!
This has answered many questions for me. I am planning a day trip with my wife and child. We are flying in and out of Paris. Our preliminary itinerary is:. While in Florence, we may take short day trips in that region of northern Italy. The two big train routes will be to and from Florence. I thought I could save some sight-seeing time by taking night trains and sleeping on the train.
But this is where I start to get confused. Do you know where I can find sleeper reservation info? In your article and comments you discussed border crossing. If I am on a train from Milan to Paris with 0 changes, what happens at the border? If I am asleep, does the conductor wake us up to see our passports? And do we have to get off the train at the border?
Or is everything taken care of in Milan when the train departs? While we only have a couple long trains between Paris and Florence, we will like take short day trips 2 hours at the most.
I was thinking of getting a 5 travel day Global Pass. That seems to be the correct option for what we are doing. Can you share your opinion on this? Any other thoughts or ideas you have would be very welcome. I truly appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences with us. This is quite overwhelming and your article already eased my mind so much!
Honestly, in those two cases, I recommend flying specifically for the Metz to Florence part since the hassle is not worth it. The Florence to Paris train may or may not be worth it depending on the cost of flying. There are many budget airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet that do these routes cheaply. You get the most out of the pass by doing several long-distance trips. Regional trains which are the ones typically used for those 2-hour day trips are usually cheap.
One of the places we plan to go is Madrid, and we plan to get there from Lisbon. So the travel journey is Lisbon — Madrid. Is that true? I actually took the Trainhotel from Madrid to Lisbon and I booked it right at the station with my global pass. I booked mine like an hour before departure, but I was just one traveler.
I purchased a Eurail pass for myself I plan to be traveling more frequently , and I am also purchasing Individual tickets for someone else, mainly on DB site for German train travel, but I have a few questions. Sometimes the times are off, same train. My other question is how do I book advanced bus tickets via the Eurail site? If you have any insight on these matters please let me know. Searching Schedules and Fares Booking with a RailPass.
Traveling in a Group of 10 or More? Heads up! If you search for a round-trip ticket, all other tickets will be removed from your cart and will need to be re-added. Are you sure you want to continue?
Use this map to add up approximate pay-as-you-go fares for your itinerary, and compare that cost to the price of a rail pass for the number of days you expect to spend on the train. Fares shown on the map include reservations when required, but they cost extra when using a rail pass.
Dashed lines show ferry routes. While the Trenitalia pass includes the cost of seat reservations, it doesn't cover as many classes of trains as the Eurail option, and its coverage restrictions are confusing.
Few travelers are likely to find the pass to be worth the money, and even fewer will find it worth the time it takes to be absolutely sure. For most trains between most major destinations, yes, you do. You don't necessarily need to make the reservations that far in advance, but if you're traveling with a rail pass, don't assume you can hop on any Italian train with just your pass in hand.
Even with a Eurail pass, you still need to pay a little extra to ride the fastest trains on the main routes connecting Italy's bigger cities. You can buy passholder seat reservations at train stations and major travel agencies, reserving several key trains in one visit. You can also book them through the Trenitalia app look for the rate called "Global Pass," which works for the single-country Italy Eurail Pass, too.
There is no deadline to reserve and no limit to the number of seats allocated to rail-pass holders on the Italian State Railway. You do this at the ticket office, the booking clerk will enter the start date on your pass and rubber stamp it.
Your Eurail pass is then ready to use and the overall pass validity period starts. So if you had a days-inmonths pass, the overall 2 month period would start from that date. Alternatively, if you're absolutely sure of the date when you want your overall pass validity to start, you can specify that date when you buy your pass.
It then arrives pre-validated from that date and there's no need to validate it at a station. Using your pass Continuous type Eurail passes are then valid for unlimited train travel every day through the whole pass validity period.
Flexi type Eurail passes give you a certain number of unlimited travel days during the overall pass validity period, which is usually 2 months starting on the date you validate the pass. If the number of days is, say, 10, there will be 10 empty boxes printed on your Eurail pass. On a day when you decide to use one of those 10 days of unlimited travel, you simply write the date in one of the boxes in ball-point pen.
You now have unlimited train travel from midnight to midnight on that date. You do not have to decide in advance which 10 days these will be, you can decide as you go, simply writing the date in a box each time you want to 'spend' a day of free travel, until all your boxes of free travel are used up.
Tip 1: It's a beginner's mistake, but even if you have a fixed itinerary, don't pre-date all your boxes for the dates you think you'll need them at the beginning of your tour. Unexpected things can happen, once you have written a date in a box, you can't change it. Play safe, write in the dates as you go along. Tip 2: You aren't forced to use your pass for every train trip you want to make. On the other hand, if you bought a 5-day pass and only planned to make 4 longer distance trips, you may as well use the spare 5th day for this day trip.
Unlimited travel means unlimited travel! I'm not sure which part of 'un' people don't understand, the 'u' or the 'n'! You can take as many trains as you like between midnight and midnight that day, 1 train or 20 trains, 10 miles or miles, you can stay on trains all day if you want to.
Though there may be seat reservations or small supplements to pay on certain trains, more about that below. Filling in the travel diary Your pass comes in a cover, and attached to that cover is a blank travel diary. Each time you take a train, you need to record the date, where it's from and where it's to, in black or blue ink - that's in addition to filling in the travel date on the pass itself if it's a Flexi-type pass.
The railways use this as market research, helping them to allocate Eurail revenue between operators. To make it clear, Brussels to Nuremberg with a change in Frankfurt requires two separate entries, Brussels-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Nuremberg.
However, if a conductor found you had made only one entry, Brussels to Nuremberg, they should point it out and maybe ask you to change it but that's all. In theory there's a fine if the conductor finds that you haven't filled it in at all, but in practice most conductors will simply ask you to do so if you haven't. However, there's always the risk that you'll meet a jobsworth, so play safe and fill it in while you're waiting for the train or as soon as you get on.
If you're using a mobile Eurail pass in the Eurail app on your smartphone rather than the classic printed pass, mobile passes are new in September there's no paper travel diary, you just use the Eurail pass app's journey planner to select and add a trip, or you can add one manually. Which trains can you use with a pass? See map of rail network in the Eurail countries. Eurail passes also cover many but not all private operators in Switzerland and a few other countries, as shown in the country by country guide.
Map of rail network in the Eurail countries. You may be given a small timetable booklet with your pass People often think that the trains in the booklet are the only trains you're allowed to take with your Eurail pass. Nonsense, of course not! You're allowed to use any regular scheduled train run by the operators covered by your pass, whether it's in that booklet or not!
Top tip, download the Railplanner App I recommend downloading the Railplanner App for your smartphone from www. This is a great Europe-wide timetable app which you can use to check train times whilst on the move - the timetable works offline, so no data cost issues. Eurail passes don't give free travel on buses, trams or metros in big cities as these are usually run by urban transit authorities, not by the national train operator. Eurail passes don't cover some private train operators For example, passes don't cover the Euskotren narrow-gauge local trains in Spain, the Circumvesuviana railway Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento or the Jungfrau line in Switzerland.
Nor do Eurail passes usually cover the private operators who now compete with the state-owned national train operator on a handful or routes, such as Italo high-speed trains in Italy which compete with the national train operator Trenitalia - as a passholder, you have to use Trenitalia. Again, the country-by-country guide gives details of what is and isn't covered in each country.
The best resource for finding train times anywhere in Europe for use with a Eurail pass? That's the excellent German Railways online timetable at www. It covers data for the national rail operators across almost all of Europe. It doesn't hold data for Italo, FEVE, Euskotren, Regiojet, Leo Express or the Circumvesuviana and so on, only for the main national operators, so as a general rule, any train shown in its database can be used with a Eurail pass, although supplements or special fares must be paid on some trains.
It also helpfully says 'please reserve' on trains which have compulsory reservations. More info. Couchettes, 4-berth : Much more room than 6-berth! Using a pass on overnight trains You need to pay a fee to use a couchette or sleeper with your pass, the fee is usually per bed, not per compartment. Berth fees for passholders are listed for specific routes in the Eurail pass reservation page. If you have a flexi-type pass, an overnight train only uses one day on your pass, the day of departure.
Here is the new rule, :which replaced the old 'After ' rule in January A Eurail flexi pass day normally runs from midnight to midnight. But if you board any overnight train before midnight, and do not change trains after midnight , you only need to use one day on a Flexi pass, the day of departure.
It no longer matters what time your sleeper train leaves on day 1, or what time it arrives on day 2. The date you write on your pass is that of day 1. As normal, you get unlimited travel from midnight to midnight on day 1, so you can use other trains on day 1 before boarding your sleeper, all on the same pass day. You can then continue your journey on that direct overnight train until you get off at your destination on Day 2. The only proviso is that you cannot change trains after midnight, and that both the departure day and arrival day must fall within the overall validity period of the pass.
For example, if you wanted to take the Dacia Express leaving Vienna at 42 on the 1st August and arriving Bucharest at on the 2nd August, you'd enter the date of departure, 1st August, in one of the unlimited travel boxes on your pass, and that then covers the whole of the sleeper train journey, even the part on 2nd August, in this example in the afternoon!
And as you'd have unlimited travel all day on 1st August, it would also cover you for any other journeys you wanted to make on that day, for example a preceding journey from Prague to Vienna to connect with the sleeper.
On the other hand, if you wanted to take an onward train on 2nd August after alighting from the sleeper, that means using up another travel day on your pass, this time dated 2nd August. But even if you don't use any other trains on 2nd August, that day of arrival still needs to fall within the overall validity period of your pass, in other words, if you had a days-inmonth flexi pass the 2nd August must be inside the 1 month period, it cannot be Day 32 just outside it.
Got it? When do you need a reservation? For journeys on local, regional or suburban trains For travel on longer-distance trains between cities, here is my rough - but actually pretty accurate - rule of thumb You can just hop on any train without a reservation, sit in any unreserved empty seat, and show your pass when asked by the conductor - even premier high-speed trains like Germany's superb ICE or Austria's railjet trains. Trains cannot 'sell out'.
Passes retain their 'hop on any train' convenience factor in these countries. Remember that with a flexi type pass, an overnight train only uses one pass day, the date of departure, see the explanation here.
See the country-by-country guide for details of which trains need a reservation, and what these cost. You can make reservations in advance with the agency that sells you your Eurail pass by phone or in some cases online -although they may charge you a booking fee on top - or you can make them when you get to Europe at station ticket offices.
In only a handful of cases, you can make reservations online with no added fees direct with the operator, as explained here. For example, different types of train may serve one route, and only the faster or more comfortable type requires a reservation.
The choice between speed, comfort or avoiding the reservation cost is yours! In other cases trying to dodge the fast train reservation fee is more trouble than it's worth, as it means taking a relay-race of local trains, taking hours longer and involving several changes of train.
Just bite the bullet and pay the fee! To find out if there is a reasonable no-fee alternative, try using the Europe-wide online timetable at www. How can I find out more? You can find out more about Eurail passes at www. This is the site run by the Eurail organisation themselves, who run the Eurail scheme on behalf of participating operators.
For a modest fee, DiscoverByRail. First, a reality check: There isn't a magic website that can do all passholder reservations at cheap prices with no fees all in one place. Different operators use different reservation systems, many operator websites only sell regular tickets not passholder reservations. However, some passholder reservations can indeed be made online, with no added booking fees and simply printed out or collected at the station. I'll list major train services from that country to neighbouring countries and tell you if they can be booked online, and if so where and how.
Making reservations at the station You can make reservations and pay the necessary fees at station ticket offices either in advance or on the day of departure, sometimes up to an hour or two before the train leaves, sometimes right up to departure time.
Just show your rail pass at the ticket window and ask for the reservation. Many European railway staff speak some English, but if you don't speak the language, just write down what you want and show it to the booking clerk. In Italy, you'll find it easier to use the self-service touch-screen ticket machines to make your passholder reservations, it's really easy, see an illustrated step-by-step guide to using these Italian ticket machines.
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