Interrail/Eurorail Pass - what is it and how do you use it?

This is a post just about the basics of the interrail also known as eurail pass. What it is and how you use it. This based on my experiences I am not an expert on using the pass I a just a pass user sharing my thoughts views and experiences of the pass.

What it is ?

“Interrail is an all-in-one Pass that lets you explore 33 countries by train”. That’s what it says on the official website sounds great sounds easy so what we all waiting for lets go. However hold up its not as easy as that rewind start again. The site is correct its a pass that can be used in 33 countries. However its not as easy as it sounds. I will explain this in more detail below. How it actually works I am only 1/3 of the way through my trip and you wont believe the number of train and transport apps I’ve had to download.

The interrail pass is basically a multi-rail ticket that can be used on most trains in Europe and some buses and ferries.

Types of Passes

There are different types of passes depending on where you live in the world. The interrail pass is for people living in Europe (please note living in Europe you do not need to be in a EU country). Also its where you live thats important not your nationality. You will need to show proof of residency if your passport or citizenship ID is different from your place of residence. Eurorail pass is for those living outside Europe (so basically living in the rest of the world).

You cannot use your pass for travel solely within your country of residence. However, depending on the type of pass you have you may be able to use it to travel through and out of and back into your country of residence. There is only one outward and one inward journey allowed on any pass although it depends on the pass type. Also if you have a pass that you have to count the days then these count as travel days. If you travel through your country of residence at any time even if only in transit it still counts as inward or outward journey.

Different types of passes

There are a number of different Interrail passes. There are passes that are for one country only and ones that are for certain number of days. Then there is the continuous passes for the number of days you have chosen.

First off their are two main types of Interrail pass. A global pass that can be used in 33 countries and a one country pass. This can be used in one country of your choice (but not your country of residence). You can get a pass for one of the 29 countries that participate in the one country pass.

Passes are valid for various time periods depending on the options chosen. The global pass options are 4 days within a month, 5 days within a month, 7 days within a month. Then there are 2 monthly passes where you get 10 or 15 days within a month. Then there are continuous passes where you can travel everyday consecutively for 15 days, 22 days or 1 month, 2 months or 3 months. Prices for adults start at 258 euros for second class for the 4 days within a month and go upto 947 euros for the 3 months pass. Price correct as of February 2023. There a special prices for youths aged 12-27 and children 4-11 as well as those aged 60 and over. First class tickets are also available which gets you extra perks.

The one country pass is valid for one month for the number of days you chose. The price varies depending on the country and number of days the pass is valid for.

How does it work and is everything included in the price?

Well see this is where it gets a bit complicated. When you first read the Interrail website you get the impression that all you need to do is get a pass and jump from one train to the next no hassle no real planning needed just hop on and off as many trains as you like. Well sorry to break this to you all but it isn’t always that simple. Some trains especially high speed ones need you to book a seat on a specific service. The price of a seat booking is not included in the price of the pass.

Reservations are mandatory on night trains and on most services in France, Spain and Italy. However the good news is its still possible to avoid seat reservations. Many trains don’t require reservations. In most places you can get around them by taking slower services or non direct trains. By doing this in Poland I found two excellent places to visit that I had not even considered visiting. Sczezin and Posnan both beautiful cities.

How are seat bookings made and Delivered?

Another issue with seat bookings is how the tickets are delivered. For example some are paper tickets and some are e-tickets. Paper tickets need to either be collected or booked at a station or delivered by post. Not ideal if your travelling.

Furthermore interrail say you need to print out your booking for e-tickets. However ive found that this is not needed. As long as there is a QR code to be scanned you can show it on your phone. Also when buying reservations its often both cheaper and easier not to buy it through interrail . Some seat reservations they say can only be booked as paper tickets. However they can be bought as e-tickets direct from the train company. The Polish railway tickets are like this. Also the interail website is charging 6 euros plus booking fee minimum and only giving a paper ticket option. Well I booked it directly for 1 zloty which around 21 european cents as e-ticket that I show on my phone. The price of a seat booking does vary by service and when you book.

How do you know if you need a seat reservation?

This is where the interail rail planner app comes in very useful. You can use both the app and the website to plan your journey. The planner shows you which journeys are included in the app, if you need a reservation for a particular train and so on. You can select for it to show routes where seat reservations are not required.

However and this is very important the planner information is not live. It shows only scheduled departures as per the timetable when it was added to the app usually a month in advance. This is the reason i have so many apps on my phone so i can check my journey.

Omio is a good app it shows most services and helps plan journeys across europe. Although the other day this app along with several other apps kept telling me there was no trains running to my destination. I unfortunately made a rookie mistake here as I forgot to check this out and was already on my second train of the day. However it turns out google maps and the interrail app where correct and that there was train. Even the DB app was giving me wrong information. It told me I had to walk to another station for the train but I didn’t and it was a DB train I got.

Paper or mobile pass

You can get your pass either as a mobile or digital pass on your phone or a paper pass which you carry around with you. There are pros and cons to both passes. However after hearing several peoples stories about how their mobile pass suddenly stopped working or phone is broken etc I opted for a paper pass. With a mobile pass you have a 11 months to start using it after purchase and don’t have to select a date. Were as with a paper pass you need to give a date when purchasing which will be on the ticket.

Recording journeys

You also have to record every single journey you do if you travel on three trains that day you must write down all three trains. They must be written down as individual journeys for example I travelled from Hamburg in Germany to Sczezin in Poland. I went from Hamburg to Berlin I wrote this down then Berlin to Pasewalk then Pasewalk to Szcezin.

With a paper pass you have the option to put the jourenys either written on the paper pass or in the app. However you cannot change your mind later you must continue to do it in whatever way you chose to do it from your first journey and is noted on your pass. I personally write it on the paper pass in the section provided it just seemed much easier way to do it. When writing it down there is usually not enough space to write a stations full name so its ok to write just London (for any London station), Amsterdam (for any station in Amsterdam) and so on instead of writing London kings cross St pancreas or Amsterdam central.

How the paper pass works

Paper passes come with a cover and on the cover is the cover number you must show both the pass and the cover with the journey recorded on it to any officials who ask to see it along with you passport. There are only 19 spaces on the paper pass but you can print more. For more information on using the paper pass have a look here. You will also find info on how to print out more lines in this section. I highly recommend that you print them out before leaving home and print several just in case. Also its essential that when writing down a journey you do it before you get on the train or soon as possible after even if its only a 2 minute journey if its not written your tickets not valid.

Interail App

The interrail app will be your best friend. Its where if you have a mobile pass your ticket will be stored. It is also where you will look up journeys to see what trains you can travel on and if you will need reservations. Its where if you have chosen this method you will enter all your journeys. This app is great BUT it does have a major flaw. Its designed so that you can check journeys and use it even when you dont have internet which sounds great as nothing worse than you have no internet and therefore no ticket. However this causes another issue which i think actually makes it not very good.

I stated this earlier but I wanted to say it again the app is not live so the trains your are seeing are those that are timetabled to run at this time. They have been added up to a month in advance. What this means is it doesnt tell you if a train is cancelled or delayed. This is far from ideal I’ve worked around this by using other travel apps and so far its working.

In a nutshell

The interrail pass is great if your going to be doing a lot of travel on trains and can save a lot of time and money but if your only doing a couple of journeys you can get some really good deals if you plan in advance direct from trains companies. So do your research.

Based on my travelling and my trip I can highly recommend the pass. However this is based solely on my trip.