Eurail Stories

I’ve spoken to some people who found a Eurail Pass wasn’t the cheap Euro Rail Pass they expected. So, what’s with that?

Firstly, every time we’ve used Eurail Passes, we’ve found them to be amazing value. This time, we’re actually trying to track what we would have spent if we were buying point-to-point tickets. We’ll let you know how it ends up.

The reason a Eurail Pass might cost more than point-to-point tickets is if you are travelling in cheap countries! Italy is much cheaper than Switzerland; Spain is much cheaper than Sweden.

Before you organize your Eurail Pass, you should have a rough idea of where you’re going to travel and when. Use this to your advantage by checking those prices online before you buy. It’s not the most accurate, but Jizdenka does a very good job of accessing international train costs. You can supplement this information with information from the national sites.

Whatever you choose, enjoy your time in Europe

One of the strangest features of the Eurail Pass is that they force everyone over the age of 26 into First Class. This doesn’t appear to be a problem! (Although you may be able to make your journey’s more cheaply by buying second-class point-to-point tickets.)

Here’s our experience of complementary nuts and cookies as we travelled from Bern to Berlin, reaching speeds of around 250km/hour, on an ICE train.

Reservations on Bern-Berlin are recommended but not compulsory if you take this route during the day (I’m not sure about at night). We choose a time we thought wouldn’t be busy and had no problems finding seats. In fact, we had a whole six-seater cabin to ourselves for 90% of the train trip.

On day one of our Euro rail adventure, we headed from Geneva to Thun with Eurail.com

The ride was smooth and beautiful, plus we were met by a friend in Bern and had a great time exploring the local towns, floating down the river towards the parliament buildings, and hanging out with new-found friends at a few parties.

Today we’re in Geneva, Switzerland and we got our Eurail Global Pass tickets!

This is the big unboxing of our Eurail map, Eurail Traveller’s Guide, Eurail Timetable and — of course — Eurail Pass tickets.

From Geneva we’re heading east … check back tomorrow to see where we end up!

The Eurail and the Euro Rail Pass are one and the same. In fact, the Eurorail is actually an informal name for the Eurail Pass.

The name confusion is based around a branding change made to simplify and shorten the name from “Euro Pass”. Even now, years after the change, people still refer to the Eurail Pass as Euro Pass or Euro Rail Pass.

Travel on the Eurail Pass

The Eurail Pass gives you hop-on, hop-off access to most of Europe’s train network. Bookings are more and more necessary in Spain and Italy, which comes with extra costs.

The traditional Eurail pass covers 21 countries, as of 2009: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Other passes, such as the Eurail Selectpass, allow one to select a series of bordering countries. For fare calculation purposes, some regions count as one country: Benelux, Slovenia-Croatia, and Serbia-Montenegro-Bulgaria. The United Kingdom is notably absent, but provides a separate set of passes. Source: Wikipedia

Where can I buy a Eurail Pass?

Eurail Passes are generally only available to people from outside Europe (and some other States). Although you can buy a Eurail pass inside Europe, it’s both easier and cheaper to buy them outside. If you’re already in Europe, consider having them sent to family or friends, then posted to you by courier. In some cases this case save you a chunk of cash!

What about the InterRail pass?

The InterRail pass is a different ticket again. It is only available to residents of Europe.

Eurail or EuroRail

Whether you call it the Eurail, the Euro Train or the EuroRail Pass, you’re sure to have a lot of fun travelling around Europe. Check out more Eurail Stories or information on Euro train passes for inspiration, tips and advice for European train travel.