How to interrail

Interrail is a terrific way to see Europe and is suitable for everyone, from students to professionals, families and retirees.

An Interrail pass can give lots of flexibility to a journey, but mostly, it can help to significantly keep the cost down. 

Which pass?

There are various types of pass:

A ‘global’ pass means you can travel in any of the 33 countries on the Interrail network. A ‘one-country’ pass means your pass is valid in a single country. 

Global passes start with the 4-day pass, meaning you can travel on any four days within a month. This makes it perfect for destinations in our near neighbours: many cities and destinations in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brussels, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark can be reached in one or two days from the UK, so you can get there and back in a combined total of four days. 

A seven-day pass opens up destinations further afield, for example Croatia, Greece, Poland, Sweden and Norway.

Of course, you don’t have to go in a single direction, or travel as far as possible in one go. You might want to use a 7-day pass for slow exploration of a nearby country, using the flexibility to hop on and off trains for multiple day trips. 

There are also 10- and 15-day passes, or continuous passes that offer travel from 15 days in a row to three months in a row. 

Travelling from the UK 

The pass can be used for travel in the UK, as long as you cross into mainland Europe on your first travel day. That can really help to bring down the cost of the UK leg, as you can make your way to London then catch a late Eurostar to Brussels, Paris, Lille or Amsterdam, stay overnight, then make your onward journey the following day.

Buying and using the pass

You can buy a pass at any time, regardless of whether you have travel plans or not. You have 11 months to activate and use the pass. This means, if there's a sale, buy there and then! Then decide later where you want to travel. 

Buy your pass from interrail.eu. You can buy a paper pass, or a digital pass which will be shown via an app on your phone or device. 

If you have chosen a digital pass, you’ll need to download the Rail Planner app in order to use it. You can do everything you need to do from the app: activate the pass, plan your journey, assign travel days and buy seat reservations (more on that below). 

Before you travel, you need to activate your pass (you can do this any time from the date of purchase right up until the date of departure). Use the journey planner in the app to plan your journey, then assign your journey to your pass and activate your travel days. You can activate your travel days whenever you like, but you must do this before you start travelling on that day. If your plans change, you can deactivate a travel day and choose a new one – as long as you haven't already started your journey on that travel day. 

The journey planner will tell you which trains need seat reservations, and which you can board without a reservation. Even if a train doesn’t need a reservation, you still need to assign it to your pass and activate the journey.

Seat reservations

Some trains require seat reservations – typically the high-speed trains. Eurostar reservations are mandatory and cost €32. Reservations on high speed services such as TGV, AVE, Frecciarossa etc cost around €15. 

If you travel on slower trains, there’s no need to make a reservation – these trains are covered in the cost of your pass.

You have to book the seat reservations separately, but it gives you all the details of how to do this in the Rail Planner app. There's guidance on how much seat reservations cost on the interrail website: scroll right to the bottom of this page.

Are ferries included?

Interrail partners with several ferry companies across Europe, meaning you can buy discounted tickets for these ferries, usually 20 or 30%. Find out which ones here.

Children travel for free!

Children aged 4-11 travel for free with Interrail, and you can take up to two children per adult. You still have to ‘buy’ the pass – just select a child pass from the Interrail website, and add it to your basket along with your own.

Before you travel

Make sure you have booked any seat reservations that are required. Activate your pass and your journey days. It’s a good idea to take screenshots or download tickets or reservations to your device, in case you can’t get online for any reason. Bring everything you need for a comfortable journey: snacks, drinks, a book, plugs and charging cables. Relax and enjoy the journey!

Interrail or Eurail?

The UK is geographically still part of Europe (if not politically!) so UK residents can buy an Interrail pass. The Eurail pass is for travellers who don’t live in Europe. 

On-trip support

In case of technical problems, the ‘help’ team on social media is your best bet: more immediate than email, and usually a quick, efficient and helpful way to resolve whatever your issue is.