The last time we wrote about traveling by train in Europe with a Eurail Pass was ten years ago, after completing a two-month tour. We've just returned from another two-month trip. This 2024 version reminds us how convenient, enjoyable, and affordable it is to see the world via European railways.
Using Eurail’s Global Pass, in particular, along with the Rail Planner app, this Eurail trip was even easier than it was ten years ago.
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What to Know About Train Travel in Europe
Take a moment to think about train travel in Europe and each of its countries, and you’ll be eager to join in. As a Midwest American girl raised in the land of freight trains only, it’s hard to imagine how integral passenger train systems are to Europeans. Next to river travel, train travel has been serving passengers the longest. Most countries opened their first rail lines in the 1830s or 1840s. Not surprising, train lines closely follow the river corridors.
Given Europe’s population density compared to the United States (though similar in size, all told), the use of trains for hyper-local, regional, national and international travel makes sense. Even on long haul and high speed trains, locals take advantage of their regional stops. When you travel by train, you are traveling with locals and immersing yourself in their everyday practices.
Recent developments have encouraged more high speed train options, more comfortable overnight trains, competitive pricing, and improving customer service. This BBC story, for example, covers relevant issues for European train travelers who have grown to expect similar consumer protections as offered by the airline industry.
The Advantages of Train Travel
- Stations in city center. Little or no need for transfers. We often book hotels within walking distance of stations, or are just a short taxi ride away.
- Stops in smaller markets – those that may not necessarily have a nearby airport.
- Logistics. No need to show up three hours in advance. While some international services may require extra identification, ticket checks, or baggage screening, this is generally accomplished within a half hour of the train’s departure.
- No need for to book so far in advance. More spontaneity. (Although as you read below, it’s good to make seat reservations in advance in some cases.)
- Travel Experience. Comfortable seating, ability to read or work, Wi-Fi generally available. OK to get up and walk about. Some beverage service or some food options. Note, some trains may require advance ordering for food. You can always bring your own food aboard.
- Scenic views and Relaxation. There is no need to do anything when you’re traveling by train. Try not reading or writing or working, and just gaze out the window. Spectacular river and mountain views to snatches of life along the way, expressed in backyard gardens, city playgrounds, agricultural plots.
Eurail Passes
Still, train travel in Europe can be complex, because it involves the distinct systems of each European country. That’s where Eurail Global Passes come in.
When the Eurail Pass was first introduced in 1959, the sole option was unlimited train travel in 13 countries. Today, the Eurail Pass – still valid only for non-European residents – can reach over 30,000 destinations in 33 countries. European travelers can use their version, the Interrail Pass, launched in 1972.
In short, the Eurail network is owned by over 35 European railway and ferry companies.
Factoid: Eurail’s 2023 report showed 13% of passengers are seniors age 60+, 41% are youth (age 12-27), 42% are adults (age 28-59), and 4% are children under 12.
So it’s time to dust off the old memories of train travel. (Admit it, this is recalling your train travel days from a few decades ago, right?) Times have changed. Open your mind and consider this flexible travel option anew. Start by envisioning your mobile pass. Yes, there’s an app for this!
How to Use Your Eurail Pass
Choose Your Pass. Eurail offers One Country Passes and Global Passes. With a One Country Pass, you can dive deep using both regional and high-speed trains, and packages from three to eight travel days within a month.
Most flexible are Eurail’s Global Passes for travel in two or more countries. You can select “Flexi Passes” for four to seven travel days in a month, or ten to fifteen travel days in two months. We used a First Class Global Pass for ten travel days within two months.
[If you’re interested in reenacting your youth and want a fast-paced trip to really cover a lot of ground, Eurail offers Global Passes for continuous days of travel or unlimited travel within one, two or three months. For our purposes, this was neither realistic nor economical.]
Download the Rail Planner App. Yes you want the app. It will make planning, booking, and traveling with Eurail much simpler, and your ticketing easy. FYI, I did run across a paper pass option while diving into the Eurail website, no one reading this will want that.
Add your pass to the app. Just follow the link provided to you in a confirmation email. You’ll only need to enter your last name and the pass number (also provided in the confirmation email.
Create a new trip. Or choose a trip you’ve already created.
Activate your pass. If you have more than one pass on your device, be sure to create a separate trip for each pass. To make that easy, you can duplicate an existing trip and connect another pass.
Start Date. You don’t have to decide this in advance. You can start your travels any time up to 11 months after your Pass purchase date. Not sure when you're starting your trip? Don't worry; you can come back to this step later. You can activate your Pass up until the day you start traveling.
Create your travel day ticket. Use the app's Planner by selecting your departure and arrival cities and your preferred trains/times. Scroll the the options and save your selection to My Trip. (You can save as many as you like if you are still debating options.) When you are ready, from My Trip add your journey to the pass by selecting “Use a Travel Day”.
Board the train!
Go to My Pass and tap Show Ticket. to display your Ticket’s QR code. This is what the conductor will scan. Easy!
Traveling with others? Your passes can be on one device or on separate devices. (But once it’s activated, it can’t be moved to a different device.)
What to know about Seat Reservations
Regarding seat reservations, let's begin with a direct quote form the Eurail website: “A Eurail Pass is an all-in-one rail Pass giving you flexible access to most trains across Europe. Unlike traditional train tickets, with Eurail, you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. Some trains do ask you to make a reservation, but most trains can be boarded as easily as using one of your travel days. Did you miss your train or change your travel plans? No problem – hop on board the next service and enjoy the ride.”
As you plan your journey’s, the app will advise you as to which trains require or recommend seat reservations. You can assume high speed trains and busier Western Europe countries will require seat reservations, as will night trains. As we traveled primarily in Eastern Europe and off-peak season, it was rare that we needed seat reservations. In fact, sometimes when the app suggested reservations, the ticket agents told us it wasn’t available or certainly not needed.
This is one of our favorite aspects of the Eurail Pass. Besides the flexibility for the overall itinerary planning, even changes mid-day are a snap. Just board the train you want without having to deal with the queue at the ticket counter. If you miss a train, get on another.
Only one time did we find our selected train was sold out, and that was a busy route (Strasbourg to Paris) at a busy season (the opening weekend of Christmas markets). Using our method of planning the next leg when we arrive at a station, we learned this three days in advance and simply selected an earlier train. In fact, we had already saved the alternate time in ‘My Trip' on the app, just in case.
Tips and considerations
First Travel Day. In advance of your first trip to the train station, activate your pass. (This is a one-time event.) You’ll need to be online and enter your passport number and name and email associated with the pass. This is easier from your hotel than in the middle of a busy station.
Big picture planning. Trying to figure out where to go by train? We referred to the Eurail Railway Map with a zoomed in view on our laptops to help us get a sense of direction and overall itinerary.
Agents can help! On one of our journeys, for example, we could only see tricky connections and routes with two or three changes. A very helpful agent searched a bit and found us the best route. Then we were able to hop on each leg of that trip without seat reservations.
First class pass? Even without seat reservations, you qualify for seats in the first class carriage.
Remain flexible. Our happy place – between rigid itineraries and no plans at all – led us to a simple, flexible routine: When we arrived at our destination, before leaving the station, we’d go to the ticket agent and check on seat reservations for our next travel day, which would be perhaps three to five days hence. Works like a charm.
Current reports on disruptions. Use the app to check on each country's notices of ongoing strikes or disrupted travel. Rail network guides by country (under “More” on the app) also provide useful overviews of station and train services, participating rail lines, reservation policies, and passenger services.
Watch the station boards. The boards provide real-time information, like cancellations, delays, platform changes. The better-equipped stations will have boards that also show the train direction and the order of cars so that you can position yourself appropriately on the platform for boarding.
Pack light for easy boarding and transfers. Not all stations have escalators or convenient elevators for changing from one platform to another. It wasn't unusual for us to do several flights of stairs with our bags on travel days, usually navigating through corridors under the tracks. You'll want to be prepared for other scenarios, too, that may result in your walking to a bus station or a platform that is inexplicably a quarter mile away. Depending on the terrain and the setting, we're not averse to walking 15 minutes or so to a hotel, too.
Once on the train, you will stow your larger bag in the luggage racks at one end of the coach, and keep your personal item with you. Overhead bins will accommodate backpacks and smaller bags, but do you have the strength (and height) to hoist them up? I usually keep my personal item at my feet.
For more on packing light, check out our companion posts, The Ultra Light Packing List for Women and the Ultra Light Packing List for Men. These will tell you how we packed for the recent Eurail excursion around Europe.
Keep your pass and passport handy for inspections. Usually the conductor will check your tickets (and only rarely your identification) soon after you've boarded and left the station.
Ready to plan your itinerary?
This is the fun part. We're experts at finding an itinerary, then changing our minds. We tend to keep Plan A and Plan B in mind and postpone the decisions until we see how we feel.
Check the Eurail planning maps to discover the Global network available to you, focusing on the main routes. Other maps will show you travel times in hours, participating ferry lines, and overviews of where seat reservations may be compulsory.
For some enjoyable dreaming and trip planning, review Eurail’s suggested itineraries for both popular regions, scenic routes, seasonal recommendations, ancient history tours, and itineraries by country to inform your bigger plans.
Example Itineraries
Just for fun, we're sharing our two 2-month Eurail Global Pass routes. I think it's safe to say we changed course midstream both times! Follow the links to read stories we've published on these destinations.
2014 Eurail Trip
Being impressed by the relationship the trains and towns had to Europe's rivers, I kept the river names in my notes.
Paris, France; Nov. 9-12, 14-17; Seine
Caen, France; Nov. 12-14; Orne
Strasbourg, France; Nov. 17-20; Rhine
Colmar, France; Nov. 20-23; Lauch, tributary to the Ill; also Rhine via canal
Bern, Switzerland; Nov. 23- 25; Aare
Montreux, Switzerland; Nov. 25- 26; Lake Geneva
Zermatt, Switzerland; Nov. 26-27; Vispa
Chur, Switzerland; Nov. 27-28; Rhine
Verona, Italy; Nov. 28-Dec. 1; Adige
Trieste, Italy; Dec. 1-4; Gulf of Trieste/Adriatic
Ljubljana, Slovenia; Dec. 4-8; Ljubljana
(daytrip to Idrija; Idrija River)
Venice, Italy; Dec. 8-11; Venice Lagoon/Adriatic
Milan, Italy; Dec. 11-13; Canals.
Florence, Italy; Dec. 13-27; Arno
2024 Eurail Trip
Rome, Italy; Oct 18-24
Florence, Italy; Oct 24-29
Venice, Italy; Oct 29-Nov 1
Padua, Italy; Nov 1-5
Ljubljana, Slovenia; Nov 5-8
Zagreb, Croatia; Nov 8-13
Graz, Austria; Nov 13-16
Bratislava, Slovakia; Nov 16-19
Salzburg, Austria; Nov 19-24
Nuremburg, Germany; Nov 24-28
Strasbourg, France; Nov 28-Dec 1
Paris CDG; Dec 1-2
Summary: What to love about train travel with Eurail's Global Pass
We're not saying you can't plan your Eurail Global Pass itinerary in detail, day by day. But for us, the flexibility to plan as we go is tantamount.That way, if we choose to stay longer in one city (maybe to catch that rare exhibition or performance), we can do so without any hassles or penalties for ticket changes.
Given the vast network of rail lines, we also love that our European train travel has taken us to some more ‘out-of-the-way' places. It's not that the smaller towns we visited are isolated, but they are not served by nearby airports and therefore not on many tourist itineraries. Graz, Austria, for example, is a lovely and interesting city (the second largest in Austria) and fairly devoid of American visitors.
Yes, we like the value of the Global Pass. Choosing the number of travel days over a period of time adds a framework to your ticketing and also saves you money (and the time ticketing each leg at the ticket office). The differential for First Class, in our opinion, is well worth it for a more roomy ride.
Let's face it, the scenic train routes are an experience in themselves, and a bit romantic at that. In 2014 we focused on Switzerland for its scenic routes. In 2024, we soaked up the views in beautiful Slovenia and Austria.
Travel days themselves, when using the Eurail Pass, don't need to be a complete waste of time. OUr average train travel day was about four hours enroute, and very little time getting to and out of the stations. And because the travel is generally city-center to city center, we could check into our hotel and still have a half day of site seeing. (Hint, start at the tourist office.)
And finally, we like that train travel is more eco-friendly than flying. That counts!
Feel free to reply here or contact us with your comments or questions, and do consider making your next European adventure a train trip with Eurail.
P.S. Because we're often asked about train travel in Spain (it's excellent), we'll offer this bonus: an informative video about the trains, terrain, and population distribution in Spain, “Why 70% of Spain is Empty.” Enjoy the great scenic photography. (15 minutes)