Guide to InterRail passes

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Buying an InterRail pass can be a cost-effective alternative to normal ‘point-to-point’ tickets for European rail journeys.

All InterRail passes are cheaper for people under the age of 26 but even if you’re no longer in the youth bracket they can still save you money.

As well as often being cheaper, InterRail passes can be much easier to book than conventional tickets because prices are fixed (apart from seat reservations which are sometimes compulsory, but we’ll come on to that later).

There are two main types of pass: global passes and one country passes. The one country passes are good for rambling train tours of a single country, but it’s the global passes that we’re going to focus on as they offer the best potential for saving money on international journeys.

Let’s get started…

Types of global pass

There are five types of global pass, and each one is slightly different. The key to understanding which type is suitable for your journey is in the difference between ‘continuous’ passes and ‘flexi’ passes.

Continuous passes let you travel for every single day during the period. The month-long continuous pass is the classic InterRail pass that has been used by thousands of travellers since it was introduced in the 70s. It enables a whole month exploring Europe with minimal restrictions. Alongside the month-long pass, there is now the 15 day continuous pass and the 22 day continuous pass.

‘Flexi’ passes let you travel for a set number of days in a period. The five in ten day pass allows you to travel for any five days within a ten day period, and the ten in twenty-two day pass allow you to travel for any ten days within a twenty-two day period. These passes are more suitable for journeys where you plan to stay in a destination for some time.

Prices

Duration	2^nd Class Youth	2^nd Class Adult	1^st Class Adult	1^st Class senior	2^nd Class senior
15 days continuous	€279	€399	€599	€539	€359
22 days continuous	€309	€469	€704	€633	€422
1 month continuous	€399	€599	€899	€809	€539
5 days within 10 days	€159	€249	€374	€336	€224
10 days within 22 days	€239	€359	€539	€485	€323

Note that the above prices do not include travel within your own country, though an InterRail pass does allow you to get a discount on Eurostar journeys.

Some night-trains and fast Intercity trains will require you to purchase a compulsory reservation before boarding trains so make sure you factor that in when making a purchase. The price of the reservation varies from train to train and between countries but a guide price for a place in a 6-berth couchette is around €25, with higher fares for private berths and luxury cabins etc.

Example journeys

To help make it easier to imagine the types of international train journey that InterRail passes enable, we’ve used our new journey-planning tool to create some example journeys for each type of pass:

For a 10 in 20 day pass have look at this round trip from London to Thessaloniki in Greece. We’ve made Greece the main destination (with a 6 day stop), but have also included 3 days mini breaks in Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade.

For a 5 in 10 day pass take a look at the Spain/France package which includes Barcelona and Valencia, or this ten day mini adventure to Berlin and Prague.

Disclaimer

There are various terms and conditions that apply when you purchase an InterRail pass, and Loco2 does not take any responsibility when you book a pass through one of our partners. We have tried to make the information on this page as accurate as possible but can offer no guarantee for the information provided. Please check the terms and conditions with the company that issues your pass.

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