Interrailing in Europe: A Beginner's Guide for UK Travellers
Interrailing has been a rite of passage for British travellers for decades, and the modern version is both easier and more fiddly than the postcard suggests. Easier, because a mobile pass lives on your phone and timetables are free. Fiddlier, because most fast trains now need a reservation on top of your pass, and those sell out in summer.
Get the basics right and a rail trip across Europe is one of the best-value, lowest-stress ways to travel. Get them wrong and you'll spend your evenings in ticket queues. Here's what actually matters.
How the pass system works
Interrail is for people who live in Europe, which includes the UK. Eurail is the version for everyone else, so ignore it. You buy a pass covering either one country or a set of countries, and it comes in two flavours:
- Continuous — unlimited travel for a fixed number of days, usually one or two weeks or a month.
- Flexi — a set number of travel days (say five or ten) to use within a longer window.
A travel day runs from midnight to midnight and you can take as many trains as you like within it. On a flexi pass, you activate each day in the app before you board.
What almost everyone underestimates is how much a pass does not cover. It covers the fare. It doesn't always cover your seat.
Which pass should you buy?
The Global Pass covers 33 countries and is the obvious choice for a multi-country trip. A One Country Pass makes sense if you're spending a fortnight in Italy or France and moving every few days.
Before you buy, count the days you'll genuinely be travelling. Most people overestimate. On a three-week trip you might only move ten or twelve times, because the good bits of a city take days, not hours. Buy a pass with spare days rather than paying for days you'll never use.
There are discounts for under-28s and over-60s, and young children usually travel free with an adult. Age bands and eligibility change, so check the official Interrail site before ordering.
One honest caveat: a pass isn't automatically the cheapest option. In Germany, regional day tickets can beat a travel day for short hops. If your trip is mostly one country with a couple of long journeys, price the point-to-point tickets before committing.
Routes that work well for a first trip
Don't try to see everything. Pick a direction and move slowly.
The classic western loop
London to Paris on Eurostar (pass holders get a discounted fare, but you must book it), then Paris – Amsterdam – Berlin – Prague – Vienna – Budapest. Fast, well connected, and easy to trim if you fall behind. Berlin to Prague is a comfortable daytime run along the Elbe, and Budapest gives you a natural finish.
Central and eastern Europe
Berlin – Prague – Vienna – Budapest – Kraków – Wrocław – back to Berlin. Fewer compulsory reservations, cheaper beds and food, and far more room on the trains. For a first Interrail trip on a modest budget, this is where I'd point most people.
Northern Europe
Copenhagen – Stockholm – Oslo – Bergen is stunning and expensive. Book beds and seats well ahead, and accept that Norway will eat your budget faster than anywhere else.
Seat reservations: where they actually bite
This is the part that catches people out. On many fast trains, your pass only gets you on board if you also hold a reservation, and the allocation set aside for pass holders is limited.
- Almost always required: France's TGV and Intercités, Italy's Frecciarossa and Intercity, Spain's long-distance and AVE services, Eurostar, and most international high-speed routes.
- Usually required or strongly advised: night trains, most Scandinavian long-distance services, and anything crossing a border at speed.
- Not required: regional trains, most German ICE services, and plenty of local lines.
Fees vary widely — nothing at all on regional trains, a modest supplement on many high-speed routes, and considerably more for a couchette or sleeper. Book night trains first, weeks or even months ahead in peak summer. If a train is full, look for a regional alternative: slower, but no reservation and no fee.
A useful rule on overnight services: if you board a direct night train after 19:00 and stay on it, it uses one travel day. Read the current conditions, because the detail matters.
Budgeting for a first Interrail trip
Build your budget in layers rather than guessing a daily figure.
- The pass itself — your biggest single cost, and the one to research first.
- Reservations — small individually, but they add up over a month of fast trains.
- Eurostar — a separate pass-holder fare each way.
- Beds — dorms in central and eastern Europe cost far less than in the UK; Scandinavia and Switzerland far more. Hostels next to the main station are rarely the cheapest.
- Food — supermarket breakfasts and one proper meal a day will roughly halve a restaurant-heavy budget.
- City transport — a few pounds a day, more in Paris and Amsterdam.
Keep a small contingency. Delays happen, and a missed connection sometimes means a hotel rather than a platform bench.
Before you go: a short checklist
- Check your passport's validity and the current Schengen entry rules on GOV.UK. UK visitors are bound by the 90-days-in-180 limit, so a long trip needs planning.
- Sort travel insurance and a UK Global Health Insurance Card. It covers some state healthcare, not everything, and not repatriation.