INTERRAIL GUIDE 🚂 || How it works and is it worth it? 

Ah thank you so much :) Your comment literally made my day - I only hope to have the same sense of adventure when I reach the wise age of 70. If you have any questions about your upcoming Interrail trip please drop us a message anytime. All the best on your amazing adventure and we can't wait to hear more about it

So glad you found it useful. We were pretty stressed before our first Interrail trip too but just remember to enjoy it - it's going to be one amazing adventure ;)

Thank you so much! I can waffle on a bit so glad it was simple enough to understand :) If you have any questions just let me know!

Thanks! Really wanted to make sure the video was useful for people so put in as much info as we could possibly fit, hopefully it wasn't too much. If you ever have any questions just fire away!

Really appreciate it :)

Glad it was helpful! We were also confused at the beginning but having travelled with Interrail a few times now, we think we’ve got it 😅

thanks so much!

thank you, it was all a bit confusing/daunting when we started our first Interrail trip so we wanted to make a video we would have liked to watch back then.

Ah thank you so much - hope the info was easy enough to digest 😅

ah so excited for you! Any ideas where you're going to go? or still planning?

Amazing! Highly recommend doing it, I promise it'll be a trip you'll remember for life! Don't forget to take advantage of the youth discount 25% off when you do book. They also run an amazing initiative called DiscoverEU where twice a year people aged 18 can apply for a pass (not sure how it's selected though)

Hey so sorry we're getting back to you late on this one. Whether you can make the most of he Interrail pass will probably largely depend on which pass you get and how many days of travelling you're going to do. I'm going to assume you're suggesting you might not want to move around too frequently over a short space of time or that you want to explore certain places for longer. In that case you should look at the Interrail passes which provide a certain number of travel days over a period of time e.g.7 travel days in one month. This means you can take as many trains as you like each of those 7 days so you can still cover lots of ground and space these travel days out. Hope that helps!

Really glad to hear! Are you planning on doing an Interrail?

Really appreciate it!

Glad it was helpful!

So happy to hear the video was helpful! Hope you have the best time on your trip!

super appreciate the kind words! If you have any questions just fire away!

@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose thanks for reply bro, i got so many ill keep it short im planning to go europe in a months time first time ever and im 50/50 in eurail pass u think its worth getting as im hoping to cover 15-20 countries over 6 weeks i just hope its easy to use and reliable if you got any advice would appreciate it bro

Glad it was helpful!

Ah thanks so much! Took a little bit of a break as we recently got a puppy. But hoping to record the episode very soon!

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks, glad it was easy to understand!

Haha not at all, just humbled people are willing to listen to anything I have to say! We've been lucky to have 7 years of travel under our belt but we remember taking the first steps of traveling and how scary/overwhelming things were. Thankfully we have the internet and you can find all sorts of useful information (happy that some found this video and found it useful too). p.s thanks, my trade is in photography but still very much learning the ropes when it comes to videography

thanks so much! Have you gone on your trip yet?

What is the difference 😅

how and where did u get thatt??

Same, 3 month continuous pass (woofing to Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria et France) ☺️

No worries, hopefully it'll be helpful for your own trip. Any ideas which countries you want to visit? Wow that's an incredible deal!

@@kannyvalley9176 it was like a 50th anniversary or something. The offer was on the website

Happy you found it useful :)

no worries, it confused as at first too! Not sure if there's a better way to name it though

no problem!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much!

no worries! Uploading the third episode of the Interrail Guide as I'm typing this!

That’s actually an amazing tip. Saves you that relatively expensive trip to London before you are able activate the travel pass 👍 downside is probably the luggage restrictions if you’re travelling with large luggage as going by train you won’t have restrictions. Having said that, you probably shouldn’t travel with too much luggage anyway if you’re doing an interrail trip so should be good! Thanks for the tip!

no problem! Glad it was helpful, be sure to check out the other episodes coming soon

Hey, thanks so much for the kind words :) You can do this before you travel or right before you board your train. There's really no difference as long as it's swiped before you board. If you need a seat you have to reserve ahead of time which usually requires a booking fee. The qr code is just so you can board. Hope that helps

Really appreciate the love!

Thanks, the snowy region you see from the train is in Switzerland - not exactly sure where because we took the Glacier Express from Zermatt all the way to St Moritz and saw endless beautiful views

thank you!

When you missed a regular train (without a reservation), you can go on the next one for free ofcourse. But with a reservation one it is difficult. Then you usually can't go for free on the next train, go to a ticket office and say your situation, that's the best option (maybe you can and fix something) The best thing to do for a reservated train is to be on time ofcourse to prevent those things, but it can always happen ofcourse. You can get an compensation from interrail when: In the event that a Pass holder experiences during the period of validity of the Pass, three or more train delays that are longer than 60 minutes each (two or more delays in case of a One Country Pass), he/she has the right to apply for compensation from the Eurail Group G.I.E. for the sustained delay. For further information and for details on the procedure for compensation, please refer to www.eurail.com/en/help/delay-compensation (You can find this rule on rail.cc/interrail-rules)

@@the_orbital Thank you! I was referring to trains without seat reservation. So if we miss them we can add the next one to the app and just hop on it?

@@ritaspencerabreu4775 Yes that’s correct! If you add the next one into your app (what you said) or wright it down on the paper version, you can jump on the next train! Tip: if you missed the last train because the train that you rode was delated, you can get a free hotel/taxi/empty train (some operators do that) to your destination. Go then to someone that works for the operator and you can maybe get an free hotel there! This are the rules for some operators, maybe even all (check for that the website of the operator). But np!

Couldn't have answered any better!

@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose Thanks 😊

Hey, you can't use the pass within your home country so unfortunately the journey to London from your hometown is not included

We originally looked into this as a way to be more environmentally conscious when travelling short haul but it’s also a great option if you hate flying too!

4G signal was great through some countries such as Germany and France but not so good in others such as Slovenia. We were uploading content on social media during train rides so should be good enough to get some work done. Also, some trains include Wi-Fi and charging points

Appreciate the love! Nice, we did take one Frecciarossa train from Venice to Milan and we were able to sit in 1st class with our pass. According to Trainline Executive level is 1st class so you shouldn't have any problems - although you'll likely need to make a reservation

You might need to show some ID just so they can match your name with your Interrail pass but ye nothing else. It's all done through the mobile pass on your app. You can even scan the barcode when you're going through ticket gates. Haha right?! We were blown away by how easy it all was. The trickiest bit is really deciding where you want to go!

Hey sorry we're getting back to you late, we've been away travelling. The date you purchase your pass is not the same as the activation date of your pass so you can activate the day of your travels (so no wastage of travel days)

Thanks so much! We did our reservations on one account as we added each other as travel companions. When you do this you need to create a "Trip" together which allowed us to reserve in one go.

Yes if you take lots of trains then it's definitely worth getting an Interrail Pass!

Hey, so your pass does cover your trip out of UK but you still need to make a reservation prior to boarding the Eurostar. It's mentioned on Eurostar's own website www.eurostar.com/uk-en/deals/interrail

Thanks so much and wow, exciting times! In terms of the best pass, it'll depend how many trains you're thinking of taking. If you see yourself visiting a new place every 2-3 days then the continuous pass is awesome. But if you want to visit a few locations for longer periods then you'll likely save yourself some money by selecting the no. of travel days. If you want the most flexibility when you travel then go for the continous pass.

Sorry we're getting back to you late. We've been away in Japan for the last few months so haven't been on RU-vid for a little while. I'm sure you've figured out now but in case anyone else needs the info, you. can use your Global pass to take SBB trains within Switzerland, but just check which trains are included with your pass. The easiest way is to use the app

@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose ha ha yes, i travelled with the interrail pass. Thanks for getting back anyways your video was however helpful. Cheers

You can choose any 7 travel days throughout a period of one month. That month starts on your first travel day 🙂

Alexander did a great job of explaining! If you have other questions just fire them away!

Hey sorry for the late reply. Been travelling around Japan for the last 3 months so completely forgot to check RU-vid and comments. As long as it’s within 30 days then that’s fine. We started our pass at the end of the first week and finished the following month (also at the end of the first week)

Hey, thanks so much! That's awesome, very excited for you. We've been on two Interrail trips and have yet to come across a single train which wasn't correct from the app. You might find some of the train codes (e.g. ICE 1156) may be different because it has combined with another train but it should still go through the same stations. Ye if the app says there are trains you can take that don't require reservation then it should definitely be possible. I would grab the train codes listed on the app > google the code to find the train company that runs it and then find the date/time of the train you want to take on their site. If it's on there then you know that train exists. You can definitely ask train offices for help. We ran into an issue when we were at Ljubljana as we missed our train due to it being a replacement bus. But the ticket office were super helpful in checking what trains we could still take to get to our destination. It can all feel quite overwhelming but note down all the bits of info you find on a doc or spreadsheet so that you have it on hand if you need it while out travelling!

@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose thank you so much! Really helpful :) Do you know if passenger locator forms or proof of vaccinations or anything relating to Covid is required when boarding trains?

@@elliejane4372 so almost all trains didn't require us to show vaccinations or passenger locator forms while we were travelling around Europe. The only one we remember is going from London to Paris. We mostly only needed to show vaccinations and passenger locator forms to the hotels/hostels we stayed at. But it's always good to have these certificates screenshot and saved on your phone so that you can quickly show it should you need to

Exciting times! So when you get your pass you get one outbound train from your home country (when you start your trip), and one inbound train to your home country (the end of your trip). So for example, if your home country is Spain, you have one train out to start your trip and one train back into Spain when you finish. Hope this makes sense. And super appreciate the sub!

Hey thanks and appreciate the feedback. We have a second episode of our Interrail guide which goes into more of the planning of the trip. You can find it using this link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g6JZTc8vbtg.html In that video we recommend using the Interrail interactive map on their website. With that you get a good estimate of how many travel days you'll probably need to purchase for you ideal trip. Please note, this is very much an estimate. To get real idea of how many travel days you'll need, you'll want to use the Interrail "Planner" mobile app which you can search for specific train journeys and it'll give you exactly how long each train will take. In regards to travel days - these are the no. of days you'll be taking the train. So if it takes you two days to get from Rome to Vienna (whether it be on one train or multiple trains) that will count as two days of travel. If it takes you one day to get from Rome to Vienna (again doesn't matter how many trains it takes) then it counts as one. Unfortunately, many of the high speed line's reservation fees aren't covered but there are exceptions. Again, if you use the Interrail Planner app you'll be able to see which train requires reservations as there's an R symbol next to each train. Within the app you can select an option which gives you non-reservation options instead, you'll be surprised how sometimes the high speed lines aren't always actually that much quicker (obviously depends where and how far you're going). We totally get how it can be all quite confusing and daunting as there just seems like there's endless options for you to choose from but that's also what makes Interrail very exciting. If you follow along the second video it might help you plan out an ideal trip and then you'll be able to get a good idea of whether Interrail is worth it for you. Hope this helps but if there's anything else just drop us a comment/message anytime :)

​@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose hello! there are many rumours on the transfer trains, for example i will be hopping on the istanbul-sofia train at 10 pm and we have a transfer at 3 am on plovdiv. does it take only one days of my count or 2 days? i need to know desperately this may led me to find alternative routes.🤠 thank you incase!

Hey, no problem! I recommend checking your country’s travel advisory to confirm but on the EU website it mentions EU citizens can use their EU ID instead of passport (europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/eu-citizen/indexamp_en.htm)

Hey sorry for the late reply, unfortunately you can't use your interrail pass from Bristol to London that's within your home country. You only get one out and in train from your home country so in your case it would London to Paris and then Paris to London. p.s unless you're thinking of exploring France/Paris, then we'd recommend taking the Eurostar to either Brussels or Amsterdam as most trains within France require reservation fees so you can save some money by doing so

Your pass starts from the date you set it to. You don’t have to set this immediately after purchasing your pass, you can do this later.

You don't have to travel for your pass to be valid, but it would be a wasted day of your pass if you don't use it. With this in mind you probably want to work out how many days of travel (days you will use trains) and work out whether it's worth saving money over a pass that let's you be more flexible and travel any amount of days within a timeframe. Hope this makes sense. Please note you can often make use of trains even if you're not travelling out of the country. For example, we used the trains quite a lot while travelling around Cinque Terre in Italy so it might be worth including days within a country as a travel date. Let us know if you have any other questions :)

Hey, we unfortunately didn't travel to Athens or Budapest with our Interrail pass so we there's not many tips we can offer. Hopefully someone else will be able to jump in and help

Trains that require seat reservations will say. Some say optional, for those you won’t need to but if full you might not be able to board (we’ve yet to experience this though)

Hey, glad it was helpful! Oh wow, that's quite a fair few trips to Europe! You need to go to their website to purchase the pass - once purchased you can download the app and link your pass to the app (if you want a digital pass). You can also choose to get a printed pass if you would like (we prefer digital though). How exciting! You don't have to notify Interrail about your individual/separate travel e.g you travel to France using your Interrail pass but then you go into Germany by car you can still continue to use your pass in Germany (no need to notify them that you used some other kind of transport). You might benefit from choosing a number of travel days within a month e.g. 15 days within a month. This would be cheaper than getting a month travel pass. Hope that makes sense and if you have any other questions just let us know!

Hey, no a train ride does not count as a day of travel it just means that day is counted as a day of travel. For example, if you took 7 trains in one day then that would be one day of travel. If you took one train every day for 7 days then that would be 7 days of travel. Hopefully this hasn't confused you!

Hey, you have one outward and inward train journey from your departing country. So if you're setting off from the UK then you have one train leaving (london to paris) and then one train back (paris to london/ brussels to london). You can take more than one train a day. You can take as many as you like inside one travel day. When you say sleep on them, I'm assuming you mean night trains. Yes most trains are included, including night trains, but this does not necessarily mean you get a bed/private cabin on that train. This might be an additional cost depending on the train service. Interrail have a page (www.eurail.com/en/plan-your-trip/trip-ideas/trains-europe/night-trains) that provides additional info on night trains. Hope this helps

Something similar might be TrainPal. It’s a new app honestly but I found it useful when booking train tickets!!

Unfortunately there isn't a straight answer as to why it is unavailable but we were advised that it is likely due to it being sold out (note even if the train operator lists tickets as still available there is a limit on the number of tickets they allocate for Interrail passes - they do sometimes release more closer to the date but as you mentioned it's a risk and not one we'd recommend waiting for). Without the reservation your pass doesn't cover the train - this might be different for certain countries/train companies. I recommend using the rail planner app and finding an alternative route/train - there's a filter option you can use to find regional trains (these might be slower). Alternatively find different places altogether and see if you can re-route your itinerary. We actually had the same situation for our Paris to London train. So instead we diverted up to Amsterdam to get the train back to London. Play around with the different cities to see if there is another option. Hope that helps a little

Not 100% sure we understand but if you mean starting from Germany and then using it to go to France then that’s fine. You can also start and stop in different places too

I'm also going to interrail with my boyfriend in April and May for 26 days. We budgeted 1000 euros per person but I think it will be less.

@@ritaspencerabreu4775 oh wow 1000 euros! How many countries are you traveling to? We are seeing at least 6 countries so we thought 2000 euros was not enough, actually. Do you have any tips?

We went with 1st class too, although not every train has 1st class (or some require reservation even though you have a 1st class pass) - most trains you can sit in 1st class. In our experience, it's much easier to find a seat in 1st class vs 2nd class and there's usually charging ports which is great to get your electronics charged up on your commute. If budget allows we would recommend 1st class. Our budget worked out to be roughly €2,500 for the month for both of us. We almost always tried to avoid seat reservation trains (there's an option in the app which allows you to filter trains that don't require reservation), note that these trains are often much longer (not always though). But because we had to travel through France (we were travelling from the UK) some of these reservation trains were unavoidable. It's difficult for us to really know if your budget will be enough as it will depend on the countries you're visiting - Switzerland for example will cost a lot more per day vs Slovenia, activities you're hoping to do and the type of accommodations you're looking to stay in. But your budget looks about right.

@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose thanks! But was 2500 euros enough for both of you, or had you saved up for 2500 each?

​@@victoriadahlgren7480 2500 euros total for the both of us

Hey, glad you liked the video! It probably will be a problem as you won't be the age group when you do go to travel (sometimes your passport will be checked alongside your pass). I would contact Interrail's customer service just to double check though. Hope that helps and let us know if you have any other questions!

hey, no it doesn't. Reservation fee is for you to reserve a seat on a specific train. The reservation fees are set by the individual train companies and not Interrail so they there's no uniform cost. We'd recommend using the app and using the filter option to only show non reservation trains, that way you can avoid most of them. You will run into some countries (we're looking at you France) where almost all trains require reservation. We also have to take the London to Paris Eurostar every time we do an Interrail trip so we get where you're coming from but if you look a the full price of Eurostar then you're still making a significant saving. But it all really depends on which countries you're visiting and which trains you're looking to get

Yes, that's correct!

Hey, apologies for the confusion it was a mistake on our part (corrected in the description of the video) Which company you interact with will depend on where you're residing.

The passes are for return: you have one journey out of the your starting country and one journey back

That's strange, almost all places should be in the planner app. Do check the train station name of the destination you're intending to go to as sometimes they're spelt slightly different e.g. Cologne in English but is Köln in German which is spelt Koeln in the app

You can purchase a one country pass but your pass will only be valid for use inside the chosen country - so if you need to cross other countries to get there you will need to arrange a way in seperately

Hi, if you're living in the Netherlands then you should be able to buy from Interrail

You don't need wifi to access your pass in the app, if you have slow or intermittent internet and it's freezing the initial load of the app (happened to us a couple of times), you can turn data and wifi off completely before accessing the ticket section. But if you need to add a new train route to your pass then yes you will need wifi. We had an esim so it wasn't too much of an issue but if you're thinking of going without mobile data make sure you have your trains added to your pass before you leave your accommodation in the morning as not all train stations have pubic wifi.

thank you so much for bringing up the correction. We were considering from our own situation so thought of it from a passport point of view. Will add a correction in the video description - again thank you so much for bringing it up!

Yes if the UK isn’t your home country. Interrail is designed to be used to travel abroad

Hey, regardless of what passport/citizenship you are you can use Interrail/Eurail. In your case, it’s likely you’ll use Interrail as you’re in Germany but of course you could always drop them a quick email to double check. They usually respond in a few days

It means when you board a train that day, that counts as a single day of train travel. It doesn’t matter if you take 1 train or 100 trains that day, it will still be one day of train travel. Hope this makes things a little clearer

whenever you get on a train, you have 24 hours to get on as many trains as you want which is 1 travel day

Yep you can buy and then just activate when you're ready to travel

thank you. 😁

Hey, I actually made a mistake in the video itself (corrected in video description). Whether you use Interrail or Eurail depends on where you currently reside as a resident and not the passport you hold. So if you are UK resident or anywhere in Europe then you are able to use Interrail. Eurail is for anyone who is a resident any country outside of the EU. Hope this helps and apologies for the initial confusion

Thank you, how exciting! Yes, if you're referring to the train clip that was on the Glacier Express in Switzerland. Not exactly sure which part of the route but it's fairly early on on the train ride on the way out from Zermatt. Quick note, the Glacier Express is a special train which is not covered with the interrail pass but you can get a discount (it's in the benefits section of the app if you search switzerland). If you really don't want to pay you can ride a normal train which traverses the same route it just doesn't have the fancy ceiling windows but you still get the same gorgeous views. Hope that helps and if you have any other questions just let us know :)

Agree that the reservations are annoying. That’s why we wouldn’t recommend using Interrail if you’re travelling certain countries a lot e.g France. But for others such as Germany, Switzerland or Austria it can be an amazing option

Thank you for pointing that out, will correct in the description

hey, as long as you're a resident of the UK then you use Interrail. Otherwise Eurail

Well, I just found that TrainPal works for foreigners as well. They also have train cards on sale. Hope this helps:))

Hey, yes they can - we used interrail with our UK passports after the UK left the EU. Appreciate the feedback - will make a note in the description 🙏

Do it!

Exciting times! You can request assistance boarding and getting off train but you'll need to contact the train operator or station ahead of time to arrange this. We found this website that provides more informaiton europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/transport-disability/reduced-mobility/index_en.htm#train

@@ChopsticksOnTheLoose thank you very much this site helped me alot.

No problem, glad you worked out which option was better for you. We do agree if you're only travelling within one country it's not too difficult to go without an Interrail pass and like you mentioned it'll probably work out cheaper.

You're right ! But if you wish to travel several times in several countries over an extended period then you should use Inter rail.!! As Chopsticks has explained at great length several times !! He's obviously a very patient guy !!

all your problems are things everyone knows before they go on eurail. just do ur research before you do anything..

Hey, you can buy from Interrail since you are a resident of Germany. Sorry for the confusion, we've corrected in the description. Regarding outbound and inbound. No you can only do one single outbound and one single inbound. So if you need to travel in and out of Germany, these trains won't be included on the second outbound and second inbound - this is true for a flexi pass too. Hope this makes sense.

Hey, thanks for the clarification. Yep it was a mistake on my part, made the correction in the description previously but appreciate it's not the most obvious place to see information on RU-vid.

yep you're totally right. We made the correction in the description but totally get it isn't the easiest for people to spot. Thanks for pointing out though

always striving to educate myself further