English Version
One of the most exciting and interesting means of transport if you want to travel around Europe, is by train. Europe has multiple railway lines linking each country. If you finally decide to travel by train, you have two options. The first, and less economical, it would be to buy your ticket every time you make a train trip, like when you travel buy plane or by bus.
The second one, the one we chose, are those Interrail / Eurail passes. It is a ticket that allows you to take almost all trains in Europe, and is valid for a specified period and has a limited number of trips.
On one side is the InterRail and on the other the Eurail. The two things differ on several things, but the main thing is that the InterRail is for residents of any European country, and the Eurail for Non-residents.
When you want to buy the ticket, in the case of being in Europe, you can go to almost every railway station, and buy it there, but if you are not in Europe, you can buy it over the Internet and they will send the ticket to your house, or buy it at any travel agency.
Because one of us was living in Madrid and the other one in Uruguay, we took different passes. The one in Madrid bought the Interrail pass, and the second one the Eurail pass. There is no problem in travelling toghether people with different passes, that means that we could take the same train, and as the two passes were both for 2nd class, the same rate was applied for the tickets between the cities for the two of us.
Another difference between them is the number of countries in which it is valid. For more information about all the possibilities that have this passes, you can visit the official web sites (you can find it below on this page) because if not I would have to write quite a lot!!! :D
We finally opted for the Global Pass, which includes practically all Europe countries (InterRail includes more countries than Eurail), and within that choice, the 10-day trip option. In the case of InterRail, this means that for 22 days, there were 10 days in which you can take all the trains that you want (in Eurail, instead of 22 days, it is valid for 2 months).
A day trip is valid from 0 hrs until 24hrs. However, when you take a night train, a day trip is considered since 19hrs of the previous day. This means that if for exa
mple, you take a train that leaves at 19.05 from Vienna, and arrives at 8am of the following day to Rome, on the ticket you just must mark the day you will be arriving. Further, for the day of your arrival you can travel without using an extra day in your ticket.
In the mentioned same example, if you previously travelled during the day, and then you take the night train from Vienna to Rome (from 19.05 hrs), you need to mark both days on the ticket: one because you travelled during the day, and the other one because of the night train, as you will be travelling the next day.
There are several kind of trains in Europe, and is not everything included in the Global Pass. In other words, having purchased the pass, does not mean that the only thing you need to do is find out the schedule of the trains and take the one you want. There are some trains for which you need to make a reservation, and depending on the country, it will be how much you will have to pay for (we had to pay from 2 or 3 euros in some countries, until 18 euros in other). Night trains also need a reservation (you will have to pay an additional fee), and the price will depend whether you choose to travel in a seat or a couchette. The couchettes are between 15 or 20 euros, almost the same as many hostels.
Recommendation: unless you run out of money or have little money, CHOOSE A COUCHETTE!!!!!!
A couchette is just like a narrow bed, but obviously not as comfortable as a real bed. Usually in each wagon there are several "bedrooms", and in each “bedroom” there may be 4 or 6 of those couchette. Although it is a bit more expensive, it's the only way to get some rest. Sleeping in the seats is practically impossible because they are upright and, in our opinion, less comfortable than a regular bus or plane seat.
We did not travel during summer (when most people travel). We travelled from late September until mid-October, and to make reservations we did not need to do anything in advance. Every time we arrived to a city train station, we asked for the trains schedule for the next city and if a reservation was needed. Then, if the train we chose needed a reservation, then we just pay it (that would be about 1 or 2 days before leaving the city). This was simply as a convenience, since we were inside the train station and so we did not have to come back another day to purchase it.
Making the reservation would be like buying a ticket: you go to the ticket window, then you say you are carrying an Interrail or Eurail Global pass, and they gave you a ticket in which is written all data you need to take the train (such us date, time, wagon number, seat number).
Sometimes before boarding the train the ticket must be validated. The validating machines are always in the platform and the only thing you have to do is to put the ticket there, and the machine will write the date and time.
When trains do not require prior reservation, you only get in the train and ready! Showing the Interrail/Eurail pass when an inspector comes it’s enough.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT GET IN A TRAIN WITHOUT A VALID TICKET!
In absolutely ALL the trains we took between different cities, some inspector was there to check that everybody has the ticket (except for some really short journey within the same city). If an inspector founds you without a valid ticket will not only get you down of the train, but also you will have to pay an important fine!
If you want to check prices for the different passes and see all the possibilities, you can check out the official Interrail or Eurail web site below.
Check out our complete English Version: Europe Travel Guide
