Me and my boyfriend are going on interrail in five days, and he bought the youth pass when he was 27, but now he turned 28, so we can't activate the pass. Does anyone have experience with this matter, and is it possible to get a refund and change it to an adult pass?

I'm planning on doing this trip starting somewhere next week. I haven't visited any of the baltic or nordic states yet so this will hopefully be a fun adventure :D

Has anyone here gone around the Baltic sea with interrail, either using the newly reopened Tornio-Haparanda train or otherwise? I'd love to hear your experiences. How long did the journey take you? Did you use night trains or only travel by day? Is the scenery nice to look at? I heard sweden is mostly industrial forest and not too pretty, hopefully that's exaggerated since that will be a major stretch of the journey

Im trying to book a nighttrain for my family from Berlin to Budapest and back (Oct 23-31). So far I have tried to book via ÖBB/nightjet.com, their hotline, the MAV app, the MAV hotline.

The ÖBB online system generates error messages at the payment stage, MAV app tells me that no ticket is availiable. Via phone I get different stories but wasn't able to book in the end.

I haven't booked nighttrains before. How does this usually work and how does one succeed?

I have tried different dates as well with the same result. So it seems to be a general issue, not just a fully booked train.

Hey there,

looking for experiences you made on the nighttrain from Belgrade to Podgorica/Bar, which I'm considering to take soon.

Safety: I will have a laptop and some gear with me so I was wondering whether there are any safety issues on this train and what kind of people I have to expect on this train. Will I usually be fine in a 6-bed bunk or shared sleeper compartment? (of course, stealing could happen anywhere, I'm just interested if the level of security is comparable to Western European standards)

Smoking: Also I know that smoking is seen a bit different in Montenegro than in other countries and people even smoke on trains. Do I need to expect smokers on the night train? Will people typically smoke inside the sleeping compartments or just in the hallway or at the doors?

Would be happy about any experience reports from people who actually took this train in the past!

Basically I'm wondering if anyone is even traveling in Europe during this time. I really want to meet new people and have a lot of fun. I could not imagine to be alone and not talk to anyone for a month. Im thinking about going down France, Spain and Portugal. Then stay in Portugal for maybe a week and learn how to surf. Anyways I am starting to doubt it because of my curse of overthinking. Im also pretty nervous since it's my first time traveling alone and it feels like a pretty big trip. Can someone maybe lend me some tips and share some stories about their first solo trip?

Thank you!

Hi does anyone know how to reserve/what website I use to reserve a seat/seat reservation from Paris to karlsruhe

Hey,

I'm planning to go from Prague to Oslo with my sister and mother but since she's scared from flying we wanna go by train (not bus cause we want comfort). What's the cheapest way to go? What sites to use and not to use.

Thanks y'all and peace

Are there any train services in Italy where I can book a reservation now and pay for it later?

Am I crazy or am I right?

I traveled from Munich to Katowice this weekend, and took a middle bed in a couchette on the way there. It was pretty hot during the early evening, but the window was pulled down so the wind was cooling us all off.

I gotta say, the bed was nice (considering it was 55€), so I was very excited for the way back, because I booked a bed in a two person sleeping wagon, but holy, the bed was such a downgrade, extremely hard, almost like sleeping on the floor.

The pillow was ass on both nights, but it was significantly better on the softee couchette bed.

Did I just get unlucky and was on old rolling stock, or should I only ever get couchette in the future?

Are you planning a summer railway adventure through Scandinavia and think you can make it affordable by taking your tent? In gratitude to the redditors who came before us, here are some tips written from the last leg of our circular journey, which took us from Frankfurt - Copenhagen - Malmö - Stockholm archipelago - Stockholm - Arvika - Oslo - Kristiansand - Aarhus - back to Frankfurt.

We were planning to save costs on the trip by camping according to Allemansrätten (the right to camp on public land for free!) in Sweden and Norway. We sort of gave up on that part after realising that nice spots near water sources/food shops/toilets are quite hard to access from train stations, and our backpacks were too heavy for multiday wanderings. Instead we stayed in cheap hostels in capital cities at the weekends and stayed at campsites during the week, which generally cost about 20€ per night for two people in one tent. Campsites also allow you to sleep in nature reserves where camping is more regulated, though in Norway especially there seem to be amazing landscapes outside of nature reserves.

Trip diary:

Our first stop was Copenhagen during pride weekend, which was a massive and exuberant street party taking over the whole city centre. We adored the city despite sleeping in a miserable capsule (cupboard) hostel: definitely go to the worker’s museum, swim at the harbour and book a communal dinner at a Folkshuset.

Next destination was Utö on the Stockholm archipelago. We accidentally had a 3 hour stopover in Malmö, enough time to visit the very special Kallbadhus sauna, and swim in the baltic with sandmartins darting around us. To get to Utö travel to Stockholm S, then take a quick train and bus to Astra Brygge and hop on the ferry. The island is ravishingly beautiful with amazing swimming and animals (we saw moose, seabirds, butterflies and dragonflies everywhere), though a large part is a military training ground and you hear gunfire in the evenings. Campsite next to ferry stop, where there is also an unbelievably good bakery and a shop stocked with everything you could need. You can also walk to the neighbouring island Ålö in about 4 hours and wild camp at stora sand, where there are toilets and a fresh water pump and an impossibly beautiful beach. Stockholm archipelago trails are ideal hiking as the trails generally take you round the perimeter of the islands and you can return to your tent in the evening.

We were planning to visit more islands but it inevitably started raining and we went to Stockholm for the weekend. We found some cute corners but found the city quite sterile and quiet after Copenhagen. Great art museums and amazing lunch at the veg buffet restaurant Hermans (w student discount!)

Next we took a train to Arvika, stayed one night in a campsite outside the town before taking a bus to Glava the next day. From there we hitchhiked the last half hour to the campsite at Lenungen in the middle of the enormous Glaskogen nature reserve. ‘Nature park’ is slightly deceptive as the landscape is mostly commercial fir forest, but there is plenty of wildlife (adders, beavers, moose!) and the lakes are amazing for swimming. We ate tons of bilberries and picked ceps and chanterelles for dinner every day. Small handy shop at Lenungen. Best thing to do is rent a canoe and paddle between the shelters, where you can pitch your tent each night. You will only meet German and Dutch families here, all kitted out with high tech gear. There is a bus that goes straight to lenungen from arvika but it stops running after Aug 16th.

Next stop, Oslo. We wanted to camp on the island of Langoyene (which is completely free, 25 mins from the city centre by ferry and sounds like an absolute dream). However there was heavy rain forecast all weekend so we forked out for an airbnb. The day we arrived the King of Norway died. Loved the Folkemuseet, the Munch museum, Kok floating sauna, beers at Bar Boca in the evening. Survived by cooking meals in our rental.

To close the circle we then took a train to Kristiansand in the southern tip of Norway. This was the most beautiful train ride by far, past rivers fjörds and mountains - the on board café has cozy armchairs placed in front of big windows. Kristiansand has a sweet harbour and little beaches but not a huge deal going on. The fjördlines ferry has a big discount for interrailers and took us to Hirtshals for 25€ each. You then have to pay ca. 4€ for a bus service to Hirtshals station on the other side.

A couple of hours later on regional trains we reached our final stop Aarhus. Absolutely charming city full of students, bicycles, beautiful buildings and the crazy Aros museum. Amazing charity shops for clothes. We stayed until lunchtime the next day and went home via Hamburg in 8.5 hours.

In total we were travelling for 2 and a half weeks and spent more than planned - about 800-900€ each including accommodation and everything apart from the interrail ticket itself. We used 7/10 travel days on the interrail 2 month global pass. Had a fabulous trip.

TOP TIPS:

- Many rural public transport links are scaled back in Sweden after August 16th, when school holidays end. In a pinch we hitchhiked from Arvika to Glaskogen park, had more luck approaching people outside their cars than standing on the road with thumbs up.

- Take tweezers or special tick tweezers and get a TBE jab if planning to go hiking - ticks were everywhere in Glaskogen but not a problem if we sprayed our legs with repellent.

- Campsites in Sweden all had kitchens with electric hobs, without exception. We didn’t really need to bring a gas stove, but cutlery bowl and mug were very useful.

- Reservations: High speed rail links in denmark, sweden and norway all needed reservations. Reservations not expensive (max 15€ for copenhagen - stockholm) and always cheaper booked on the respective national rail websites instead of through interrail. Still very frustrating as the trains were often fully booked and we had to adapt to more inconvenient times/routes since we were travelling spontaneously.

- TooGoodToGo: this food waste app is an ingenious way to save money on cooked meals from restaurants, we had some amazing very cheap delish meals in Copenhagen and Stockholm. One order was generally enough for two people, make sure to carry your own cutlery.

- Pack light! The weight of our backpacks definitely limited our flexibility in terms of hiking - I reckon 12kg including food and water is an absolute maximum if planning to walk for longer than an hour with rucksack. Packing a water filter also good for hiking in sweden & norway as you can then drink from lakes & streams without a care.

- Entertainment: we doodled and diaried a lot in little notebooks, sketchbooks - nice way to enjoy fika culture in cafés. Picked up a few paperbacks along the way. Brought goggles for swimming and swam nearly every day. Everyone we met was very chatty and warm contrary to clichés of cold scandis - had a very social time and met loads of people especially in Copenhagen, where it seems more english is spoken than danish.

- Stay warm!! Worth investing in a very warm sleeping bag and bringing thermals. Our coldest night (in August) was 6 degrees but we found it just as hard to sleep at 13 degrees with the kit we had. Boiling water to fill plastic bottles not the ideal solution.

- Queer bars and parties surprisingly thin on the ground in sweden and norway, our only fun night out was in Copenhagen.

-Student or icom card very handy for museum visits. Sweden cheapest for daily life, denmark pretty eyewateringly expensive, norwegian prices unspeakable. However we got by fine by not eating out and not shopping, just visiting a café a day kind of thing. V smart to bring a bag of chocolate porridge for breakfasts.

- Take a raincoat obviously.

Hello, me and my girlfriend want to go from Paris to Dresden next monday (7th septembre)

We arrive in Paris with the first Eurostar from London (i think 11am'ish, not sure).

Wanted to take what seemed a very easy route, get the train to Frankfurt, change once, get train to Dresden.

However the train from Paris to Frankfurt now requires a reservation (it didnt when we were planning this), which are now fully booked. Would very much like to avoid changing 9 times, since our interrail pass would then also run out. Also Flixbus was horrible (did that journey before, would like very much to avoid that)

Any ideas?

Thanls very much in advance

Has anyone been from Copenhagen to Stockholm in early march? What is it like and is it worth it?

I'm travelling around Europe and in a few weeks I'm supposed to train from Lisbon to Rome over four days. My travel agent suggested I do this instead of flying and I'm really regretting this decision. Half of the trains require reservations but none of them are letting me book online. On my first day from Lisbon to Madrid, I have some 4 minute changes.

I'm terrified I'm gonna miss a train or not be able to get on it and then be stranded in a foreign country with no way to get to my next destination. I'm really mad at my travel agent for this but I've already paid for the Eurail pass and accommodation so I'm stuck trying to make this work.

The route is:

Lisbon - Madrid

Madrid - Marseille

Marseille - Genoa

Genoa - Rome

How to book these reservations? Eurail just says a main station in Europe. I'm in Spain and France about a week before these trips and Lisbon for a few days before, can I book the reservations then?

EDIT: The first day is Lisbon - Entroncamento with a 4 minute change to Entroncamento - Badajoz. Then a 12 minute change at Badajoz to the Madrid train.

EDIT 2: spoke to my travel agent, I'm going to fly from Lisbon to Marseille then add a night in Nice between Marseille and Genoa. This eliminates all the stress and means I'll only have one day with a train change, but it's much more leisurely.

Thank you all for your comments, I was pretty confident the trip wasn't doable and was stressing majorly.

Is anyone also experiencing issues with the Pass today? Woke up and now it doesn't work

So, when I was in my 20's (early 90's) the deal was- you get to Europe, get a rail pass, and travel for however long your pass is good for and stay in hostels. Has anyone found this is still a fun way to travel? If so, what eurorail passes did you get (like length of time) and did you find you had to buy rail passes with other companies or fly to get around to different countries? We are sending my son for his grad present and advice is so helpful! We are buying his plane ticket and a rail pass and he gets to pay for the rest.

For context, I lived in Barcelona in 2001 and took the rail a few times but they were always individual tickets. BUT I think it's SO valuable to travel to Europe- especially for Americans. I thought train travel would be a cool way for my son to get around Europe and to meet folks. Thanks!

Hello

I'll be in Lower Saxony and would like to go to Amsterdam. Are there any trains, what are the costs, schedules, and departure points?

So I'm going to study for a year abroad in Turkiye, and I decided not to take a plane but rather to get an interrail pass to Istanbul. But I need advice, especially regarding the luggage.

I guess the main goal is obviously not to pack too much, since I'll be moving around and visiting multiple cities during my 10days of travel on the way there. But at the same time, I have to account for all I'll need in my regular daily life for A YEAR living somewhere else.

I wonder if any of you have been in this situation before and/or if you'd have any thoughts on this matter !

Thank you by advance :))))))

When I try to log in to the app, it tells me I need to download the Rail Planner app even though I won the free pass. Has anyone had the same problem and solved it? I have two hours to activate the pass, otherwise I'll lose it, and support isn't responding.
pls help!! 😭😭

I have a problem with seat reservation from Prague to Graz on the 25th of October. I could reserve it normally for the trip to Prague. The trip back says "booked" for weeks now (bought it about a month ago). Sometimes, it "clears up", but when I try to book it, it loads nothing. Then it says "booked" again for a few days.

I also found a weird schedule problem on the Czech Railine. From the 15th of October on the direct line at 14:37 from Prague to Graz is just not showing up.

I contacted both OBB and Ceske Drahy. OBB said "check it out later" and the Czechs said that they have suspended the direct line. Which is definitely not true since Ive got the ticket. Anybody else had the same problem?

I do travel with a train a lot and never had problems like this. I know they will probably be seats available, but I feel safer with the reservation + quiet zone is my thing.

Sooo, if I'm right, you can't use the one country pass for inbound and outbound journeys. But what I wanna know

If you take a train towards the country (e.g. Hamburg København), is the pass only eligible from the first station in the country (e.g. padborg) or is it eligible for the whole train ride (e.g. hamburg)