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    Eurail pass and travelling Europe


    Hi, sorry if this has been asked before but reading posts and seat61.com is incredibly confusing. I bought a Eurail pass a while ago when it was on sale thinking it would give me lots of flexibility and I've used the Rail Planner to map out my dates and preferred trains already with the reservation prices prepared.

    These are my routes:

    • London to Ghent (planned to take Eurostar)

    • Ghent to Paris (planned Flixbus)

    • Paris to Bordeaux (planned Flixbus)

    • Bordeaux to Barcelona (planned train)

    • Barcelona to Geneve/Bern (planned train via Lyon and Geneve)

    • Bern to Grindelwald (planned train)

    And have not planned after that.

    Unfortunately, now that I'm trying to book the following trains: Eurostar from London to Bruxelles-midi, Bordeaux to Barcelona and Barcelona to Bern, it's impossible to book on eurail as it seems like it's sold out. I've then searched flixbus, and various local websites like sncf connect and SBB.com which allows me to book tickets for full prices – not what I was expecting when I bought the Eurail pass.

    Travelling solo and through Europe for the first time so I would rather have some certainty that I can get to my next location without being stuck on the street somewhere. Does anyone have advice for those specific routes?

    Also – is it worth having the Eurail pass for Switzerland rather than the Swiss Travel Card? Does it cover things like Grindelwald First? Are there specific routes that are NOT covered by it?

    Thinking of just refunding the Eurail pass (have refundable conditions) and booking everything which might come out similar price anyway but I would have loved to have just hopped on and off…

    Thanks in advance!

    by melodrake

    2 Comments

    1. IkWouDatIkKonKoken on

      The flexibility you’d have with a Eurail pass mostly pertains to local trains (note: trains, typically not buses), not international routes that require seat reservations. To be fair to Eurail, they do specifically advise people to book seat reservations early in advance since trains with seat reservations are likely to sell out. This is especially the case on popular international routes where they have a limited number of seats available for Eurail pass holders.

      I’d say: do the maths and figure out whether you can still get to these locations and how that’s going to work out financially and then maybe opt for the refund. Ghent to Paris shouldn’t be too hard, for instance, but I don’t know much about the other routes.

      EDIT: I do also know about the London to Belgium route, yeah that’s going to be either Eurostar, a ferry plus local transport connections, or a long bus trip, or simply a flight.

    2. skifans on

      Can you give an example of the sorts of dates you are looking at? Eurostar reservations well out and unusually long way in advance as there is a limited quota of them available. So they can sell out even if full priced tickets remain on sale.

      For the Barcelona to Lyon AVE international you cannot buy reservations online. For that direction you can only buy in person from Spanish ticket offices. Standard tickets are available online.

      The Swiss Travel Pass does include more than Eurail. Most notably buses are included in the former but not the later. That said though getting both will not make sense. If you have some rail day trips planned in Switzerland absolutely use Eurail but if you need something not included then buy a separate ticket rather than Swiss Travel Pass. Switzerland is one of the best countries for Eurail as standard tickets are so expensive.

      Eurail is valid on the train to Grindelwald town but that is a fairly recent change. It used to not be included. The trains/gondolas beyond and up to First and Kleine Scheidegg are not included in Eurail nor the Swiss Travel Pass. Unusually some ferries in the area are included: https://benefitsportal.eurail.com/benefits/bls-lake-cruise/

      Sorry to say though that France and Spain are some of the worst countries for interrail. Particularly if you are trying to be flexible. So many trains need reservations which really adds up cost wise. And in France some international or South of France routes can sell out weeks in advance in summer for good times. And that’s without any Olympics effect. Fortunately though Switzerland is one of the best for it as standard tickets are so expensive and reservations are few and far between. Outside of some tourist services there is no point in a reservation on Swiss domestic trains.

      For the leg from Bordeaux to Barcelona what exact itinerary are you looking at? Again you might be having the issue that you can’t buy AVE international reservations remotely. Otherwise try splitting it up into each leg individually. A lot of websites struggle at issuing reservations when changes are involved even if they can issue each leg individually. Or it may be that one or more leg is a regional train where no reservation is possible. Similarly it won’t be possible to reserve a Lyon to Geneva train as they are all regional trains. Just add it to your trip and take any free seat.

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