How to Plan an Interrail Route?

There's no doubt that the best way to travel across Europe, or even a small part of it covering a few countries, is by train. Even though flight prices are sometimes cheaper than the train, in terms of comfort and time they can't really beat train travel.

It's also a big advantage that almost everywhere in Europe, train stations are in what's called the city centre. You can see the city centre in 2-3 hours and then head straight off to a different city. Yes, let's say you're convinced to travel by train. :) So how do you put together a good Interrail route? Since in June we made my second, but our first together, Interrail trip with Berna, I wanted to share it with you while the information is fresh, before it's forgotten.

I made my first Interrail trip in August 2012, a 29-day trip. This time we did a 16-day Scandinavia tour together. On both tours I made almost all my journeys by train and I don't regret it at all; in fact, since it's less tiring than flying, the journey is even nicer! :)

I've gathered tips to help you when you prepare your Interrail route. If you're asking how to plan your Interrail route, this post will be a guide for you. Happy reading..

What Are Interrail & Eurail Passes?

The Interrail Global Pass is a rail pass that lets you travel by train in 30 countries in Europe. Let's remind you right at the start: we can't say "I've just bought one ticket and now I can go everywhere with it"! For some trains we need to book a seat. And that costs money: reservation fee. Even though you sometimes have to make a reservation, you can get on and off many trains without buying another ticket. In short, the Interrail & Eurail Pass makes train travel in Europe much easier and lets you travel economically.

You can get whichever Interrail pass suits you from the various options: 5 days within 15 days, 7 days within 1 month, 10 days within 1 month, 15 days within 1 month, and continuous 15 days, 22 days and 1 month.

Apart from the passes above, Interrail also offers travel with country-specific passes. But the Global Pass, which I chose on both my trips, is the most popular and most useful.

By the way, let's clear up the Interrail & Eurail thing too: the Interrail pass is for European citizens. Citizens of any country outside Europe who want to tour Europe by train have to buy a Eurail pass. What about us?! Since we're just on the edge of Europe, we have to buy an Interrail pass. There isn't much difference between the passes, but from what I've seen Eurail passes are a notch or two cheaper.

Unlike Interrail passes, it offers different long-term pass options for travellers: 10 days within 2 months, 15 days within 2 months, and continuous 2 months and 3 months.

How to Buy Interrail & Eurail Passes?

Various places in Turkey can sell Interrail passes. My suggestion is to buy your Interrail passes through TCDD Interrail or Gençtur. You can buy safely from either. On my 2012 tour I'd bought the pass I used from Gençtur. But last year, when we found the passes for our Scandinavia tour on Interrail's official website at %15 off thanks to early booking, bypassing Turkey and buying there was the most sensible choice. Those buying a Eurail pass can likewise buy theirs from the official Eurail website.

Don't have any doubts about buying a pass from abroad. It reached me quickly, within 1 week. They also sent a map, a wristband and so on with it. By the way, keep in mind that for the last 1-2 years, for passes in the winter and spring months, early purchases get a %15 - %20 discount.

If you want to buy a pass early, let us remind you that you can buy one at most 11 months ahead. It's not possible to buy one for a year later. You can buy a pass up to 11 months before your journey starts. When you buy an Interrail pass, your start date and passport number are printed on it. With Eurail passes you don't need to give a date. You activate it on first use, and then the end date is set according to your pass.

Prices vary depending on your pass type and age. When we went in 2012, the youth age on the tour was up to 26, but now it's 27! So if you're 27 or younger, you can get second-class passes at good prices. Wherever we go, our choice is a second-class ticket. We don't really have the budget for a first-class ticket. :)

Choosing a Pass

When you buy first class, naturally the reservation fees are different too. But if you like travelling first class, the choice is yours, and we'll leave you alone with your more luxurious compartments and quieter carriages. Anyone still reading our blog this far won't be buying a first-class ticket anyway. If there is someone, get in touch with us :)

To explain with a quick example: in the youth category, the second-class pass we bought was 305€, and the first-class pass 407€. As I mentioned above, if you act early and buy at a discount like us, the prices are 260€ for second class and 346€ for first class. Even so, since for two people there's a difference of around 160€ - 200€, our choice was a second-class pass.

Here are the links where you can see all the current price options.. Interrail Pass & Eurail Pass

Are Interrail & Eurail Passes Worth It?

The answer to this question varies from person to person. Whether the pass is worth buying depends on your plan and your route. If you're planning to take a few trains in 1-2 countries, buying the pass won't make sense for you. In fact, if you look at the total, you might even come out worse off.

If, like us, you're planning a Scandinavia tour in Western Europe and especially Northern Europe, especially with an exchange rate like 1€ = 5 .3₺, the key to an economical trip is buying an Interrail pass.

Isn't this perhaps a question that crosses the mind at least once for everyone planning a tour in their head? We think it's absolutely worth it; it's fair to say it's worth even more!

Let's set a small route, buy the tickets one by one and work out how much it costs. Then work out how much it costs including the Interrail pass and reservation fees. If in comparison the cost is roughly the same, buying tickets one by one may make more sense. Don't forget that train ticket prices in Europe, like plane tickets, go up as the number of seats goes down. If your route is set, it's worth buying tickets early too. So even if you travel with an Interrail pass, it may not be economical when you book at the last minute.

If you're saying your route is set but the days and times aren't, the Interrail pass will be your saviour in this case. Within the set days you can get on & off trains as you like and use it freely.

The countries where I believe buying an Interrail pass is worth it: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Norway, Britain and Ireland. If you try to buy train tickets one by one in these countries, the amount you pay will go well above the Interrail pass.

Planning an Interrail Route

You want to buy a pass, you want to travel on your own or with a group: what kind of route should you put together, how many days should you plan the trip for? Of course the route is yours, but there are tips for this too!

First, list the European countries and cities you want to go and see. Before planning a tour, I usually make myself a draft list with questions like where we want to go and how many days to give each city. Then this map: print it out, or mark the cities on your list on a map on your computer, and you can see the shortest and best way. The map will show that some cities break the route, and you'll decide it's better to leave seeing that city or those cities for later.

Planning

Once the cities are set, even roughly, we need to firm up the flow of our route by looking at train timetables. For this, you can look up trains on the Interrail website and in the iOS & Android app you can download to your phone, Rail Planner.

If you're going to do one long route: I'd suggest putting together a route that combines cities with beaches, cities rich in history and more natural places. For example, in addition to Paris and Barcelona, a nice route can be made from big cities with small towns that have their own unique beauty, like Colmar, Ljubljana and Bruges.

The real reason for sprinkling small towns in between is to use regional trains rather than high-speed trains, both to have a nice time and to keep your money in your pocket, since there's no need to make reservations.

Building the Route

As I mentioned above, by transferring the plan you make in the app or online to Excel or somewhere else, you can see your whole route at a glance. As an example, the detailed route I made in 2012 was like this:

Don't let the list scare you, but preparation like this is a must when planning a route! I wanted you to know what awaits you when you take this on. :)

The first part of the list above is the section we travelled as 3 people, and in the second part I travelled on my own. Travelling alone, I mostly chose night trains so as not to use hostels. Train travel is both comfortable and not tiring. By the way, if you want to make your route without reservations, by ticking the box -trains that don't require reservations- you can make the route you want. But sometimes you can't avoid reservations and may have to pay a fee.

On my first Interrail trip we made all the reservations at train stations. For example, when we arrived in Bruges, we'd find out whether a reservation was compulsory for the Amsterdam train we'd take on the way back, and book depending on the situation. But since our Scandinavian route didn't have much flexibility, I made almost all the train reservations on the ACP Rail website. When reservation fees are low it charges a commission of 2€ per person, but when you book a train like a night train it doesn't charge any commission.

Route details & Pass Benefits

By the way, Interrail passes are used for more than trains. When you download the Rail Planner app, in the pass benefits section you can choose the country you're going to and check whether there are discounts on city transport, ferries, museums or other activities. We crossed between Helsinki and Stockholm by ferry thanks to the Interrail pass. Tickets that normally cost 96€ we got thanks to the Interrail pass by paying 48€. And since it was a cabin, we travelled overnight getting some rest.

If you like, you can start using your Interrail pass from Turkey too. To save time, we did the outbound and return parts with plane tickets. On this, building the route is shaped entirely by your wishes and your budget..

How to Make an Interrail Seat Reservation?

On some high-speed trains reservations are compulsory, and the fee can even be quite expensive. To find trains that don't need reservations, you can use the Timetable section of the Interrail website or the Rail Planner app.

Even though we toured the countries that need reservations the most, like France, Italy and Spain, we tried to make as few reservations as possible. Sometimes we took 6 hours to get somewhere that takes 2, or spent the night at the train station waiting for the next day. As a student you do these things more easily. But sometimes, because you're racing against time and what matters is reaching your destination, you pay the reservation fee and take the train that suits you.

Keep in mind: almost all night trains need a reservation!

Reservations can be made up to 3 months ahead. Especially in France and Italy, since tourists flock there in summer, you may run into problems finding seats on trains. On this, booking in advance is a must, as the strategy we also used on the Scandinavia tour. If your route is set, booking as early as possible will be the best solution for you.

So how are Interrail reservations made, and does it change by country?

You can make reservations at the ticket office at every train station in Europe, but doing this during your trip may feel hard. Especially in peak seasons, when you want to book at the ticket office you may be met with the answer "No seats left". On our Scandinavia trip we booked about 3-4 weeks in advance. Because the route wasn't one that could bend much. In any setback, we could have fallen apart one after another like dominoes. :)

Above you can see where and how many euros I paid in reservation fees on my Western and Central Europe travel plan.

Now to what reservation fees we paid for which train in Scandinavia, at a time of the euro's rapid rise, when we've run out of words for that rise (sky-high?):

Interrail reservation step

As I mentioned in the previous section, I made all these reservations while still in Turkey thanks to ACP Rail. It emails you the reservation ticket. You can print it out or save it on your phone. You can carry on your journey without any problem.

So how much would we have paid to take this train without an Interrail pass? Hahahaha! Rewind the whole post to the start: was the Interrail pass worth it?! :)

If you'd like to learn the average reservation fees before you go, you can check the reservation fees by clicking the links for local trains, international trains and night trains.

If, unlike our route, you have a flexible route, I'd also recommend booking seats for a few main routes near the start of your Interrail route, and moving independently with a flexible mindset for the rest of your trip.

Using the Interrail Pass

Using the Interrail pass is very simple and easy. Before boarding the train for your journey, all you need to do is write the journey details in the travel diary given with your pass, where you fill in your trips. Of course, if your pass is for continuous use of 15 days, 22 days or 1 month, it's fine even if you don't write your journey details. If you have a flexible pass, you need to write each travel day on the form so the conductor can see how many days you've used. Otherwise you may have problems.

Like us, you can choose ferries or long night trains to make good use of the nights. There's an exception here: if your train leaves after 19:00 and arrives at your destination after 04:00, you need to write the arrival day as the travel day. If it leaves after 19:00 and arrives at your destination before 04:00, writing the train's departure day as the travel day is enough.

If you're going to use a ferry, you definitely need to buy tickets early. Otherwise the tickets eligible for the Interrail discount can run out. So if your trip is set, it's worth buying the ferry ticket 1-2 months ahead with the discount. By the way, ferry travel has this nice thing about it: when travelling on a night ferry, you're allowed to use only one travel day. You can write either the departure date or the arrival date in the travel diary, the choice is yours.

Accommodation on Interrail

Since Interrail trips are usually made in summer, naturally finding a place in hotels & hostels can be hard. On our Scandinavia tour we went for Couchsurfing wherever we could find it. We can't stop the euro rising, but we try to cut our costs. :)

As soon as you've firmed up your pass dates and Interrail route, you need to deal with accommodation too. On the Scandinavia tour we got the chance to try booking.com, Airbnb and Couchsurfing. Each has its own charm, advantages and disadvantages.

In 2012, in most of the cities where we stayed only 1 night, we chose hostels near the train station to save time. On the Scandinavia tour we tried all the accommodation options mentioned above. Booking or Airbnb: click the links to get the discount!

Finally, Interrail Tips

• Don't forget to book seats in advance! You can look through the ACP Rail website in detail and list the trains you want.
• Don't forget travel insurance in case anything goes wrong! You can get it from whichever company you like.
• If it fits your budget, with a SIM card where you go you can get reliable results for directions and place recommendations.
• You can use things like your phone or a notebook to note down your travel expenses.

We prepared this post combining what happened to us with our experience, in the hope it serves as a guide for you. We hope you liked it. You can follow us on Instagram too..