How to use an Interrail pass 

One-country pass prices

You can buy an Interrail pass covering just one country, for example France or Italy.  These also come as adult, senior, youth & child (aged 4-12), 1st or 2nd class.  Prices vary by country, see www.thetrainline.com/passes or www.raileurope.com.  One-country passes ONLY cover trains wholly within that ONE country.

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How to buy an Interrail pass

To buy a Eurostar passholder fare, see the instructions here.  To make other reservations, see the reservations guide.

If you choose a mobile pass

• You download it, delivery is instant and free;

• You can activate the pass any date you like in the 11 months after buying it.  A printed pass arrives with your chosen start date already printed on it, this cannot be changed;

• You only need to enter your passport number when you activate the pass, so not a problem if your passport is being renewed or you haven't yet got all your companions' passport details;

• The pass is on your phone so you always have it with you, one less thing to carry around;

• It's posted to you at extra cost, you need to allow two weeks for delivery;

• You need to specify the start date when you buy;

• On the plus side, if your phone runs out of battery you can still show a paper pass (but an Anker powerbank solves this and is a good backup plan for your phone anyway).  If you drop your phone and it breaks you can still show a paper pass;

• You can keep the paper pass as a souvenir afterwards!

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How does an Interrail pass work?

• Interrail passes give unlimited travel on national & international trains

  An Interrail pass gives unlimited travel on all train services run by the national train operator in the countries it covers - except in your own country of residence, more about that in a minute.

  These aren't special 'Interrail trains', these are the normal, regular, scheduled trains, including high-speed trains, sleeper trains, intercity trains, suburban trains & local trains, national & international.

  Unlimited means unlimited, as many trains as you like, 1 train or 20 trains, 10 km or 1,000 km.

  Interrail passes also cover some private operators and even a few ferry services.  The country-by-country guide explains which train operators are covered in each country. 

  You need to make a reservation for a small fee on some trains, more about this below, and sleeping-berths on night trains also cost extra.

• Interrail passes don't cover:

  Metros, trams or buses in big cities as these are usually run by an urban transit authority;

  Some small private local train operators such as Euskotren narrow-gauge trains in Spain (Hendaye to San Sebastian to Bilbao) or the Circumvesuviana railway in Italy (Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento);

  A few private inter-city operators who compete with the state-owned national operator on some routes, such as Italo trains in Italy or Ouigo trains in Spain.  Nor do they cover lo-cost subsidiaries set up by the national operator such as Ouigo in France or Avlo in Spain.  If in doubt, see my country-by-country guide.

• Flexi & Continuous passes

  Continuous passes are valid for a continuous period starting on the date you activate the pass.  For example, if you activated a 1-month pass on 10 July, it would give continuous unlimited travel from 00:00 on 10 July until 24:00 on 9 August.

  Flexi passes have an overall 1 or 2 month validity which starts ticking when you activate the pass.  You can then spend each of your unlimited travel days on any dates you like within that overall validity period.

  For example, if you activated a 5-days-in-1-month Interrail pass on 10 July, you can spend each of the 5 travel days unlimited travel on any dates you like between 10 July and 9 August, let's say on the 11 July, 15 July, 17 July, 23 July and 2 August.  Or whatever!

  Each pass day is good for as many trains, journeys & kilometres as you can cram in from 00:00 to 24:00.  In fact, a pass day can cover you beyond midnight if using a sleeper train.

• Is there a quota for passholders?

  On 99% of trains, no.  In other words, having a pass is just as flexible and powerful as having an expensive top-of-the-range full-flex ticket.

  However, in a handful of cases, almost always involving France, there's a quota for passholders so a train can sell out for passholders when seats remain available for regular customers.  This includes Eurostar, Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam Eurostar-formerly-Thalys, Paris-Milan TGVs & Paris-Barcelona TGVs.

  But for most other trains including French domestic TGVs, TGV-Lyria and Spanish or Italian high-speed trains, passholders can always get seats unless the train is physically full, which might happen at Christmas or Easter or on a busy Friday, but you'll usually find places even on the day.

• You don't get unlimited travel in your home country, just 2 outbound/inbound days

  First the bad news:  Interrail passes don't give unlimited train travel in your country of residence.

  Now the good news:  Since 2016, if you have a global Interrail pass you're allowed to use trains in your home country on a maximum of 2 of your unlimited travel days, to travel from your local station to a border, airport or ferry port at the beginning of your trip and to travel back at the end.

  These are known as your 2 outbound/inbound days.  If you have a mobile-type pass, when you add a train in your home country to your pass, it will warn you that you're about to use an outbound/inbound day.  It won't let you travel in your home country on more than 2 of your travel days.

  These inbound/outbound days are not additional, they're part of your 4 or 5 or 7 (or whatever) unlimited travel days.

  The journey in your home country can involve multiple trains, there's no obligation to use connecting trains specified by a journey planner, you're free to pad out the journey to ensure robust connections - indeed I would, with a Eurostar or ferry to catch!  But at least in principle, it should be a continuous single journey between a point of origin of your choice (normally your local station) and a border, airport or ferry port.  What they really mean is, don't abuse it by travelling all over Britain, it's intended for travel between your home town and an international border.

  Apart from that, inbound/outbound days work like any other travel day, unlimited mileage & unlimited trains from midnight to midnight anywhere in the countries covered by the pass.  You need to record the journey on your pass as normal.

  If you live in Britain, Eurostar to/from London counts as a train in your home country, so triggers an inbound/outbound day.

  But that first day on your pass could cover travel from your home station to London, Eurostar from London to Brussels and the European Sleeper from Brussels to Prague.  Yes, one pass day could cover all of that - with the necessary Eurostar passholder fare & sleeper reservation, of course! 

  Or for example, if you lived in Dundee you could use the first day on your pass to go from Dundee to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to London, a Eurostar passholder journey from London to Paris, then TGV Paris to Lyon, all on one pass day.  And if you wanted to spend an hour in Edinburgh between trains and 3h in London, that's not a problem.

  But you couldn't travel Dundee to London on day 1, stay overnight, take Eurostar London to Paris on day 2, then use your pass to return Paris-London-Dundee at the end of your trip, as that would be 3 outbound/inbound days and you're limited to 2.  Got it?  Great!

  For the record, technically your two inbound/outbound days don't have to be the first & last day.  You can use them on any two days during the validity of your pass.  So if you did want to go Dundee-London on day 1, stay overnight, then go London-Paris-Lyon on day 2, and (let's say) were happy buying full-price tickets back from Lyon to London to Dundee at the end of your trip, that's OK.

  Also for the record, it's not a problem if you want to return to your home country during the validity of your pass, then go off travelling again.  Although as you only get 2 inbound/outbound days, you'd need to buy regular tickets to get you out of the country & back on your second trip.

  Incidentally, there are no time restrictions with an Interrail pass, you can use any train you like, peak or off-peak. And if you have a 1st class pass you get to travel in 1st class, even in peak hours, and in 1st class on LNER or Avanti West Coast you get the complimentary food & wine!

• You can use Eurostar with a €35 passholder fare

  Interrail passes cover Eurostar trains between London and Paris, Brussels, Lille or Calais for a fixed price of €35 in Standard if you have a 2nd class pass or €40 in Plus if you have a 1st class pass, a little more from London to Rotterdam or Amsterdam.

  Passholder places are controlled by quota, with fairly wide availability if you book well in advance and reasonable availability even on the day of travel or the day before, although at busy times, days or dates not all trains will have passholder places.

  I recommend checking Eurostar availability before buying a pass as availability is limited.

  If you have a flexi-type pass, a journey with one of these Eurostar passholder fares requires you to use one of your travel days, although of course you can use other trains as well during that day.

  If you live in Britain, Eurostar counts as travel in your home country so can only be made on one of your 2 permitted inbound/outbound days.

  More about Eurostar passholder fares & how to buy them.

• Or take a ferry to mainland Europe

  Consider the ferry alternative!  A Stena Line Rail & Sail ticket from London (or any Greater Anglia station including Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich) to Hoek van Holland starts at £75.30 each way with or without a railpass, book at www.stenaline.co.uk.  If you live up north, consider the Hull-Rotterdam or Newcastle-Amsterdam overnight ferries.  If you live on the south coast, consider Portsmouth-Caen with Brittany Ferries.  Passes don't cover these ferries, but they are still a good option.

• What about other European ferries to Ibiza, Finland or Greece?

  An Interrail global pass also gives free travel on Superfast Ferries, Minoan Lines & Blue Star Ferries between Italy and Greece.  Port taxes & a fuel surcharge need to be paid, and cabin berths are extra, so think of it as a reduction, not free travel.  Superfast and some other ferry operators also charge a summer supplement.  An Interrail pass also gives a discount (typically 30%-50%) on normal fares for some other ferries, for example, Silja Line (Stockholm-Helsinki or Stockholm-Turku.

• How to find train times when using an Interrail pass

  Option 1, German Railways:  I normally plan trips using the excellent German Railways online timetable at int.bahn.de, covering pretty much all of Europe.  Most trains in its database can be used with an Interrail pass, you can always double-check using Rail Planner.  See tips for using int.bahn.de.

  Option 2, the Rail Planner app.  Go to www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/rail-planner-app and download the Rail Planner app for your phone (please let me know if that link stops working).  You'll need this app anyway to load your Interrail pass into, and it has an excellent Europe-wide journey planner built in.  Rail Planner has two advantages over int.bahn.de:  It works offline so can be used without an internet connection, and it'll warn you if a train isn't covered by an Interrail pass.  Although the 'live' data of int.bahn.de can sometimes be more accurate than the Rail Planner app's offline data.  Use both!

When do you need a reservation?

• The country-by-country reservations guide explains which specific trains require a reservation in each country and roughly how much it costs, but here is my rough - but pretty accurate - rule of thumb.

• Local, regional & suburban trains

  In virtually all countries, you can just hop on any local, regional or suburban train at any time, and show your Interrail pass to the conductor if and when asked.  Seat reservation is not even possible.  Easy!

• Pass-friendly countries

  Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark & most of central & eastern Europe.

  In these countries, seat reservation is usually optional even on long-distance trains and there's nothing extra to pay unless you want a reserved seat, or a couchette or sleeper on an overnight train.

  You can hop on any train without a reservation, sit in any unreserved empty seat, and show your Interrail pass when asked by the conductor - even premier high-speed trains like Germany's superb ICE or Austria's excellent railjet trains.  Trains cannot 'sell out'.

  If you want a reserved seat (a sensible move for a long journey to avoid having to stand at busy times) it only costs €3-€5.  Passes retain their 'hop on, hop off' convenience factor in and between these countries.

  There are a few key exceptions:  International journeys to or from France do require compulsory reservation with a fee to pay.  Eurostar (formerly Thalys) high-speed trains between Brussels & Amsterdam and between Brussels & Cologne have compulsory reservation & a fee for railpass holders.  There's a surcharge on railjet & Eurocity trains between Germany/Austria & Italy.  A few scenic tourist trains in Switzerland require a seat reservation/supplement, such as the Glacier Express & Bernina Express.  Poland, Slovakia, Hungary & Romania require seat reservations on all their inter-city trains, but these are just normal seat reservations costing €2-€3, no big deal.  All this is explained in the country-by-country guide.

• Pass unfriendly countries

  France, Italy, Spain, Portugal & Sweden

  In these countries, inter-city trains are all-reserved like planes.  Passholders must pay to make a reservation for every inter-city journey, including international journeys starting or ending in these countries.

  Reckon on paying €10+ for every train ride in these countries, sometimes less, sometimes more.  On Italian Frecciarossas it's €13.  French TGVs it's €10 (limited quota) or €20 when the €10 places sell out.  Eurostar (formerly Thalys) Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam is €15-€25. TGV-Lyria €30-€70, Paris-Milan TGV €31, Paris-Barcelona TGV €34.  Though you could say Portugal should be yellow, at only €5 a reservation!

• Sleeper trains

  You need to pay for a sleeper or couchette reservation on overnight trains. Remember that with a flexi type pass, an overnight train only uses one pass day, the date of departure, see the explanation here.

• See the country-by-country reservations guide to see which trains need a reservation, what it costs and how to make it.

Can you avoid having to reserve?

• Sometimes you can avoid paying a reservation fee if you don't mind a slower or less comfortable journey.  For example, from Rome to Florence there are frequent high-speed Frecciarossa trains with a €13 reservation fee, but also a few fairly fast InterCity trains with only a €3 reservation fee, and some much slower regional trains with no reservation needed.  Between Brussels & Amsterdam there are high-speed Eurostar (formerly Thalys) trains taking 1h49 with a €22 fee or hourly EuroCity Direct trains taking 2h08 with no reservation needed.  The choice is yours!

• In other cases avoiding a fee is more trouble than it's worth, as it would mean a relay-race of local trains taking hours longer and involving umpteen changes of train.  Just bite the bullet & pay the fee!  I'd put Paris-Brussels, Paris-Amsterdam, Paris-Nice, Paris-Italy in this category.

  Tip:  To see if there is a reasonable no-fee alternative, try using the Europe-wide online timetable at int.bahn.de, but click Mode of transport  and select Local transport only.

How do you make reservations?

• You can make reservations online in advance, or you can make them at stations as you go, it's up to you.

• For specific advice on which website to use to book a specific train or route, see the Interrail reservations guide.

• For general advice on how to make passholder reservations, see the How to make reservations section below.

• To make Eurostar passholder reservations between London and Lille, Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, see the advice here.

• Can someone with an Interrail pass travel with someone using a Eurail pass?  Yes of course!  One of you simply needs to make Interrail/Eurail reservations for 2 people on the trains you want.  Interrail & Eurail reservations are the same thing!

Overnight trains

• What's the difference between a couchette and a sleeper?

  Couchettes are basic padded bunks with sheet, rug & pillow, 4 or 6 per compartment, a youth hostel on rails.  Sleepers are hotels on rails, with proper beds & washbasin, 1, 2 or 3 beds per compartment.  Couchettes & sleepers are explained in more detail here.

• How much does it cost?

  You need to pay a fee to use a couchette or sleeper with your Interrail pass.  To give you an idea, here are the passholder supplements for the most common type of sleeper train, a Nightjet.  They now vary like air fares, so these are the starting prices:

  Seat €14, couchette in 6-berth €34, couchette in 4-berth €44, bed in 3-berth sleeper €54, bed in 2-berth sleeper €74, bed in single-berth sleeper €114, berth in 2-berth deluxe sleeper €94, berth in single-berth deluxe sleeper €134.

  Berth fees for specific routes are listed in the Interrail pass reservation guide.

  The fee is per person per bed, one ticket = 1 bed.  If you are alone and book a single sleeper you get the whole compartment to yourself, if you book a bed in a double sleeper, you get one bed, some other passenger of the same gender gets the other bed and you'll share with them.

  Only a 2nd class ticket or pass is needed for all accommodation on Nightjets, even single or double deluxe sleepers.  However, in much of eastern Europe, a 1st class pass is necessary to travel in a single-berth sleeper, a 2nd class pass is OK for berths in a double or triple.  On Italian domestic sleeper trains a 2nd class pass is all you need to book single, double or triple sleepers or couchettes.

• Using a pass on a sleeper train

  If you have a flexi-type pass, an overnight train only uses one day on your pass, the day of departure.  This simple rule replaced the old 'After 19:00' rule in January 2019:

  A Flexi pass day runs from midnight to midnight.  But if you board any overnight train before midnight and do not change trains after midnight, you only need to use one day on a Flexi pass, the day of departure.  Got it?

  It doesn't matter what time your sleeper train leaves on day 1, or what time it arrives on day 2.  The date you enter on your pass is that of day 1.

  As normal, you get unlimited travel from midnight to midnight on day 1, so can take other trains on day 1 in addition to the sleeper, all on the same pass day.  You can then continue your journey on the direct overnight train until you get off at your destination on day 2.  The only proviso is that you cannot change trains after midnight, and that both the departure day and arrival day must fall within the overall pass validity period.

  For example, if you wanted to take the Dacia Express leaving Vienna at 19: 08 on the 1st August and arriving Bucharest at 13:38 on the 2nd August, you'd use 1st August as one of your unlimited travel days, this covers the whole of the sleeper journey, even the part on 2nd August.

  You'd have unlimited travel all day on 1st August, so it would also cover a journey from Prague to Vienna to connect with the sleeper.  On the other hand, if you wanted to travel from Bucharest on to Constanta on 2nd August, you'd have to use another travel day, dated 2nd August.

  But even if you don't use any other trains on 2nd August, the day of arrival still needs to fall within the overall validity period of your pass, in other words, if you had a 5-days-in-1-month flexi pass the 2nd August must be inside the 1 month period, it can't be day 32.  Got it?

  The country-by-country reservations guide explains how to make sleeper or couchette reservations for specific routes.

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Interrail or point-to-point tickets?

• There's no magic answer!

  Why?  Because point-to-point train fares vary like air fares, cheap in advance, expensive at short notice or on popular days or dates.  Just like flights!

  The cost of a pass also varies, depending whether it's adult, senior or youth, and whether it's for a shorter or longer period.  Longer period passes are better value as the cost-per-day is lower.

  The only way to know for sure is to go online and check current point-to-point prices for each journey you plan to make, add them up and compare with the price of the pass you'd need, factoring in the necessary passholder reservation fees.

  See Interrail pass prices & check passholder reservation fees.  Check point-to-point prices by selecting the starting city here and I'll tell you which website to use to check fares for that specific route.

  But it's not all about price, it's also about flexibility.  This example may help:

• How much is a point-to-point ticket?

  Assume you plan to go from Prague to Berlin:

  - €18.99 is the cheapest possible advance-purchase fare, price varies like air fares, specified train only, no changes, no refunds.

  - €95 is the fully-flexible fare which can be bought on the day, unlimited availability, good for any train.

  Assume that a few days later you plan to go from Berlin to Amsterdam:

  - €37.99 is the cheapest possible advance-purchase fare, price varies like air fares, specified train only, no changes, no refunds.

  - €167 is the fully-flexible fare which can be bought on the day, unlimited availability, good for any train.

• How much is an Interrail pass?

  If you divide the pass cost by the number of days travel, you get a cost-per-day.  The longer the pass duration, the cheaper the cost-per-day:

  - €64 per day using a 5-days-in-1-month Interrail global pass (5-day price divided by 5)

  - €45 per day using a 10-days-in-2-months Interrail global pass (10-day price divided by 10)

  Or if you're aged under 28 and can buy a youth pass:

  - €48 per day using a 5-days-in-1-month youth Interrail global pass.

  - €34 per day using a 10-days-in-2-months youth Interrail global pass.

  A pass gives you unlimited travel, so you can use any train you like, as if you'd bought the fully-flexible ticket.  Better, as you could go up & down on trains between Prague & Berlin all day if you wanted, or carry on beyond Berlin to Cologne or Hamburg.

• So is a pass cheaper?

  No, point-to-point advance-purchase tickets are cheaper, it's not a trick question!  Prague-Berlin from €18.99, Berlin-Amsterdam from €37.99.

  And easiest too, easy to buy online at the German Railways website and show on your phone.  Click, click, booked!

  So if you're only planning 2, 3 or maybe 4 such trips on fixed dates, your accommodation is pre-booked and you're happy to commit to specific trains 2-3 months in advance on a no-refunds, no-changes basis, then advance-purchase tickets are usually cheapest & easiest.

• But at short notice or on popular dates, a pass might save money

  Remember these are the cheapest possible advance-purchase fares.  On your date, prices may be higher, especially at popular times of year.  And if you need to go tomorrow or next week so cannot book months in advance, a pass can be cheaper than short-notice point-to-point fares.

• An Interrail makes sense if you value flexibility

  Even when it costs more than advance-purchase tickets, a pass may still make sense because it is flexible.  It's significantly cheaper than the fully-flexible fare for most longer-distance journeys.

  With an advance-purchase ticket you're nailing your plans to the floor months in advance.  Trading up to a pass gives you the freedom to travel when you want, or even decide not to go to Prague after all, but to Vienna instead.  An Interrail pass gives unlimited travel all day, so you can make additional journeys the same day, before or after this one.

• For extensive itineraries, a pass is better

  For extensive itineraries, using a stack of advance-purchase point-to-point tickets might be cheaper, but it's risky.  If a flood, fire, strike or landslide knocked out one journey, the rest of the trip could come crashing down like a house of cards as advance-purchase tickets become worthless if you miss the train.  An Interrail pass gives you the flexibility to re-plan, re-schedule or even re-route as necessary.

  Mrs 61 and I once travelled from my in-laws in the Netherlands to Italy using Interrail passes.  The day before our return, a train crash in Belgium blocked our planned route, Milan-Paris-Rotterdam.  But with our passes we easily re-routed via Milan-Zurich-Cologne-Rotterdam.

• But avoid using use a pass for short hops

  Vienna to Bratislava only costs €12, Florence to Pisa €9, even bought on the day.

  So it'd be cheaper to buy a 4-days-in-1-month pass to cover your longer trips plus a point-to-point ticket for a short hop like this, than to pay an extra €50 for a 5-days-in-1-month pass.  Common sense, surely?

• Remember to factor in the passholder reservation fees

  The point-to-point fares you see online include any necessary reservation.  If you use a pass, you may have to pay a reservation fee in addition to the cost of the pass.  Here's a rule of thumb:

  In France, Italy, Spain, reckon on a €10+ reservation fee for every train other than purely local ones, in addition to the cost of the pass.

  However, in Benelux, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark & most of eastern & central Europe, there are usually no fees to pay (unless you want a sleeping berth), you can just board a train, sit in any empty unreserved seat, and show your pass to the conductor.  That's a generalisation, but even if a seat reservation is required in these countries it's typically €3 - €6, the same as any other ticket-holder would pay.

  The Prague-Berlin & Amsterdam-Berlin examples above usually involve no reservation fee, unless you choose to reserve a seat.

  You need to pay a passholder fare to use Eurostar between London & Paris, Lille, Brussels or Amsterdam.  This costs €35 in 2nd class or €40 if you have a 1st class pass, see how to use an Interrail pass on Eurostar.

  On overnight sleeper trains you need to pay for a sleeping-berth, perhaps €39 for a couchette or €100 for a bed in a 2-bed sleeper.

  See a list of Interrail reservation requirements & costs in each country.

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How to use a mobile pass

• Mobile Interrail passes were introduced in 2020 and once you get the hang of it they're really easy to use.  The mobile pass sits in the Rail Planner app on your phone, instead of a printed travel diary you use the app's journey planner to select your train and add it to your trip.  Then when you actually board that train, you toggle that train onto your pass.  The in-app instructions are clear and well-written.

  I'll first describe how to use an Interrail mobile pass as a solo traveller.  Then I'll explain how to use passes for multiple people.

• Step 1, buy the pass

  You can buy an Interrail pass up to 11 months in advance.  There's no need to decide on a start date, the pass can be activated on any date you choose in the 11 months after buying it.  So if your plans change or your trip is postponed, no worries!

  With a flexi-type pass, activation starts the overall 1 or 2 month validity period, so you could in fact have up to 12 or 13 months to use the pass.

• Step 2, download the Rail Planner app

  Get the Rail Planner app for iPhone or Android at www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/rail-planner-app.

• Step 3, load your pass into the app

  After buying a pass, you're sent a confirmation email with your pass number.  On the app, click the My pass tab and follow the instructions to load the pass into the app by entering your pass number.

  Incidentally, an obvious anti-fraud measure is that you can only load a pass onto one device at a time, you can't load one pass onto 10 phones!  But if your phone is lost or stolen or you upgrade phones, you can load your pass onto a new phone using your name & pass number, tapping Move pass when prompted and following the steps shown to move the pass to the new device.

• Step 4, create a trip

  The next step is to create a trip and connect your pass to it.  Think of a trip as a holding pen, a personal folder in which you can store potential journeys (individual trains or journeys involving multiple trains) found using the app's journey planner that you may or may not end up taking with your pass.  You can call the trip anything you like, My Big Interrail Trip, Mark's European Odyssey, Fred, whatever.  Your trip lives in the My trip tab on the app.  A pass can only be connected to one trip.

• Step 5, when you're ready to travel, activate your pass

  When you know for sure when you want to start using your pass, follow the in-app instructions to activate it, entering your passport number and desired start date.  With a flexi-type pass, activation means the overall 1 or 2 month validity period starts ticking.

  Even after doing this, you can still change your mind - you can alter the activation date any time until 23:59 the day before, Central European Time.  But once the pass has activated at 00:00 CET, you can't change your mind or get a refund, the pass is used.

  It safest to activate on the day you want to start using it.  One person bought a pass in February and immediately entered a July activation date.  They forgot about it, and later postponed their trip until August.  When they came to use their pass they found it had activated in July and burned through its 1 month validity period so was worthless!

  Incidentally, you'd normally activate a flexi-type pass on the same date as your first travel day, but I can think of two reasons you might want to activate before your first travel day.  First, there are some ferry/train/attraction operators who sell discounted tickets to holders of an active pass, but this does not require a travel day.  You could activate the pass, get the discount, and spend your travel days later.  Second, suppose you bought a 10-days-in-2-months pass in the last days of a 15% off sale, with 11 months to activate it, but you wanted to travel 12 or 13 months after buying it.  You could activate the pass 11 months after buying it, then you'd have another 2 months to use up your travel days.

• Step 6, look up trains in the planner and add them to your trip

  Open the app, click on Planner at the bottom and use the journey planner to look up train times.  In the search results, find a departure that suits you, click on it for details, then click Save journey to add it to your trip.

  You can add as many journeys to your trip as you like, journeys added to a trip are not connected to your pass and there is no obligation to actually take them.  As I said, a trip is just your personal library of trains you might be interested in, and you can edit the list at any time. 

  For example, I wasn't sure if I'd leave Engelberg at 09:02 next morning or finish breakfast early and make the 08:02, so I added both trains to my trip (which I'd called Engelberg as that's where I was going) to have them both handy, whichever one I ended up taking.

• Step 7, when you board a train, toggle that train onto your pass

  Find the journey in your trip and slide the grey toggle next to it to add it to your pass.

  If it's your first train that day, it'll ask you to confirm that you want to use one of your travel days.

  If you now click on My pass you'll see that journey added to your pass, and if you click on Show ticket you'll see all journeys added to the pass for that day listed underneath the QR code.  If you make a mistake or change your mind at the last moment, don't worry, you can un-toggle the train to remove it from your pass.

  Just be aware that if you're doing this on the day of travel itself, once you confirm the use of a travel day, you can't un-use it, even though you can edit and alter the trains you take.

  On that Engelberg trip I managed to catch the 08:02, so went to the My trip tab, opened Engelberg and toggled the 08:02 onto my pass.  I then swiped left on the 09:02 to delete it - or I could have just left it there, it doesn't matter.

  If any of the trains involve travel in your home country, the app will warn you that you're triggering one of your two permitted inbound/outbound days.  It keeps a record of those and won't let you have more than two.

  Incidentally, toggling a train onto your pass does not in any way reserve seats or 'book' that train.  Reservations are an entirely separate thing.  All this does is (a) make the pass valid for that train, it's not a valid ticket until you have done this and (b) act as an electronic travel diary to tell the Interrail management team what trains you've used so they can accurately allocate pass revenue to train operators.

• Step 8, show your pass to the conductor

  When a conductor comes along, open the app, click on My pass, pass details appear.  Click on Show ticket, the pass QR code appears.  The conductor will scan the QR code.  Most of the time, that's all.

  Sometimes the conductor will ask you to scroll down from the QR code to see the journeys added to the pass that day.  He's just making sure you've recorded that journey so the rail operator is credited for their share of pass revenue.

  Sometimes you'll be asked to show your passport, but not always.

• How to add a train manually if Rail Planner can't find it

  Occasionally, Rail Planner's journey planner can't find a train you want to take, but you can add such journeys manually.

  For example, Interrail is valid on the local trains between Latour de Carol & Barcelona, but Rail Planner can't access the database they're listed on.  And from Bucharest to Istanbul it thinks there's a change of train in Bulgaria, which in summer in the direct couchette car there isn't.

  Simply scroll down to the bottom of the search results and click on the link where it says Can't find your journey?  Add it manually to your pass.  You can now enter the correct origin, destination, time and (optionally) train number.

• Troubleshooting

  These tips are worth remembering if you have any problems showing your pass:

  1.  If you click Show ticket and the pass QR code fails to appear, go to My Trip and deselect the train you are using, then toggle it back onto the pass it.  Go back to My Pass, click Show ticket again and the QR code may now appear.

  2.  If that doesn't fix it, or if the app denies that you have a valid pass, don't panic!  Put your phone into aeroplane mode, which stops the app trying to contact the server in an area with poor reception.  Restart the app and it'll show the pass from it own local data.

• If you lose or change your phone

  If your phone is lost or stolen or you buy a new one, you can transfer your pass to a new device.  However, as an anti-fraud measure you can only do this once.  More than that and you'd need to contact Interrail/Eurail customer services.

  Open the Railplanner app on your new phone and open the Railplanner app.  Load the pass using your pass number and surname, just as you did on the original phone.  The system will know that the pass is already active on another device.  When prompted, select Move pass and follow the instructions.  This is not something I've had to do myself, so feedback would be appreciated!

• Buying & using passes for multiple people

  You can buy passes for multiple people in one transaction, for example for your family, partner or group of friends.  You'll get a separate pass number for each person.

  One option is to give each person their own pass number so they can load their own pass on to their own phone and use it independently as explained above.  You should use this option if there is any chance that people may want to go off on their own.

  The other option is for you to be 'group leader' and manage passes on behalf of everyone, by loading multiple passes onto one phone.  Just remember that you won't then be able to split up as all the passes will be one one phone.  This can't easily be changed afterwards.

  The process for handling multiple passes on one phone is a bit clunky, but works.  If you try to add a 2nd pass to the same trip, it offers to duplicate the trip.  Go ahead and create a duplicate trip for each person in your group and connect their pass to that trip (remember to rename each trip so you know which trip belongs to which person).  When you find a train in the journey planner and want to save it to your trip, you are offered tick-box options to save it to multiple trips, so you can save it to everyone's trip at once.  When you board the train, you need to open each person's trip and add that journey to that person's pass - unfortunately there's currently no way to do that in one go!

1. Planner:  Click Save journey to save a journey to My Trip.		2. My Trip:  Edit as you like.  Toggle to add a journey to your pass.		3. My Pass:  Click Show ticket when the conductor comes along.		4. Interrail ticket, upper.  The conductor will scan the QR code.		5. Interrail ticket, lower, showing list of trains added to pass.

How to use a hard-copy pass

• The pass:  The classic hard-copy Interrail pass is printed on blank ATB-size international train ticket stock with a security background.  If it's a flexi-type pass it will have boxes printed on it for each travel day.  When you want to use a travel day, you simply write the date in indelible black or blue ink in one of the boxes, using each box in turn.

• Pass cover number:  If you receive your pass stapled inside a paper cover, the pass number is printed on the rear of the cover, not on the pass itself, often referred to as the pass cover number.

• The travel diary:  The pass comes with a blank travel diary.  Each time you take a train, you need to write the date, where it's from and where it's to, in black or blue ink.  You send it back to them after your trip (free postage) and it's used for market research, it helps allocate Interrail revenue between operators.

  Tip:  If you use up all the diary pages you can print off more pages at www.eurail.com/content/dam/pdfs/Additional...pdf (please let me know if that link ceases to work!).

• To make it clear, Brussels to Nuremberg with a change in Frankfurt requires two separate entries, Brussels-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Nuremberg.  However, if a conductor found you had made only one entry, Brussels to Nuremberg, they should point it out (and maybe ask you to change it) but that's all.

• In theory you could be fined if the conductor finds that you haven't filled in your travel diary, but in practice most conductors will simply ask you to do so if you forgot.  However, there's always the risk that you'll meet a jobsworth, so play safe and fill it in while you're waiting for the train or as soon as you get on.

Hard-copy pass:  This is a 10-days in 2 months Interrail global Flexi pass.  Courtesy of Rail Europe.		The Interrail train travel diary: You need to fill this out each time you board a train.  Larger image.

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How to make reservations

'Pass' and 'reservations' are totally, utterly, completely separate

• This often confuses people, so listen up:

  The process of (1) activating and using your Interrail pass, and (2) making seat or berth reservations on particular trains to go with your pass, are two entirely different, separate, unconnected things.  One does not affect the other, in any way whatsoever.

  When you find a train in the Rail Planner app, add it to your 'trip' then toggle it onto your pass, this does not reserve seats or 'book' that train in any way at all.  All it does is make the pass valid for that journey.  It's simply an electronic record that helps Interrail management allocate pass revenue between operators.  Nothing more.

  For trains without seat reservations (for example, most local, suburban or regional trains) or where reservation is optional (for example most long-distance trains in Benelux, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czechia), that's all you need to do.  You can board the train, sit where you like and travel up and down to your heart's content.  Although making a seat reservation when it's optional is usually a smart move.

  But for trains with mandatory reservations (for example almost all long-distance trains in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal), you also need to make a reservation, this is a totally separate process from using the pass itself and it results in a totally separate ticket, either hard copy, .pdf, e-ticket, whatever, it depends.  There is no connection whatsoever between the reservations you make and your pass.  Did I mention that?

  So just as setting up your pass doesn't magically book you a seat on that train, making a seat or berth reservation on a particular train does not in any way activate your pass or add that train to your pass or use up a day on your pass or even commit you to using the pass on that train or date.

  If you have to enter your pass number when reserving, that's only to stop people without a pass making a reservation, it does not affect, trigger or use up your pass.  Reservations will not magically show up on your pass or in the Railplanner app, even if you had to enter your pass number when reserving, because your pass and any reservations you make are entirely unconnected, separate things.  Did I mention that?

  It's just that you need to be in possession of both a pass (properly set up for that train) and a valid reservation before boarding any train which has mandatory reservations.

• For example, suppose you live in the UK and have a Interrail pass loaded onto your phone.  Your friend lives in Canada and has bought a Eurail pass, loaded onto their phone.  Not a problem!  The passes don't even need to be activated.  One of you can sit at a desktop computer and make passholder reservations for 2 passengers travelling together, entirely unconnected from the passes, following my instructions for reserving that specific train/route/operator in my passholder reservations guide.  And if you later decide to bin those reservations and use the passes 3 months later in a totally different country, that's fine!  Did I mention passes and reservations are entirely unconnected?

You reserve different trains in different ways!

• Another reality check:  You reserve different trains/routes/operators in different ways, using different websites.

  True, there's an Interrail reservation service which can reserve many trains, but this can't do all routes/operators and even if it can book a train, there may be alternative methods which are better, either because they avoid the €2 booking fee or because they give you seating options or even let you choose your seats from a seat map, which the Interrail reservation service doesn't.

  How to reserve specific trains/routes/operators:  See my country-by-country Interrail reservations guide.

  How to reserve Eurostar from London to Paris, Lille, Brussels & Amsterdam: See the Interrail on Eurostar page.

  For general advice on making reservations, read on...

Option 1, online at the train operator's website

• Unfortunately, most train operator websites don't sell passholder reservations, only normal tickets.  Eurostar, SNCF (French Railways) & Trenitalia used to sell passholder reservations, they all stopped because it was abused by fare-evaders.

  But some operators do sell passholder reservations on their website and this is the best option as you pay no booking fee (only the reservation fee), you get a wide choice of seating options and can sometimes choose your seat from a seat map.

• Operators that can sell reservations on their own websites include:

  - DB (German Railways), int.bahn.de can make 'seat-only' bookings for German domestic trains and for international trains between Germany & Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague, Warsaw, Krakow, Copenhagen & Switzerland.  You can select your seat from a seat map on German IC or ICE trains.  However, do not use it to/from Italy or Paris without first consulting my reservations page as special arrangements apply.

  - ÖBB (Austrian Railways), www.oebb.at sells passholder reservations for Nightjet sleeper trains, Nightjet partner sleeper trains, and Vienna-Italy railjet trains.  It can also make 'seat only' bookings on reservation optional trains between Austria & Prague, Budapest, Germany or Switzerland.  You can select your seat from a seat map on ÖBB's railjet trains.

  - SJ (Swedish Railways), www.sj.se sells passholder reservations for Swedish trains, Copenhagen-Stockholm & Stockholm-Oslo trains, and the Stockholm-Hamburg-Berlin sleeper train.  You can select your seat from a seat map on many Swedish trains including X2000.

  - CD (Czech Railways), www.cd.cz can do 'seat-only' bookings within Czechia and for many international routes to/from Prague.  You can usually select your seat from a seat map if the train uses Czech Railways rolling stock.

  - PKP Intercity (Polish Railways), www.intercity.pl sells reservations on trains within Poland and for Berlin-Warsaw & Berlin-Krakow trains.

• To see if this is possible, go to the reservations page & click on the country where the journey starts.

Option 2, online using the Interrail reservation service

• If you can't book direct with the train operator, the next best thing is usually the official Interrail reservations service at www.interrail.eu/en/book-reservations.

  You need to buy a pass before you can access this service, as a pass number is required even to run enquiries.

  It'll make reservations on most trains in western & central Europe including Eurostar, but not on trains in Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Bulgaria, Greece or Turkey.

  Reservations can usually be made until 3 hours before departure, you can use their mobile website if you're already on the move.

  There's a booking fee of €2 per reservation in addition to the reservation fee.  The prices they show include this booking fee.

  One downside, you aren't offered any seating choice, not even 'aisle' or 'window', you'll get what you're given.

  Reservations are usually e-ticketed and emailed to you, in a few cases (for example, Norwegian reservations) hard copy tickets have to be posted to you at extra cost.

• To learn more about the Eurail reservation service, see here.

• To see whether to use this service for a specific route, go to my reservations page & click on the country where the journey starts.

Option 3, online at other websites

• Belgian Railways, www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass

  Passholder reservations on Eurostar and Eurostar (formerly Thalys) can be made either at the official Eurail reservation service or at the Belgian Railways international site www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass (please tell me if this direct link stops working).  The advantage of www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass is that you can check passholder availability before you buy your pass, as the pass number is only needed to buy the reservation, not to run an enquiry.  But at the time I write this, b-europe charges a €4 booking fee per total booking, the Eurail reservation service only charges €2 per person.

  Tip:  If you have a mobile pass and it won't accept your mobile pass number, simply generate a pass cover number from your mobile pass number using this special page: www.eurail.com/en/book-reservations#/generatePassCoverNumber.

• Rail Europe, www.raileurope.com

  The Rail Europe website can sell passholder reservations for many journeys around western Europe including France and Italy.  You need to click Add rail pass and select the type of pass you have.

Option 4, by phone with a UK booking agency

• If you have problems making reservations online, you can pick up the phone, but expect to pay a phone booking fee.

• For trains within France, Spain, Switzerland and between France, Spain and neighbouring countries, call International Rail on 0844 248 248 3 or Trainseurope on 0871 700 7722, office hours Monday-Friday in both cases.

• For trains in Germany, Austria, central & eastern Europe & Scandinavia, call German Railways UK phone line on 00 49 (0)30 311 68 29 04, lines open 08:30-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday UK time, 1.5% fee for phone bookings.

Option 5, in person at the station

• You can make reservations at station ticket offices either in advance or on the day of departure, sometimes up to an hour or two before the train leaves, sometimes right up to departure time.  Just show your rail pass at the ticket window and ask for the reservation.  Many European railway staff speak some English, but if you don't speak the language, just write down what you want and show it to the booking clerk.  Easy!

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Other railpasses worth knowing about

Interrail is the main pass range for European residents, but several countries also have their own national railpasses which can be worth knowing about.

Swiss Travel Pass

A Swiss Travel Pass offers 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8 days unlimited travel in Switzerland within 1 month.  It covers pretty much the same Swiss train operators & routes as an Interrail Pass does, but in addition also covers post-buses, some lake steamers and a handful of smaller private train operators which Interrail doesn't.  Both pass types cover SBB (Swiss Federal Railways), the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway (BLS) and the major private operators including MGB and RhB, so both pass types cover the entire route of the Glacier Express & Bernina Express, for example.  However, you'll usually find that an Interrail One-Country Pass for Switzerland is a lot cheaper than a Swiss Travel Pass if you don't need the post-buses or very minor railways.  More about Swiss Travel Passes.

Trenitalia Pass

Unlike an Interrail pass, a Trenitalia pass doesn't give unlimited travel, just a specific number of journeys (3, 4, 7 or 10 trips) on Trenitalia high-speed or Intercity trains, to be made within a set period of days.  More about the Trenitalia pass.

Renfe's Spain Pass

Unlike an Interrail pass, a Renfe Spain Pass doesn't give unlimited travel, just a specific number of journeys, from 4 to 12 trips in one month.  Reservations must still be made, but there are no extra fees to pay.  The pass saves money over full fares, although the cheapest 'web' fares are still a cheaper way to travel if you pre-book.  More about Renfe's Spain Pass.

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The European Rail timetable has train, bus & ferry times for every country in Europe (eastern and western) plus currency and climate information.  It is definitely worth buying if you're planning an extensive tour with a Interrail pass - having your own comprehensive timetable puts you in control of your own trip, and will save you hours in queues for station information desks or struggling with station timetables which show only the most basic information.  Buy at www.europeanrailtimetable.eu.

In each of my station guides I recommend some highly-rated hotels near the station and/or in the heart of the city near the sights, some from personal experience, some from Seat 61 traveller feedback, and some from careful research.  In some cases I suggest some iconic hotels or hotels with a story to tell, which will be more than just a roof over your head!

How to book hotels

Hotels:  I usually use Booking.com to choose hotels as it has the most comprehensive coverage of European hotels, has a good, clear interface and you can normally book with free cancellation.  That means you can reserve hotels risk-free before train booking opens.  I've also come to trust Booking.com's review scores, any hotel over 8.0 is unlikely to disappoint.

Incidentally, hotels will almost always look after your bags for free if you need to check out and catch an afternoon or evening train, or if you arrive in the morning before your room is ready.  I thought everyone knew this, but apparently not!

Backpacker hostels:  If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels.  Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com) offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in most European cities at rock-bottom prices.