Eurail or Interrail?

Before we start, which of Europe's two great railpass ranges applies to you?

  If you live in Europe, you qualify for an Interrail pass, so hop over to the Interrail page.

  If you live outside Europe, you qualify for a Eurail pass so stay on this page & read on...

What is a Eurail pass?

Eurail is the railpass range for overseas visitors, giving unlimited train travel either in the country of your choice with a Eurail single-country pass or across most of Europe with a Eurail global pass.  This page talks you through buying & using a Eurail pass, and whether a Eurail pass or point-to-point tickets is best for you.  I'll tell it like it is, you may find cheap train tickets a better deal.

  Country-by-country guide:  Which trains are covered?  Which trains require reservation & what does it cost?

Useful train travel information...

  General information for train travel in Europe

  Where to buy cheap point-to-point tickets

  1st class versus 2nd class

  Luggage on trains & luggage storage at stations

  Sleepers & couchettes explained

Why explore Europe by train?

Whether you use a Eurail pass or buy cheap advance-purchase tickets, the train is the best way to tour the cities of Europe in comfort, relaxed, seeing a lot in a short time.  It's not just about transportation:  Train travel is part of the European way of life, and the train rides are an experience in itself - in some cases a highlight of your trip.  A Eurail pass gives you unrivalled freedom & flexibility, or you can buy 'budget train fares' by booking in advance from the relevant operator, just as you would with a budget airline  On this page I explain both options.

Speed & practicality... European trains link almost every city & town at up to 200 mph, often faster than flying as there's no trek to the airport, no 2-hour check-in, no airport security hassle.  A '1 hour flight' takes 4 hours.  Paris-Amsterdam now takes 3h20 by train, Paris-Geneva 3h05...		Comfort, relaxation, a chance to chill out... ...unlike flying, train travel is relaxed & hassle-free.  Unlike bus travel it's high comfort.  Aren't you on vacation?  On trains, you get space to move around, lots of legroom and often a café, bar or even restaurant.  Overnight sleeper trains cover huge distances such as Zurich to Prague or Paris to Venice, effectively faster than flying and it saves hotel bill, too.  The train journeys become a welcome chance to chill out between cities...				Scenery & the experience... ...and there's often superb scenery.  Your train journeys are an integral part of the European experience, something to enjoy for their own sake, giving you a ground-level feel for the countries you're visiting... Above:  Scenery from a Milan-Paris TGV, feet up & glass of wine to hand.

Things to consider...

• In Europe, cars and city centres don't mix.  Hiring a car is a great way to explore the countryside & villages of Tuscany or the Dordogne (indeed, I'd recommend it!), but to visit cities such as Paris, Rome, Prague, Barcelona or Budapest, hiring a car is a mistake.  It's not like driving in the States.  In overcrowded Europe, driving on busy motorways is tedious.  European cities are congested & parking non-existent or expensive.  There may be fines for entering traffic-free zones.  Some car hire companies won't let their cars cross borders, others charge prohibitive fees for one-way cross-border rentals.

• A 1-hour flight takes up to 4 hours once you include the bus or train to the airport, 2-hour check-in, flight, then more airport hassle and another bus, train or taxi into town.  More importantly, if you fly you miss out on the European journey experience:  It's not just transport from A to B, the train ride lets you chill out, read, chat, work, meet people and experience Europe - it can even be a highlight of your trip.  If you fly you must factor in the significant extra cost of airport transfers & baggage fees. And don't forget that short-haul flights cause disproportionate environmental damage.

• Long distance buses are usually the poor man's choice in Europe.  Buses travel along ugly motorways which spoil the scenery they pass through.  A 3-hour train ride at up to 186mph with regular departures might be an 8-hour endurance test by bus with just two buses per day.  You're stuck in a bus seat for hours, no restaurant or cafe-bar and at night you sleep slumped in a seat.  Unlike trains, you're usually not allowed to bring your own food & drink on buses, let alone alcohol such as a nice beer or glass of wine.  Avoid...

• Relax by train, city centre to city centre on a vast rail network covering almost every town & city, with a range of departures every day.  Trains run at up to 200 mph (320 km/h), faster than flying for journeys such as London to Paris (2h20), Paris to Amsterdam (3h20), Paris to Geneva (3h05), Barcelona to Madrid (2h38) or Rome to Venice (3h45).  Even Paris-Barcelona (6h20) is better by train, with great scenery centre to centre compared to 5 hours of RER train, airport, soulless flight, airport, then Spanish metro train.  Sleeper trains are an experience, covering huge distances while you sleep, such as Paris-Venice, Zurich-Prague or Prague-Krakow, city centre to city centre, saving a hotel bill & avoiding the 4 or 5 daytime hours wasted by flying.  Trains are low-hassle, low stress, with loads of legroom, you can wander to the bar or restaurant.  Or feel free to bring your own picnic and your own bottle of wine or beer, it's allowed on trains!

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What is a Eurail pass?

• Eurail is the brand name for the range of railpasses offered to overseas visitors giving unlimited travel on trains run by over 30 European train operators - see the list of participating countries below or see the Eurail map.  Eurail is not a train operator and there no special 'Eurail' trains, you use any and all of the regular trains run by the participating operators.

• The national train operators who participate in the Eurail scheme have created a Eurail scheme management company, with a small marketing organisation based in Utrecht in the Netherlands who manage both the Eurail & Interrail schemes.  It's the team in Utrecht who run the official Eurail website www.eurail.com.  As it happens, I've been there to discuss recent scheme improvements with them, nice people!

• You can choose a Eurail pass giving unlimited travel for various periods of time on the national rail networks of just one of the 33 participating countries (a one-country pass) or all 33 countries (a global pass).  Unlimited travel means unlimited - you can use 1 train or 20 trains a day, going 10 miles or 800 miles, it doesn't matter.  The different types of Eurail pass are explained here.

• Eurail passes allow you to travel on all the normal scheduled trains run by the participating national train operators, including high-speed, inter-city, overnight sleeper, regional & suburban.  Eurail passes now also cover various smaller private train operators.  In many cases including most local & regional trains, you just hop on and show your pass when asked, it's that simple.  To understand how Eurail passes work, which trains they cover, and how reservation work, see how a Eurail pass works here. 

• Just be aware that you have to pay a small fee for a seat reservation on many long-distance & high-speed trains and for sleeping berths on overnight trains.  This can be done at the station as you go, or in advance, sometimes online, sometimes only by phone.  The cost of reservations on specific routes (and whether or not that reservation can be made online) is shown on the Eurail & Interrail reservations page.

• There are a handful of other railpasses worth knowing about as they are sometimes better value than Eurail, for example the Swiss Pass, German Railpass & Renfe Spain Pass.  These non-Eurail passes are explained here.

Who qualifies for a Eurail pass?

• It's residence that matters, not nationality:  You can buy a Eurail pass if you are resident outside Europe, for example in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia or Africa.

• You must buy a Eurail pass before you get here, you cannot buy Eurail passes when you get to Europe.

• If you live in Europe or in Turkey, Russian Federation, Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia you cannot buy a Eurail pass, you qualify for the Interrail pass range instead.  Interrail passes cover exactly the same countries & trains as Eurail, with the same fees for the same reservations, so an American and a British traveller can easily travel together, one using a Eurail pass, the other an Interrail pass.

• It's worth mentioning that over recent years the Eurail pass range for overseas visitors and the Interrail pass range for European residents have converged.  Pass types & prices are now almost identical.  The way the two pass ranges operate in terms of trains covered and the need for (& cost of) reservations is identical.

Which countries participate in Eurail?

• The countries participating in the Eurail pass scheme are:

  Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia (new from 2020), Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia (new from 2020), Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey & (new in 2019) the United Kingdom.  Eurail does not cover the Albania, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia or Moldova.

• See map of countries participating in the Eurail scheme.

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Eurail pass types explained

It's really quite simple, even simpler after January 2019 when selectpasses & saver passes were discontinued, leaving just One-country or Global Eurail passes, in 1st or 2nd class, for each passenger age group:  Adult, youth, senior, child...

Who's going?

• Adult - which should be self explanatory.

• Senior - for anyone aged over 60 on the first day of pass validity - 10% less than the adult price, introduced in January 2019.

• Youth - for anyone aged under 28 on the first day of pass validity - it used to be under 26 until 2017.

• Child - for kids aged under 12.  Children 4-11 inclusive get a free Eurail pass when accompanying someone on an Adult pass, although they still need to pay any relevant reservation fees.  On some retailer's website this is shown as 'family'.  Note that you have to have an Adult pass to get the free Child passes, you can't get them with Youth or Senior passes.

• Infants - children aged under 4 travel free on trains anyway and don't need any pass, nor do they pay any reservation fees.  In some countries the age limit for infants is 5 or even 6, so don't pay if you don't have to, see the age limits for each European country here.

Where are you going?

• A Eurail Global pass covers all 33 participating countries, see the list or see map of rail network in the Eurail countries.

• A Eurail Single-Country pass covers just one country of your choice.  A Eurail single-country pass now exists for each participating country except Switzerland & Germany.  A one-country pass is cheaper than buying a global pass covering all the countries.  If you're only visiting Switzerland you can use a Swiss Travel Pass instead, if you're only visiting Germany buy a German Rail Pass.

How long for?

You can buy Eurail passes giving unlimited train travel for various periods of time.  But you need to get your head around two different concepts.

• Continuous passes give unlimited travel every day for a continuous period of time, either 15 days, 22 days or 1, 2 or 3 months, starting on any date you like.  These give the ultimate in freedom and flexibility, but to make them worthwhile you need to be on a train every day or two.

• Flexi passes are more economical if you plan to stay put for a number of days between each train ride.  Flexi passes give 4, 5, 7, 10 or 15 days unlimited travel within an overall 1 or 2 month period.  For example, take the 5 days in 1 month pass:  The overall 1 month starts ticking on the date you validate your pass at a station, you can then 'spend' each of your 5 days of unlimited travel any time during that 1 month period, on whatever dates you like, just by writing the date in one of the 5 boxes printed on your pass each time you want to use one of your travel days.  All the one-country passes are of this flexi type.  The 3-day pass was changed to 4 days in January 2020.

• You can look up the available pass types, time periods and prices at the official Eurail website, www.eurail.com.

1st or 2nd class?

• You can now choose 1st or 2nd class with any pass type.

• 2nd class is absolutely fine, it's the way we Europeans generally travel - unless the Company is paying!  Many local trains are 2nd class only, and on many (though not all) sleeper trains you can access all accommodation types (even deluxe sleepers with en suite toilet & shower) with just a 2nd class pass plus the relevant sleeper supplement.

• But 1st class seating is available on most longer-distance trans and if you can afford it, 1st class is obviously nicer, with wider, plusher seats, more legroom.  In 1st class there are usually more businessmen tapping on laptops and fewer families with kids.  Don't assume 1st class gets you any food or drink or free limo transfers or complimentary massages or whatever, this is not an airline.  Your default assumption should be that 2nd class seating is nice, 1st class seating is nicer, and it's normally just the nicer seating with fewer people per car that you're paying for when you go 1st class.  Sometimes a 1st class pass will get you into a first class lounge at a station, but more often than not it won't.

• What's the difference between 1st & 2nd class?  That may help you decide!

Other railpasses for Switzerland, Spain & Germany...

• As well as the large and well-known Eurail pass range, several countries do their own non-Eurail pass, which can be worth checking.  The Swiss Travel Pass is what you want for Switzerland as there is no one-country Eurail pass for that country.  The Renfe Spain Pass is worth considering as a better bet than the Eurail one-country Spain pass.  German Railways (DB) also offer a German Pass.  I've summed these up here.

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Eurail pass prices

They're priced in euros, but obviously you can buy in your own currency.  You can check these prices and buy online at the official Eurail website www.eurail.com.  As I write this, 1 USD = €0.88, 1 AUD = €0.61.  Check current exchange rates.

You can check one-country pass prices at www.eurail.com...

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• Forgive me for saying so, but overseas visitors sometimes seem brainwashed into thinking that they have to buy a Eurail pass to use trains in Europe.  Of course you don't.  Anyone connected to the internet can buy the same cheap point-to-point tickets that we Europeans buy, at the same prices, direct from the same train operator websites that we use.

• Many visitors are surprised to learn that European train fares now work like air fares, with dynamic pricing depending how far ahead you book and how popular that day or date is, with cheap fares if you book in advance direct with the relevant operator & commit to a specific train.  If you have a simple fixed pre-planned itinerary, buying cheap advance-purchase train fares is almost always the cheapest option.

• Thanks to the internet, you can buy these cheap advance-purchase fares from any computer, tablet or smartphone in the USA or Australia just as easily as I can from the UK, following my journey-specific advice on the How to Buy European Train Tickets page.

A simple example...

• Let's assume your itinerary includes a journey from Berlin to Prague...

  - Advance-purchase fares start at €19.90 if booked well in advance, specified train only, no changes, no refunds.

  - A full-price flexible ticket costs €72 bought at the station on the day, good for any train.

  - If you buy a 5 days in 2 months Eurail global pass it works out as €56.40 per day (adult) or €43.40 (youth under 28).

  - If you buy a 10 days in 2 months Eurail global pass it works out as €40.10 per day (adult) or €30.10 (youth under 28).

• So is a pass the cheapest option?  No, it's not, the €19.90 advance-purchase ticket is.  It's also the easiest option, quickly booked online at the German or Czech Railways website and printed out - or you can simply show it on your smartphone.  Click, click!  Booked!

  But does a pass still make sense?  Yes, if you don't want to nail your plans to the floor months in advance, if you want the freedom to travel when you want, or even decide not to go to Prague after all, but to Vienna instead.  A pass is cheaper than the €72 full-price fare, and as it gives unlimited travel, you can make additional journeys that same day if you want to.

• Take a more expensive example:  Amsterdam-Berlin:

  - Advance-purchase fares start at €39.90 if booked well in advance, specified train only, no changes, no refunds.

  - A full-price flexible ticket costs €126 bought at the station on the day, good for any train.

  - The 5 days in 2 months Eurail global pass still works out as €56.40 per day (adult) or €43.40 (youth under 28).

  - The 10 days in 2 months Eurail global pass still works out as €40.10 per day (adult) or €30.10 (youth under 28).

  Now a 10-day pass breaks even or (if you're under 28) saves money over the cheapest advance-purchase fare, and saves a lot over the full-flex fare.  But it depends which pass length your itinerary justifies, as the pass-cost-per-day works out more expensive the shorter the duration of the pass - I've worked out all the pass costs per day here.  It also depends on whether you qualify for an adult, senior or youth pass, and on what advance-purchase fares you actually see online for your date of travel, the €39.90 might be sold out and it might be €49.90 or €59.90 instead.  But you get the picture!

My advice, without doing the maths...

• You must decide if you want freedom & flexibility, or are happy to commit to specific trains well in advance.  It's really a 4-way decision:

  (1)  Buy a Eurail pass for unlimited flexible travel, remembering that a reservation fee must be paid for certain trains;

  (2)  Buy full-flex point-to-point tickets as you go - cheap for short hops, expensive for longer distances;

  (3)  Buy cheap advance-purchase tickets direct from the operator, limited or no refunds or changes to travel plans allowed;

  (4)  Mix & match these options:  Combine a Eurail pass with regular tickets for short hops or pre-planned longer journeys.

  It's risky to generalise, but I'll have a go, for those without the patience to do the maths as explained in the next section...

• For a few short train rides, don't buy a railpass....

  Nice-Cannes is just €3, Florence-Pisa only €8.  A railpass is total overkill for a few short local journeys.  Obvious, I hope...

• For a few long train rides, don't buy a pass if your dates are fixed & you can book cheap fares in advance....

  If you can book 2-3 months ahead, only plan to make one journey per travel day, have a fixed itinerary so know your exact dates and are happy to commit to specific trains on a no-refunds-no-changes-to-travel-plans basis, it's almost always cheaper to buy advance-purchase point-to-point tickets direct from the relevant operator, following my journey-specific advice here.

  For example, a 3-days-in-1-month adult Eurail global pass works out as €72 per day.  If you'll only do one journey on any given day which could easily be booked in advance, you'll almost always find advance-purchase fares cheaper:

  Rome-Florence starts at €19.90; Rome-Venice from €29.90, Paris-Nice from €25; Paris-Amsterdam from €35; Amsterdam-Berlin from €39.90; Berlin-Prague from €19.90;  Prague-Budapest from €21;  Venice-Vienna from €29;  Vienna-Salzburg from €9.

  In fact, if you used a pass for Rome-Florence or Paris-Nice you'd have to pay a €10 passholder reservation fee!  Point-to-point prices always include any compulsory reservation.

  Just remember that these advance-purchase fares vary like budget air fares depending how far in advance you book and how popular that date or train is.  If you needed to go tomorrow, the pass might be cheaper!

  So if you don't really need the unlimited train rides, unlimited distance and unlimited flexibility that a pass give you, you can save a lot of money by buying cheap train-specific advance-purchase tickets instead.

  Overseas travel agents often don't know about these cheap advance-purchase train fares, and overseas agency sites often can't access the cheap fares for every route.  For example, the ONLY website that can sell those €21 tickets from Prague to Budapest is the official Czech Railways website - did I mention that you should follow my journey-specific advice here?

• For a few long train rides where you DON'T want to nail your plans to the floor in advance, consider a pass...

  Cheap advance-purchase tickets commit you to specific dates & trains with limited or no changes to travel plans allowed.  A pass may well save money over longer-distance full-flex fares bought at the station, if you travel far enough each day, even if it costs more than cheap advance-purchase fares.  For example, Amsterdam-Berlin starts at €39.90 booked way in advance, but the full-flex fare bought on the day is around €130, so a €33-to-€72-per-day Eurail pass saves a lot of money!

• For many long train rides on an extensive or complex itinerary, buy a pass...

  For a long trip, say several weeks exploring every major city in Europe or a very long journey such as London to Istanbul, I'd buy a railpass even if advance-purchase fares were cheaper.  A complex itinerary booked with cheap no-refund no-changes advance-purchase tickets could collapse like a house of cards if a fire, flood, strike or security alert cancelled one of the trains, forcing you to buy new tickets at expensive full-flex prices for the rest of your trip.  A Eurail pass allows you to flex your dates, trains and even routes as necessary, it's a form of insurance.

  A real-life example:  Mrs 61 and I once travelled from my in-laws' in the Netherlands to Italy.  The day before our return journey a train crash in Belgium completely blocked our planned Milan-Paris-Rotterdam route.  Fortunately, we were using railpasses so could easily divert via Milan-Zurich-Cologne-Rotterdam without having to buy new tickets or losing any money on existing tickets.

• If you are under 28 years old, consider a pass...

  The Youth Eurail pass compares very reasonably with even the cheapest advance-purchase fares, for example the 10-days-in-2-months youth global pass works out at just €30.70 per day for unlimited flexible travel all across Europe.  For one or two or three specific journeys, I'd still buy advance-purchase tickets, but for anything more than that consider the pass.  Even if it costs a few euros more, the extra flexibility is worth it, giving you the ability to change your mind or divert via another route or train if something goes wrong with one leg of the itinerary.  Incidentally, the age limit for Youth passes changed in 2017, anyone under 28 now qualifies for a youth pass, previously it was under 26.

• If you have kids, consider a pass...

  The free Eurail passes for children may swing the balance towards buying a pass, even for a pre-planned itinerary.  Now you really have to do the maths, as shown in the next section.

• Why not mix-and-match a pass with budget train tickets, to save money on pre-planned parts of your trip?

  For example, for 11 days of train travel in Europe, it's cheaper to buy a 10-day Eurail pass plus one point-to-point ticket for the shortest/cheapest of all your train rides, than to buy the next pass size up, which is a 15-day pass.  Or if the start of your trip is known and fixed, but you want to stay flexible for the rest, you could buy a cheap ticket for the first journey or two, then use a railpass.  And if your plan includes a few short hops, use cheap local point-to-point tickets for those, and buy a cheaper pass with fewer unlimited travel days.

• To sum up...

  Perhaps you came to this page thinking that railpasses save money, but these days they often don't.  It's more accurate to think of them as the deluxe option offering affordable go-as-you-please flexibility, instead of cheaper pre-booked budget train fares that fix your plans in stone.  Stands to reason, really.  A pass giving unlimited flexible 1st class travel ought to cost more than a cheap budget ticket booked two months in advance direct with the train operator...

To work it out accurately, do the maths...

• Step 1, work out what a Eurail pass costs per day...

  Working out the cost per day makes it easier to see if it'll save money over the point-to-point prices.  Just divide the pass cost by the number of days travel it gives you (or, for a continuous pass, by the actual number of days you think you'll be using it).  I've worked it out for you with 2nd class flexi passes here:

  Eurail global pass	2nd class
  	Adult (aged 28-59)	Youth (under 28)	Senior (over 60)
  4 days in 1 month (flexi)	€246 = €62 per day	€185 = €46 per day	€221 = €55 per day
  5 days in 1 month (flexi)	€282 = €56 per day	€212 = €42 per day	€254 = €51 per day
  7 days in 1 month (flexi)	€335 = €48 per day	€251 = €36 per day	€302 = €43 per day
  10 days in 2 months (flexi)	€401 = €40 per day	€301 = €30 per day	€361 = €36 per day
  15 days in 2 months (flexi)	€493 = €33 per day	€370 = €25 per day	€444 = €30 per day

• If you have kids, they get a Eurail pass for free (but still have to pay any reservation fees), this might tip the balance towards a pass.

• Step 2, factor in any likely Eurail reservation fees...

  You need to pay reservation fees for certain trains in addition to the cost of the pass.  The cost can be significant if you're visiting the pass-unfriendly countries, but might be negligible if you're visiting pass-friendly countries.  For planning purposes, here's a rough - but still pretty accurate - rule of thumb:

  Pass-unfriendly countries:  For almost any inter-city journey to, from or within France, Italy, Sweden, Spain & Portugal, a reservation has to be made and a fee paid, which you can reckon as €10 per train.  For international journeys to or from France, make that €13-€30.

  Pass-friendly countries:  On the other hand, in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, central & eastern Europe, seat reservation is usually optional with nothing more to pay unless you want a reserved seat, or a couchette or sleeper.

  If you're travelling to or from London, Eurail passes cover the London-Paris & London-Brussels Eurostar with a special passholder fare of around €30, see the Eurostar passholder reservations page.

• Step 3, now work out what point to point fares would be...

  Go to the How to buy European train tickets page and select the starting city for each journey you plan to make.   On the following page, select the destination city.  I'll tell you the best routes and trains between those cities and which website to use to book (or price) it.

  European trains normally open for reservations 90 days before departure or in a few cases 120 or 180 days and in eastern Europe only 60 days, If your European trip is still many months away, pick a random date in the next 60-90 days and check fares for that date.  The prices won't change much!

  Don't rely on a ticketing agency in your home country to tell you point to point fares, or believe 'point to point comparisons' made by people trying to sell you a railpass.  Overseas agencies often can't access the cheap fares for every operator.  For example, the only place you can buy a €20 fare from Prague to Budapest or a €15 fare from Munich to Prague is the Czech Railways website, absolutely nowhere else.  So I repeat, follow the advice on the How to buy European train tickets page.

• If you know your dates, have a fixed itinerary and are prepared to commit to a specific date & train, you can compare the pass with the cheapest advance-purchase rate you see on the online booking systems, which will usually be train-specific with limited or no refunds or changes to travel plans.

• You'll usually also see a more expensive fare called standard or Standardpreis or Flexpreis or Base price or similar, which is the top-of-the-range fare which you'd pay at the station on the day.  So if you demand flexibility, this is the price with which to compare the cost per day of a pass.  Yes, a Eurail may well save money over these expensive on-the-day full-price fares, depending on how far you travel.

Typical Eurail pass example:  Rome - Florence - Venice...

• Railpasses only make financial sense for Italy if you plan to travel a significant distance every day, or perhaps make two medium-distance trips every day, which few people do.  I find people typically go from Rome to Florence, then Florence to Venice, then perhaps Venice to Milan or Cinque Terre, 1 trip per day.  Even at the full-flex Base fare this doesn't justify a pass once you add the €10 passholder reservation fee for every Italian fast train.  If you're prepared to forego flexibility and book cheap no-refunds no-changes advance purchase fares you can save quite a bit over the cost of pass.

• So for Italy, only buy a pass if you have done the maths and remembered the €10 passholder reservation fee for every fast train.

Typical Eurail pass example:  Berlin - Prague - Vienna - Budapest...

• If you book a cheap no-refunds no-changes advance fare a couple of months in advance, Berlin-Prague starts from €19.90, Prague-Vienna from €15, Vienna-Budapest from €19.  This is by far the cheapest way to make such a circuit, if you can book ahead and don't want flexibility.

• If you want to stay flexible and are under 28 years old, a pass can save money over full-flex on-the-day prices.  On the other hand, if you're over 28 you're still better sticking with regular tickets even if you pay full price at the station.

Typical Eurail pass example:  London - Paris - Brussels - Amsterdam...

• Eurail passes now cover Eurostar (London-Paris), but you have to pay a passholder fare of €30 in standard class or €38 in standard premier (1st) class.

• Thalys (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam) charges a €20 passholder reservation fee for Paris-Brussels or €25 Paris-Amsterdam, with even these passholder places limited by quota, meaning you'd better book in advance even with a pass in case the quota runs out.  If you book this through an agency, they'll charge you a €10 fee for selling you the €20-€25 fee.

• Booked 2-3 months ahead at www.thalys.com, you can buy Paris-Brussels Thalys tickets from just €29 or Paris-Amsterdam tickets from €35 including reservation.  I would think long and hard before choosing to make a London-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam circuit using a pass rather than advance-purchase tickets.

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How does a Eurail pass work?

• You don't need to specify exactly what date you want your Eurail pass to start when you buy it.  The pass validity will start on whatever day you validate it at a station in Europe, which can be done any time in the 11 months after you buy it.  So even if you bought your pass in March to use in July, then had to postpone your trip until September for some personal reasons, this wouldn't be a problem - you'd simply keep the pass and validate it when you got to Europe in September instead.

Validating your pass...

• When you get to Europe and want to start using your pass, you need to 'validate' it at any main station before you get on your first train.  You do this at the ticket office, the booking clerk will enter the start date on your pass and rubber stamp it.  Your Eurail pass is then ready to use and the overall pass validity period starts.  So if you had a 10-days-in-2-months pass, the overall 2 month period would start from that date.

• Alternatively, if you're absolutely sure of the date when you want your overall pass validity to start, you can specify that date when you buy your pass.  It then arrives pre-validated from that date and there's no need to validate it at a station.

Using your pass...

• Continuous type Eurail passes are then valid for unlimited train travel every day through the whole pass validity period.

• Flexi type Eurail passes give you a certain number of unlimited travel days during the overall pass validity period, which is usually 2 months starting on the date you validate the pass. 

  If the number of days is, say, 10, there will be 10 empty boxes printed on your Eurail pass.  On a day when you decide to use one of those 10 days of unlimited travel, you simply write the date in one of the boxes in ball-point pen.  You now have unlimited train travel from midnight to midnight on that date.

  You do not have to decide in advance which 10 days these will be, you can decide as you go, simply writing the date in a box each time you want to 'spend' a day of free travel, until all your boxes of free travel are used up.  Simple!

  Tip 1:  It's a beginner's mistake, but even if you have a fixed itinerary, don't pre-date all your boxes for the dates you think you'll need them at the beginning of your tour.  Unexpected things can happen, once you have written a date in a box, you can't change it.  Play safe, write in the dates as you go along.

  Tip 2:  You aren't forced to use your pass for every train trip you want to make.  For example, if you wanted to make a day trip from Florence to Pisa, it's more economical to buy a regular ticket for €16 than use a valuable day on a pass which might be worth €50 per day, assuming that you can save that pass day for a longer trip where it would be better value.  On the other hand, if you bought a 5-day pass and only planned to make 4 longer distance trips, you may as well use the spare 5th day for this day trip.

• Unlimited travel means unlimited travel!  I'm not sure which part of 'un' people don't understand, the 'u' or the 'n'!  You can take as many trains as you like between midnight and midnight that day, 1 train or 20 trains, 10 miles or 800 miles, you can stay on trains all day if you want to.  Though there may be seat reservations or small supplements to pay on certain trains, more about that below.

Filling in the travel diary...

• Your pass comes in a cover, and attached to that cover is a blank travel diary.  Each time you take a train, you need to record the date, where it's from and where it's to, in black or blue ink - that's in addition to filling in the travel date on the pass itself if it's a Flexi-type pass.  The railways use this as market research, helping them to allocate Eurail revenue between operators.

• 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 there's a fine if the conductor finds that you haven't filled it in at all, but in practice most conductors will simply ask you to do so if you haven't.  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.

• If you're using a mobile Eurail pass in the Eurail app on your smartphone (rather than the classic printed pass, mobile passes are new in September 2020) there's no paper travel diary, you just use the Eurail pass app's journey planner to select and add a trip, or you can add one manually.

Which trains can you use with a pass?

• A Eurail pass gives unlimited free travel on all the normal scheduled train services run by the national train operator in each of the countries it covers, although you'll need to make a reservation and/or pay a supplement on some trains, see the country-by-country guide.  See map of rail network in the Eurail countries.

  Eurail passes also cover many (but not all) private operators in Switzerland and a few other countries, as shown in the country by country guide.  Map of rail network in the Eurail countries.

• You may be given a small timetable booklet with your pass...

  People often think that the trains in the booklet are the only trains you're allowed to take with your Eurail pass.  Nonsense, of course not!  You're allowed to use any regular scheduled train run by the operators covered by your pass, whether it's in that booklet or not!

• Top tip, download the Railplanner App...

  I recommend downloading the Railplanner App for your smartphone from eurailgroup.org/travellers-area/#railplanner.  This is a great Europe-wide timetable app which you can use to check train times whilst on the move - the timetable works offline, so no data cost issues.  The app also does passholder reservations for Eurostar, Thalys & Trenitalia high-speed trains.

• Eurail passes don't cover city buses, trams & metros...

  Eurail passes don't give free travel on buses, trams or metros in big cities as these are usually run by urban transit authorities, not by the national train operator.  If you want unlimited bus & metro travel in Paris for a day or more, buy a Paris Pass from www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA or Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ), just use the search facility on those sites.

• Eurail passes don't cover some private train operators...

  For example, passes don't cover the Euskotren narrow-gauge local trains in Spain, the Circumvesuviana railway Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento or the Jungfrau line in Switzerland.

  Nor do Eurail passes usually cover the private operators who now compete with the state-owned national train operator on a handful or routes, such as Italo high-speed trains in Italy which compete with the national train operator Trenitalia - as a passholder, you have to use Trenitalia.  Similarly, GWTR & Arriva in the Czech Republic aren't covered, you have to use CD (Czech State Railways) trains. 

  Again, the country-by-country guide gives details of what is and isn't covered in each country.

• The best resource for finding train times anywhere in Europe for use with a Eurail pass?

  That's the excellent German Railways online timetable at www.bahn.de/en.  It covers data for the national rail operators across almost all of Europe.  It doesn't hold data for Italo, FEVE, Euskotren, Regiojet, Leo Express or the Circumvesuviana and so on, only for the main national operators, so as a general rule, any train shown in its database can be used with a Eurail pass, although supplements or special fares must be paid on some trains.  It also helpfully says 'please reserve' on trains which have compulsory reservations.

• Eurail does not cover the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Moldova or Albania.

Using a pass on overnight trains...

• Overnight trains usually have sleeping berths:  Couchettes are basic bunks with rug & pillow, 4 or 6 per compartment, a sort of youth hostel on rails.  Sleepers are hotels on rails, with proper beds & washbasin, 1, 2, 3, or occasionally 4 beds per compartment.  Couchettes & sleepers are explained on the sleeper page.

• You need to pay a fee to use a couchette or sleeper with your pass, the fee is usually per bed, not per compartment.  A couchette costs around €20-€37 in western Europe, perhaps €10-€18 in eastern Europe, per person per night in a 6-bunk compartment.  For a bed in a more comfortable sleeper, you'll pay €40-€92 for a bed in a 2-berth sleeper in western Europe, €20-€35 in eastern Europe.  Berth fees for passholders are listed for specific routes in the Eurail pass reservation page.

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

  A Eurail flexi pass day normally 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.

  It no longer matters what time your sleeper train leaves on day 1, or what time it arrives on day 2.  The date you write on your pass is that of day 1.  As normal, you get unlimited travel from midnight to midnight on day 1, so you can use other trains on day 1 before boarding your sleeper, all on the same pass day.  You can then continue your journey on that 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 validity period of the pass.

  For example, if you wanted to take the Dacia Express leaving Vienna at 19: 42 on the 1st August and arriving Bucharest at 16:06 on the 2nd August, you'd enter the date of departure, 1st August, in one of the unlimited travel boxes on your pass, and that then covers the whole of the sleeper train journey, even the part on 2nd August, in this example in the afternoon!

  And as you'd have unlimited travel all day on 1st August, it would also cover you for any other journeys you wanted to make on that day, for example a preceding journey from Prague to Vienna to connect with the sleeper.

  On the other hand, if you wanted to take an onward train on 2nd August after alighting from the sleeper, that means using up another travel day on your pass, this time dated 2nd August.

  But even if you don't use any other trains on 2nd August, that day of arrival still needs to fall within the overall validity period of your pass, in other words, if you had a 10-days-in-1-month flexi pass the 2nd August must be inside the 1 month period, it cannot be Day 32 just outside it.  Got it?

When do you need a reservation?

• For journeys on local, regional or suburban trains...

  ...in virtually all countries, you can just hop on any train at any time, and show your Eurail pass to the conductor if and when asked.  Easy!  For travel on longer-distance trains between cities, here is my rough - but actually pretty accurate - rule of thumb...

• Pass-friendly countries...

  In Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark & most of central & eastern Europe, seat reservation even on longer-distance inter-city trains is optional and there's nothing extra to pay on top of the pass unless you want a reserved seat, or couchette or sleeper on an overnight train. 

  You can just hop on any train without a reservation, sit in any unreserved empty seat, and show your pass when asked by the conductor - even premier high-speed trains like Germany's superb ICE or Austria's railjet trains.  Trains cannot 'sell out'.  If you want a reserved seat (a sensible move for a long journey to avoid any chance of having to stand, especially at busy times) it only costs €3-€4.50.  Passes retain their 'hop on any train' convenience factor in these countries.

  The key exceptions in these countries are as follows:  Thalys high-speed trains between Brussels & Amsterdam and between Brussels & Cologne have compulsory reservation & a fee for railpass holders.  A few scenic tourist trains in Switzerland require a seat reservation & small supplement, such as the celebrated Glacier Express & Bernina Express.

• Pass unfriendly countries...

  In France, Italy, Sweden, Spain & Portugal, passholders must make a reservation and pay a fee for almost every inter-city journey, including international journeys starting or ending in these countries.  You can reckon for planning purposes that this is €10 for every train ride.  Sometimes it's less, sometimes more, notably a French TGV is either €10 or €20, and Thalys Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam is €15-€25. 

  There are limited quotas for passholder places on Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam Thalys, Paris-Switzerland TGV-Lyria, Paris-Turin-Milan TGVs & Paris-Barcelona TGVs which can sell out if you don't reserve seats soon enough, but for other trains including French domestic TGVs 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 afternoons, but generally there's always places available.

• Sleeper trains...

  You'll need to make a reservation & pay the appropriate fee for a sleeper or couchette 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 guide for details of which trains need a reservation, and what these cost.

• You can make reservations in advance with the agency that sells you your Eurail pass by phone or in some cases online -although they may charge you a booking fee on top - or you can make them when you get to Europe at station ticket offices.  In (only) a handful of cases, you can make reservations online with no added fees direct with the operator, as explained here.

Can I avoid paying reservation fees?

• Sometimes you can avoid having to make a reservation & pay a fee fairly easily if you don't mind a slower or less comfortable journey.  For example, different types of train may serve one route, and only the faster or more comfortable type requires a reservation.  From Rome to Florence there are fast & frequent high-speed Frecciarossa & Frecciargento trains which carry a €10 surcharge, but on the same route there are a handful of reasonably comfortable fairly fast InterCity trains and slower more basic Regional trains, neither of which require reservation or extra fees for railpass holders.  Between Brussels & Amsterdam there are high-speed Thalys trains taking 1h49 but with a €15 passholder surcharge, or hourly InterCity trains taking 2h52 with no reservation necessary and nothing extra to pay.  The choice between speed, comfort or avoiding the reservation cost is yours!

• In other cases trying to dodge the fast train reservation fee is more trouble than it's worth, as it means taking a relay-race of local trains, taking hours longer and involving several changes of train.  Just bite the bullet and pay the fee!  I'd put Paris-Brussels, Paris-Amsterdam, Paris-Nice, Paris-Italy into this category.  To find out if there is a reasonable no-fee alternative, try using the Europe-wide online timetable at www.bahn.de/en, but click More means of transport  and un-tick the ICE & IC/EC boxes.

How can I find out more?

• You can find out more about Eurail passes at www.eurail.com.  This is the site run by the Eurail organisation themselves, who run the Eurail scheme on behalf of participating operators.

Personal 'Travel architect' service:  DiscoverByRail.com...

• For a modest fee, DiscoverByRail.com offers expert help and can put together an itinerary to your specifications, with suggestions and advice on routes, trains, hotels, excursions.  Andy charges around £35 per trip.

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How to make reservations

• First, a reality check:  There isn't a magic website that can do all passholder reservations at cheap prices with no fees all in one place.  Different operators use different reservation systems, many operator websites only sell regular tickets not passholder reservations.

• However, some passholder reservations can indeed be made online, with no added booking fees and simply printed out or collected at the station.

• Go to the Eurail & Interrail reservations page and select the country where the journey you want to book starts.  I'll list major train services from that country to neighbouring countries and tell you if they can be booked online, and if so where and how.

Making reservations at the station...

• You can make reservations and pay the necessary fees 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!  In Italy, you'll find it easier to use the self-service touch-screen ticket machines to make your passholder reservations, it's really easy, see an illustrated step-by-step guide to using these Italian ticket machines.

The Railplanner App...

• I recommend downloading the Railplanner App for your smartphone from www.eurailgroup.org/promos/railplanner_app.  This is this a great Europe-wide timetable app which you can use to check train times whilst on the move - the timetable works offline, so no data cost issues - and you can also make passholder bookings within the app for Eurostar, Thalys & Trenitalia high-speed trains, with e-tickets delivered to your smartphone with no added fees, just the reservation cost itself.

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Other railpasses worth knowing about...

Eurail is the main pass range for overseas visitors to Europe, but several countries also have their own national railpasses which can be worth knowing about as they can often be better value if you are just visiting that specific country.

• Paris Visite card:  Unlimited travel on the Paris metro, and more.  Eurail passes for France cover the national rail operator (SNCF) but not the Paris metro.  Check details, prices & buy a Paris Visite card at www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA or Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ).

• The Swiss Travel Pass for Switzerland.  This is Switzerland's own-brand railpass, there is no single-country Eurail pass.  Unlike many other railpasses you don't have to rack up a huge mileage to make a railpass worthwhile in Switzerland.  And as virtually no Swiss train requires a supplement or reservation, a railpass still gives you that wonderful hop on, hop off convenience that railpasses have lost in France, Spain or Italy where every long-distance train now requires a reservation.  Choose between a Swiss Travel Pass giving continuous free travel or a Swiss Travel Pass Flex giving so many days in a month.  There's more advice on Swiss Passes here.

  You can check Swiss Pass prices & buy a Swiss Pass at www.swisstravelsystem.com - prices in CHF, USD, GBP or Euros and you simply print out your own pass.

  You can check Swiss point-to-point fares at www.sbb.ch.  Map of the Swiss rail network. 

• German Rail pass for Germany.  Only for people not resident in Europe, Russia or Turkey.  A good deal, as no supplements or reservations are required on most German trains, you just hop on and show your pass.  For comparison, you can check German point-to-point fares at www.bahn.de/en, there are some amazingly cheap point-to-point fares available if you're prepared to pre-book and commit to a particular date and train.  You can check prices & buy the German Rail Pass at www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA), www.raileurope.ca (if you live in Canada), www.raileurope.com.au (if you live in Australia), or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in NZ, Asia, Africa, S.America).

• Spain Pass for Spain.  Renfe (Spanish Railways) offers its own Spain Pass, not to be confused with the single-country Eurail pass for Spain.  Renfe's Spain Pass works differently from the Eurail Spain pass, as it gives a set number of journeys, not unlimited travel - you can pay for between 4 and 12 journeys in a one-month period.  However, the Renfe Spain Pass is usually better value than the Eurail Spain pass as reservations are included, there are no hidden extra reservation costs as with Eurail.  Eurail holders must typically pay a €6 to €10 reservation fee per journey on almost all long-distance Spanish trains, but with Renfe's Spain Pass it's all included, reservations are free and can be made online.  You can buy a Spain pass either online at www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/ viajes_internacionales/spainpass (no fee, but can struggle with some payment cards) or www.petrabax.com (small mark-up but in plain English with no payment problems).  The pass is emailed to you.  For comparison, you can check Spanish point-to-point fares at Raileurope.com (in €, £ or $) or www.renfe.com (in €) or www.petrabax.com (in US$ with a small mark-up) - the fares quoted online include the necessary reservation.

• Portuguese Rail pass for Portugal.  You can check Portuguese point-to-point fares at www.cp.pt.  Most Portuguese long distance trains require reservation before boarding.  Check details, prices & buy at www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA or Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ).

• BritRail Pass for Britain.  Search for Britrail at Check details, prices & buy at www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA or Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ).  Reservation is never compulsory on British trains, and there are no supplements to pay, so you can always just hop on and show your pass, making BritRail passes very easy to use.  For comparison, you can check British point-to-point fares using the online form here or at www.nationalrail.co.uk.  There's advice on understanding the different types of UK rail fare on the Train travel in Britain page.  For unlimited travel on the London Underground for 3 or 7 days when staying in London, you can get a London Visitor Travelcard, easily bought in London at an Underground station.

• The Benelux Tourrail pass covers the Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg.  Check details, prices & buy at www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA or Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ).

• The Eastern Europe pass covers Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia.  It used to cover Poland too, but I believe they pulled out.  Available to anyone except residents of the countries it covers.  You can buy this pass at www.acprail.com (wherever you live, including UK - enter European East Pass in their search box) or www.raileurope.com (if you're in the USA & Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you're in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ).

• The Balkan Flexipass gives unlimited 1st class travel on the national rail networks in Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, The Serbian Entity of Bosnia Herzegovina, and Turkey, with a choice of 5, 10, or 15 days of unlimited train travel in a one-month period (Romania ceased to be a participant from 2017).  You can buy one at www.acprail.com (wherever you live, including UK - enter Balkan Flexipass in their search box), www.raileurope.com (if you live in the USA or Canada) or www.raileurope-world.com (if you live in Asia, Africa, South America or Australia/NZ).

  The Man in Seat61 says, "Train travel is cheap in the Balkans, like Belgrade to Sofia €30, Sofia to Bucharest €30, so don't blindly buy a €140 railpass without being reasonably sure it will save you money for what you plan to do with it.  You need to be doing quite a lot!"

• France Pass - this is discontinued for 2017 and replaced with the Eurail Single-Country Pass for France, which brings France back into the Eurail fold!

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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 Eurail 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.  It costs around £15.99 from www.europeanrailtimetable.eu.

The European Rail Map of Europe is easily the best and most comprehensive map of train routes all over Europe.  High speed and scenic routes are highlighted - well worth buying to go with your rail pass!  Buy online at www.europeanrailtimetable.eu (with worldwide delivery).  There are other maps & even two good European Rail Atlases, see here.

The all-Europe online timetable:  You can check train times for almost any European train journey online at www.bahn.de/en.  This is an extremely useful resource for trip planning, provided by the German Railways.

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Recommended guidebooks...

If you're planning a grand tour, I strongly recommend investing in a European Rail Timetable for in-depth train information, and the relevant Lonely Planet Guide for in-depth country information on the sights to see, places to stay, places to eat.  Alternatively, the Europe by Rail guide combines basic train info with country information.

Click the images to buy online at Amazon.com (USA) or buy from Amazon.co.uk (UK)...

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Hotels & accommodation...

Tips for booking hotels in Europe...

• Location, location, location:  For a night between trains, I'd pick a decent hotel near the station.  For a longer stay, I'd want to be close to the sights, for example if we're talking somewhere like Prague, I'd want a hotel right in the old town.  That sometimes costs more, but you see more - if you're right there, you can wander out again after dinner, for example.  In a cheaper hotel 3 miles out, you probably wouldn't...

• 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 you can check in to your room.

Other hotels sites worth trying...

www.tripadvisor.com is a huge resource, and a good place to browse independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.

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Travel insurance & VPN

Always take out travel insurance...

Never travel without travel insurance with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover from a reliable insurer.  It should also cover trip cancellation and loss of cash & belongings up to a reasonable limit.  An annual multi-trip policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I have an annual policy myself.  However, don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, see the advice on missed connections here.  Here are some suggested insurers, Seat61 gets a little commission if you buy through these links, feedback is always welcome.

In the UK, reliable insurers include Columbus Direct.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over 65, see www.JustTravelCover.com - 10% discount with code seat61.

You can use www.confused.com to compare prices & policy features across major insurance companies.

        If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try Columbus Direct's other websites.

  If you live in the USA try Travel Guard USA.

Get a Curve card to save on foreign transaction fees...

Banks often give a poor exchange rate, then charge a currency conversion fee as well.  A Curve MasterCard means no foreign transaction fees and gives you the mid-market exchange rate, at least up to a certain limit, £500 per month as I write this.  The balance goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards.  And you can get a Curve card for free.

How it works:  1. Download the app for iPhone or Android.  2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to most European addresses including the UK.  3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app.  4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, just like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance onto whichever of your debit or credit cards you choose.  You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.

I use a Curve Blue card myself - I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I'm recommending it here because I think it's great.  See details, download the app and get a Curve card - they'll give you £5 cashback through that link, too.

Get a VPN for safe browsing.  VPNs & why you need one explained...

When you're travelling you often use free WiFi in public places which may not be secure.  A VPN means your connection to the internet is encrypted & always secure, even using unsecured WiFi.  In countries such as China where access to Twitter & Facebook is restricted, a VPN gets around these restrictions.  And lastly, you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geographic restrictions which some websites apply - for example one booking site charges a booking fee to non-European visitors but none to European visitors, so if you're not located in Europe you can avoid this fee by browsing with a UK IP address using a VPN.  VPNs & why you need one explained.  ExpressVPN is a best buy and I use it myself - I've signed up as an ExpressVPN affiliate, and if you go with expressvpn.com using the links on this page, you should see a special deal, 3 months free with an annual subscription, and I get a small commission to help support this site.

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