What is an Interrail pass?

Interrail is the railpass range for European residents, giving unlimited train travel on the scheduled train services of the national train operators across most of Europe.  It started in 1972 as a railpass for young people, but there are now Interrail passes for adults, children youths & seniors, an ideal way to explore Europe at ground level with someone else doing the driving.  Here I explain how Interrail passes work.

  Who qualifies for an Interrail pass?

  Interrail global pass types & prices

  Interrail one-country pass types & prices

  How to buy an Interrail pass

  Is Interrail cheaper than point-to-point tickets?

  How does an Interrail pass work?

  How to use a mobile pass

  How to use a hard-copy pass

  When do you need to make reservations?

  Sleepers & couchettes on overnight trains

  How to make reservations

  More information about Interrail

  Other useful railpasses: Swiss, Spain, Germany

  Train travel in Europe general information

  Recommended timetables, maps & guidebooks

  Hotels & accommodation in Europe

  Travel insurance, mobile data, VPN & other tips

  Interrail reservations guide:  Which specific trains & operators are covered in each country?  Which specific trains need a reservation, how much does it cost & can it be booked online?

  How passes work on Eurostar - how to buy a Eurostar passholder fare

  Download the Interrail map showing train routes in the participating countries.

Who qualifies for an Interrail pass?

• You can buy an Interrail pass if you are a citizen of any of the countries which participate in the Interrail scheme

  United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey.

• You can also buy an Interrail pass if you can prove that you are legally resident in any of the participating countries listed above, or in one of the following countries:

  Iceland, Albania, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Malta, Cyprus, Morocco, Turkey, Algeria or Tunisia.

  Since 2015 you don't need to have lived in one of these countries for over 6 months, it's enough to be legally resident when you buy the pass as long as your residency doesn't expire before the end of the pass validity period.

• If you live outside these countries, for example in the USA, Canada, India or Australia, you qualify for a Eurail pass instead.  But don't worry, Eurail passes are now almost identical to Interrail passes.

• You can buy an Interrail pass a maximum of 11 months before the date you want it to start - increased from 3 months in January 2016.

• To qualify for a Youth Interrail pass you must be aged under 28 on the first day of pass validity.  The youth age limit was increased from under 26 to under 28 in January 2017.

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Interrail global pass types & prices

An Interrail Global Pass covers all participating countries, meaning most of Europe from Portugal to Poland, download the map here.  Check prices at www.interrail.eu.

• Kids under 12 years old go free!  Children over 4 still need a pass, but it costs £0 if accompanied by an adult (max 2 children per adult, the adult must buy an Adult pass, not a Youth or Senior pass).  Children still need to pay any relevant passholder reservation fees.

• Child = aged 4 but under 12.  Youth = anyone aged under 28 on first day of pass validity.  Senior = anyone over 60.  Children under 4 free.

• Continuous means that you pick the date you want your Interrail pass to start, and it then gives 15 days, 22 days or 1 calendar month's continuous unlimited travel for the whole of that period.

• Flexi means that the Interrail lasts for an overall period of either 1 month (for the 3, 5 or 7-day passes) or 2 months (for the 10 & 15-day passes), starting on any date you specify, but you only get 3, 5, 7, 10  or 15 days of unlimited travel within that period.  You 'spend' each day of unlimited travel by writing the date in one of the boxes printed on your pass.

• What countries are covered?  The Interrail global pass gives you unlimited train travel throughout Europe, covering the national train operators in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia (new from 2020), Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia (new from 2020), Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey.  Though you only get limited travel in your own country of residence, as explained here.  For more info on what train operators are covered in each country, see the country-by-country list here.

• Interrail global passes do not cover Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Moldova or Belarus.  Morocco dropped out in 2007.

• Other things to budget for:  Remember to factor in the cost of (a) getting to mainland Europe with a cheap Eurostar passholder fare or ferry ticket to start using the Interrail pass and (b) reservation fees which apply to some trains, especially if visiting Spain, Italy or France, see the Interrail reservations section.

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Interrail one-country pass types & prices

You can buy one or more Interrail passes covering just one country each.  These also come in 1st class adult, 2nd class adult, 1st class child (aged 4-11), 2nd class child (4-11), and 2nd class youth (aged 12-25 inclusive) versions.  Prices vary by country, see www.interrail.eu or (if you're in the UK) www.myinterrail.co.uk.

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How to buy an Interrail pass

To buy a Eurostar passholder fare, see the Eurostar passholder information here.

If you choose a mobile pass

• You download it, delivery is instant so there's no delay while it's mailed to you;

• Delivery is free, there's no shipping cost;

• You can activate the pass (in other words, choose the date on which you will start using it) on any date you like within 11 months after buying it, keeping your options open.  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 away being renewed or you haven't yet got all your companion's 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 time 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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Is Interrail cheaper than point-to-point tickets?

• There's no magic answer, the only way to know for sure is to add up the point-to-point price for each journey you plan to make and compare it to the cost of an Interrail pass.  But this example puts things into perspective...

• How much does a point-to-point ticket cost?

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

  - €18.90 is the cheapest possible advance-purchase fare, limited availability, specified train only, no changes, no refunds, no flexibility.

  - €90.20 is the price of a fully-flexible ticket which can be bought at the station on the day, unlimited availability, good for any train.

• How much does an Interrail pass cost?

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

  - €59.20 per day using a 5-days-in-1-month Eurail global pass (5-day price divided by 5)

  - €42.10 per day using a 10-days-in-2-months Eurail global pass (10-day price divided by 10)

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

  - €44.60 per day using a 5-days-in-1-month youth Eurail global pass.

  - €31.60 per day using a 10-days-in-2-months youth Eurail global pass.

  A pass gives you unlimited travel, so you can use any Berlin-Prague train you like, just like the €72 flexible ticket.  Better, in fact, as you could go up & down on trains between Berlin & Prague all day if you wanted, or change your mind and carry on beyond Prague to Bratislava or Vienna.

• So is a pass the cheapest option?

  No, an €18.90 advance-purchase ticket is cheapest option.  It's not a trick question!

  And easiest too, simply buy online at the German Railways website and print it out or shown on your phone.  Click, click, booked!

  So if you're only planning 2, 3 or maybe 4 such trips and your dates are confirmed, your accommodation is pre-booked and you're happy to commit to a specific train a month or two in advance on a no-refunds, no-changes basis, then advance-purchase tickets are the cheapest option.  Book them as I explain on the how to buy tickets page.

  Just remember that €18.90 is the cheapest possible price, these advance-purchase fares have limited availability at each price point just like air fares.  On your date it might cost €24.90 or €27.90 or €34.90, depending how early you book and how popular that date or train is, just like flights.

• So does a pass still make sense?

  Yes, an Interrail pass still makes sense if you value flexibility, as it's significantly cheaper than the €72 full-price fare.

  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.  And an Interrail pass gives unlimited travel all day, so you can make additional journeys the same day, before or after this one.

  For longer more extensive itineraries, using advance-purchase tickets could be risky:  If a flood, fire, landslide or national rail strike 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.

  For example, Mrs 61 and I once travelled from where my in-laws live in the Netherlands to Italy, using an Interrail pass.  The day before we were due to return, a train crash in Belgium completely blocked our planned route, Milan-Paris-Rotterdam.  But with our Interrail passes we simply & easily re-routed ourselves via Milan-Zurich-Cologne-Rotterdam.  That flexibility can be worth paying for.

• Let's take a more expensive example:  Amsterdam-Berlin:

  How much does point to point cost?

  - €37.90 is the cheapest possible advance-purchase fare, specified train only, no changes, no refunds.

  - €147 is the cost of a fully-flexible ticket which can be bought at the station on the day, good for any train.

  How much does a pass cost?

  - €59.20 per day using a 5-days-in-1-month adult Interrail global pass (adult price divided by 5)

  - €44.60 per day using a 5-days-in-1-month youth Interrail global pass (youth price divided by 5)

  - €42.10 per day using a 10-days-in-2-months adult Interrail global pass (adult price divided by 10)

  - €31.60 per day using a 10-days-in-2-months youth Interrail global pass (youth price divided by 10)

  In this case, the 10-day adult Interrail costs only a little more per day than the cheapest possible advance-purchase fare, and the 10-day youth Interrail saves money over that fare.  Both adult & youth 5 or 10 day Interrails save a lot over the full-flex fare.

• But don't use a pass for short hops

  Vienna to Bratislava only costs €11 or so, full-flex, bought at the station on the day.  Florence to Pisa is only around €9 each way.

  It'd be cheaper to buy a 4-days-in-1-month Interrail pass plus a normal ticket for a short hop like these, than to buy a 5-days-in-1-month pass.  Common sense, surely?  You can check prices for specific journey by selecting the starting city here.

• Remember to factor in the passholder reservation fees

  When comparing point-to-point fares with a pass, any point to point fare you see online always includes the cost of any compulsory reservation.  But if you use a pass, you sometimes 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 paying 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, you can just board a train, sit in any empty unreserved seat, and show your pass when the conductor come along.  That's a generalisation, but in these countries, even if a seat reservation is required, it's typically only €2 - €5, the same as any other ticket-holder would pay to reserve a seat.  The Berlin-Prague and Amsterdam-Berlin examples above 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 €30 in 2nd class or €38 if you have a 1st class pass, see Eurostar passholder information here.

  On overnight sleeper trains you need to pay for a sleeping-berth, typically €34 for a couchette or €94 for a bed in a 2-bed sleeper.

  There's a full list of Interrail reservation requirements & costs in each country here.

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How does an Interrail pass work?

• An Interrail pass gives unlimited travel on national & international train services

  An Interrail pass gives unlimited travel on all the train services run by the national train operator in all of 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 in each country, including high-speed trains, sleeper trains, intercity trains, suburban trains & local trains.

  Unlimited means unlimited, as many trains as you like, 1 train or 20 trains, 8 miles or 800 miles.

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

  You need to make a reservation for a small fee on some trains, more about that below and pay for a sleeping-berth on night trains if you want one.

• Interrail passes do not cover metros, trams or buses in big cities as these are usually run by an urban transit authority.

  Nor some small private train operators such as Euskotren narrow-gauge trains in Spain or the Circumvesuviana railway in Italy (Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento).

  Passes also don't cover a few private operators who now compete with the state-owned national operator on a handful of routes, such as Italo high-speed trains which competes with Italian national operator Trenitalia, or lo-cost Ouigo trains in France or Avlo in Spain as although both are subsidiaries of the national operator, they've been set up as a separate companies.  If in doubt, see my country-by-country guide.

• Flexi & Continuous Interrail 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 type passes have an overall validity which starts ticking on your first travel day, a date you choose when you activate the pass.  You can then spend each of your remaining 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, your first day of unlimited travel would be 10 July, you can then spend each of the remaining 4 days unlimited travel on any dates you like until 9 August, let's say on the 12 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.

  Tip:  No-one forces you to use a pass for every train.  For example, suppose you plan to make a day trip from Florence to Pisa.  It's cheaper to buy a normal €18 ticket for that trip + a 4-days-in-1-month pass than to buy a 5-days-in-1-month pass to cover everything.  Engage brain!

• You don't get unlimited travel in your home country - but are allowed 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 you've been allowed to use a global Interrail pass for one journey in your home country to a border, airport or ferry port at the beginning of your trip and one return journey back home at the end.

  These are known as your 2 outbound/inbound days.  A mobile-type pass will warn you when you are using up one of these days and shows you how many you have left.

  The journey in your home country can involve more than one train, but must be a continuous single journey between a point of origin (typically your local station) and a border, airport or ferry port.

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

  Apart from that limitation, the inbound/outbound days work just like any other travel day, unlimited mileage and unlimited trains from midnight to midnight, you need to record the journey on your pass as normal, and if you have a flexi pass an inbound/outbound day counts as one of your travel days - they aren't additional!

  So if you live in Britain, that first inbound/outbound travel day could cover travel from your home station to London, a Eurostar passholder journey, and onward trains on the Continent, all on one pass day.

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

  For the record, although the intention is clear, technically your two inbound/outbound days don't have to be first & last.  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-Brussels-Cologne on day 2, and were happy buying a normal ticket to return to London & Dundee on your final day, that would be 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'll need to buy regular tickets to get you out of the country & back on your second trip.

• You can use Eurostar with a €30 passholder fare

  Since 2017, Interrail passes cover Eurostar trains between London and Paris, Brussels, Lille or Calais for a fixed price of €30 in standard class if you have a 2nd class pass or €38 in standard premier if you have a 1st class pass.

  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.  The quota sits in the 3rd price bucket down from the top out of a dozen buckets, so is widely available even at short notice, but not on the busiest trains, and sometimes not at all on very busy dates.

  I recommend checking Eurostar availability before buying a pass, if using Eurostar is mission-critical.  I explain how to do that here.

  If you have a flexi-type pass, a journey with one of these Eurostar passholder fares requires you to use of your travel days, although of course you can use other trains as well during that day.  If you live in Britain, a Eurostar trip counts as travel in your home country.  More information about Eurostar passholder fares & how to buy them online.

• Or take a ferry to mainland Europe

  If you prefer to travel by ferry rather than Eurostar, or if all the cheap Eurostar fares have sold out, there's always a ferry!  You can buy a Stena Line Rail & Sail ticket from London (or anywhere in East Anglia including Cambridge, Norwich and Peterborough) to Hoek van Holland, from £55 one way or £110 return with or without a railpass, see the Stena Line Rail & Sail page and book online at www.stenaline.co.uk.  It's a wonderful way to reach the Continent.  There is no longer any discount for Interrail holders on the Dover-Calais, Newcastle-Amsterdam or Harwich-Hoek routes.

• How to find train times around Europe on which you can use your Interrail pass

  Use the excellent German Railways online timetable at www.bahn.de/en.  It covers pretty much the whole of Europe.  As a general rule, any train shown in its database can be used with an Interrail pass, although supplements or special fares must be paid on some.  It will also show which trains have compulsory reservations. 

  ...or download the Railplanner app.  Go to www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/rail-planner-app and download the Railplanner app for your phone (please let me know if that link stops working).  This is this a great Europe-wide timetable app which you can use to check train times whilst on the move as the timetable works offline, with no mobile data costs.  The app also does passholder reservations for Eurostar, Thalys & Trenitalia high-speed trains.  If you buy an Interrail mobile pass, the pass sits in the Railplanner app on your mobile.

• What about ferries within Europe, for example to Greece?

  An Interrail global pass also gives free travel on Superfast Ferries, Minoan Lines & Blue Star Ferries between Italy (Bari, Brindisi, Ancona or Trieste) and Greece (Corfu, Igoumenitsa or Patras for the train to Athens).  A few euros for port taxes needs to be paid, and cabin berths are extra.  Superfast and some other ferry operators charge a small summer supplement (about €10 or so), you pay at the port.  An Interrail pass also gives a significant discount (usually in the region of 30%-50%) on normal fares for some other shipping operators - for example, Silja Line (Stockholm-Helsinki or Stockholm-Turku.  There is no longer any Interrail discount on Trasmediterranea (Barcelona to Ibiza, Majorca & Minorca and Algeciras to Tangier).

When must you make reservations?

• 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.  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 just 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 any train' convenience factor for travel in and between these countries.

  The key exceptions in these countries are as follows:  International journeys to or from France & Italy do require compulsory seat reservation with a fee to pay.  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.  Poland, Slovakia, Hungary & Romania require seat reservations on all their inter-city trains, but these are just normal seat reservations costing a euro or two, no big deal.  All this is explained in the country-by-country guide.

• Pass unfriendly countries

  France, Italy, Spain, Portugal & Sweden...

  In these countries, passholders must make a reservation and pay a fee for almost 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 French TGVs it's either €10 (limited quota) or €20 (when the €10 places sell out).  Thalys Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam is €15-€25. TGV-Lyria €30-€70, Paris-Milan TGV €31, Paris-Barcelona TGV €34.

  There are limited quotas for passholder places on Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam Thalys, 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, 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 afternoons, but generally there's usually places available even on the day.

  See the country-by-country guide for details of which trains need a reservation, what these cost, and how to make them.

• 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.

• Reservations and your Interrail pass are two separate things

  Let's be clear, reservations are entirely separate from your pass.  You don't use up a pass day merely by making reservations, indeed you can make one or more reservations without even activating the pass, you usually just need the pass number and some cases not even that.  They are not linked in any way.  You can make multiple reservations for the same day if you need to, for example if you're not sure which train you'll catch, or if you make a reservation then change your plans.  Use the one you want, throw the other in the bin  - it doesn't affect your pass.  You only add the journey in question to your pass when you actually board the train!

Can I avoid paying reservation fees?

• Sometimes you can avoid paying a reservation fee fairly easily if you don't mind a slower or less comfortable journey.  For example, from Rome to Florence there are fast & frequent high-speed Frecciarossa & Frecciargento trains with a €13 reservation fee, but also a few comfortable and fairly fast InterCity trains with only a €3 reservation fee, and some slower regional trains with no reservation at all.  Between Brussels & Amsterdam there are high-speed Thalys trains taking 1h49 with a €15 passholder fee or hourly InterCity trains taking 2h52 with no reservation necessary.  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 www.bahn.de/en, but click Types of transport  and un-tick the ICE & IC/EC boxes.

Overnight trains

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

  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 or 3 beds per compartment.  Couchettes & sleepers are explained on the sleeper page.

• 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.

  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 types on Nightjet, 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 pass is all you need to book single, double or triple sleepers or couchettes, but you can't use Excelsior sleepers.

• 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.  Here is the new rule, which replaced the old 'After 19:00' rule in January 2019:

  A 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 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 train, 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 use 1st August as one of your unlimited travel days, this covers the whole of the sleeper journey, even the part on 2nd August - in this example well into in the afternoon.

  This gives you unlimited travel all day on 1st August, so it would also cover 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 from Bucharest to Constanta on 2nd August after getting off the sleeper, that means using up another travel day, 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 5-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?

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

How to use a mobile pass

• Mobile Interrail passes were introduced in September 2020 and once you get the hang of it they're really easy & convenient to use.  The mobile pass sits in the Railplanner app on your phone, and instead of a printed travel diary, you simply use the app's journey planner to add a journey to your trip, and then (when you actually take that train) to your pass.  The in-app instructions are very clear and well-written.

  The mobile pass works on Apple devices iOS 13.0 and later and Android devices 6.0 and later.

• Buy the pass:  You can buy the pass up to 11 months in advance.  You do not need to decide exactly when you will use the pass, it can be activated on any date you choose within the next 11 months.  So if your plans alter or your trip is postponed, no worries.  How to buy a pass.

• Download the app:  Get the Railplanner app for iPhone or Android at www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/rail-planner-app.

• Step 1 of 3:  Load your pass into the app:  After buying the pass, you are sent a confirmation email with your pass number.  Follow the instructions to load the pass into the Railplanner app by entering your pass number.

  If you are a couple, a family or small group, you can load multiple passes into the Railplanner app on one mobile phone if you like, to simplify using it - your 'group leader' can then do all the pass stuff for everyone.  Just remember that you (obviously) won't then be able to head off separately on different trains as all your passes will be on the same phone.

  Incidentally, an obvious anti-fraud measure is that you can only load a given pass onto one device.  So you can't buy ONE pass and use the same pass number to load it ten times onto TEN phones!  You also can't move the pass from one phone to another once it's loaded.  So if you lose or break your phone or buy a new one, you'll need to contact Interrail customer services to switch the pass to a different phone.

• Step 2 of 3:  Connect your pass to a trip...  The next step is to create a Trip and connect the 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 3 of 3:  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, you choose the date of your first unlimited travel day and the overall validity period (the overall 1 or 2 month period) starts ticking from that date.

  Even after doing this, you can still change your mind - you can alter the start date any time until 23:59 the day before, Central European Time.  However, once the first pass day has started at 00:00 CET, you can't change your mind.

• Look up trains using the app's planner...  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. 

  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 journeys 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.

• When you board a train, find the journey in your Trip and slide the grey toggle next to it to add it to your pass.

  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.  It's that simple!

  As it happens, I made the 08:02 from Engelberg, so went to My trip, opened Engelberg and toggled the 08:02 to add it to my pass.  I then swiped left on the 09:02 to delete it from Engelberg (although I could have just left it there, it doesn't matter).

  Incidentally, 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.

• Showing 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 times, that's it.

  Sometimes you'll be asked to show your passport.  Sometimes the conductor will ask you to scroll down from the QR code to the list of journeys which have been added to the pass that day (he's making sure you've correctly added that train to your pass so that the rail operator ultimately gets their share of pass revenue).  So don't forget to add each train you take to your pass!

  Troubleshooting tip 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 should now appear.

  Troubleshooting tip 2:  If that doesn't fix it and the QR code still won't appear, or the app denies there is a valid pass loaded on it, don't panic!  Immediately put your phone into Aeroplane mode.  That stops the app trying to contact the main server in an area with poor reception and it'll show the pass from it own local data.  This is the most important tip to remember!

• How to add a train manually if Railplanner can't find it...  Very occasionally, Railplanner'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 Railplanner can't access the database they're listed on.  You'd normally then see an Add journey manually link.  However, in this case it offers a round-about route via Toulouse & Narbonne so you don't get offered that link.  Solution?  Run an enquiry from 'Mickey' to 'Mouse'.  It definitely won't find that, and offers the Add journey manually link.  You can now add Latour de Carol to Barcelona to your trip and then to your pass.

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.

• 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.  If you run out of space, you can ask for more pages at any main station.  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.

• 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.

How to make reservations

'Pass' and 'reservations' are two totally separate things

• This often confuses people, so listen up:  The process of loading, activating and using your Interrail pass, and the process of making reservations to go with it, are two different, separate, entirely unconnected things.

• So finding a train in the Railplanner app, adding it to your 'trip' then adding it to your pass does not 'book' or 'reserve' that train.  All it does is render the pass valid on it.  It's basically an electronic travel diary that helps the Interrail management team allocate pass revenue between operators.  If a seat reservation is required for that train, you still have to make it, and that's a separate process.

• For example, you can have a pass loaded onto your phone and your travelling companion can have a pass loaded onto their phone.  The passes don't even need to be activated.  One of you can go to a desktop computer and make passholder reservations for both of you together, entirely unconnected from those two passes, using whatever website(s) I suggest in my passholder reservations guide.  Some websites need a valid pass number before they'll let you make a passholder reservation, some don't.  On those that don't, you can make reservations for as many people as you like, on as many trains as you like, without even buying a pass!

• Even when you are required to enter a valid pass number, making a reservation does not in any way affect your pass.  It does not activate it, it does not use up a pass day, it doesn't do anything to it.  In principle, you could buy a 4-days-in-1-month pass, leave it unactivated, and (using the valid pass number) make 30 different passholder reservations on 30 different trains on 30 different dates over a 6 month period (it'd be a stupid waste of money, of course, but you could).  Did I mention that passes and reservations are entirely separate?

Option 1, online at the train operator's website

• If it's possible - reality check, it seldom is - making reservations at the train operator's own site is ideal as you pay no booking fee (just the reservation fee) & you get a wide choice of seating options, sometimes specific seat selection.

  Unfortunately, most train operator websites don't sell passholder reservations, only normal tickets.  Eurostar, SNCF (French Railways) & Trenitalia used to sell passholder reservations, all 3 stopped because it was abused by fare-evaders without a pass.

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

  - The ÖBB (Austrian Railways) website www.oebb.at sells passholder reservations for Nightjet sleeper trains, Nightjet partner sleeper trains, and Vienna-Italy railjet trains.

  - The SJ (Swedish Railways) website www.sj.se sells passholder reservations for Swedish domestic trains and Copenhagen-Stockholm, Stockholm-Oslo international trains.

• There are also routes where trains are reservation optional, where passholders don't have to pay a special passholder reservation fee, just make a normal seat reservation if they want one like any other ticket-holder.  Some operators allow reservation-only bookings to be made on their website for anyone with an existing ticket, including a pass:

  - The DB (German Railways) website www.bahn.de can do 'seat-only' bookings for German domestic trains and international trains between Germany & Amsterdam, Brussels, Prague or Switzerland, with specific seat selection on key routes.

  - The ÖBB (Austrian Railways) website www.oebb.at can do 'seat only' bookings on trains between Austria & Prague, Budapest, Germany or Switzerland, sometimes with seat selection.

  - The Czech Railways website www.cd.cz can do 'seat-only' bookings for many routes out of Prague, often with specific seat selection.  Isn't it great being able to choose your seats from a plan?

• To see if this is an option for a train you want to book, 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 online direct with the train operator, the next best thing is to book online using the official Interrail reservations service.

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

  There's a booking fee of €2 per reservation in addition to the reservation fee.  The prices shown on their website include the booking fee.

  One downside, you aren't offered any seating choice, not even 'aisle' or 'window', you basically have to take what the system gives you.

• How to use it:  Go to www.interrail.eu, click Seat reservations at the top, yes you have a pass, no you don't have an account, create an account, enter your pass number.  Now you can use the reservation system journey planner to bring up train departures for the route you want.

  You'll see the abbreviation IRT a lot.  This stands for Integrated Reservation Ticket, and simply means it's a ticket combined with a compulsory seat reservation (the way France, Italy, Spain do ticketing), as opposed to a stand-alone optional seat reservation designed to go with a separate travel ticket (the way Germany, Austria, Switzerland usually do ticketing.  A distinction too subtle to concern most travellers!

• Trains it can book, with an e-ticket:  Reservations shown as e-ticket are automated and usually emailed to you within minutes.

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

  For example, the system can e-ticket passholder reservations for Eurostar, domestic trains in France (TGVs, Intercités, Intercités de Nuit couchettes), Paris-Turin-Milan TGVs, Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam/Cologne Thalys, Paris-Switzerland TGV-Lyria, Paris-Germany ICE & TGV.  Domestic trains in Italy (Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, Frecciabianca, Intercity, ICN sleeper trains), Switzerland-Italy EuroCity trains.  Copenhagen-Stockholm X2000 trains.  It will also book optional seat reservations in countries such as Germany or Austria, but you can make those without any added fee using the train operator's own website.

• Trains it can book, with a paper ticket that has to be posted to you:  Reservations shown as paper ticket have to be posted to you for an extra fee (for example, €9 to the UK & other European countries, with tracking).  This typically takes 2 weeks to the UK, for example.

  For example, the system has to send paper tickets for Paris-Barcelona TGVs, Lyon/Marseille-Barcelona AVEs, Prague-Krakow trains, Budapest-Bucharest daytime & sleeper trains, Berlin-Warsaw & Berlin-Krakow EuroCity trains, Norwegian trains.

• Trains it can't book:  The system cannot currently book Spanish or Portuguese domestic trains or trains in the UK, Ireland, Finland, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey.  It also can't book Nightjet sleeper trains or Venice-Vienna railjets (but www.oebb.at can book these).  It only seems to offer 2nd class reservations on the Munich-Italy Brenner EuroCity trains.  In France, it can't book some trains run by the regions, such as Paris-Cherbourg.

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

Option 3, online at b-europe.com (Eurostar & Thalys only)

• Passholder reservations on Eurostar and Thalys can be made either at the official Interrail reservation service as explained above, 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 Interrail 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.

• If you want to book a Eurostar train between London & Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam, see the Interrail & Eurail on Eurostar page.

Option 4, make reservations by phone with a UK booking agency

• In many cases, you can't make reservations online, you need to pick up the phone.

• 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!

Tips for finding accommodation

• Hotels:  I usually use www.booking.com to sort my hotels as not only has it got a really good, clear interface, you can usually book accommodation with free cancellation.  As trains usually can't be booked more than 90 or sometimes 60 days ahead, this means you can book hotels without any risk months before train bookings open.  Any hotel with a review score over 8.0 is unlikely to disappoint.

• 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.

• 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.

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More information about Interrail

• For more information about how to explore Europe with an Interrail pass, and what they do and don't cover, see www.interrail.eu.

• Travel insurance:  Finally, always take out travel insurance.  Your Interrail pass can be refunded less an admin charge if returned before the first day of validity, but it cannot be refunded or replaced if you lose it!

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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.

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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.  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 Thomas Cook European 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.co.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.

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

Budget backpacker hostels...

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

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Travel insurance & other tips

Always take out travel insurance

You should take out travel insurance with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover from a reliable insurer.  It should cover trip cancellation and loss of cash & belongings up to a reasonable limit.  These days, check you're covered for covid-19-related issues, and use an insurer whose cover isn't invalidated by well-meant but excessive Foreign Office travel advice against non-essential travel. An annual policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I have an annual policy with Staysure.co.uk myself.  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, I get a little commission if you buy through these links, feedback always welcome.

  www.staysure.co.uk offers enhanced Covid-19 protection and gets 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot.

  www.columbusdirect.com is also a well-know brand.

  If you live in the USA try Travel Guard USA.

Get an eSIM with mobile data package for Europe

Don't rely on WiFi, download an eSIM with a mobile data package for Europe and stay connected.  Most newer mobile phones can download a virtual SIM card so you don't need to buy a physical SIM, including iPhone 11 & later, see device compatibility list.  Maya.net is a reliable eSIM data retailer with a 4.5 out of 5 Trustpilot rating and a range of packages including unlimited data.

Get a Curve card for foreign travel

Most banks give you a poor exchange rate, then add a foreign transaction fee on top.  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 money you spend on your Curve card 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 Curve app for iPhone or Android.  2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to the UK and most European addresses.  3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app, you can link up to two cards with the free version of Curve, I link my normal debit card and my normal credit card.  4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, exactly like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance in your own currency onto whichever debit or credit card is currently selected in the Curve app.  You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.

I have a Curve Blue card myself, it means I can buy a coffee on a foreign station on a card without being stung by fees and lousy exchange rates, just by tapping the Curve card on their card reader.  The money goes through Curve to my normal debit card and is taken directly from my account (in fact I have the Curve card set up as payment card on Apple Pay on my iPhone, so can double-click my phone, let it do Face ID then tap the reader with the phone - even easier than getting a card out).  I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I recommend 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.

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 encrypts your connection so it's always secure, even on unsecured WiFi.  It also means you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geoblocking which a surprising number of websites apply.  See VPNs & why you need one explained.  ExpressVPN is a best buy with a 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot ranking which I use 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.  I get a small commission to help support this site.

Always carry an Anker powerbank

Tickets, reservations, vaccination records and Interrail or Eurail passes are often held digitally on your mobile phone, so it's vital to keep it charged.  I always carry an Anker powerbank which can recharge my phone several times over if I can't get to a power outlet.  Buy from Amazon.co.uk or from Buy from Amazon.com.

Touring cities & museums?  Use hill walking shoes!

One of the best things I've done is swap my normal shoes for hill-walking shoes, in my case from Scarpa.  They're intended for hiking across the Pennines not wandering around Florence, but the support and cushioning for hiking works equally well when you're on your feet all day exploring foreign cities.  My feet used to give out first and limit my day, now the rest of me gives up before they do!

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