Interrail: My Favourite Way to Travel by Train Around Europe

As an Interrail veteran who has used well over 100 passes over the years, I truly believe there is no better way to travel across Europe by train.

Below, I will explain why buying an Interrail pass is such a great deal — even when it may be slightly more expensive than regular point-to-point train tickets.

Why Interrail is the best way to travel by train

With an Interrail pass in hand, you can enjoy unlimited train travel across Europe for the duration of its validity.

Whether an Interrail pass is the most affordable way to travel by train depends on your planned itinerary, as buying point-to-point tickets directly from the rail operator is often cheaper.

This is especially true if your itinerary is set in stone and you can book tickets well in advance, allowing you to take advantage of discounted saver fares rather than paying the full fare on a last-minute booking.

However, even when your travel plans are fixed, Interrail’s flexibility can still be a great advantage, offering benefits that you won’t get with point-to-point tickets.

The Rome to Bari train is about to depart from Roma Termini. ©AndyBTravels

Interrail’s flexibility

Of course, the flexibility of an Interrail pass is most useful for spontaneous travellers who decide on the spot or just a few days in advance where they want to go.

Last-minute bookers are also likely to benefit greatly from an Interrail pass, as the daily cost is often lower than buying point-to-point tickets, which can be expensive when booked at short notice.

However, Interrail’s flexibility is often underappreciated by rail travellers with fixed itineraries

The flexibility that Interrail offers in many countries, such as Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, where no reservations are required for trains, is amazing.

This is especially true if you plan to make a stopover along the way during your travel day.

For example, if you want to travel by train from Vienna to Salzburg but wish to make a stopover in Linz, having an Interrail pass is the perfect way to do so.

If you’re enjoying your time in a town, you have the flexibility to stay longer and take a later train, or perhaps an earlier one if you feel like leaving sooner.

With an Interrail pass, you will have this flexibility, which you wouldn’t have with point-to-point tickets bought in advance, as they tend to be non-flexible and non-refundable, meaning you must stick to your originally booked departure times.

Even in countries where reservations are required, such as France or Italy, there are often excellent alternatives in the form of slower trains that don’t require reservations and where you can simply hop on board.

The Zurich to Munich EuroCity train. ©AndyBTravels

Other advantages of Interrail

Another often overlooked advantage of an Interrail pass is that it works perfectly if your train is cancelled or you miss your planned connection due to a delay.

This is especially invaluable if your train journey involves multiple operators across different countries, as in many such cases, passengers’ rights are either non-existent or not respected if you had bought separate point-to-point tickets.

With an Interrail pass, you don’t even need to deal with the rail operator in the event of a missed connection or cancellation to sort out new tickets, as you can simply hop on the next available train or take a different route entirely.

This is also highly beneficial if a railway line is suddenly blocked due to an accident or other emergency, as you have the flexibility to plan an entirely different route to reach your destination.

Even if an Interrail pass costs a bit more than standard point-to-point tickets, you can view the premium as a form of “insurance” that proves useful when things go wrong.

Having an Interrail pass and making full use of its flexibility has certainly saved me a lot of money and helped avoid potentially disastrous situations, such as being stranded somewhere halfway, during a travel day.

Buy an Interrail pass

If you want to buy an Interrail pass, you can do so through the booking agency Discover by Rail (which I happen to run!).

When you buy your Interrail pass through Discover by Rail, there are no booking fees, and the passes are fully refundable. You can read more information here.

Conclusion

When I travel around Europe by train, I prefer to use an Interrail pass, as its flexibility is an enormous yet often overlooked benefit.

Although point-to-point tickets may cost slightly less, travelling around Europe by train with an Interrail pass still offers many advantages.

The flexibility of an Interrail pass is not only great for making spontaneous decisions on the day of travel, such as when you want to stay somewhere a bit longer or take an earlier train than planned, but it can also act as a sort of insurance if your train is cancelled or you miss your intended connection due to a delay, as you can immediately board an alternative train.