Interrail Passes

[peterblue]

In defence of the app: I've done about 10ish interrail tickets with the app without any major problems. The timetable side of it isn't 'live' and is sometimes slightly inaccurate, but it gives you an approximate idea of what to expect. I think it's common sense to check timetables and check stations etc with an official source first. I think some smaller stations you also have to add manually in the 'manual journeys' section.

For me it does what I expect - somewhere to host my interrail pass.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jan 2025 ==

And for me having paperwork, pencils, and cards etc to carry around is far more hassle than the app!

 

[rg177]

It has certainly improved - though even last year I had my pass randomly disappear for a good half hour or so (stuck in a purgatory of it not being there but also unable to add it, as it apparently was) for no apparent reason. It's certainly not as good as it could be, but not enough to send me back to paper passes.

I prefer it over the paper tickets purely as most staff seem to have a better idea of what it actually is (or simply scan and move on without much thought) whereas I've had some truly mind-boggling encounters when using a paper one, all the way up to a Hungarian conductor trying to rip the ticket off the actual cover for reasons I still don't quite understand. That is of course except for my experience in Slovakia last year where their scanners deemed it always invalid and staff there thought that was a concrete fact!

 

[dutchflyer]

Just to add own exp. to this: myself not that comfy with ´all on the phone´-even though one nowadays often has to (the bank here). Tried out a bit suspiciously an IR on fone bought in a last-min sale and was quite surprised at how easy it went and less hassle as the old-style paper (which always was too small for me to add all the trips). So did another one from the black friday sale last yr-small hickup then as activating this new one did not go very smooth-it kept on telling me it was expired!-but that was the old one.
Cannot remember if having been in SK-but would have enjoyed free senior travel there anyway-though to use that one has to first also get a 0€ ticket for trip intended for the administration once you got your card to allow you to do all that.
Conductors were also most helpful in giving advice and telling what to do if it did not come on screen right away-mostly DE and CH and AT.

 

[parkender102]

Read Seat 61 Interrail Passes page as linked above. Sometimes it's a whole lot cheaper to just buy tickets separately if you pretty much know your routes and where you want to go. Remember all the supplements for Compulsory Seat Reservations and Sleepers add to the cost of the Interrail Pass. Interrail Passes offer Flexibility if that is what you want - changing plans and no set itinerary etc

Last year I travelled by Train (mostly) from Rhodes (Greece) back to UK over 12 days, staying a few days in each place. I did a bit of research and it was far cheaper to do the following route by booking separate Tickets and not use an Interrail Pass:

Rhodes (Ferry) - Athens (Train) - Thessaloniki (Flixbus) - Sofia (Train) - Bucharest (Sleeper Train) - Budapest (Train) - Vienna (Train) - Koln (Train) - Brussels - UK.

Rhodes Ferry to Athens offers no Interrail Discount. There was no current Rail Connection Thessaloniki to Sofia so I booked Flixbus at a bargain 12 Euros (took 5 Hours - very impressed - clean, smooth, toilet on board and facilities for food and toilets at the Border Crossing into Bulgaria).

I had originally intended to complete the rest of the journey from Brussels by Eurostar to London and then on to North Wales using Avanti (like I used to in the old days of Interrail). That was going to cost around £200 (Paris Olympics were on) and a days Travel. Ryanair Brussels to Manchester was 23 Euros and a 1 Hour Flight. No Brainer.

 

[MrJeeves]

The timetable side of it isn't 'live' and is sometimes slightly inaccurate, but it gives you an approximate idea of what to expect.

Except it is in a couple of countries now!

The other week, I had an issue where the app decided to sign me out and then refused to let me sign back in. Thankfully, it turned out I could press the back button on my phone and it'd... hide the sign in screen...

All well and good until I restarted my phone at some point and that workaround stopped working! Stood the wrong side of the gateline for a good few minutes trying to coerce it into letting me sign in and it just wouldn't. Thankfully I'd taken a screenshot of the barcode and showed it to a member of gateline staff who just beeped me through.

 

[rvdborgt]

The other week, I had an issue where the app decided to sign me out and then refused to let me sign back in. Thankfully, it turned out I could press the back button on my phone and it'd... hide the sign in screen...

The app signed you out of what? You don't need to be signed in to anything to be able to use the rail planner app and show the barcode.

 

[MrJeeves]

The app signed you out of what? You don't need to be signed in to anything to be able to use the rail planner app and show the barcode.

Well, I am signed in to the app, and when it decided to sign me out I was simply greeted with a lovely full-screen splash screen asking me to sign in and no option to skip it as the back button didn't function.

I'm sure if I had never signed in, then maybe it wouldn't be an issue? I'm still uncertain of what happened then.

 

[rvdborgt]

Well, I am signed in to the app, and when it decided to sign me out I was simply greeted with a lovely full-screen splash screen asking me to sign in and no option to skip it as the back button didn't function.

I'm sure if I had never signed in, then maybe it wouldn't be an issue? I'm still uncertain of what happened then.

You can sign in to your Interrail account (under More) but that is only useful if you booked reservations there. It's not needed to use the pass.
It would be interesting to see a screenshot of that full-screen splash screen.

 

[MrJeeves]

It would be interesting to see a screenshot of that full-screen splash screen.

It was just the exact same screen as the sign-in one, but as it was the first screen that showed when I opened the app, there was nothing for the back button to take me to.

 

[BahrainLad]

I have a small question about single-country Interrail passes. I'm planning on buying a 3 day one for Switzerland for use in February. Mainly because it's so much cheaper than an equivalent pass fro SBB (particularly as my daughter will be travelling with me). Day 1 will be a train from Zurich to Martigny and then the branch line up towards Chamonix. Do I have to get off the train before the French border, as technically the pass won't be valid, or can I carry on one stop until the train terminates just inside France? It would help with my onward pickup!

 

[DanielB]

For Switzerland there is a detailed map here: https://www.interrail.eu/content/dam/_new-structure/visual/maps/2024-switzerland.pdf

So valid till the border station in your case.

 

[ivanhoe]

Used three global passes in the last 18 months and have had zero issues with the App.Found it easy to use and quick to amend when things go wrong on the railway.
For Budget purposes, I allow 140 euro for reservations, bearing in mind that Eurostar takes a big chunk(80 euro for first class pass).I also do quite a few long journeys where using High Speed trains are used.
Interrail Passes, in my opinion offer more opportunities, travel wise, rather than value for money per say. Being able to travel at peak from Loughborough is a big plus

 

[30907]

For Switzerland there is a detailed map here: https://www.interrail.eu/content/dam/_new-structure/visual/maps/2024-switzerland.pdf

So valid till the border station in your case.

...which is in Switzerland, though not by much. The ticket is not valid to Vallorcine (or beyond), though presumably there are ways to buy the ticket

 

[rvdborgt]

For Budget purposes, I allow 140 euro for reservations, bearing in mind that Eurostar takes a big chunk(80 euro for first class pass).

€76. Book on raileurope.com to avoid extra booking fees and change currency to euros (prices in other currencies are up to 5% higher).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jan 2025 ==

It was just the exact same screen as the sign-in one, but as it was the first screen that showed when I opened the app, there was nothing for the back button to take me to.

Do you mean the same sign-in screen you can see under More > Log in? That should have an arrow at the top left. In any case, if it happens again, take a screenshot and contact customer service.

 

[ivanhoe]

€76. Book on raileurope.com to avoid extra booking fees and change currency to euros (prices in other currencies are up to 5% higher).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jan 2025 ==


Do you mean the same sign-in screen you can see under More > Log in? That should have an arrow at the top left. In any case, if it happens again, take a screenshot and contact customer service.

I use a euro currency card and I round up when giving quotes such as above. That’s 40 years of Management Accounting for you.

 

[peteb]

It's worth remembering that for virtually any non-local service in Spain you need to reserve seats, whether travelling with inter-rail or not. This is a right pain because you really do have to plan ahead. In theory even regional trains can "fill up" though last year I managed to buy ticket+reservation less than 1/2 hour before departure on a regional service.

In Portugal it's slightly easier: only Alfa Pendular and InterCity require reservations, inter régional and local trains (some quite long distance) don't.

However generally it's much cheaper to plan ahead and buy tickets from RENFE and CP websites which include reservations anyway.

 

[rg177]

It's worth remembering that for virtually any non-local service in Spain you need to reserve seats, whether travelling with inter-rail or not. This is a right pain because you really do have to plan ahead. In theory even regional trains can "fill up" though last year I managed to buy ticket+reservation less than 1/2 hour before departure on a regional service.

In Portugal it's slightly easier: only Alfa Pendular and InterCity require reservations, inter régional and local trains (some quite long distance) don't.

However generally it's much cheaper to plan ahead and buy tickets from RENFE and CP websites which include reservations anyway.

This applies to most of Spain - though if you're travelling only around Catalonia then it's rather easier as anything regional (including the Media Distancia route to/from Portbou) is completely reservation-free.

It does however depend on what you're doing and worth remembering that many local trains are usually behind totally unstaffed gatelines.

 

[JB_B]

It has certainly improved - though even last year I had my pass randomly disappear for a good half hour or so (stuck in a purgatory of it not being there but also unable to add it, as it apparently was) for no apparent reason. It's certainly not as good as it could be, but not enough to send me back to paper passes.
....

Last year the App was much buggier for me than in 2023. Over a couple of months, I had about 15 pass+trip wipe outs * ( and a couple of cases of the barcode only partly downloading and then getting stuck.) Fortunately only one wipe out happened when I was actually trying to show my ticket and the conductor was very understanding.

The App's changelog is full of "We've fixed some bugs." but there's no detail on what's been fixed. it seems like a design fault that the App doesn't verify that everything downloaded is complete and valid locally before attempting to update anything. ( Or, failing that, a least keep a last-known-good-data/config to fall back on.)

* Just to be clear, I was eventually able to recover my pass+trip each time and I will be using a mobile pass again this year.

 

[tony6499]

Was looking at a reservation on a Eurostar next Friday from Dusseldorf to Brussels but it said sold out, do further reservations become available nearer the time or is the quota sold and that's that ?
Thanks

 

[peteb]

Was looking at a reservation on a Eurostar next Friday from Dusseldorf to Brussels but it said sold out, do further reservations become available nearer the time or is the quota sold and that's that ?
Thanks

I think they'll have sold the limited number of inter-rail reservations. I'd instead go for DB ICE via Cologne. Yes, it's one change, but not much added to the journey time and you won't need to reserve a seat. (Unless you really want to).

 

[AlastairFraser]

Was looking at a reservation on a Eurostar next Friday from Dusseldorf to Brussels but it said sold out, do further reservations become available nearer the time or is the quota sold and that's that ?
Thanks

Quota sold I believe. Try regional trains for that section perhaps?

 

[dutchflyer]

Day 1 will be a train from Zurich to Martigny and then the branch line up towards Chamonix. Do I have to get off the train before the French border, as technically the pass won't be valid, or can I carry on one stop until the train terminates just inside France? It would help with my onward pickup!

Little small secret or trick: you have to pay for the last sector in FR-and can buy such a ticket at about any staffed SBB or even other Swiss station-or if you feel the need to, online, but then you probably also need to pay for the very short but as its Swiss quite expensive few KMs from last Swiss stop till ´Border point´=that is how it works anywhere in EUR-continent for such issues. In a very few cases-notably even fairly often in/out of CH=Swiss that border tariff point is an actual real station. F.e. Basel SBB (=main) is it for direction FR, but for direction DE=Germany its a little more north; Basel Bad(ischer Bhf)!

 

[MoominAndChips]

I used Interrail for some travel in the UK a couple of weeks back (Finnish resident, not that anyone checked, even once, despite my British accent). I downloaded whatever version of the app was current in late December.

The journey planner would find nearby stations, but certainly didn't list them in order of proximity. Standing in Kings Cross, typing "kin", and having to scroll past numerous obscure little stations in mainland Europe to find it... less than ideal, but fixable by typing a few more characters.

I do consider it a bug that, having used a travel day, it won't show you the pass until you enter a journey into the planner and add it to the pass. It also reported "Kings Cross to Perth saved" for every journey I added, because that was the first one.

 

[rvdborgt]

The journey planner would find nearby stations, but certainly didn't list them in order of proximity. Standing in Kings Cross, typing "kin", and having to scroll past numerous obscure little stations in mainland Europe to find it... less than ideal, but fixable by typing a few more characters.

I do consider it a bug that, having used a travel day, it won't show you the pass until you enter a journey into the planner and add it to the pass. It also reported "Kings Cross to Perth saved" for every journey I added, because that was the first one.

Do report any bugs you find here:

https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en/requests/new

However, the pass is only valid if you add the train you're using to it, so IMO it makes sense not to show the barcode (I suppose that's what you mean) until you've added a train.

 

[Watershed]

I do consider it a bug that, having used a travel day, it won't show you the pass until you enter a journey into the planner and add it to the pass

It's not a bug - it's the intended behaviour. The pass isn't valid without a corresponding entry in the travel diary, so forcing people to save and activate a train/journey prevents them from getting into trouble.

It also reported "Kings Cross to Perth saved" for every journey I added, because that was the first one.

Is that perhaps the name you gave to the "Trip"?

 

[DanielB]

It's not a bug - it's the intended behaviour. The pass isn't valid without a corresponding entry in the travel diary, so forcing people to save and activate a train/journey prevents them from getting into trouble.

It also saves losing days, as the travel day is only activated after adding a journey (with several warnings) and not by opening the pass itself.
The latter you might have to do on a day you're not travelling as well, for example to take the screenshot requested when asking for delay repay.

 

[rvdborgt]

It also saves losing days, as the travel day is only activated after adding a journey (with several warnings) and not by opening the pass itself.

Mostly indeed. You can however also activate a travel day without adding a journey: Go to My Pass, select your pass, select an unused travel day and then tap on "Use travel day". Not sure what the use case is for that possibility though.

 

[DanielB]

Not sure what the use case is for that possibility though.

Avoiding the warnings when adding the first journey to a day? Though I presume you'll get those anyway using the procedure you mention.

You don't need to be online to activate a travel day right, otherwise that could be a reason for the option. (Using hotel wifi and not being sure which train to take)

 

[rvdborgt]

Avoiding the warnings when adding the first journey to a day? Though I presume you'll get those anyway using the procedure you mention.

You don't need to be online to activate a travel day right, otherwise that could be a reason for the option. (Using hotel wifi and not being sure which train to take)

You need to be online to (de)activate a pass or travel day. But after that, you can add trains to your pass or remove them without internet.

 

[DanielB]

So, then it makes sense to be able to activate a travel day via the pass-section of the app (anywhere with wifi available should you need to avoid roaming charges) and add a journey later should you not have planned ahead which train you want to take.