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Trains between Scandanavian Countries

Posted by on

Hello All!

My friend and I are planning a trip through Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Prague. We were looking into purchasing a Eurail 4-country pass, valid for 5 or 6 days of travel. We both qualify for the under-26 discount.
I recently read that Sweden's rail, SJ, charges fees for using a Eurail pass, and that it may be cheaper and easier to buy through Sweden's rail system.
Has anyone run into this problem, in Sweden or any of the cities mentioned above? We would like to buy one pass for the three-week trip, but only if it is valid in all countries. Thank you!

  • Allie
Posted by
971 posts

First of all you should check out The man in seat 61, his website is the bible of all rail travel. He has a subpage just for rail passes: http://seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm

The fee you are refering to is probably this one: http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=108&a=144429&l=en
It's simply a seat reservation fee for high speed trains, which is mandatory. This is not uncommon.

Basicly the only way of knowing if the pass is worth it for you, is to compare the prices for point to point tickets with the price of the rail pass + the reservation fees. Note that if you buy tickets in advance you can get discounts. seat61.com has a list of the train operators where you can see the prices, don't buy tickets from a middle man like Rail Europe.

Posted by
16895 posts

Yes, that small seat reservation fee is required on SJ-High Speed trains (also called x2000 on some schedules) but optional for other trains on your route (unless you choose the direct DB-operated bus from Copenhagen to Berlin, which also requires a reservation before boarding). A youth pass at $275 for 5 days compares pretty well to full-fare tickets at about $420 for the route above, without having to book anything very far ahead. So far, you've only implied 4 days of train travel, so don't add a 6th day if you don't have a plan for it.

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