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Eurail Pass & Countries

Posted by (VA) on

Hi! First, I've spent quite a bit of time reading The Man in Seat 61 and have my seat reservations for the countries that require them, plus some for trip legs for which I would like to be sure to have a specific seat.

Could you verify my understanding of where I can use our Eurail passes? I'm determining my additional transportation expenses for those locations where we can't utilize our passes. I'm specifically requesting a yes/no for local transit--regional trains, buses, trams.
Thank you!

  1. Spain--still unsure

  2. Italy--already have seat reservations between cities; water taxis in Venice--must pay; local transport in Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice?

  3. Switzerland--kind of yes, kind of no--this one is pretty confusing; it is my understanding that up to a certain point within Oberland, a pass is good; but then you will need a Swiss pass of some kind; can be purchased at a discount with a pass

  4. Liechtenstein--yes, free with pass

  5. Germany--yes, free with pass

  6. Netherlands--yes, free with pass

  7. Belgium--yes, free with pass

  8. France--must have seat reservations; and pass is not good in Paris; will buy a Navigo pass instead; transport from Paris to Caen?

  9. England--yes, free with pass

Again, could you verify my understanding of where I can use our Eurail passes? I'm determining my additional transportation expenses for those locations where we can't utilize our passes. I'm specifically requesting a yes/no for local transit--regional trains, buses, trams.

Thank you!

Posted by
350 posts

When you say local transport, are you talking about transport within a given city? Or transport between cities?

If within a given city, generally, I haven’t found that type of local transport covered, except in the past with the S Bahn for some cities in Germany, not sure if this is still the case though. Eurail has pass benefits listed at this link https://benefitsportal.eurail.com/extra-benefits-eurail-and-interrail-travelers/. The country name can be entered at the top right of the page at the ‘search’ hyperlink.

Posted by
41 posts

min--Yes, transport within cities for the countries listed. The Man in Seat 61 doesn't really address that. Thanks!

Thank you for the link!! I'll check it out.

Posted by
7338 posts

"I'm specifically requesting a yes/no for local transit--regional trains, buses, trams."

Germany: The Eurailpass will get you onto trains and the S-Bahn trains. But it will NOT help with the buses, trams or the subway systems. If you'll be using a number of these, look into the subscription-based Deutschland-Ticket. It covers all of these, everywhere in Germany, as well normal regional trains.... for an entire month. Will you have a FLEXI Eurail pass (like 15 days within 2 months)?? If so, the D-Ticket means that if you were planning a journey using only the S-Bahn and/or regional trains only on a given day, you could use the D-Ticket instead and would save one of your 15 railpass days with a D-Ticket. For example... You're staying in Nuremberg and wish to make a day trip to Regensburg and back. This 2+-hour regional-express round-trip is covered by the month-long D-Ticket - so you now have an unused rail-pass day left on your Eurailpass.

Posted by
9290 posts

England/UK- all scheduled trains included on the National Rail Network (regional, express and stop at every lamp post).
I say that to differentiate from the preserved lines such as the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and charter trains on the National network.
No local buses, trams (London, Blackpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Sheffield, Birmingham) or subway systems (in London, Glasgow and Newcastle) but Merseyrail in Liverpool is part of the National system so is included.

Posted by
1795 posts

“ Netherlands--yes, free with pass
Belgium--yes, free with pass”

What exactly do you mean with “free with pass”. I hope you’re aware that the Eurail pass is valid on trains only. In both the Netherlands and Belgium trains only run between cities. If you want to get around within a city, you’ll need to transfer to different modes of public transport like busses, trams and subways. The Eurail pass is not valid on those types of public transport.

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