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Eurail Pass One Travel Day v.s. the 7 P.M. Rule

I'm wondering if I can take, for example, two short trains rides during the day, touring different locations, then get on an overnight train after 7 P.M., arrive the the destination before 4 A.M. the next day, and will all three train rides count as the same travel day?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Posted by
19274 posts

Your travel would count as two days. According to the 7 PM rule, your travel on the night train will count for the arrival day.

Trains
If you board one or more trains that depart after 7 p.m. (19:00) and arrive at their final stop
after 4 a.m. (04:00) then only the day of arrival needs to be entered into the travel calendar.

www.eurail.com/en/help/using-your-pass/how-do-i-enter-overnight-journey-my-travel-calendar

However, any additional travel on the arrival day would still count as the same day as the night train.

Also, you can get off the train before 4 am, but only if the train gets to it's final destination after 4 am. What they don't address is what happens if the train leaves after 7 pm but gets to it's final destination before 4 am!

If the cost of the two short trips on the first day is less than the cost of a day of your rail pass, then pay for the two trip separately and save a day of the pass (assuming you have somewhere to use the saved rail pass day).

Posted by
21149 posts

Maybe give us an example of what you are planning to do. The 7 PM rule governs what counts as a travel day when taking a night train. The train has to arrive at it final destination after 4 am, which is Eurail's way of defining if it is a true night train.

Posted by
9 posts

I misunderstood the 7p.m. rule, or maybe I read it somewhere that gave different info. But it's good to know that the 7 p.m. rule means that only the arrival date counts as a travel day, then I can mix in a couple of short train rides after the overnight train on the same day, and it will still count as one travel day. Thanks a bunch!

Posted by
14979 posts

@ Barbara...That's correct. You write on your pass the date of arrival on the night train. That counts as one travel day. For example, I arrived ca 9am in Hamburg on a night train ride this past May.

A couple of hours later, I was on the train again doing a day trip to Schleswig. That day trip counts as the same travel day. All I did was to show the controller the Pass with the arrival date already written in, but make sure you write in your "log" attached to the Pass that day trip from "where to where." So, I wrote in Hamburg to Schleswig, and then for the return, "Schleswig to Hamburg."

The controllers now really check that log and they click it too.