Rail
InterRail and Eurail
By
Nov 2, 2004, 01:13

InterRail: EU RESIDENTS ONLY

If you want the flexibility to travel beyond the borders of Germany during the World Cup period, an InterRail pass can give you that freedom (full details from the Rail Europe.co.uk website). 

InterRail gives you unlimited second-class rail travel in every country of Europe, excluding the one in which you live, plus North Africa.

Six options of time and place
You can buy InterRail passes (from Rail Europe.co.uk) for 16 or 22 days or for a full month. 

In terms of territory, you can buy a pass for 1 InterRail zone (e.g. Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria), 2 zones (e.g. that first one, plus France, Luxembourg, Holland & Belgium), or for the full area.

For full details see the Europe Rail.co.uk website.

See also our page about the Eurodomino Pass.

Surcharges and seat reservations Full details of applicable surcharges are listed here. You will need Adobe Reader to view this file.

Like InterRail, the Eurail Pass is also operated jointly by 17 railway companies across Europe, led in this venture by SNCF, the French national rail operator.  While InterRail is sold via Rail Europe.co.uk, Eurail is available online only from Rail Europe.com. 

The Eurail deal differs somewhat from InterRail, but has some similarities, in that you can choose to travel over a variety of different periods, i.e. 15 days to 3 months (Eurail details from Rail Europe.com).

Eurail Selectpass
There are also a number variants on the main Eurail Pass, called Eurail Selectpass (details here on the Europe Rail.com website), that let you travel for a given number of days, consecutive or non-consecutive, on the rail networks of any one Eurail / InterRail zone (i.e. group of 3-5 countries).

Eurail Germany-Benelux Pass
The best deal for travel around Germany during the World Cup may, however, be a cut-down version of the Eurail Pass that is now available, covering just Germany and the Benelux countries, i.e.Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg (see Rail Europe.com). 

Unlike the full Eurail Pass, you can choose to buy a first or second class ticket for this one.  Like the Select Pass, this pass is also based on unlimited travel on a given number of days, consecutive or not, within any 2-month period.

Prices

For more details see the Rail Europe.com website