“I paid 215 euros for it to do six countries. It’s still quite pleasant,” notes Rosalie, who left with two of her friends for Brussels, then Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and finally Split, in Croatia. All this while paying just over 200 euros for trains, the price of her pass. Interrail But be careful, you can’t get on just any train.
>> The European Union is giving away 60,000 Interrail passes for young people aged 18 to 20
Rosalie, for example, was entitled to unlimited travel for only 5 days, over her month of travel. “Every time you take the train, and you have your ticket punched by a ticket inspector, explains Rosalie, you have 24 hours of unlimited trains. So you have to be well organized. You have to look at the train timetables because there aren’t any all the time. And there are some that require reservations.” Especially the TGVs. Count a few euros more to reserve your place. The Interrail pass allows you to explore 33 European countries. For 50 years and its appearance, millions of travelers have already taken it with them in their suitcases.
This device remains financially more attractive for travelers than if they had to take each ticket separately. And then, Rosalie had the feeling of belonging to a community of travellers. “We party with people who we then find on the train the next day, and in another city afterwards. We realized that in France, we saw few people with this Interrail ticket which is still special. We recognize travelers easily because the ticket is a bit ‘old-fashioned’. You write on it your journeys, the time, etc… When we were in Belgium, it was impressive. There were almost a whole wagon full of people with Passes, and not necessarily just young people.”
>> “I feel more and more guilty about taking the plane”: these French people tell why they prefer the train to go on vacation
The Pass is not reserved for students. It is, of course, a little more expensive for those over 27, but it is still very profitable. In total, Sébastien had to pay 500 euros to go to Germany, Denmark and especially Sweden last summer. “For the arrival in Sweden, between Copenhagen and Malmö, there is a big bridge and you feel like you are flying over water. It’s pretty cool,” he assures.
Not all cities are connected to rail. And the train schedules sometimes force you to stay a few hours, or even a night in a city that is not necessarily in your plans. “In particular in Germany on the return, recognizes Sebastian. Bremen, for example, I would never have thought of stopping there if the train I was taking didn’t stop there. It’s nice since there is a park, old ramparts, a canal. A waypoint that I probably wouldn’t have known if I had gone by car or by plane.” Sébastien is about to get an Interrail pass for this summer. Direction this time the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria.