How to Make Interrail and Eurail Passholder Reservations

How to Make Interrail and Eurail Passholder Reservations

If you are an Interrail or Eurail passholder and need to make train reservations, you can often do so on the train operator’s website or by using the reservation service on the Interrail/Eurail website.

However, in many countries, with France, Spain, and Italy being the most notorious examples, you cannot make Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations on the websites of the respective national railway companies.

Although Interrail/Eurail’s own reservation service can book some tickets, it doesn’t cover all trains in France, Spain, and Italy, and has a few other drawbacks compared to some other options available to secure the reservations you need.

By far the best website to book your Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations for trains in France, Spain, and Italy is Rail Europe.

In this short guide, I’ll explain how to use Rail Europe to make Interrail and Eurail passholder reservations for France, Spain, and Italy, and why you should choose this website over other services.

Advantages of using Rail Europe for Interrail/Eurail passholder reservations

There are a few great advantages to using Rail Europe for your Interrail/Eurail passholder reservations for trains in Spain, France, and Italy:

• Rail Europe can reserve all long-distance and high-speed trains in Spain, France, and Italy for you, whereas the reservation service on the Interrail/Eurail website can only arrange reservations for certain train services in these countries.
• In addition to French, Italian, and Spanish trains, Rail Europe can also book passholder reservations for Eurostar.
• Rail Europe doesn’t charge a booking fee, you only pay for the passholder reservation itself.
• You can check at Rail Europe whether passholder fares are still available for trains on a certain date, which is useful since some trains have a quota for the number of Interrail/Eurail travellers they allow on board.
• When making a passholder reservation through Rail Europe, you can choose whether you want a window or aisle seat and, for French TGV Duplex trains, whether you prefer a seat on the lower or upper deck.
• If you have a first-class Interrail or Eurail pass, Rail Europe allows you to book Premium Comfort reservations on Spanish AVE high-speed trains, which include access to the Sala Club lounge at the station before departure and complimentary food and drinks served at your seat during the journey.

Spanish AVE high-speed trains are among the ones that require a special passholder reservation if you want to use your Interrail or Eurail pass. ©DiscoverByRail

How to use the Rail Europe website to make Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations

Using Rail Europe for Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations is straightforward once you know where to look on the website. I’ll explain it step by step below:

1. If you haven’t done so yet, first buy an Interrail or Eurail pass.
2. Go to Rail Europe
3. Ignore the journey planner for now, click on “add rail pass” below it, and select the pass you have from the drop-down menu. Rail Europe only lists global Interrail and Eurail passes, so if you have a one-country pass, simply select the relevant global pass type (for example, if you have a 2nd class one-country Interrail pass for France, just select “Interrail Global Pass 2nd class”). Passholder tickets are the same price whether you have a one-country pass or a global pass, so this is perfectly fine as long as you reserve a train entirely within the country your one-country pass is valid for.
4. Type in the city or station you want to travel from and to in the journey planner, and click “search”. Instead of showing full-fare tickets, the Rail Europe journey planner will now display only the Interrail/Eurail passholder fees for your trip. This is also the way how you check whether a certain train still has Interrail/Eurail passholder fares available, or whether the quota has been filled and none are available anymore.
5. Buy your Interrail/Eurail passholder reservation for the train you want. Note that you must enter a valid pass number to make a booking.
6. After you make a successful purchase, Rail Europe will send you the passholder reservation as an e-ticket to your email address. You simply show this, along with your Interrail or Eurail pass, to the ticket inspector on the train.

Tips and tricks to make Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations on Rail Europe

Buying European train tickets is not without its quirks, and this applies to making Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations, as there are a couple of issues you might encounter during the process.

These are the most common issues people face when trying to make Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations, along with solutions to help you resolve them:

• Booking window: Depending on the railway company operating the service and the route, trains may only be open for booking weeks, months, half a year, or a full year in advance. If you don’t see any passholder fees available (let alone normal full-fare tickets, including on the days before/after you want to travel), the issue might be that you’re simply looking too far ahead. Don’t stress, and try again later. If you can’t buy it, nobody else can.
• Check the listed options: If you search for 1st class Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations, Rail Europe will list both first and second class fares. Make sure you select first class, unless you prefer to sit in a lower class. Sometimes, Rail Europe lists 2nd class as default and you have to manually change it back to 1st class.
• Pass number not accepted: A common error when trying to book a passholder reservation for a mobile Interrail or Eurail pass is the system not accepting your pass number. If this happens, generate a pass cover number from your mobile pass number using this tool on the Eurail website (which also works for Interrail).
• Check the train operator: Remember that Interrail and Eurail passes are not accepted by all European rail companies. In France, you can use your Interrail or Eurail pass on inOui TGV trains operated by national railway company SNCF, including the TGV services linking France with Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and Spain, as well as the TGV Lyria trains between France and Switzerland. However, Interrail and Eurail passes are not valid on “low-cost” Ouigo TGV trains, as this company, although owned by SNCF, is operated as a distinct entity with its own rules. In Italy, you can’t travel with an Interrail or Eurail pass on trains of private high-speed operator Italo.
• International Trenitalia quirks: You can, of course, make Interrail or Eurail passholder reservations for trains operated by the Italian national railway company Trenitalia. However, their high-speed Frecciarossa service between Italy and France (Milan–Turin–Lyon–Paris) cannot be used with an Interrail or Eurail pass. If you’re travelling on this route, use the inOui TGV trains instead. Iryo, a private Spanish high-speed train operator partly owned by Trenitalia, now accepts Interrail and Eurail passholder reservations.
• Trains that don’t require a reservation: Although there are a few exceptions, you generally don’t need a reservation to use commuter or regional trains. If you want to travel from Nice to Monaco or from Florence to Pisa, for example, just use your Interrail or Eurail pass on any regional train – as no seat reservation is required (nor even possible), you can simply show up at the station and board whichever train you like. Of course, if you have a flexi pass, it’s best not to use a day of free travel for such short journeys, as buying a ticket on the day will cost just a few euros – far less than the value of a day’s use of your Interrail or Eurail pass.