ABB125
Established Member
No activation restrictions (eg: must activate pass before 1 May) that I could see on the linked website - is this correct, or will more information come later?
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Interrail Passes
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As I understand, no such restrictions with this sale.
We'll of course find out for certain when the sale launches.
railfan99
Established Member
Yes, Interail and Eurailpasses can be great value for those of us who want to enjoy a lot of travel.
They are especially wonderful in the UK and Germany, along with some smaller nations, given the vast majority of trains don't require a seat reservation.
Paying the extra for a first class pass is worthwhile.
Thanks, nice to have a bit of time to buy one too
mtmikethom
Member
Interrail sale now on via Interrail.eu website, not on national rail site (myinterrail) though (wasn’t last time there was a sale)
The UK website is a bit slow sometimes, even slower that interrail.eu. The offer may appear tomorrow or the day after.
Since last year's sale, I've bought all my passes on https://allaboard.eu because they offer full refunds up to the latest possible start date.
2023-25 each had a February / March sale (and 2022 had the 50th anniversary one in May); they were 10-15% off rather than the current 25% and didn't cover all one-country passes, but is it likely that there'll be one this spring? I'm looking to get global passes for January and June / July, but would rather not get two at once.
I understand that the RDG-run Interrail site is likely to shut its doors at some point soon.
I've trawled the internet, and can find only mobile passes priced in € in the 25% off sale, which is fine but for those wanting a paper pass then the choice does seem limited to myinterrail and without discount.......yet!
Correction: further investigation on www Inter-rail.eu/en/ revealed a four day continuous 1st class paper pass for £234 instead of £287. However, delivery is not until 16/12/2025, so no use for a trip planned for 10th December!!
Correction: further investigation on www Inter-rail.eu/en/ revealed a four day continuous 1st class paper pass for £234 instead of £287. However, delivery is not until 16/12/2025, so no use for a trip planned for 10th December!!
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LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Checking on the interrail.eu site, the 25% sale discount does not apply to global-plus passes, which makes them poor value during the sale period.
Global-plus tickets must also be activated within 3 months rather than 11 months for the basic global.
While the global base prices look to be the same as last year, the add-on for 100% cancellation refund is now €19 rather than the €7 for last year's sale.
So given that without the supplement the refund is 90%, that's another drop in value and hardly worth the supplement.
Global-plus tickets must also be activated within 3 months rather than 11 months for the basic global.
While the global base prices look to be the same as last year, the add-on for 100% cancellation refund is now €19 rather than the €7 for last year's sale.
So given that without the supplement the refund is 90%, that's another drop in value and hardly worth the supplement.
mtmikethom
Member
Might explain why their normal prices for passes have remained the same for quite some time whilst the Interrail sites ones have risen (reply to #159)
IIRC The most recent price increase was in January 2024 (prices are set in euro). But if they don't update their exchange rate regularly, then their prices in GBP may be off.
Why would you choose a paper pass over a mobile one? I can't think of any reason why you would do so.
It's a souvenir of the journey. For more practical reasons, are there any issues with pass acceptance in areas with poor or no Internet connection?
43096
On Moderation
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Because the app is a buggy, unreliable piece of junk. There are plenty of stories out there of people having problems with guards when the app won't play nicely.
None that I know of, the pass stays accessible for 48h offline and you just have to reconnect to reactivate it if you go offline for this long.
And in some countries they just look at it, not scanning it
You don't need internet to show the pass barcode, as long as you created it (= activated a travel day) when you had internet. After that, you can add and delete trains without being online.
Side question.....
If you add, use, and delete trains, all while offline, are those trains reported to Interrail/Eurail when you are next online?
You need to have had the Interrail app open in the last 24 hours, whilst having an internet connection. Otherwise your pass will not appear if you lack internet when you need to show it.
That period used to be 72 hours but was fairly recently reduced to 24 hours. I think that's an unreasonably short period.
I suppose so. They rely on the pass usage data (= trains added to the pass) to distribute the pass revenue.
railfan99
Established Member
I travel only with WiFi on my phone.
I love paper Eurailpasses: it's easy to keep in a travel folder, simple to write each trip down and to carry extra pages when the space provided in the pass cover is all used, it makes an excellent souvenir and most of all it avoids dead spots with mobile phones.
Between 2022 and 2025 I've had four Global 2 month first class passes, all reliably delivered by Royal Mail and Australia Post to my residence.
It certainly makes sense that they should.
Just wondering how it's structured !
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Yes I noticed the reduction to 24 hours, and I agree.
If you don't have mobile roaming data, you could easily be without wifi access for over 24 hours.
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Usual-Commuter
Member
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I’d not been aware of the 24 hour rule, that’s inconvenient if you’re relying on WiFi.
Generally I take a screenshot of the pass (with the QR code) when I’m using a travel day. Not ideal but it’s helped when the app has stoped working or logged me out!
Ringo2112
Member
I see there is a 25% sale until.Dec 17. I am im the U.S. and will be buying a Eurail Global first class pass like I do every summer.. Does the 11 month activation policy still apply? I read some comments here about 3 months.Maybe I misread it, thanks
Sale policies can certainly vary, but this sale is the normal 11 months activation.
I've had 2 or 3 mobile interrail passes, of various types, every year for several years and had no particular problem with the app itself.
I do have roaming mobile data on my phone, which probably helps with the app, but anyway this is invaluable for access to real time information when actually travelling: journey planning (e.g. after the inevitable cock-up or change of plan), live platform allocations at tight connections, location of a brewpub during an unexpected gap between trains....
If your mobile phone operator doesn't do uneconomical roaming, there are plenty of companies that will sell you an e-SIM that you can load into most reasonably modern phones and get roaming in set countries for a set number of days. This can all be done online and doesn't affect your 'home' SIM.
I also don't understand the need for a souvenir as such; my own copious journey notes and very many photos do a better job.
The main problems I've had with the app are down to the train staff not understanding them (and the same can happen with paper passes) and/or their 'barcode' reader not understanding the interrail code. In Croatia the readers on the main line trains were ok but not on the branch lines. Another problem occurred in Poland where one of the several private operators had very recently been added to the pass validity (again, a paper pass probably wouldn't have helped) but the train staff didn't know this.... I did find a page online explaining this and even translated it into Polish for one staff member, but to be honest I could have made it all up.
Another problem I've had, and yet again paper would be no better than app in this case, was in Spain (and yes, I know, interrail is only economical is Spain under certain circumstances, due to almost every train needing a reservation) - ironically though travel is 'free' on suburban (Cercanias/Rodalies) services, many stations are fully gated and there's no way to get in or out unless there's a staff member available.... at one unstaffed minor halt I had to buy a ticket from the on-platform ticket machine to get out through the ticket gates....
I do have roaming mobile data on my phone, which probably helps with the app, but anyway this is invaluable for access to real time information when actually travelling: journey planning (e.g. after the inevitable cock-up or change of plan), live platform allocations at tight connections, location of a brewpub during an unexpected gap between trains....
If your mobile phone operator doesn't do uneconomical roaming, there are plenty of companies that will sell you an e-SIM that you can load into most reasonably modern phones and get roaming in set countries for a set number of days. This can all be done online and doesn't affect your 'home' SIM.
I also don't understand the need for a souvenir as such; my own copious journey notes and very many photos do a better job.
The main problems I've had with the app are down to the train staff not understanding them (and the same can happen with paper passes) and/or their 'barcode' reader not understanding the interrail code. In Croatia the readers on the main line trains were ok but not on the branch lines. Another problem occurred in Poland where one of the several private operators had very recently been added to the pass validity (again, a paper pass probably wouldn't have helped) but the train staff didn't know this.... I did find a page online explaining this and even translated it into Polish for one staff member, but to be honest I could have made it all up.
Another problem I've had, and yet again paper would be no better than app in this case, was in Spain (and yes, I know, interrail is only economical is Spain under certain circumstances, due to almost every train needing a reservation) - ironically though travel is 'free' on suburban (Cercanias/Rodalies) services, many stations are fully gated and there's no way to get in or out unless there's a staff member available.... at one unstaffed minor halt I had to buy a ticket from the on-platform ticket machine to get out through the ticket gates....
dutchflyer
Established Member
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- 1,550
@1. also had several-and agree that the mobile versions (but now that I read about this shortened period from 72 to 24hrs I hesitate a little more) are easy to use and main advantage is that one can activate the pass when wished-the paper passes MUST be ordered with dates fixed
@2.Also the UK and my country, NL=Nederland have many stations gated. In the UK then there are most often still staff around-and you always have to contact them to get through.
In my country-this is a little secret for most- there are kind of SOS-Buttons to contact a central post and they can then open a gate for you to pass. Just mumble like ´Eurail pass´ and its done. I gather there is even some thing where they might ask for scan- its hardly ever done. The major aim for these gates is after all to reduce expensive staff........
To get IN now one can also check IN with any bank/credit card and then OUT right after passing through-this will simply cancel it all-assumed you made a mistake.
So now I wonder- but have never ever seen a note about it- IF those RENFE/ESpanol Cerc/Rod stops also have such a function hidden somewhere?
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
The 3 months activation rule is for the "plus" version (the ones with inclusive reservations).
The 25% sale discount doesn't apply to them either.
Please always get request a refund of such tickets so Eurail get to know the extent of the problem in Spain (and also Portugal):
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
The Rodalies gates are supposed to accept the mobile pass barcode. For us that worked for a few days, until they responded with "server error" or something similar.
Cercanías gates are also supposed to have a staff member close by, or a button with which you can ask for the gate to be opened remotely. That only worked 1.5 times for us. It's not guaranteed someone will answer, nor that they'll understand what you want or know what Interrail is.
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