Travelling across Europe with an InterRail pass is possible thanks to our collaboration with 30 rail companies across Europe. This allows you to travel everywhere across the European rail network, giving you the freedom to make the trip of your dreams. 
For most local and regional trains, you can just hop on and off. However, your InterRail pass doesn’t always guarantee you a seat, and sometimes you are required to make a reservation. Rules for making reservations varies between rail companies and countries. Make sure you understand reservation fees before you travel, so there are no surprises!
While planning your trip, remember you may be required to make a reservation if you’re:
- travelling between countries: International train reservations.
- using high-speed trains: Domestic train reservations.
- choosing a night train: Night train reservations.
For many high-speed services, international trains and all night trains, an advance reservation is compulsory. Keep in mind that travelling on a night train is a great way to save on accommodation costs.
Popular trains and routes, including the domestic French TGV trains and the TGV from Paris to Milan (formerly Artesia de Jour) have a year-round limited seat allocation for InterRail pass holders. After this limit has been reached you’ll have to buy a full price ticket.
By booking in advance you should be able to reserve a seat. So it’s worth reserving yourself a seat, especially during peak times (May-September and school holidays) or if you have a plane to catch at the other end!
If a reservation is required, you’ll need to arrange this in advance.
The easiest ways are:
- at the ticket office of a train station or using a self-service machine.
- through the Deutsche Bahn’s UK Call Centre.
- Online with a few rail companies. Currently you are able to buy reservations online for travel within and to and from Germany, Italy and Sweden.
Depending on what’s most important to you – speed of travel or keeping budgets down – you may want to avoid making reservations.
You can do this by researching an alternative route that doesn’t require a reservation fee. Sometimes this will mean a longer journey, with more changes, but it also means you have the chance to stop off and see more places and the entire cost of the train will be covered by your InterRail pass.
You can view reservation fees on the back of the InterRail map, which you get with every InterRail Global Pass. Most reservation fees vary between €0.25 and €20.
Fees can change throughout the year, so for up-to-date prices, please check this website.
