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A guide to reservations for Interrail pass users

A one page guide to the trains on which InterRail Pass users do and don't have to pay additional fees, plus the prices of making the reservations and how to book them.

By Simon Harper Simon Harper
| Last Updated: 3 days ago
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If you have opted to use an Interrail pass, we thought at an a glance guide to the trains which DO and DON'T require reservation fees to be purchased before boarding would be useful - see the lists below.

Whether you opt for the mobile or paper pass you'll also have access to the Interrail reservations service, which you can use to book most* mandatory or optional reservations, though when using this service you will be charged a booking fee of €2 per reservation, per person.
*= Non-Eurostar trains in Great Britain, plus trains in Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Serbia and Turkey are among the exceptions.

Booking reservations

Interrail pass users can access the Interrail reservation service though a fee is charged, in addition to the reservations costs, of €2 per booking, per train.

Though something to watch out for is that this service have two functions:
(1) Before you book a pass it is in effect a reservation price guide per departure; if a reservation is mandatory it will show its cost, even though you haven't logged in
(2) However, once you have a pass and can log-in, you will then see the price and availability per departure.

This matters, because if you use the service at the trip planning stage, you can't assume that the reservations for the trains will actually be available, once you have bought a pass and can log-on.

Reservations can sell out weeks in advance on specific departures, particularly when:

  • travelling by Eurostar from and to London (see below),
  • in sleeping cabins on night trains; Availability on Nightjet trains can be looked up on OBB.
  • on any express train on the days either side of national holidays,
  • when travelling by TGV trains in France and other high speed trains to/from France, particularly on Fridays to Sundays in Summer; see the notes on the guide to using a pass in France, for how to check the availability before you purchase a pass.

Using RailEurope as an alternative

RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations on most daytime trains which have mandatory reservations - it has recently begun selling reservations for the national high speed trains within Spain, operated by Renfe.
Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route

Note that RailEurope won't sell reservations on train services on which making a reservation is optional!

The steps to take are:

  1. On the RailEurope home page above the Search button, there is an 'Add rail pass' button.
  2. When clicked you can select the type of rail pass you will be travelling with.
  3. Then look up the journey, as when booking tickets.
  4. The prices you will see on the search results is the price of the rail pass reservation - though holders of 1st class passes should look out for the fact that Rail Europe can initially only show the price and access to 2nd class reservations.
    Though if 1st class happens to be sold out on a departure, Rail Europe will show the 2nd class reservations if they are still an option.

Booking Eurostar trains to and from London with Rail Europe

Though something to look out for is how RailEurope manages the sale of reservations on the Eurostar trains to and from London.
When the rail pass reservations are no longer available on a particular departure, RailEurope will indicate that the pass no longer applies, - so it will automatically offer the purchase of a regular point-to-point ticket instead.

Booking first class rail pass reservations with Rail Europe Selecting first class when booking rail pass reservations with Rail Europe

Though if you will be travelling with a first class Interrail passes, there is a quirky aspect of using RailEurope to book rail pass reservations on the Eurostar trains to and from London - which has been illustrated above.

Namely that despite having selected that you will be using a first class pass prior to looking up a journey, the reservation which will be initially shown on the search results, will be a reservation / price for travel in 2nd class / Standard Class.

So you will need to be proactive and use the drop down arrow in order to access the first class reservations - Though this is subject to availability, if the first class reservations are sold out, you won't see the arrow.

How to use RailEurope to book seat reservations when using first class rail passes Booking a first class reservation when using rail passes on RailEurope

Having clicked the arrow you will typically see the 1st class reservations below the 2nd class reservations; So take care to select the 1st class 'Standard Premier' reservation - and then proceed with the booking.

Booking with Happyrail

Dutch rail booking service Happyrail can also sell rail pass reservations on many European train services are on which reservations are optional or mandatory for rail pass users.
Unlike RailEurope it charges a booking fee, but its fees tend to be cheaper than those charged by the Interrail reservation booking service.

The services with mandatory reservations which can be booked on Happyrail include:

  • Nightjet trains
  • Spanish trains
  • the AVE trains between Spain and France
  • all types of Frecce trains in Italy
    Note that HappyRail does not (yet) sell rail pass reservations for travel by Eurostar, Lyria, Thalys or TGV services.

Booking direct with the train operators

Regardless of whether you opt for the mobile or paper types of Eurail and Interrail passes, you can often also avoid this €2 fee; and other booking fees, by booking rail pass reservations with the national rail operators online:

When bookings open

The usual reservation windows are:

  • 1 month ahead = Poland
  • Up to 2 months ahead = Czechia/The Czech Republic and Denmark and Hungary
  • 12 - 13 weeks ahead = Norway
  • Up to 4 months ahead = TGV trains
  • Up to 4 months ahead = Italy IC and IC Notte trains
  • Up to 6 months ahead = Austria and Switzerland; and the Frecce trains in Italy; and trains between Germany and Austria, Czechia, Denmark, France and Poland
  • Up to 1 year ahead = Germany - national journeys and trains to/from Belgium, Switzerland and The Netherlands; and Sweden; and Eurostar on all routes including to and from the UK

Note that the time period in which reservations will be available ahead for travel within and to/from France can now vary from 2 to 6 months!

Booking periods for international trains can also vary as the window can be dependent on which country the journey is beginning or in which country the journey is finishing.
Though the key information here is not to assume that you'll be able to go ahead and book reservations as soon as you have a pass, particularly if you have purchased a pass more than 4 - 6 months ahead of when you will be travelling.

Also note that specific departures may not be available for booking within these windows if works on the line is altering the schedule.

More info on how to book reservations is available in the country guides, which you will find on the Contents menu.

The new Plus Pass

Interrail has launched a new type of pass, the Plus Pass on which seat reservations are (mostly) not an additional cost.

A quirk of using mobile passes

If you have opted to book a mobile version of anInterrail pass, you will have a pass number that will be unique to your purchase. it will be included in your order confirmation email and will also be on your Pass in the Rail Planner app.

Paper versions of Interrail passes also have numbers individual to each purchase, but they are in a different format to those used for mobile passes.

Some of the third party options for booking reservations when using Interrail passes, will ask for a pass number, but they will then only accept the type of number issued to paper pass purchasers.
So Interrail has come up with a pass number generation service, which purchases of mobile passes can use to create a 'paper pass number' when required..

So when using a mobile pass, if a third party service tells you that you have used an invalid number, you can then use the number generator link to obtain an alternative paper pass code, which should then work.

Reservations in summer

In summer some routes with mandatory reservations can sell out earlier than usual, particularly on popular routes to summer holiday destinations in July and August.

Trains can be fully booked by ticket purchasers and this inevitably impacts on the availability of reservations available to Interrail pass users.
This situation is outside the control of Interrail, it doesn't set timetables or ticket / reservation allocations.

The situation is particularly acute on Saturdays on departures before 15:00, so avoid that day if possible or plan routes so that you can travel later in the day.

On the high speed routes between Bruxelles, Lille, Paris and destinations in southern France; and on the trains between France and Barcelona, if you have to travel on a Saturday be open to the possibility of alternatives to taking direct trains.
An option can be booking reservations on TGV trains to Lyon, Marseille or Montpellier and then continuing a journey by TER trains, on which advance bookings aren't available to non rail-pass users.

Notes for travellers from the USA

When taking a long-distance daytime rail journey operated by the USA's national rail operator, Amtrak, when you make a booking the terminology is that you have booked 'a reservation' - Because you will be travelling on a specific departure and the number of tickets available to travel by it, won't exceed the number of seats on the train.

So you may be used to a system on which you have reserved a place on the train, but unless you have also uses a 'seat selection' service, you won't have a specific seat(s) / place on the train assigned to you.

Hence many clients from the USA who use the Concierge Service understandably assume that European trains can't be boarded without a reservation.
However, in Europe:

  • a ticket is the equivalent of what Amtrak refers to as a reservation,
  • a reservation is what Amtrak refers to as seat selection.

As you will be substituting a rail pass instead of tickets, you will either:

  • Need to arrange the assigning of specific seat(s) to you on trains which have mandatory reservations - which you will have to book separately pre-boarding.
  • Be able to opt to add travel in specific, assigned seat(s) when reservations are an option - but they will also need to be booked pre-boarding.
  • Choose to not have seats assigned to you when doing so is optional, so you can then board and travel without a reservation.
  • Board a train on which seat reservations are not available.

Note that you don't always have to make reservation when you want to take a journey by train with an Interrail pass.

Train services which DON'T have mandatory reservations:

These trains and train services fall into two categories.

1. Services on which reservations aren't available:

On these services because seat reservations aren't available to any traveller, Interrail pass users inevitably don't have to reserve either.

Virtually all local and regional trains across Europe are in this category, including these train services, that are most often encountered by rail pass users;

Some of the independent railway lines in Switzerland, also come into this category, including the four largest:

Seat reservations aren't available when travelling in Great Britain on trains operated by these companies:

Seat reservations also aren't available on express trains in the Benelux countries, so rail pass users don't have to reserve on these train services:

2. Services on which reservations are optional:

On these train services if you don't pay the optional seat reservation fees, finding seats on these trains is NOT guaranteed.

EuroCity (EC) trains year round:

EuroCity (EC) trains not June 1st to Sept 1st:

IC trains:

Other express trains:

  • ICE trains (journeys within Germany and to/from Switzerland)
  • ICE trains (international journeys to/from Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, except June 1st to Sep 1st)
  • ECE trains Zurich - Munich
  • Lyn (Denmark)
  • Railjets (both within Austria and journeys between Austria and Czechia, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia; but NOT between Austria and Italy)
  • Norwegian long-distance trains - though reservations are highly recommended as trains are infrequent and can sell out days in advance
  • SJ Intercity (Sweden)
  • SJ Regional (Sweden)
  • Turkish express trains including the YHT trains.

Long-distance British trains:

on trains in Great Britain operated by:

Services on which reservations ARE mandatory:

When available, click the train services below to find out the price of the reservations and how you can book them.
Reservation fees are normally charged in local currency; so the € symbol can be a guide:
If you would rather avoid the most expensive rail pass reservation fees charged on the direct trains, take a look at these alternative journey options.

Fees when using 1st class standard passes on day trains:

Users of 2nd class passes cannot book seats in First class or its equivalents.
*= The prices do not include any booking fees.

Under €5 per seat:

  • Alfa Pendular (Portugal)
  • Avant (Spain)
  • EC trains between Austria/Germany ↔ Slovenia/Croatia
  • EC trains Poland ↔ Austria
  • EC trains Poland ↔ Czechia/Hungary/Slovakia
  • EC trains Hungary ↔ Croatia/Slovenia/Serbia
  • EC trains - within Hungary
  • Ekspressen (Bulgaria)
  • Media Distancia (Spain)
  • IC (Hungary); IC (Portugal); IC (Slovakia); IC (Romania); IC (Poland)
  • Intercity (Italy)
  • ICS (Slovenia)
  • IR (Romania)
  • Regional (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • EIC (Poland)
  • TLK (Poland)
    The reservations on these Polish services are free of charge if booked at a ticket office at a Polish station.

€5 - €10 per seat:

  • ICE trains Germany ↔ Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands between June 1st and Sep 1st
  • EC trains Germany ↔ Austria, Czechia. Slovakia and Hungary between June 1st and Sep 1st
  • IC train Germany ↔ The Netherlands between June 1st and Sep 1st
  • EC Germany ↔ Denmark between June 1st and Sept 1st
  • EC trains Germany ↔ Poland, year round
  • EIP (Poland)
  • Intercités (France) certain routes only, price is €20 when the £10 reservations are sold out
  • SuperCity (Czechia)
  • Euromed (Spain)
  • IC (Spain)
  • TGV (inOui) (France) price is €20 when the £10 reservations are sold out.
  • TGV France - Luxembourg, price is €20 when the £10 reservations are sold out.

€11 - €20 per seat:

  • AVE (within Spain and to/from Spain)
  • Alvia (Spain)
  • EC trains Switzerland ↔ Italy
  • ECE train Germany ↔ Italy via Basel
  • EC trains (Austria/Germany ↔ Italy via Brennero)
  • Frecce (Italy and now France ↔ Italy )
  • iryo (Spain)
  • Railjet Austria and Germany ↔ Italy
  • Pendolino* (Finland)
  • Snabbtåg (Sweden)
  • DB-SNCF (France <>Germany)

€21 - €30 per seat:

more than €30 per seat:

Limited numbers of reservations are available to rail pass users on the Eurostar, Thalys and TGV services, so booking as soon as possible for these trains is highly recommended, the most popular Eurostar departures in particular, can sell out more than a week in advance.

Fees when using 2nd class standard passes on day trains:

The prices do not include booking fees.

Under €5 per seat on these EC services:

  • EC trains between Austria/Germany ↔ Slovenia/Croatia
  • EC trains Germany ↔ Poland
  • EC trains Poland ↔ Austria
  • EC trains Poland ↔ Czechia/Hungary/Slovakia
  • EC trains Hungary ↔ Croatia/Slovenia/Serbia
  • EC trains - within Hungary

Under €5 per seat on these other train services:

  • Alfa Pendular (Portugal)
  • Avant (Spain)
  • Ekspressen (Bulgaria)
  • Media Distancia (Spain
  • IC (Ireland) (free with a 1st class pass)
  • IC (Hungary); IC (Portugal); IC (Slovakia); IC (Romania) and IC (Poland)
  • Intercity (Italy)
  • ICS (Slovenia)
  • IR (Romania)
  • Regional (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • EIC (Poland)
  • TLK (Poland)
  • The reservations on these Polish services are free of charge if booked at a ticket office at a Polish station.

€5 - €10 per seat:

  • Alvia (Spain)
  • AVE (within)
  • EIP (Poland)
  • Euromed (Spain)
  • IC (Spain)
  • ICE trains Germany ↔ Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands between June 1st and Sep 1st
  • EC trains Germany ↔ Austria, Czechia. Slovakia and Hungary between June 1st and Sep 1st
  • IC train Germany ↔ The Netherlands between June 1st and Sep 1st
  • EC Germany ↔ Denmark between June 1st and Sept 1st
  • EC trains Switzerland ↔ Italy
  • EC trains Austria/Germany ↔ Italy via Brennero
  • Intercités (France) certain routes only, price is €20 when the £10 reservations are sold out
  • iryo (Spain)
  • Pendolino* (Finland)
  • Railjet Austria and Germany ↔ Italy
  • Snabbtåg (Sweden)
  • SuperCity (Czechia)
  • TGV InOui (France) price is €20 when the £10 reservations are sold out

€11 - €20 per seat:

€21 - €30 per seat:

more than €30 per seat:

Limited numbers of reservations are available to rail pass users on the Eurostar and TGV services, so booking as soon as possible for these trains is highly recommended - the most popular Eurostar departures in particular, can sell out more than a month in advance.

Using Interrail on night trains:

Using an Interrail pass on a European night train is a different experience to using pass on a daytime train, so we have produced some bespoke info that you can find here.

Though the key thing to be aware of is that reservations fees for couchettes and sleeping cabins are comparatively expensive.
When ticket prices are set for the night trains, the fees for the journey element in the couchettes and sleeping cabins can be only around 20% of the total amount and this journey fee, is the only 'cost' covered by the Interrail pass.

The details of the type of accommodation you can choose from, and the reservation fees for each of them is included on these guides to specific types of overnight trains;

AND on these EuroNight train routes:

Though if you want to book your night train reservation in advance of setting off on your trip, the three key things to be aware of are:

1: Booking services, which allow seats on daytime trains to be booked online, usually don't allow rail pass users to make reservations for night trains, particularly in the sleeping accommodation such as the couchettes and the beds in sleeping cabins.

The main exceptions to this 'rule' are:
- OBB, the Austrian national rail operator and provider of the Nightjet network, now enables rail pass users to book reservations online for any journey by Nightjet PLUS any other night train to/from Austria - how to do this is explained here.

- The Czech national rail operator CD, also enables rail pass users to book reservations online for night trains from and to The Czech Republic - here are the instructions.

- Interrail pass reservations can be booked by phone for the Caledonian Sleeper services, between London and Scotland.

2: The German national rail operator DB has recently withdrawn its online facility for the booking of night train reservations.

3: If you will be travelling on a service/route on which the operator doesn't offer the facility for Interrail users to book specific night train rail pass reservations online, the only option for booking in advance of your trip, is to use the Interrail reservation service- though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

Services which particularly should be booked in advance:

ShowMeTheJourney's advice, based on our own travel experiences, is to avoid booking both optional and mandatory reservations at the last minute, on these services in particular:

on Eurostar to and from London

The ticket prices for Eurostar trains are placed in tiers and when the lower priced tiers have sold out, so only the top two most expensive tiers are still on sale, rail pass reservations won't be available
The prices in the cheaper tiers will inevitably sell out faster on the most popular departures - and it's these trains which inevitably have the best connections in Bruxelles, Lille and Paris for travel to and from more distant destinations.

Reservations and tickets on Eurostar trains can now be booked up to a year ahead of the travel date, and they can become unavailable weeks and even months ahead ahead on specific departures for travel in June to August, and around holiday dates at other times of year.

It can be a good idea to maximise the flexibility by making Paris or a city in Belgium the first or last stopover points on travel day; That's because it's seemingly rare for every Eurostar to have its rail pass allocation sold out on a travel date, but it's more common for only evening departures to have availability

If you will need to travel by a specific Eurostar departure, you'll want to check that rail pass reservations are available for the train you need to take prior to buying a pass
The availability can be looked up on RailEurope as it will show which trains have a reservation cost and are therefore available - and you don't need to already have a pass to check this

Also avoid thinking, 'great I can see the reservations on RailEurope, so I'll book the pass now and go back to RailEurope tomorrow' - because at busy times the reservations can be sold out by the time you go back online.
It can be a good idea to return to go back to RailEurope to book the reservations as soon as you have made a pass purchase - and therefore have a pass number.

Before you have a pass; and therefore can't log-in, the Interrail planning too will tend to show seats as available on every departure; because before you have a pass, the function of the service is to show which departures require a reservation.

So you can contact Eurail and Interrail and check whether reservations are available to purchase before you book your pass.

Though the key thing is to avoid buying a pass and assuming Eurostar reservations will be available, and then discovering that they aren't on the train you need to take.

Reservations by country:

These lists of DAYTIME train services also include the international train services to/from each country.

Austria:

Reservations not available:

Optional reservations available :

Reservation Required:

Booking with OBB

Whether you have a mobile or paper pass you can book these optional and compulsory reservations online without booking fees on the OBB, Austrian national railways, website before arriving in Austria.
You can usually book reservations for journeys within Austria and for journeys to Germany up to 6 months ahead and on most other international trains up to 3 months ahead.

How to book day train reservations follow the step-by-step instructions
And there are also step-by-step instructions for booking the reservations on the night trains.

Other booking options

RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations the above trains on which reservations are required - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route

Belgium:

Reservations not available:

Optional reservations available :

  • ICE Reservations are not available for journeys within Belgium by these trains.

Reservation Required:

Avoid booking reservations at stations in Belgium, you will have to pay booking fees.

You can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations the above trains on which reservations are required - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route
When the rail pass reservations are sold out on a particular departure, RailEurope will indicate that the pass no longer applies, so will automatically offer the purchase of a regular point-to-point ticket instead.

You can also make reservations for the Eurostar and Eurostar formerly Thalys trains on B-Europe.
Eurostar reservations (UK / France / Germany / Netherlands ) can usually be booked up to 12 months ahead; with reservations for the international TGVs usually available 3 months in advance.

Though in effect you will be paying a €4 fee for using B-Europe, as it only sells rail pass reservations as 'mobile tickets', so that you can download the reservations and store it on your phone, but it applies a surcharge for booking these.

So it's more expensive than using the reservation services provided by Eurail and Interrail, but reservations can be available to book on B-Europe for specific departures, when the Eurail and Interrail reservation services doesn't have them, particularly for Eurostar departures.

Bulgaria:

Reservation Required:

  • Ekspressen
  • EC trains
  • night trains

The only means of booking reservations is to use a staffed ticket desk at a Bulgarian station, reservations are not available on the Eurail/Interrail reservation service.

Czechia:

Reservations available:

Reservation Required:

Reservations not available:

  • All other trains operated by CD; the Czech national rail company

Whether you have a mobile or paper pass, these mandatory and optional reservations for the day and night trains (except Regiojet and Leo Express) can be booked online from 2 months ahead, with no booking fees, on the CD website - how to do this (it's the same process as adding a reservation when booking tickets).
CD also enables rail pass users to book reservations online for night trains from and to The Czech Republic - here are the instructions.

You can also book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

More info about using rail passes to travel both within and to/from Czechia by day trains.

Denmark:

Using nterrail Rail Passes for train journeys in Denmark:

Interrail users can hop on any daytime train for journeys within Denmark.
Although reservations are recommended if you want to travel on Lyn train services and have a 2nd class pass.

Using Interrail Passes for train journeys FROM Denmark:

International journeys on which rail pass reservations ARE NOT required:

  • On the Øresundståg trains to Sweden:
  • On the EC/IC trains to Germany; but only if you won't be travelling between June 1st and September 1st.
    Though we strongly recommend reserving on these EC/IC trains whenever you will be travelling.

International journeys on which rail pass reservations ARE required:

Booking these rail pass reservations:

The German national rail operator is also once again selling these reservations on the the DB website

For the Snabbtåg trains to Sweden*.
Book on the SJ (Swedish Railways) website asn these reservations can't be booked on the DSB (Danish Railways) website.
Booking ahead is highly recommended, seats on the most popular trains can sell out days in advance, bookings usually open around 3 months ahead

*You have to take the Øresundståg trains on journeys to Malmo.

RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route

France:

NO Reservation Required:

  • Intercités most routes
  • TER except the 'Krono' services on these Paris <> Hauts-de France and Normandy routes, which have a €1.50 fee
  • other cross border local trains

Reservation Required:

Booking these reservations

Rail pass reservations for journeys by TGV, Intercités, Intercités de Nuit and the international services marked with an * above, can be booked at the advance ticket desks in SNCF Boutiques, which can be found in most major French stations - and from SNCF ticket machines.
Though it's best avoided, as the cheaper reservation fees will often sell out ahead of the travel date; and some TGV departures can also sell out completely weeks in advance,

RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations the above trains - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route.
When the rail pass reservations are sold out on a particular departure, RailEurope will indicate that the pass no longer applies, so will automatically offer the purchase of a regular point-to-point ticket instead.

Though something to note when booking rail pass reservations with RailEurope for journeys within France, is that will offer a range of seat preferences when booking - window or aisle, lower or upper deck etc.
However, in ShowMeTheJourney's experience, if you make a selection, at the next step RailEurope will say it can't proceed - but if you don't make an adjustment and leave it at the default of 'no preference', you will be able to complete the booking.

Or the mandatory reservations for all of these services can be obtained by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

You can also make reservations for the Eurostar and the Eurostar formerly Thalys trains on B-Europe.
Eurostar reservations can currently be booked up to 330 days ahead, Eurostar formerly Thalys reservations can usually be booked up to 4 months ahead.
You can also check the actual availability of reservations per departure on Eurostar and Eurostar formerly Thalys services, prior to buying a pass.

Though in effect you will be paying a €4 fee for using B-Europe, as it only sells rail pass reservations as 'mobile tickets', so that you can download the reservations and store it on your phone, but it applies a surcharge for booking these.
So it's more expensive than using the reservation services provided by Eurail and Interrail, but reservations can be available to book on B-Europe for specific departures, when the Eurail and Interrail reservation services doesn't have them, particularly for Eurostar departures.

B-Europe will ask for pass numbers when booking, but it only accepts the numbers issued with paper passes.
Eurail mobile pass purchasers can use this pass number generation service and Interrail mobile pass purchasers can use this pass number generation service; you enter your mobile pass number so that you'll also then have a paper number.

More info about using rail passes to travel in and to/from France by day trains is available HERE

When to book

Reservations for journeys within France = can be available 3 to 6 months ahead of the travel date.

Reservations on the international:

  • TGV France-Italy services
  • Frecce trains
  • Lyria services
  • TGVs to Spain
  • DB-SNCF routes to Germany
  • Eurostar formerly Thalys services
    can now be booked up to 6 months ahead* of the travel date

In the summer and before and after the Christmas and Easter holidays, reservations can sell out on specific departures weeks in advance.
Have also seen reports on social media that reservations on the TGV France ↔ Bruxelles appear to be near permanently unavailable on some departures.

Eurostar reservations for journeys to and from London are now available from up to 12 months ahead.

Germany:

Reservation Required:

Reservations are available, but optional:

Reservations not available:

Whether you will be using mobile or paper passes, you can usually purchase optional and mandatory seat reservations for the daytime trains without booking fees on the DB (German national railways) website the main exceptions are the Thalys trains, the DB-SNCF high speed services and the trains to/from Poland.

The booking process is explained here (ticket holders can take the same steps to add a reservation).

Though note that rail pass reservations for night trains can no longer be booked with DB, but reservations for journeys by Nightjet trains can be booked without booking fees, by using the OBB website - here is the info on how to do this.

The major stations in Germany, the hauptbahnhofs, house Reisezentrum travel desks at which rail pass reservations can be booked for the majority of all European train services, day or night, with no booking fees applied.
More info about using rail passes to travel in and to/from Germany by day trains is available HERE.

The exception to this are the EC trains to Italy; if you book reservations for these specific trains at a Reizesentrum travel desk in a hauptbahnhof or on the DB website, you won't be charged the full amount of the reservation and will therefore have to pay €10 to the conductor on the train.
So it's best to book the reservations for these trains with OBB, the Austrian national railways website, before arriving in Germany = you can avoid the €2 booking fee and save €2 on the total costs of the reservation.
How to book day train reservations is included in the guide to using the OBB booking service.

You can also book reservations online by for any train service from and Germany by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

Great Britain:

Reservations available:

Rail pass reservations aren't mandatory on any British train service, but if you will be travelling on train services operated by...

(*= long-distance journeys only)

There is no charge for booking them, but the cut off time prior to departure, at which reservations can be arranged varies according to which TOC will be operating the train you will be travelling by.

  • When travelling by Great Western Railway; Hull Trains, TFW and Scotrail, you'll need to have requested a reservation around 2 - 3 hours ahead; though this isn't fixed.
  • For journeys by Avanti West Coast; CrossCountry; EMR; Grand Central; LNER and TransPennine Express, the time limit for reservations will be between around 15 mins and an hour prior to departure.

They can be booked at staffed ticket counter, or at an Advance Travel office, if a station has this facility; If you'll be making multiple journeys, it can be a good idea to book all the reservations you require on the one visit to a ticket/travel desk.

They can also now be booked online on the GWR website, regardless of whether the journey is by GWR's trains, the instructions on how to this, along with a stack of tips and other info, is included on the guide to using rail passes in Great Britain.

Note that reservations for national journeys within Britain cannot be booked online on the Interrail reservation service.

Reservation Required:

Journeys by Eurostar train from and to the UK have mandatory rail pass reservation fees; 1st class = €38-43; 2nd class = €30-38, which seems expensive, but ticket prices can be more than four times as expensive

Booking the Eurostar rail pass reservations

The ticket prices for Eurostar trains are placed in tiers and when the lower priced tiers have sold out, so only the top two most expensive tiers are still on sale, rail pass reservations won't be available.
The prices in the cheaper tiers will will inevitably sell out faster on the most popular departures - and it's these trains which inevitably have the best connections in Bruxelles, Lille and Paris for travel to and from more distant destinations.

So rail pass reservations become unavailable on specific departures weeks ahead - and even months ahead for travel in June to August, and around holiday dates at other times of year.
Reservations for Eurostar trains can now be booked up to 12 months ahead of the travel date.

The booking options are:

  • RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations the above trains - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route.
    When the rail pass reservations are sold out on a particular departure, RailEurope will indicate that the pass no longer applies, so will automatically offer the purchase of a regular point-to-point ticket instead.
  • They can be booked for a fee of €2 per person on the Interrail reservation service.

The Caledonian Sleeper:

If you will be using a valid rail pass you can travel in a reclining seat at no additional charge, but you must reserve a place prior to boarding, by calling the Guest Service Centre on 0330 060 0500.

If you want to travel in a bed in a Club Room sleeping cabin, you need to pay a 'Room only supplement' of £170 if you will be travelling solo, or £200 if two people will be travelling together.
If you want to travel in a Classic Room sleeping cabin, the supplement is £120 for solo travellers and £140 if two people are travelling together.

These 'Room only supplements' can be booked online.

Hungary:

NO Reservation Required:

Reservation Required:

  • EC trains within Hungary
  • IC (Hungary)
  • Railjets within Hungary
  • EC trains Hungary ↔ Croatia / Poland / Slovenia

Bookings will be available from 2 months in advance of travel, but for daytime travel the best option is to book at the station
More info about using rail passes to travel in and to/from Hungary by day trains is available HERE

Italy:

NO Reservation Required:

Reservation Required on Italian journeys:

When you have arrived in Italy rail pass reservations can be purchased from Trenitalia ticket counters; with mobile or paper passes; though you will now be charged a booking fee,

Booking reservations for Italian journeys online

1 - Whether you opt for mobile or paper passes, you can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

2 - Though these €2 booking fees can now be avoided if you use the OBB, Austrian Railways, online booking service to book the mandatory reservations on Italian day trains.
SMTJ isn't going to question the logic behind this highly useful service, particularly as the bookings can be made irrespective of whether you have a mobile or paper pass.
Though the process is very much less than obvious, hence a step-by-step booking guide for the rail pass reservations, being included on SMTJ's instructions for using the OBB website.

3 - RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations on the above trains - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route

4 - Dutch rail booking service Happyrail can also sell reservations for travel by the Frecce trains.
Unlike RailEurope it charges a booking fee, but its fees tend to be cheaper than those charged by the Interrail reservation booking service.

Rail pass reservations are no longer sold on the Trenitalia website.

More information is available here.

Reservations required on international journeys:

Reservations are mandatory for rail pass users, when travelling by:

Booking the international reservations pre-arrival in Italy

The reservations for the night trains and the day trains can be purchased without paying any additional fees, on the website of Austria's national rail operator, OBB.
Though the steps to take on the OBB website aren't particularly obvious, hence this guide* to booking Eurail/Interrail reservations with OBB.
The other option for booking reservations for these day AND night trains online is to use the Eurail reservation service or the Interrail reservation service but you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation.

If you want to travel in a sleeping cabin or couchette on a Nightjet train from to Austria or Germany it's best to book the reservation before arriving in Italy.
Couchettes and sleeping cabins can sell out on these trains weeks in advance.
Reservations will be available from 6 months ahead on the Nightjets.

RailEurope now sells rail pass reservations on the above trains - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route

Reservations for Eurail and Interrail pass users can't now be booked on the Trenitalia website and ItaliaRail doesn't sell rail pass reservations for international journeys to and from Italy.

Booking reservations when in Italy:

If you want to book reservations for the EC or Railjet trains* in Italy you have to use a ticket office - and booking fees are now charged.
Though the ticket desks at Italian stations will not sell reservations for the TGV France - Italy services - they can be booked at a dedicated ticket desk in Milano Porta Garibaldi station.

More info about using rail passes to travel in and to/from Italy by daytime trains is available HERE

Norway

Using Interrail Passes for train journeys within Norway

Eight things worth knowing:

(1) Reservations are not required on the long-distance services, regardless of which company is operating the train.
Though be aware that all those travelling with journey tickets will have had their seats assigned, so pre-boarding you will need to check with the train manager / conductor where you can sit - the train manager will step off the train and be on the platform.

(2) Long-distance day trains are comparatively infrequent in Norway, hence many departures sell out completely days in advance, particularly on the Oslo ↔ Bergen and Oslo ↔ Trondheim routes.
So the train manager may prevent rail pass users without reservations from boarding - therefore booking the reservations pre-arrival in Norway is recommended.

(3 Reservations are mandatory for night trains regardless of the train operator.

(4) Seat and bed reservations are usually available up to 90 days in advance

(5) You can book reservations online by using the Entur rail pass reservation service.

(6) Reservations can also be arranged at the Entur ticket desks in stations

(7) On day trains, the terms differ depending on whether you have a first class or second class rail pass.

Second class passes = the costs per seat in the Standard (second class) seating areas is NOK 50 (around €4.50)
Though what is unusual is that holders of second class passes can also opt to upgrade and travel in the equivalent of first class seats at a cost of NOK 250/300 (around €25).

First class passes = No charge for making a reservation, but the booking fee will apply if you use the Interrail reservation service

(8) For travel on the Sove night trains, regardless of operator, the reservation fees are the same for both first and second class pass users.
The rail pass reservation fee for the sleeping cabins is a flat rate of NOK 1000 (approx €100) so if you are travelling solo you will have the cabin to yourself, but couples /pairs can pay the one fee, but then have double occupancy.
Seat reservations are the same as the day trains, except for on the Oslo - Stavanger route operated by Go Ahead, on which reclining seats are also available, but these reclining seats can only be booked at the Entur travel desks in Norway

Using Interrail passes for train journeys FROM Norway:

International train journeys from Norway on which rail pass reservations ARE NOT required:
No reservation fees are required on the Regiontog trains between Oslo and Gothenburg.

International train journeys from Norway on which rail pass reservations ARE required:
On the IC and Snabbtåg trains from Oslo to Stockholm: 1st class = €16; 2nd class = €7
Book from 3 months ahead of the travel date, on the SJ (Swedish Railways) website - These reservations can't be booked on the NSB (Norwegian Railways) websit

Poland:

Using Interrail passes for train journeys within Poland:

The express trains within Poland are the EIP and EIC and IC and TLK services.
Interrail users need to obtain reservations before boarding any departure by these trains, and they can be arranged at ticket desks in Polish stations, without paying any additional booking fees.

They can booked up to 15 mins before the departure time of the train you wish to take, but it's best to book them when you first arrive at a station in Poland
Doing that not only takes the pressure off making the train in time, it also lessens the chances of being told that no seats are available on your first choice of departure.

Or if you have opted to use a paper pass when booking your Interrail pass, you can book them on the PKP Intercity (Polish express trains) website.
On the PKP website for the EIP trains the discount type is called 'Interrail/Eurail/NRT/EWT/FIP/OSJD - seat reservation (supplement incl.)', for the other trains it's called 'Seasonal/network/international ticket - reservation'.
This is also explained on the PKP reservation homepage.

Whether you have a mobile or paper pass you can also book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

Travelling on the EIC and IC and TLK services:

If you want to travel by these trains, you will need obtain reservations at a ticket desk or online (see above) but you won't be charged for them.
Of these three services, the EIC trains are the fastest and they also tend to be the smartest too.

On the majority the routes taken by the EIC trains, there will be a choice of taking an EIC service or a slower IC or TLK service.
As there's no charge, no matter which of these services you take, the best option will usually be targeting the EIC departures.

Travelling on the EIP trains:

Booking reservations for the premium EIP train services is different, whether you have a 1st or 2nd class rail pass, you need to buy a supplement which is separate to the seat reservation fee.
Both the supplement and the seat reservation cost PLN 43 (approx €10),
If you have a 1st class pass, your reservation will include the complimentary drinks and light meals, which are served to 1st class ticket holders on the EIP trains.

Buy your supplement online on the PKP Intercity website and the seat reservation will be complimentary.
It has also published a how to reserve guide for Interrail users.

Or you can purchase these EIP supplement at a ticket desk at a Polish station, at least 15 mins before your train is due to depart.
Although there is a small risk, that by the time you arrive in Poland, seats will be sold out on your first choice of departure.
Though if you book at the station you will receive a complimentary seat reservation.

You can also purchase the supplement and reservations for the EIP trains before you arrive in Poland with the Interrail reservation service, though the cost will be €20 + a €2 booking fee.

Travelling on other trains:

The local and regional train services in most of Poland are provided by a separate entity named Polregio.
Its services are branded 'Regio' and 'InterRegio' - they don't travel such long-distances as the PKP InterCity trains, but its semi-fast trains travel between regions linking the towns and cities.

On these popular routes...
Warzawa <> Lodz
Poznan<> Wroclaw
Poznan <> Szczecin
Poznan <> Torun
Krakow <> Zakopane
Krakow <> Katowice
Gdansk > Sopron >Gdynia
...you will have a choice between taking Polregio services or boarding PKP InterCity services .

The Polregio services can be more frequent and they can come close to matching the journey times of the PKP InterCity trains.
The big tick in the box for rail pass users, is that seat reservations aren't available on the Polregio services, so as long as your pass is valid, you can just hop on board - though it's a good idea to check the departure times on the Polregio website before heading to the station.

Using Interrail Passes for train journeys FROM Poland:

Interrail users must pay reservation fees before boarding both the daytime express trains to and from Poland, the EC trains*, and on the international overnight trains.

These rail pass reservations for the INTERNATIONAL day and night trains cannot be booked on the PKP website, but they can be from 30 days ahead of the travel date at:

  • stations in Poland.
  • you can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service - though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.
  • at a Reisezentrum travel desk at a hauptbahnhof, the city centre stations in Germany.
  • for journeys to/from Austria the day and night trains can be booked on the OBB website - how to do this.
  • for journeys to/from Czechia – the day trains in both directions and the night trains FROM Czechia, can be booked on the CD website - how to do this.
  • the EC trains to/from Germany can be booked on the DB website - how to do this.

Spain:

NO Reservation Required:

Reservation Required:

For journeys within Spain

Online:

Spanish national rail operator RENFE does not sell rail pass reservations online, but reservations for journeys on the AVE, Alvia and Euromed trains are now available by using You can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

They can now also be booked with RailEurope - Though it now also charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route

The other option, to book any mandatory reservation for journeys by the AVE, Alvia, Euromed IC and MD trains pre-arrival in Spain, is to use Dutch booking service Happy Rail.
It can have reservations available when they are marked as being sold out by Eurail and Interrail - though when this was the case when SMTJ booked rail pass reservation for an AVE journey Happy Rail only offered the more expensive type of 1st class reservation which includes a complimentary light meal.

By telephone:

The only other pre-arrival in Spain option, is to reserve seats by calling Renfe phone sales: +34 91 232 03 20.

Pre-reserving a seat is possible up to 24 hours before a train's departure. You will receive a PNR code which you must use to pick up and pay for your reservation at a local station ticket office, making sure to show your Interrail Pass. You must collect your reservation within 72 hours. After this time the pre-reservation will expire.
Please note that a pre-reservation is not the same as a reservation. It only holds a seat for you for 72 hours.

At a station in Spain:

The ticket booking desks at Spanish stations can vary; at most large stations there will be separate Renfe ticket desks for reservations for trains leaving that day and for advance reservations..
Using an advance reservation desk can take time, so a good option is to use one of these ticket offices to book all the reservations you'll need while travelling in Spain.

Be aware that reservations may be completely sold out on the most popular trains, so if you want to book reservations on your travel date, the best option is to head for the station early in the morning; and then be flexible re: the times you will actually be travelling.
If need be deposit your bags in a left luggage office and then return to the station later in order to catch your train.

Also not all ticket counter staff will speak English, particularly outside of Barcelona and Madrid, though don’t be overly worried about this; when SMTJ was using Spanish ticket desks with our Interrail Pass, the staff were exceptionally helpful.

Trains operated by iryo:
Travellers with valid second class Interrail pass with can pay €10 to travel in Singular Class; and travellers with valid first class Interrail pass can pay €13 to travel in Singular Only You class.
The reservations can only be booked at iryo travel desks in Spanish stations.

iryo trains provide an alternative to the AVE trains operated Renfe trains on these routes:

  • Madrid <> Barcelona via Zaragoza and Camp de Tarragona
  • Madrid <> Alicante via Albacete
  • Madrid <> Valencia
  • Madrid <> Malaga and Sevilla via Cordoba
  • Barcelona <> Malaga and Sevilla via Cordoba

For journeys to and from Spain

Rail pass reservations or these trains are not available on the SNCF Connect (French national railways) or Renfe (Spanish national railways) websites.

Reservation on both the TGV and AVE trains are now available by using You can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

The other option for travel by the AVE and TGV trains to book the reservations pre-arrival in Spain, is to use Dutch booking service Happy Rail.

Also the journeys between Spain and France on the TGV trains - and now the AVE can also be booked on Rail Europe - - Though it now charges a seat reservation fee of €2 / £1.75 / $2.35 USD which applies per passenger, per route.

Bookings now open 180 days ahead of the travel date.
The number of reservations available to rail pass users on these trains is limited, so they can sell out, despite tickets for non-pass users still being available.

But in the summer these international AVE and TGV trains can be very popular and places on the trains for both pass users and ticket holders can sell out weeks ahead.

Sweden:

NO Reservation Required:

Reservation Required:

Rail pass reservations for travel by Snabbtåg trains can be booked on the SJ (Swedish Railways) up to 6 months ahead of the travel date with no booking fees; though the process is rather quirky, hence the explanation of how to do this.

SJ will ask for pass numbers when booking, but it only accepts the numbers issued with paper passes.
If you have a mobile Eurail pass you can use this pass number generation service and Interrail mobile pass purchasers can use this pass number generation service; you enter your mobile pass number. so that you'll also then have a paper number.

Or you can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

More info about using rail passes to travel in and to/from Sweden by daytime trains is available HERE

Switzerland:

No Neservation Required

Reservation Required

- all overnight trains from Switzerland,
- the Lyria trains to France,
- the EC trains to Italy (international journeys only)

Be aware that reservations for these international trains can't be booked on SBB's online seat reservation service; and the Italian national rail company, Trenitalia, now no longer sells rail pass reservations for the EC trains between Switzerland and Italy online.

The reservations for direct journeys by these EC trains can booked, without paying any additional fees, on the website of Austria's national rail operator, OBB.
It's best not to question the logic of this and use the only option for booking reservations on these trains, without incurring any additional expense.
Though the steps to take on the OBB website aren't particularly obvious, hence this guide* to booking Eurail/Interrail reservations with OBB.
The OBB website will also sell reservations to Interrail and Eurail pass users for journeys by the overnight Nightjet services from and to Switzerland.

The other option for booking reservations on these EC and Nightjet trains before arriving in Switzerland, is to book reservations online, by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person. .
These Eurail and Interrail reservation services are the only option for booking reservations online for the Lyria trains and the night trains from Switzerland that aren't Nightjets

However, if you wait until you are in Switzerland and book rail pass reservations for international trains at a Swiss station, you will charged a booking fee of more than 11-CHF per reservation.

OR if you will be travelling through Germany prior to arriving in Switzerland, you can pay for reservations for these trains at a Reisezentrum travel desk in any hauptbahnhof station - and won't be charged a booking fee at all.

The Netherlands:

Reservations not Available

Reservations Available but not required

  • IC Berlijn Germany ↔ The Netherlands, from Sept 2nd to May 31st
  • ICE trains Netherlands ↔ Germany; from Sept 2nd to May 31st

Reservation Required

Avoid booking reservations at stations in The Netherlands, you will have to pay booking fees.

You can book reservations online by using You can book reservations online by using the Interrail reservation service though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

You can also make reservations for the Eurostar trains on B-Europe.
Eurostar reservations can normally be booked up to 330 days ahead and Eurostar formerly Thalys reservations can usually be booked up to 6 months ahead.
Though in effect you will be paying a €4 fee for using B-Europe, as it only sells rail pass reservations as 'mobile tickets', so that you can download the reservations and store it on your phone, but it applies a surcharge for booking these.
So it's more expensive than using the reservation services provided by Interrail, but reservations can be available to book on B-Europe for specific departures, when the Interrail reservation services doesn't have them, particularly for Eurostar departures.

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Simon Harper

I wanted to share my passion for train travel and explain how anyone can take the fantastic journeys I have taken.

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This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.

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