Rail Pass Itinerary: Popular Cities

London → Amsterdam → Berlin → Prague/Praha → Vienna/Wien → Venice/Venezia → Roma/Rome → Geneve → Barcelona → Paris → London

This suggested routing enables you to visit many of the most popular cities in Europe by taking as few trains as possible.
Though taking the minimum number of trains means that additional reservation fees can’t be avoided, but despite those fees, using rail passes on this trip can be great value for money - particularly if you opt to go 1st class.

The itinerary is also a continuous loop, so you can follow this itinerary if you want the start and finish point of your entire trip, to be in any of the cities where each day concludes.

The specific departure and arrival times of the included trains will be confirmed after the next pan-European rail timetable on December 11th, until then they are a guide and will need to be checked locally.

If you use a 10 days of travel within two months InterRail Global Pass OR a 10 days within 2 months Eurail Global Pass you can take breaks between your days of train travel.
You can then spend some time in some fabulous destinations including Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Barcelona and Paris.

OR our Concierge rail travel planning service, could help you plan a similar itinerary.

Most of the journeys are clickable, so you can access more useful info about each individual train ride including:

(1) All you need to know about the stations where you will be joining and leaving the train.

(2) What to expect when on board each train, such as catering facilities and tips for how to manage your luggage.

(3) Insights for scenic journeys - what to look out for, which side of the train to sit on for the best of the views etc.

Plus if you click the station buttons on the journey guides, you will also usually* find:
(1) Lists of overnight accommodation with easy access to the station and with high user ratings;
(2) Links to destination guides to help you make the most of each location.
*Just the big cities, for now.

Depart: London St. Pancras International at 11:04
Arrive: Amsterdam Centraal at 16:15

OR

Back ups if the reservations are sold out on the direct train; and the London to Amsterdam direct train won't be available from June 2023 to January 2024.

Train 1:
Depart: London St. Pancras International at 08:55
Arrive: Bruxelles-Midi at 12:05

Train 2:
Depart: Bruxelles-Midi at 12:52
Arrive: Amsterdam Centraal at 14:44

OR

Train 2:
Depart: Bruxelles-Midi at 12:44
Arrive: Amsterdam Centraal at 15:38

The second of the two suggested options for travelling on from Bruxelles to Amsterdam is an Intercity Brussels train service, on which rail pass users don't have to pay reservation fees.
The faster (Mon-Thurs) option is a Thalys train service, on which comparatively expensive reservation fees are charged to rail pass users; so you'll save at least €15 by taking the Intercity Brussels train instead.

The reservations can be booked online on B-Europe - reservations for rail pass users aren't available on the direct London to Amsterdam trains, hence the need to change trains in Bruxelles.
If you select the London to Amsterdam journey, B-Europe will offer the reservations for both the Eurostar and the Thalys train.
Or you can look up the London to Bruxelles journey and just book a reservation for the Eurostar, because you won't need to book a reservation for an IC train on from Bruxelles to Amsterdam.

Depart: Amsterdam Centraal at 09:59 or 11:59
Arrive: Berlin Hbf at 15:51 or 17:51
Seat reservations are available, but optional on the trains on this route.

Depart: Berlin Hbf at 09:16 or 11:16
Arrive: Praha Holseovice at 13:14 or 15:14
OR
Arrive: Praha Hl (Nadrazi) at 13:24 or 15:24.

Check the location of your where you’ll be staying in Praha/Prag, as either Holseovice OR Hl (Nadrazi) stations may be the most convenient for your onward travel in the city.
If possible sit on the right of the train when boarding, in order to make the most of the river valley views, shown above, after Dresden.
Seat reservations are available, but optional on the trains on this route.

Depart: Praha Hln at 08:44 or 10:44
Arrive: Wien Hbf at 12:49 or 14:49
These trains will be heading to Graz.

Note that if you do opt to leave the train from Berlin at Holseovice station when arriving in Praha/Prague, you will need to head to this different station, hl. Nadrazi, when departing from the city.

Seat reservations are optional on the trains which take this route.
First class pass users have the option to trade up to travel Business Class.

The best of the views will be on the left of the train.

Depart: Wien Hbf at 06:24 or 12:24
Arrive: Venezia St Lucia at 14:05 or 20:05.

The best of the views will be on the left of the train when travelling south,

There are three options for booking the reservations fees; €10 in 2nd class and €15 in 1st class, which are now payable on these Railjet trains to Italy.

(1) Book online on the OBB, Austrian national railways, website before arriving in Austria - available up to 3 months ahead.
However the seat reservation fees on the OBB website do NOT include the rail pass journey supplement fees payable on these train services.
So if you book these reservations online, the train conductor will charge you the price difference ( €12 in 1st class and €7 in 2nd class) when you are on board the train.
How to book day train reservations with OBB

(2) You can also book the reservations online with Eurail or InterRail; though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.

(3) You can also book these rail pass reservations at Reisezentrum travel desks at major Austrian stations without booking fees - and when you book in person for the EC and Railjet trains to Italy, you can pay the full charge, the seat reservation AND the journey supplement.

Depart: Venezia St Lucia at 09:26

Arrive: Roma Termini at 13:25; this train should be heading to Roma Fiumicino Aeroporto
You don’t have to take this suggested train, there are 1 – 3 x high speed Frecce trains per hour from Venice to Rome.

Reservations – 1st and 2nd class = €13

Before arriving in Italy, rail pass reservations can be easily booked on ItaliaRail.com, simply use the 'I have a pass' options on the home page, just beneath the destination boxes - rail pass reservations are no longer sold on the Trenitalia website.
More information is available here.

Or use the Eurail/InterRail Rail reservations service but you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation.
If you want to book online in advance you can book this Venezia > Roma journey (and the Roma > Milano journey below), in the same transaction.

Or an option is to book them at the Reisezentrum travel desk when you arrive at Berlin hbf on day two.
You won’t be charged booking fees if you use the Reisezentrum desk.

The Milano to Geneve trains won't be available from June 9th to September 8th.

MONDAY TO FRIDAY

Train 1:
Depart: Roma Termini at 12:50
Arrive: Milano Centrale at 16:00

Reservations – 1st and 2nd class = €13

Train 2:
Depart: Milano Centrale at 17:20
Arrive: Geneve at 21:21

Reservations – 1st class = €13; 2nd class = €11

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Train 1:
Depart: Roma Termini at 08:50
Arrive: Milano Centrale at 11:58

Reservations – 1st and 2nd class = €13

Train 2:
Depart: Milano Centrale at 13:05
Arrive: Geneve at 17:21

Reservations – 1st class = €13; 2nd class = €11

Both these trains can be booked on the Eurail/InterRail Rail reservations service but you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation.

Or an option is to book them at the Reisezentrum travel desk when you arrive at Berlin hbf on day two.
You won’t be charged booking fees if you use the Reisezentrum desk.

Train 1:
Depart: Geneve at 11:29
Arrive: Lyon –Part Dieu at 13:22/13:25

Reservations are not available on the TER trains which take this route

Train 2:
Depart: Lyon –Part Dieu at 14:32
Arrive: Barcelona Sants at 19:34

Reservation fees: 1st class = €26; 2nd class = €19.

The reservations for the trains to and from Barcelona can be booked on the Eurail/InterRail Rail reservations service but you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation.

So an option is to book them at the Reisezentrum travel desk when you arrive at Berlin hbf – which is why we also suggest booking the reservations for the Italian trains there.
You won’t be charged booking fees if you use the Reisezentrum desk.

Depart: Barcelona Sants at 09:28
Arrive: Paris Gare De Lyon at 16:12.

Reservation fees: 1st class = €48; 2nd class = €34

Depart: Paris Gare Du Nord at 11:12
Arrive: London St Pancras International at 12:30.

You don't have to take this specific train from Paris to London, you can book reservations for any departure on your travel date online at B-Europe.

If you will be travelling with a 2nd class pass, the reservation fee for the Paris to London Eurostar is approximately equivalent to the cheapest one way ticket.

So if you can find the cheapest tickets for sale, an option is to book these tickets - and then use your rail pass for an alternative journey, such as day trip from Venice to Verona.

However, if you will be travelling with a 1st class pass, the rail pass reservation fee is guaranteed to save you money on the Eurostar.

Based on the rail pass costs + the reservation fees:

InterRail 1st Class Adult = €701
InterRail 2nd Class Adult = €551

Approximate cost comparison with purchasing tickets:*

Cheapest 1st class tickets = €746
Cheapest 2nd class tickets = €417

1st class tickets when booked a few days ahead of the travel date = €1294
2nd class tickets when booked a few days ahead of the travel date = €838

The costs estimates based on one Adult aged 18+ travelling solo.

*= We looked through 100s of departure times/dates to assess these costs and used the most 'typical' prices we could find.

However, the prices of train tickets can fluctuate, so these cost estimates do not take into sporadic promotions and other offers - nor do they include exponentially high prices at holiday times etc.

Note that despite the amount of reservation fees required, 1st class passes can be particularly good value if you follow this itinerary.

It's likely that you will make a saving, even when compared to the costs of going through the hassle of booking the cheapest possible end-to-end tickets, for each of the suggested days of travel.

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