Seat Reservations
You can hop and off most trains as you please with your Interrail Pass, however, Seat Reservations are not included with an Interrail Pass. For a small fee, a Seat Reservation guarantees you a comfy seat on busy high-speed routes across Europe. Trains that require mandatory reservations normally save you time and have lots of extra features, such as streaming WIFI, entertainment portals, onboard restaurant & bar, power sockets or sleeping facilities, plus you can bag a space next to your friend traveling speeds of up 320 km/h.
If you do not fancy purchasing a seat reservation, not to worry you can usually travel by regional train where seat reservations are not required. The journey by regional trains can take longer and the need to change trains to connecting trains is greater. However, where time allows you might get to connect and visit a destination for a few hours while you wait for your next train that you had not thought about visiting before!
On high-speed & InterCity trains that are not requiring mandatory seat reservations; it can only be recommend in making a seat reservation on journeys over 3 hours to save you changing seat many times throughout your journey.
Journeys requiring Seat Reservations can always be checked & booked within the RAIL PLANNER app, online, and down at the local station.
Night Trains
In certain areas of Europe it is possible to travel by a night train. Board the train in the evening or late afternoon and wake up in a new destination the following day. Traveling with the night train is a great experience. Taking the night train at least once during your Interrail Trip can be highly recommended. Night trains with sleeping facilities always require a reservation for an additional fee, however you will save on hostel or hotel costs traveling by night train! You can usually pick between Seated Class, Couchette - a small compartment with bunk beds, pillow, and a blanket usually in a configuration of 4 or 6 and shared with other members of the public, or a Sleeper Compartment that offers more comforts such as a mattress and duvet in a configuration of Single, Double, 4 or 6 the larger compartments often shared with other members of the public and usually of the same gender. Both Couchette & Sleeper compartments can normally also be booked for more privacy. Each compartment comes at a different reservation cost but is discounted with an Interrail Pass. To see if a route has a night train it is worth searching late afternoon in the Rail Planner app where some are also bookable. Otherwise, it is possible to book the reservation at the station or often on the train operators’ website with the option of inputting your pass during the booking.
Using a travel day on the night train - If for example the train departs at 19:00 and arrives the following morning at 10:00am then only one travel day from the pass is used. If you do not change train after midnight only one travel day is used.
