Eurail. Is It Worth the Hype?

Short answer… NO.

I spent a lot of time tossing up whether I should get the Eurail Pass or just book flights and trains/busses as needed, but given I had no plans and wanted flexibility to go where I wanted when I wanted, I ended up buying the 2 month pass. As I write this, I’m coming to the end of 18 hours of travel with this pass, and from first impressions… I would NOT recommend it. Not only is a Eurail pass extremely expensive, but the app/website are not very user-friendly. You also have to reserve a seat for most trains which ends up costing you an extra 20-80 euros for every single trip. I came across the issue of not being able to reserve online as well for a 12 hour overnight train from Augsburg to Zagreb, and ended up in a seated cabin with a slightly creepy old man. No sleep was had.

Many trains within Europe are also not part of the Eurail network, so you end up needing to buy separate tickets for these trips. This was a big issue for me in Italy, so best to keep that in mind if you are planning to use the Eurail into Italy, Portugal etc, as I had to purchase tickets separately from Eurail whilst travelling in these parts. I will also flag that there are a lot of industry strikes in Europe, meaning your trains will often be delayed or cancelled.

What has been your experience with Eurail? Let me know in the comments below!