It's a great experience to hop on a train in Europe as traveling by rail has never been more convenient anywhere else than in Europe. This benefits from the true cooperation within European Union countries. The member countries have always tried to establish firm bonds to deliver best service to the peoples. There is barely no barrier in terms of geographic locations,races or languages when you chose to travel by train across the continent. You don't have to search for or worry about how to reach Venice from Paris, how to go to Berlin from Praha. With Eurail Pass, all you need to do is going to the central station, getting on the train, taking a short nap and you'll be in the centre of another European city in just a few hours.

Eurail, with a small office doing marketing located in Utrecht, Finland, is not a corporation itself but a rail network connecting European member countries. A Eurail pass can only be used by non-European citizens/residents. European citizens can purchase an Interrail pass instead. 

Things you need to know when using Eurail Pass

Here are certains countries that you can use Eurail Pass with unlimited travels: Austria ( Liechtenstein included), Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France (Monaco included), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Poland and Serbia.

Types of Eurail Pass

• Global Pass: offer unlimited rail travels within 1-3 months to any 28 member countries. There are plenty of days you can use your pass. It is either 5,10, or 15 days within 1,2 or 3 months.
• Select Pass:  offer unlimited rail travels within 2-4 countries with shared borders in the period of 5-15 days within 2 months. You have to choose one of the main member countries such as France, Italy, Germany and Spain.
• One country pass:  offer unlimited rail travels in one certain country.

Best Benifits of Eurail Pass

First of all, it's the convenience Eurail can bring to users. You don't have to scratch your head or suddenly strike anxiety when considering a long European vacation. Most problems when scheduling a trip starts from wondering how to buy train tickets with cheap prices, how to map a breathable road or what is the best time to travel. Say no more with Eurail Pass. What you need to do is looking up today's train schedule, going to the train station and hopping any trains you want and just let go.

You can actually save up a fair amount of money when buying point to point tickets compared to using Eurail pass; however, if the budget is around 100$, don't hesitate to purchase Eurail Pass. By doing that, you can save time planning the trip and do not have to worry if you'll be late for the train. In case you want to change the travel schedule, Euro Pass is preferable.

What can influence Eurail Pass price?

Though Eurail Pass posses huge benifits, people are still hesitant to buy it due to its high price. It is more expensive than point-to-point tickets but the cost might be lower in some situations. You can never have a really good bang out of Eurail Pass because if you could, then everyon else would kill to have Eurail Pass instead of desperately seeking cheap train tickets.

You should carefully consider personal needs and different scenarios before buying a Eurail Pass. In some cases, you won't think about it and buy point to point tickets instead. For example, if you have planned a long European vacation for 2-3 months, you'll have high chances of buying cheaper tickets. Or If you're just gonna travel short distance, normal tickets are fine.

Here are some elements that might affect pass prices:

• Age: If you're under 26( >=25), the price is considerably lower than for those above 26. For example, it will cost €418 for those above 26 and only cost €274 for those under 26.
• Travel in group: Eurail pass offers 15% off the ticket price if you travel in a group of 2-5 people. you just need to purchase a pass with members' names on it.

Some notes about Eurail Pass

• Using Eurail Pass offfers you unlimited travels within European countries in accordance to the type of your Eurail Pass. Usually, most high-speed and overnight trains require paid reservation. 
• Eurail Pass can not be used upon public transport such as bus, tram and metro as these means are not under the management of national train operating company. Points that you can apply Eurail Pass to in the link above are invalid for local trains, for example train from Florence to Pisa.
• Child, 4–11: up to two children travel free with each adult that has a pass 
• If you're an adult (above 26) acompanying a child, you can purchase a 1st class Eurail Pass.
• With Eurail Pass, you can easily look up train schedules on Trainline website at www.thetrainline.com

How to purchase and use Eurail Pass

Where can you buy an Eurail Pass?

Nowadays, a large number of travel agencies sell Eurail Pass and normally there is no big difffence in the prices they offfer. You can purchase your Eurail Pass on the website  www.raileurope.com, the website clearly demonstrates how to buy, use, look up European rail map, train schedules and a lot more information. Online passes are about 20 percent lower in cost than the same passes purchased in a train station

Rail Europe website's interface

Steps to purchase on www.raileurope.com:

• Step 1: Acess www.raileurope.com, chose the tab “Select a Rail Pass” to pick the Pass type and countries
• Step 2: Fill in your full name and nationality.
• Step 3: Double check your information and bank account. Then you're charged with just small registration and shipping fee.
• Step 4: Fill in your personal information and click on Checkout.
• Step 5: Process your payment with cards.

Within 2-3 days after your purchase, Eurail Pass, instruction book, rail maps and train schedule will be sent to your registered address. Please kindly note that registration fee is not included in the pass price and varies with different countries, trains and seats. 

How to use Eurail Pass

Activate your Eurail pass:  It must be activated within 11 months of the issuing date and this should be done before your first travel. You can activate your pass at the ticket office of most large train stations for free. The staff will note down the activation date and expiry date.

You will see Travel Calender boxes depending on which pass you purchase, you should tick on the days you want to travel and you'll get unlimited uses on those days. Remember to choose days you expect to travel more and with longer trails to make the most out of Eurail Pass.

Travel calender on Eurail Pass

Reservation: Most high speed and overnight trains require reservation. There are 2 ways to do it. You can access Raileurope or any national rail website. You're advised to get on regional websites in accordance to the countries you want to travel to so that you can have a cheaper registration fee (unsually around 5-10EUR).

• Reserve through Raileurope: Click on Seat Reservation, then choose departure and arrival stations and press Find.
• Reserve through National Rail website: Take www.bahn.de as an example, you scroll down the page and book your seat at "Seat only".

When you get on the train:You don't need to validate your pass at Validation machine. Just simply hop the train and show your pass to the ticket inspector.

Pay attention to "One day use" concept, according to the 7 PM rule, your travel on the night train will count for the arrival day. For example, if you travel from Venice at 11pm on June 20 and the train stops in Paris at 11 am the next day, you need to write on travel Calendar the date June 21. This rule is only valid after your pass is activated.

Refund: You'll get a refund up to 80% if you change your mind and your pass has not been activated, either online or at the train station.