Choosing Your Pass

First-class seating is more spacious, with fewer seats per compartment, and usually more quiet. There is more room for luggage and it will generally be less crowded as most passengers typically travel in second class. First-class accommodations may also include laptop connection plugs, complimentary soft drinks, free newspapers, leather seats, and/or meals. There are benefits on overnight trains as well; first-class passengers are usually allocated a single or double sleeper compartment, while those in second class may be required to occupy couchettes with up to six persons per compartment.

NOTE: If you have purchased a First Class Eurail pass you must purchase first-class seat reservations.

A train ticket is valid for travel from Point A to Point B, like the ones available on ItaliaRail.com for Italy. A rail pass allows you ride on as many trains as you can take in a travel day (24 hours). Some trains do require you make a seat reservation ahead of time—included with a train ticket; as a separate purchase with a rail pass.

You can start with cost of the rail pass and then add the costs of any required seat reservations. Then total the cost of individual train tickets for your planned routes. (Please refer to the point-to-point comparison on the results pages.)

In general, the more travel days and more countries through which you plan to travel, the better value a rail pass offers. See it all!

You need to determine what countries you plan to travel through and how many days you will spend in each country to determine the best pass for your needs. There is a Global passes that will allow you train coverage in 33 countries or one country pass for use within a single country. If your traveling over a country border, in some cases you can purchase a 'partial pass'  giving you the seat reservation for the one country pass and a train ticket and seat reservation for the country not included on your pass.  This will be purchasable through a railway and not through Railpass.com