Welcome to the forum!

All travel days are based on the departure time of each train you take. If your train departs at 11pm, then it uses that day as a travel day. You can stay onboard that train as long as you like - half an hour or well into tomorrow afternoon - and it won’t use another travel day. Only if you board any new trains after midnight will you use a second day.

I generally buy the first class pass. It’s not that much more expensive, and I appreciate the extra comfort. Of course second class is absolutely fine. If you post a brief itinerary, we can advise whether first class is ‘worth it’ for your particular trains.

You will generally get more width and legroom in first, and quieter carriages. There’s no inclusive food or drink in Portugal, Switzerland or France. 

the cost for 15 days in 2 months is $2072 AUD for first class vs 2 months in a row $2438 AUD

You have to ask yourself how many extra days you see yourself travelling if you buy the more expensive continuous pass.

Having a continuous pass would allow you to take trips every day. Even if it’s just a short half hour train ride for a day trip. You don’t have to worry about ‘am I going to run out of days’ or ‘is this trip a good use of a pass day’. There’s a lot more value there, if you see yourself using it.

Thank you for your responses. Good to know that the 11pm departure with an arrival late morning is viewed as one trip. We do see the value in the 2 month option as we will most likely take short trips during the day. We do not intend to work on a fixed agenda to allow us greater flexibility. We will fly into Paris. Our niece lives in St Germaine en Laye and we would like to spend some time with her. We would like to visit Basel and visit friends in Geneva & Lucerne. Eventually we will make our way to Porto to walk from Porto to Santiago de Compostela before making our way to London. We have so many ideas and know that we have to filter our plans. We want to enjoy our time in Europe vs speed travel.

Obligatory mention with Eurail : reservations are required on French high-speed trains and most Spanish trains. This limits your flexibility in a way as some need to be booked in advance if you want the fastest route… you also don’t have many alternatives within Spain. Eurostar trains to London fall in this category : they’re pretty popular and sell out days or sometimes weeks in advance (passholder quota). But even then you’ve got multiple ferries across the Channel if you prefer (even overnight crossings further west).

Have a look at :

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

However if you’re not in a rush it’s doable too. For example Paris - Switzerland has multiple routes :

• frequent TGVs to Mulhouse and Strasbourg
• TER regional trains to Belfort/Mulhouse
• other routes via Dijon

Switzerland - Spain is doable on regional trains with an overnight stay near Avignon, Nîmes or Montpellier.

Madrid - Lisbon is a full travel day as connections are bad between Spain and Portugal. Fortunately a high-speed railway is coming in the next years.

I’d try to make a nice loop : Paris - Switzerland - south of France - Barcelona - Madrid - Lisbon - Porto - Santiago - Atlantic coast - Basque country - Bordeaux - Paris - London.

For a first look at timetables, you might want to use the DB Navigator app (German railways connected to the European-wide database). Spanish/Portuguese trains tend to appear late/never appear though. Check current times, they won’t change much until May-June. Questions welcome, your trip looks good. :)

Thank you so much. I appreciate the link to seat61 which is super useful. I have downloaded the DB Navigator app and will continue with our research. 

As the Eurostar between UK and mainland Europe has a limited number of pass holder seats you should make the seat reservation as soon as you know what date you want to travel.

Due to the Olympics in Paris between the 26th of July and the 11th of August, pass holder seats are no longer available on some departures.