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We are hoping to do 6 weeks in Europe May/June 25. For about 7 of those days/nights we want to travel on trains around the Alps. The plan is to start in Munich late May. Train to Attnang-Puchheim (Austria), on to Stainach-Irdning (maybe overnight stop over in Hallstat). Next stop Innsbruck for 2 nights. Then on to Tirano (Italy) and take one night there. Lastly we would train to Chur (Switzerland), and connect 🤞 back to Munich. 

Our questions are about what pass to buy, given that we are from Australia, and if all those journeys are covered by the one pass? Also, when should we buy the pass, and more importantly, how far ahead can we book and then reserve seats? We are both over 60.

Thank you for even reading this. But we have little understanding of how the system works, and are hoping that our plan is achievable! 

Denis and Darina 

Hello

You should buy an Eurail Global Pass who is valid in these three countries.

You can reserve seats normally 6 months in advance. For the Bernina line (Tirano - Chur), you have also trains or cars without mandatory reservations.

When you reserve seats in Germany (bahn.de), Austria (oebb.at) or for the Bernina Express (tickets.rhb.ch/en), no check is made if you already have a valid pass or not, you don’t need to buy the pass months in advance.

If possible, reserve seats in Austria (oebb.at), also for trains from Germany or Switzerland, because the reservations are fully or partially refundable until the day before departure, but don’t obtain the tickets in advance to preserve this possibility.

Also important to note. You’re also very early to plan in railway terms. Don’t panic if you don’t find anything now. The timetables for 2025 are not available yet. From January 2025 at the earliest, you can check them with relative certainty. For all of Europe, I’lld suggest to check your routes about 2-3 months in advance, than the timetables are certain.

If you want to get an indication of the service level, frequency and travel time by train to plan a bit, just use a random date next week to see, on one of the aforementioned websites.

Thanks!

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