We are travelling to Europe in Feb/Mar 2026. We are based in Cham, Switzerland and plan on visiting Rome, Florence, Milan, Munich, Paris and then some smaller trips from Cham/Zurich accross the border to Germany etc. We arrive 19 Feb and leave Mar 20. My questions are:
Would it be worthwhile getting the Eurail? Most of our travel to tourist attractions will be via train.
Would a 1 month pass cover Feb to Mar or would that count as two months?
I dont understand the concept of “travel days” - can someone please explain.
Apologies if these are dumb questions but this is our first time abroad.
Thanks
Savanna
Best answer by Danhiel
@Savanna
Yes, a Global Eurail Pass would be a good idea. Note that you need mandatory seat reservations in some countries.
A 1 month pass is valid 28-31 days, depending of the first day of validity, e.g, 20 February - 19 March (only 28 days in this case).
With the flexi passes, you only need a travel day when you travel on this day. An example: Travel day 1: 20 February Zurich - Milan, Travel day 2: 23 February Milan - Rome, Travel day 3: 26 February Rome - Florence, etc.
You need to plan your itinerary in advance to calculate the number of travel days you will need or if a continuous pass (valid every day) would be better. Don’t forget to add the travel days if you want to make big excursions in Switzerland.
Yes, a Global Eurail Pass would be a good idea. Note that you need mandatory seat reservations in some countries.
A 1 month pass is valid 28-31 days, depending of the first day of validity, e.g, 20 February - 19 March (only 28 days in this case).
With the flexi passes, you only need a travel day when you travel on this day. An example: Travel day 1: 20 February Zurich - Milan, Travel day 2: 23 February Milan - Rome, Travel day 3: 26 February Rome - Florence, etc.
You need to plan your itinerary in advance to calculate the number of travel days you will need or if a continuous pass (valid every day) would be better. Don’t forget to add the travel days if you want to make big excursions in Switzerland.
There are two main pass types - continuous and flexi.
If you have a flexi (say 4 days in 10) then a travel day is one of those 4 days. A day on which you actually travel. In this situation travel days are valuable - each day will have cost you ¼ of your pass price. As a result, you don’t want to waste a travel day by using it to only get a local train that you could have just bought a €5 fare for.
If you have a continuous pass (say a 1 month pass) then you effectively don’t need to worry about the concept of a travel day - you effectively have a travel month. Whether you travel on a given day or not doesn’t cost you anything. You have already paid for the entire month.
Also . . . you say you “are based in Cham, Switzerland” . . . from the ticketing point of view, are you Swiss (or European), or are you visiting from elsewhere in the world and just based in Cham temporarily? This is important because of the distinction between the pass for Europeans (technically more restricted) and the pass for non-Europeans.
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