Hi there, do I need paper copy tickets for my reservations for each train I take using my Eurail Pass. Also, if we need hard copies, how long would they take to ship to Australia? Alternatively I can have them shipped to a friend in Holland, how long would this take?
Answer
Eurail reservations
Best answer by rvdborgt
There is no need to print reservations, except for night trains.
If you're booking a reservation on eurail.com and it proposes to send a paper reservation, then it will also say when it thinks they will arrive, and then you still need to build in a margin. It's also better to see if you can book elsewhere (often it's possible to get a PDF reservation elsewhere); that's a good idea anyway.
Check this thread for other ways to book:
And also this page:
https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm
If you have any questions about a particular reservation, then please mention route, train and departure time.
There is no need to print reservations, except for night trains.
If you're booking a reservation on eurail.com and it proposes to send a paper reservation, then it will also say when it thinks they will arrive, and then you still need to build in a margin. It's also better to see if you can book elsewhere (often it's possible to get a PDF reservation elsewhere); that's a good idea anyway.
Check this thread for other ways to book:
And also this page:
https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm
If you have any questions about a particular reservation, then please mention route, train and departure time.
You better make reservations in places where you get the reservations as a pdf or in an app. Try to avoid making reservations that have to be sent by ordinary mail.
The recommendation from the experienced travellers in the community is to only make reservations through the Eurail website if no other options are available. Please read more about that below.
Here is some useful information from the experienced travellers in the Community regarding both planning, reservations and activation of pass and travel days.
Planning
The rail planner is normally not up to date, as it only is updated once a month, so to be sure of the time table you better check the timetable and availability on the websites of the national railways. The bigger national railways, like DB (Germany) SBB (Switzerland) and ÖBB (Austria) cover several countries.
Reservations
The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is to use other ways to make reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website. You can look at the guide in the link:
https://community.eurail.com/train-connections-reservations-47/how-to-get-reservations-105
If you, after having looked at the guide, have questions about how to make specific reservation, please give your travel details (departure date, time and route) preferably in a new topic, and you will get advice.
Please note that Interrail/Eurail charges an extra fee of 2 EUR per person and train in addition to the fee for the seat reservation.
Activation of pass
During the activation process you choose the start day of the validity of the pass. Once the validity has started it can't be changed even if you haven't travelled. The advice is therefore to wait with activating the pass and starting the validity until the first day of your travel as you only can deactivate the pass no later than 23.59 CET on the day before the validity starts. If your travel plans change in the last moment you can't deactivate the pass and change the validity.
It can be wise to make a test and activate the pass with a start date well in the future and then deactivate the pass immediately, just to see that everything works.
Activation of travel day
The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is also never to activate a travel day, that is connect a journey to your pass and create the ticket (QR code), until just before boarding the train, otherwise you might loose a travel day if your travel plans change in a late stage You can't delete a travel day in the past. A travel day can only be deleted until 23.59 CET the day before the travel day.
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