I finally went on an Interrail trip. Normally people do this when they are just out of school, I was surprised that there is no age limit for the tickets. They just get a little bit more expensive when you get older, but I am still in the cheapest category. Apparently for the people at Interrail you are “youth” until the age of 27. I am writing this down, because I wanted to know, if buying the Interrail ticket is more economic than just buying single tickets.
TL;DR: In my case it was approximately 20 % cheaper.
I had about 10 days and I wanted to visit a lot of new countries: Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and a little bit more of the Netherlands. To make it a little bit more interesting, I also took my folding bike with me, which helped a lot with that tight schedule. Apparently you should bring a bag for your folding bike, but nobody ever said anything. With the folding bike you are quite limited to trains, busses and especially flying would be a lot more of a hassle. Also trains are the most fun of those means of transport.
I bought the Interrail global pass which allows you to travel 7 days in 1 month. This cost me 258 €. You could save some money buying it online, which I did not realize until now… Anyway, this means one day of travelling costs you 36.86 €. If you think about it, this is not really cheap, especially if you have to factor in that sometimes you have to pay for reservations.
The following table lists the trains I have taken on the interrail pass, how much money it cost me and how much a regular ticket is. The regular ticket prices might vary and might not be completely accurate, it is just what I found on the internet.
| Date | Train | Res. | Interrail | Total | Regular | Total Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25. | Sargans - Zürich | €0.00 | €36.86 | €36.86 | €28.80 | -€8.06 |
| 26. | Zürich - Paris | €40.00 | €36.86 | €76.86 | €100.00 | €23.14 |
| 29. | Paris - Luxembourg | €10.00 | €18.43 | €28.43 | €70.00 | €41.57 |
| 29. | Luxembourg - Bruxelles | €0.00 | €18.43 | €18.43 | €30.00 | €11.57 |
| 30. | Bruxelles - Bruges | €0.00 | €36.86 | €36.86 | €16.80 | -€20.06 |
| 31. | Bruges - Antwerpen | €0.00 | €36.86 | €36.86 | €17.60 | -€19.26 |
| 01. | Antwerpen - Rotterdam | €0.00 | €18.43 | €18.43 | €25.00 | €6.57 |
| 01. | Rotterdam - Utrecht | €0.00 | €18.43 | €18.43 | €11.00 | -€7.43 |
| 02. | Utrecht - Köln | €0.00 | €18.43 | €18.43 | €65.00 | €46.57 |
| 02. | Köln - Wien | €34.00 | €18.43 | €52.43 | €60.00 | €7.57 |
| Sums | €84.00 | €258.00 | €342.00 | €424.20 | €82.20 |
As you can see: it was definitely cheaper going Interrail than buying regular tickets. Take all this with a grain of salt though, maybe I just got lucky with the countries I went to. As you can see I saved a lot of money in France, but Belgium is cheaper with regular tickets.
To save a little bit more money you should order your ticket online, do the reservations as early as possible (I bought most of the just one day in advance), and most importantly check the prices. Just because you have an Interrail pass, does not mean that have to use it. Buy a regular ticket when this is cheaper and save those precious travel days.
Would I do it again? I think so. Leaving the economics aside, interrail is very cool experience. You can see a lot of stuff and going by train is just really relaxing. What I especially like about it is the freedrom. Because you do not buy tickets from A to B you can easily change your schedule and go to the next city.
