With your Eurail pass, you can just hop on and off most trains within Europe. However, there are some trains that require a reservation be made at an additional cost – this normally applies to high-speed, international and overnight trains.
Several train companies have a year-round limititation on the allocation of seats for Eurail pass holders, this includes French TGV trains and Thalys. When this allocation has been reached, you’ll have to buy a full-fare ticket. By booking these trains far in advance you should have no problem. This is especially important for the busy summer season (May-September) and during European school holidays (late October, Christmas, mid february, Easter, late May), when the continent is full of happy travelers and the seat allocation for pass holders is fully taken.
"The journey not the arrival matters" T.S. Eliot
Below you can find a list of alternative routes to popular destinations – if your destinations are not shown you will need to research this. Taking an alternative route means that you need to change trains more frequently or that connections are slower, but it will save you money and you’ll get to see extra places, as regional trains make more stops along the way.
Example:
If there are no more seats allocated for Eurail pass holders on the Thalys high-speed train from Paris to Amsterdam, instead of paying a full-fare ticket why not take this alternative route:
Paris Nord – Amiens – Lille Flandres – Antwerp Centraal – Amsterdam Centraal
Start the day in Paris with a freshly-baked croissant and then you’re ready for the short train journey to Amiens. Stop for a coffee in this small French town and make sure you pay a quick visit to the charming cathedral. Lille Flandres is your next stop, where you can stretch your legs while taking a look at this historical station – construction of which began in 1869. Then board a train to Antwerp – Belgium’s cool and hip city. Spend a few hours exploring the architectural delights of this city. It’s also a great place to enjoy an authentic Belgian lunch, washed down with a mouth-watering local beer. In the early evening hop back onto the train for the short ride to Amsterdam, in time for a canal-side evening meal! Three countries in one day!
Use our railway map to see alternative routes and take the red lines. In most cases, only regional trains run along these routes, which do not need reservations. Below you can also view our suggested alternative routes for popular destinations.
Alternative routes for popular destinations
Please note: Journey times are approximate and include connecting times.A reservation may be recommended for the Schnellzug at certain times of the day. Online timetables will indicate when a reservation is recommended (usually stating: ‘Please reserve’).
Find alternative trains
To find trains which do not require reservations, follow these steps:
- Go to the Deutsche Bahns train timetable.
- Enter your departure station and arrival station.
- Choose ‘All without ICE’. View this list of train routes with connections to trains that all (or mostly) don’t include trains needing a reservation.
- If there are still trains showing up that require a reservation you can select ‘only local transport’ which should create a list of routes with no reservations, however journey times could be longer in this list.
We’d like to hear from you regarding your experiences of seat allocation on European trains. Please email us at experiences@eurail.com. We will use this information to help provide the most up-to-date information to our travelers. Due to the high volume of emails we receive, unfortunately, we cannot reply to your messages.
