You can’t walk always. Sometimes you have to take a train. Europe conjures the image of train service and ease of travel across countries by train very easily. It is convenient and a great way to travel from one place to another. 
Here are some tips about the trains and the EuRail Pass.
1. You cannot buy EuRail Pass in Europe. It has to be bought in your home country. It is not an e-Ticket, but a paper based ticket which comes to your home address in a snail-mail. So, allow enough time for the pass to get to you.
2. You do not get a second class pass unless you are 26 years or less (Youth Saver Pass). But second class tends to be crowded and if you are travelling with luggage, there is no place for the luggage there.
3. At the time you buy your pass, you can opt for the number of days. While counting the number of days, count your travel days, not those of your stay. If you are hopping from one city to another, then it is a travel day. It is also a travel day if you are going to do a longish day trip, e.g. München-Salzburg and back; count this as a travel day. But if you are going to explore the city locally or just laze around for a day then don’t count it as travel day. This will help you to not lose any days for which you have already paid money. However, it is not possible to add a day to the pass, if your plan changes. You will have to buy separate tickets for that.
4. Some goodies that might actually help planning your trip are not told beforehand, e.g. if you buy a pass for Germany, a Munich-Salzburg trip is free; you don’t have to buy a pass for Austria in that case. Some other minor things are discounts on S-Bahn or free trip from CDG Airport to Paris Gare Du Nord etc.
5. There is no restriction on how many times a day you can use the pass. But be sure to read about the rules on how to count the days if your journey involves overnight travel in a City Night Line Express.
6. For some trains reservations are compulsory. On these routes, you may not be allowed entry to the train without a reservation. Even if reservations are not compulsory someone may still have it, so don’t be surprised if someone comes over and says “das ist mein Platz!”.
7. Cost of reservations is not included in the pass; it is extra. It varies depending on the train company. You may pay as much as EUR 41 on Paris-Brussels Midi section traveling Thalys. Almost all TGV routes are reservation compulsory. DB-ICE may charge up to €5.00 per reservation.
8. Always validate your pass before boarding the train, even if you have a reservation. Our conductor in Paris insisted that if we board the train without entering our journey date, he will fine us €50.00.
9. In First Class, snacks/coffee etc. can be ordered on your seat, you don’t have to go to the Board Bistro. But it is usually a paid service. On some routes, it may be a free service or included in your “reservation charges”.
10. On international trains, expect Passport Control. It is not as organized as it is at the Airports. So, it might even happen multiple times. On Paris-Amsterdam train, we were asked to show the Passport twice, at Paris Gare du Nord station. But no major questions or anything to worry about. In Munich-Innsbruck section, a Police Officer did the round of all coaches checking passports. On all other international trains, there was no passport control at all.
11. Many stations, especially if you are taking a trip to a non-conventional spot, do not have escalators. So, pack light; otherwise, you have to haul big luggage on the staircase while changing trains.
12. The EuRail site has information on trains including the planned platform and it is more or less correct; so even if there are only five minutes to change trains, they are usually sufficient. In ICE trains, there are leaflets kept that explain the Reiseplan. The Reiseplan has information on all the stops the train is going to take, scheduled arrival and departure times and connecting trains from the stations. In case the train is delayed and you realize that you are going to miss the connection, speak to the conductor and he/she will be able to guide you about the next train.
13. The timetable that comes to you with the pass is not complete. There may be alternate or faster trains available on the route you choose. If in doubt, check with the Service Point or the website. The stations display boards of arrival and departure information, hour wise.
EuRail is very comfortable and easy to travel. The journey is also enjoyable as the nature outside can be very enchanting. The trains travel at a good speed, sometimes popping your ears! Except for one train, none was delayed, so on-time arrival/departures are more or less guaranteed. If you account for luggage check-in time, security, travel to the airport, both at the port of departure and arrival, overall, railway is faster and hassle free. We were first apprehensive about the compulsory first class pass. The very first encounter of costly reservations from Paris was also a cause of concern. But there are enough facilities that make up for everything and the pass turns out much cheaper than individual tickets. There are enough trains to take you places at any time of the day and even if EuRail seems costly, looking at the extent to which we used it, and how convenient it was, it was certainly paisa vasool.
There is a lot that Indian Railways can take from EuRail to make passengers comfortable and to make it an enjoyable experience, only if they can come out of their red taped mindset.
1. You cannot buy EuRail Pass in Europe. It has to be bought in your home country. It is not an e-Ticket, but a paper based ticket which comes to your home address in a snail-mail. So, allow enough time for the pass to get to you.
2. You do not get a second class pass unless you are 26 years or less (Youth Saver Pass). But second class tends to be crowded and if you are travelling with luggage, there is no place for the luggage there.
3. At the time you buy your pass, you can opt for the number of days. While counting the number of days, count your travel days, not those of your stay. If you are hopping from one city to another, then it is a travel day. It is also a travel day if you are going to do a longish day trip, e.g. München-Salzburg and back; count this as a travel day. But if you are going to explore the city locally or just laze around for a day then don’t count it as travel day. This will help you to not lose any days for which you have already paid money. However, it is not possible to add a day to the pass, if your plan changes. You will have to buy separate tickets for that.
4. Some goodies that might actually help planning your trip are not told beforehand, e.g. if you buy a pass for Germany, a Munich-Salzburg trip is free; you don’t have to buy a pass for Austria in that case. Some other minor things are discounts on S-Bahn or free trip from CDG Airport to Paris Gare Du Nord etc.
5. There is no restriction on how many times a day you can use the pass. But be sure to read about the rules on how to count the days if your journey involves overnight travel in a City Night Line Express.
6. For some trains reservations are compulsory. On these routes, you may not be allowed entry to the train without a reservation. Even if reservations are not compulsory someone may still have it, so don’t be surprised if someone comes over and says “das ist mein Platz!”.
7. Cost of reservations is not included in the pass; it is extra. It varies depending on the train company. You may pay as much as EUR 41 on Paris-Brussels Midi section traveling Thalys. Almost all TGV routes are reservation compulsory. DB-ICE may charge up to €5.00 per reservation.
8. Always validate your pass before boarding the train, even if you have a reservation. Our conductor in Paris insisted that if we board the train without entering our journey date, he will fine us €50.00.
9. In First Class, snacks/coffee etc. can be ordered on your seat, you don’t have to go to the Board Bistro. But it is usually a paid service. On some routes, it may be a free service or included in your “reservation charges”.
10. On international trains, expect Passport Control. It is not as organized as it is at the Airports. So, it might even happen multiple times. On Paris-Amsterdam train, we were asked to show the Passport twice, at Paris Gare du Nord station. But no major questions or anything to worry about. In Munich-Innsbruck section, a Police Officer did the round of all coaches checking passports. On all other international trains, there was no passport control at all.
11. Many stations, especially if you are taking a trip to a non-conventional spot, do not have escalators. So, pack light; otherwise, you have to haul big luggage on the staircase while changing trains.
12. The EuRail site has information on trains including the planned platform and it is more or less correct; so even if there are only five minutes to change trains, they are usually sufficient. In ICE trains, there are leaflets kept that explain the Reiseplan. The Reiseplan has information on all the stops the train is going to take, scheduled arrival and departure times and connecting trains from the stations. In case the train is delayed and you realize that you are going to miss the connection, speak to the conductor and he/she will be able to guide you about the next train.
13. The timetable that comes to you with the pass is not complete. There may be alternate or faster trains available on the route you choose. If in doubt, check with the Service Point or the website. The stations display boards of arrival and departure information, hour wise.
EuRail is very comfortable and easy to travel. The journey is also enjoyable as the nature outside can be very enchanting. The trains travel at a good speed, sometimes popping your ears! Except for one train, none was delayed, so on-time arrival/departures are more or less guaranteed. If you account for luggage check-in time, security, travel to the airport, both at the port of departure and arrival, overall, railway is faster and hassle free. We were first apprehensive about the compulsory first class pass. The very first encounter of costly reservations from Paris was also a cause of concern. But there are enough facilities that make up for everything and the pass turns out much cheaper than individual tickets. There are enough trains to take you places at any time of the day and even if EuRail seems costly, looking at the extent to which we used it, and how convenient it was, it was certainly paisa vasool.
There is a lot that Indian Railways can take from EuRail to make passengers comfortable and to make it an enjoyable experience, only if they can come out of their red taped mindset.
