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European railpass holders will be required to pay reservation and/or supplement fees for seats and sleeping accommodation, before travelling on many European trains, particularly high-speed and overnight trains.
Passholder fares are payable on prestige trains which include services such as Eurostar, Thalys, Artesia, Elipsos and TGV Lyria.
These fees can either be paid for in advance, when the pass is purchased, if routes and journeys are already known, or they can be bought in person at railway stations in Europe. The railpass must be presented when such reservations, supplements and passholder fares are being purchased, in order to qualify for the correct fare.
In some cases, trains will only have a limited number of places available for railpass holders and passholders may therefore sometimes be refused travel on a particular train. This situation can usually be avoided if passholders aim to travel on off-peak services rather than on peak ones.
Some examples of passholder fares and reservation/supplement charges (Prices shown are per person and valid for a one way journey)
Passholder fares:
- Eurostar: (London to Paris/Brussels): Standard class - £50, 1st class (Leisure Select) - £90
- Elipsos Train Hotel: (Paris to Spain): Reclining seat - £30, sleeper in 4 berth compartment - £45, sleeper in double compartment - from £75
- Thalys: (Paris - Brussels) - Standard class seat - £8, 1st class - £17
- Artesia: overnight train (Paris to Italy) - Couchette in 6 berth compartment - from £15, couchette in 4 berth compartment - from £30, sleeper in 3 berth compartment - from £41, sleeper in double compartment - from £56
Reservations and supplements:
- TGV (France): Seat reservations - from £2.50. Inter-Railers may also have to pay a supplement (including reservation fee) on certain peak period trains - up to £16
- Overnight train (France): Seat reservations - from £2.50 (not available on all overnight trains), couchette (6 berth compartment - from - £13, sleeper in double compartment - from £48 (not available on all overnight trains)
- Eurostar Italia (Italy): - Standard and 1st class seats - from £12
- Spain: (example: Madrid to Barcelona) - Standard class seat - £5, 1st class - £17, Standard class couchette - from £12, sleeper in 4 berth compartment - from £20, sleeper in double compartment - from £35
- Overnight international train:(example: Riviera train between Nice and Rome) - seat - from £4 (not available on all trains), couchette in 6 berth compartment - from £19, sleeper in 3 berth compartment - from £34, sleeper in double compartment - from £56
- Germany: Reservations are not compulsory on daytime trains within Germany. Inter-Rail passholders will need to pay a supplement locally for travel on high-speed ICE trains.
- Switzerland and Austria: As with Germany, reservations are not generally compulsory on daytime mainline trains and there are usually no supplements to pay.
All details and prices shown are subject to availability and may change at any time.
