Eurail vs Interrail: What’s the difference + what the 2026 merger means for travellers
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Key takeaways:
- Eurail and Interrail used to be two versions of the same European rail pass with different eligibility: Eurail Passes for non-European residents, Interrail for people living in Europe
- The only difference was that European residents couldn’t use their pass within their home country beyond one outbound and one inbound journey
- On 10 September 2026 they rebranded Eurail to bring it under the Interrail umbrella, and now all travellers can purchase an Interrail Pass
For decades there were two Europe rail passes that travellers could use for multi-country adventures, Eurail Passes and Interrail Passes, and each had its own website, own marketing campaigns and own eligibility rules (live in Europe = Interrail, don’t live in Europe = Eurail).
The pass coverage and prices were identical, you could take all the same trains and they even used the same app, except Interrail Passholders were limited to a single outbound and single inbound journey to leave and return to their home country. But then…
“Hey Alexa, play ‘2 Become 1’ by Spice Girls” 🎵
On 10 September 2026, they got merged into one Europe train pass for all travellers, whether you live in Europe or on the other side of the planet, and Interrail won the Eurail vs Interrail battle of the brand names showdown.
This comes with good news for you and bad news for me. The good news is that practically nothing has changed on the traveller side (pretty much just a name change for non-European residents), the bad news is that I have approximately 180,000 words of Europe-related blog posts which feature Eurail Passes heavily and now allllll need to be updated with the new info 😩 so if you see anything out of date when you scroll through this site pretty please let me know in that post’s comments in case it slipped through the cracks. Thank you in advance!
I’ve also got my own pre-rebrand Eurail Pass already loaded for an upcoming three-month trip (for the fifth year in a row) so I’ll be able to put the system to the test and make sure it all runs exactly the same as it used to, just with a different logo and URL.
Whether this is your first time exploring Europe by train (omg excited for you) or you’ve been there, done that and couldn’t figure out why Eurail didn’t exist anymore, here’s everything you need to know about the Eurail to Interrail transition and what it means for your trip.
Eurail vs Interrail: What’s the difference?
Eurail and Interrail were different consumer-facing brands for the same product, a rail pass that acted as your ticket on loads of trains throughout 33 countries in Europe. The only differences were:
- Eurail was for people who live outside of Europe, Interrail was for people who live within it
- Interrail Passholders couldn’t use their pass within their home country apart from an outbound and an inbound journey
- Eurail Passholders had no limits on where they could go across the network within the validity of their pass
You could never choose which pass to purchase, the eligibility was determined by where you lived.
What changed in September 2026 (byeeee Eurail 👋🏼)
The Eurail brand was retired on 10 September 2026 and everything was moved under Interrail, so since that date Interrail is the only brand that offers multi-country rail passes for leisure travel around Europe, and anyone can buy an Interrail Pass regardless of where they live.
The only things that changed were:
- The Eurail website redirects to Interrail
- The product info and terms and conditions for Interrail Passes were updated so that travellers living outside of Europe are allowed to use the pass
- All of Eurail’s own marketing channels have been switched to Interrail, and if you see any third-party suppliers selling Eurail Passes they just haven’t updated their website yet
Pass options, prices, seat reservations and the countries and trains that are covered all stay the same.
If you’ve already got an account for the Eurail website then it’ll work on the Interrail website automatically, no need to create a new one. Your account will still hold any passes or seat reservations you booked through Eurail too, these will still say Eurail but that’s not a problem, they’ll still work the same and you don’t need to exchange your pass for an Interrail one.
The home-country in-and-out rule for European residents also stays exactly as it was before the merge, and that brings me to…
If you travel on a different passport to where you live
The only potential confusion here is for people who either travel on a European passport but live outside of Europe, or who live inside Europe but have a non-European passport.
All travellers can buy an Interrail Pass now, but the rule about using it in your country of residence still applies, you can’t use it for travel around your country or for commuting, you’ve only got one departure journey and one return journey that can cross the border of your home country (but you can use them on any two travel days during the pass validity, doesn’t have to be the first day and last day).
European passport holders who don’t live there
You have to select your primary country of residence when you buy an Interrail Pass, and if you’re travelling on a European passport but you live somewhere else, you’ve gotta carry an official residency document like a resident ID card or long-term visa to prove you selected the right country and aren’t subject to the home-country journey rule.
I’ll give you an example. If you’re French and travel on a French passport but you live in Australia, and you want to go to Europe to spend a month travelling by Interrail for a holiday, you’d select Australia as your country of residence and then you can do as many journeys as you like within and to/from France, you wouldn’t be limited to just one departure and one return.
But if you get your pass checked on a journey within French borders (which is extremely likely) and don’t have proof that you live in Australia, they’d consider this a breach of your pass conditions, which could result in your pass being terminated or being banned from Interrail altogether, and it would also void your ticket for that particular train and you could get a nasty fine.
If your passport is from a European country outside of Interrail’s coverage (like Iceland or Albania for example) the home-country journey limit means nothing because there’s no trains across those borders anyway.
European residents who hold a non-European passport
It works the other way round too, where you live is what determines the outbound/inbound journey rule, so if you’re a Kiwi living in London then you need to put the UK as your country of residence and you’ll get one journey out and one back in.
If you already have a Eurail Pass… (same 🙋🏼♀️)
If you bought a Eurail Pass before the rebrand, your pass is still valid until it expires and you don’t need to swap it for an Interrail Pass.
I’ll be testing this for myself in November so I’ll report back if I have any issues!
If you already made seat reservations through the Eurail website, these will show up when you log in to the Interrail website with the same account details.
Where to buy an Interrail Pass
You can buy an Interrail Pass directly from interrail.com or through a trusted reseller like Klook or Rail Europe, each one has its own benefits and downsides:
- Buying direct from Interrail actually gives you a crappy cancellation policy: full refund within 7 days of buying, but after that they keep 10% of the pass price unless you paid €19 extra for Refund Protection at checkout.
- Klook has a better cancellation policy than going direct, they let you cancel for a full refund any time before you activate the pass without having to pay €19 for Refund Protection. I typically buy multiple passes through Klook during sale periods and then cancel the ones I don’t need (as long as the promo T&Cs allow this).
- Rail Europe sells Interrail Passes too and if you buy your pass through them you won’t have to pay the €2 per route booking fee for SNCF, Eurostar and Trenitalia trains
Whichever one you choose to go with, check out my guide on how to use an Interrail Pass to get up to speed with the whole process before your first travel day.
FAQs about Eurail vs Interrail Passes
Is Interrail the same as Eurail?
They were two versions of the same product, one for European residents and one for travellers who lived outside of Europe. Since the rebrand in September 2026 there’s only one option, the Interrail Pass, and anyone can buy it.
Does Eurail still exist?
Not as a travel pass you can buy, Eurail became Interrail on 10 September 2026. If you bought a Eurail Pass before that date it’s still valid and you can use it exactly the same as you planned. Your eurail.com account and any passes or reservations you booked through it is still accessible via interrail.com with the same login details.
What is Eurorail, Euro Pass or Europass?
None of these have ever existed, they’re common misspellings of the Eurail Pass! The best thing about the rebrand to Interrail is going to be that hopefully these incorrect terms finally stop being bandied around haha.
Do British people use Eurail or Interrail?
It doesn’t matter anymore because Eurail is Interrail, but British people are considered European residents.
Are Interrail Passes the same price as Eurail Passes?
Yep! The rebrand didn’t change pricing, and Interrail / Eurail were always priced the same anyway.
Can I buy a Great Britain Pass or Switzerland Pass if I live outside Europe?
Nope, this is the only difference between the actual pass options that are available to residents of Europe vs. non-residents, the One-Country Interrail Passes for Great Britain and Switzerland are only valid for European residents. If you live outside of Europe you can get the Swiss Travel Pass (or one of the many other Switzerland travel passes on offer) or BritRail Pass for England, Scotland and Wales, these are different companies to Interrail.
Do I need to swap my Eurail Pass for an Interrail Pass?
No need, any Eurail Passes bought before the rebrand are still valid until they expire.
I hope this cleared up the whole Eurail vs Interrail confusion! Now you can get back to the fun part, planning the actual trip 🚞
If you’re still deciding whether a pass makes sense for your route, my post on whether an Interrail Pass is worth it runs the numbers with real ticket prices from my own trips, and once you’ve bought one, I’ve got a full guide on how to use an Interrail Pass that walks you through everything from activation to seat reservations to how to deal with hiccups on the road tracks.
If you’ve got any questions I haven’t answered, leave me a comment and I’ll help where I can 🥰
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