If you are under the age of 26 in Europe, you qualify for Student Rail Pass or a Youth Rail Pass. This is a good way to spend your summer vacation from studies: to see Europe. Also, there are many ways that spending time in Europe can actually help your education especially if you are in classes such as Western Civilization or even doing language studies.
The European rail system for the most part is very clean, modern, and efficient. There are a few countries such as Spain and Portugal where the trains run a little slower and are more crowded during the summer months but they are still a bargain and one of the best ways to see much of this continent. There are a few companies in Europe who offer rail passes for students as well.
One such student pass is the Inter-Rail pass and it is a very easy, comfortable, and convenient way to see Europe. Zonal Inter-Rail Cards have the best value ever and the traveler can make a choice from eight geographical zones in Europe resulting in paying for only the places desired to visit. If you get an All Zone Pass, you can go anywhere in Europe to include Finland, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey (the four directions). You have discounts on ferry services with these passes (like from the U.K. and the mainland) and other discounts throughout the continent.
The Inter-Rail Pass Zones are:
* The Republic of Ireland
* Norway, Sweden, and Finland
* Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark
* Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, Hungary, and Croatia
* France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg
* Spain, Portugal, and Morocco
* Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Slovenia
* Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia
As mentioned before, you must be under age 26 on the first day of the card’s validity and have resided in the U.K. for the last 6 months. If you live in another European country you should have also not lived outside of Europe for the last six months in order to be eligible for the Inter-Rail pass.
For those students coming in from outside of Europe, you can buy Eurail train passes known as the Eurail Global Pass, Eurail Select, Eurail Youth Flexi plus you have single country passes. Eurail covers the majority of Europe and it is a great way to see the continent.
With the Eurail passes, you have the single-country pass and then the multi-country pass. By their name, they indicate the scope of the area that they cover. The multi-country pass gives you the ability to ride a Eurail train through four or more European countries at just a fraction more than a single-country pass. The cost is basically less than buying single-country Eurail tickets for six or countries. The Single Country pass does not always mean just one country. In some cases these passes will cover two to five additional countries via their connecting borders.
With the Eurail Global Pass Youth, one can visit up to 18 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
You can buy a range of 15 to 21 travel days to be used over a one, two, or three month period. The travel days are consecutive. This means that if you don’t use a travel day, you lose it.
Another pass is the Eurail Global Pass Youth Flexi. This pass covers the same countries as the Global pass but you don’t have to use the travel days consecutively. You can buy anywhere from 10 to 15 travel days that must be used in a two-month period.
There is also the Eurail Select Pass Youth. With this pass, you can travel to 3 to 5 countries out of 22 different countries over a two-month period. You do not have use the travel days consecutively and you can purchase 5, 6, 8, 10, or 15-day travel days. The countries chosen for travel to must have adjoining borders. In the case of Norway and Finland, they have a direct shipping route so they will be considered bordering.