Interrail vs Eurail in 2026: One Pass, New Rules

Is there still a difference between Interrail and Eurail?

Not for new buyers. The company behind both brands became Interrail B.V. on 1 May 2026, opened Interrail Passes to residents of any country from 22 June, and dropped Eurail Passes from its conditions on 10 September. Where you live now matters only through a handful of residence rules.

Each step is documented. The about page gives the company name with its pre-May title, the version 18 conditions date the eligibility change to 22 June 2026, and version 19 records the removal of Eurail references from 10 September.

The last public trace of the old brand is a redirect: eurail.com now sends visitors to Interrail’s international site. The What is Interrail page now states plainly that European and non-European residents can both travel with the pass.

For a buyer, that leaves three practical questions: which version of the pass fits the trip, whether your country of residence triggers any limits, and how much seat reservations will add. The sections below take them in turn.

How did the two passes differ before the merger?

By where you lived. Version 18 of the conditions, the last to name both, kept the Eurail Pass for people living outside the EU and a list of European countries that includes the UK, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, and the same update opened Interrail Passes to everyone, ending the earlier residence limit.

Clause 5.1 of version 18 set this out under the heading “Eurail or Interrail?”, and its change log says the version “opened eligibility” for Interrail Passes to all travellers, whatever their country of residence. Gibraltar, Iceland, Kosovo, Monaco and Ukraine were among the non-EU places on the European list.

The products themselves were close cousins sold by one company in Utrecht. With a single pass now open to all, the question for a buyer is no longer which brand to pick, but which version of the Interrail Pass and which residence rules apply.

The renamed company still traces its story to 1959, and its about page speaks of millions of Interrail and Eurail trips taken since then.

What changed, side by side?

The seller’s name, the website and the eligibility rule changed; the trains, the Rail Planner app and the reservation system did not. The table sets the old Eurail position, for buyers living outside Europe, against the Interrail Pass sold to anyone since September 2026, using Interrail’s own documents.

Sources: the about page, version 18 and version 19 of the conditions, and the refund policy, which notes that Eurail Pass buyers keep the earlier refund terms.

Nothing in these documents changes how seat reservations are booked or which carriers take the pass. For most travellers the rename is administrative, which is why a pass bought as a Eurail in spring 2026 still runs on its original terms.

Which rules still depend on where you live?

Three. Residents of the 33 pass countries get only an outbound and an inbound journey at home on a Global Pass. A One Country Pass never works in your own country. And the Great Britain and Switzerland One Country Passes can only be used by residents of the EU and a list of other European countries.

The home-country limit is clause 4.3 of the current conditions; those two journeys use travel days you already hold rather than adding new ones. The One Country Pass FAQ confirms that these passes are meant for a country other than your own.

Clause 4.4.3 sets the Great Britain and Switzerland restriction. Its qualifying list includes the UK, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Türkiye alongside the EU, so a visitor from the United States, Canada or Australia needs a Global Pass to ride British or Swiss trains on a pass.

Age bands do not vary by residence: youth runs from 12 to 27 and seniors start at 60 wherever you live (Global Pass conditions).

How do you prove your country of residence?

You nominate it when ordering, and it is the country where you live on the first day of the pass. A passport from that country is enough proof. If you live somewhere other than your passport country, the place you live takes priority, and you need official residence documents to show it.

This is clause 5.1 of version 19. It asks that residency papers show you were registered to live in the country on the first day of the validity period, so a British passport holder living in Spain nominates Spain and carries the Spanish residence document.

That choice decides where the home-country limit bites. The same traveller would get two journeys within Spain and unrestricted travel in Britain, the reverse of a UK resident’s position.

Inspectors can check: clause 12 lets them scan the whole ticket and ask for the passport or identity card named on the pass, and it bars screenshots or other copies of a mobile pass (conditions).

Is there any difference between mobile and paper passes now?

Yes, and it matters more than the brand ever did. A mobile pass can be bought up to 11 months ahead without a start date, arrives instantly and is replaced free if your phone is lost. A paper pass is posted to you, cannot be reissued if lost, and is refunded only if returned unused.

The mobile advantages are listed on Interrail’s pass-format page; the paper pass’s loss and return rules are in the refund policy, which requires paper passes to be posted back with their cover before any refund is processed.

The mobile pass needs a phone that connects at least every three days. Travellers who would rather not depend on a phone abroad can still choose paper, accepting postal delivery and stricter refunds.

A paper pass printed with a fixed start date can be refunded only before that date, unless a railway official in Europe stamps it “NOT USED” before validity begins, in which case the request may come up to a month after it ends (refund policy).

What does this mean for UK residents?

Very little changes. UK residents could already buy Interrail, Great Britain is still in the 33-country network, and the home-country rule still allows one journey out and one back within Britain. A UK resident cannot use the Great Britain One Country Pass, because that pass does not work in the holder’s own country.

Appendix 1 of the conditions names ATOC and Eurostar as the British participants and notes that a pass must be valid in both the departure and arrival countries to ride Eurostar. A UK resident’s Eurostar trip to Paris therefore counts as the outbound journey.

Pass-holder reservations on Eurostar are listed at €35 in Standard from London to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam (Interrail). Our Eurostar guide covers the terminal process.

When pass-holder seats on Eurostar sell out, Interrail’s busy-routes page points to the Stena Line ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, discounted for pass holders, followed by regional trains.

What does it mean for visitors from outside Europe?

You now buy an Interrail Pass, sold in the same way as to Europeans, with no home-country restriction because you live outside the network. The Great Britain and Switzerland One Country Passes are closed to you, so a trip to Britain or Switzerland on a pass needs a Global Pass instead.

Interrail’s about page says it sells passes to travellers worldwide, and its site asks for your residence and currency, including US, Canadian and Australian dollars, before showing prices.

On 17 October 2026 the Global Pass table priced a week’s worth of flexi travel, 7 days in a month in second class, at US$442 or €381 for an adult.

Visitors who will spend most of a trip in one country other than Britain or Switzerland, such as Italy, France or Spain, can still choose that country’s One Country Pass, because the residence restriction in clause 4.4.3 names only those two passes.

What if you already hold a Eurail Pass?

Keep using it. Interrail’s version 19 conditions and its September 2026 refund policy both say that the earlier versions still apply to Eurail Pass holders, so a pass bought under the old name keeps its validity, travel days and refund terms. Nothing needs exchanging or reissuing because of the rename.

Which refund terms apply depends on the purchase date: the refund policy lists version 10 for purchases from 30 October 2025 to 30 April 2026 and version 11 from 1 May to 9 September 2026, with a PDF of each.

Version 18 of the conditions covered Eurail and Interrail Passes together, including use of the Rail Planner app, and the refund policy notes that the former Eurail customer service team is now the Interrail team.

So which should you buy?

An Interrail Pass, because it is the only one on sale. The real decisions are flexi or continuous, first or second class, Global or One Country, and whether the beta Plus Pass, which folds most reservation fees into the price, beats paying for seats as you go. Single tickets can still beat any pass.

In second class, the adult Global Plus Pass is priced €99 above the matching standard pass, whether you choose 5 or 7 travel days (Global Plus Pass). It includes three credits for high-demand trains such as Eurostar, which takes one credit per seat.

Age changes the sums more than brand ever did: travellers aged 12 to 27 pay €286 instead of €381 for the 7-day second-class pass, and those aged 60 or over pay €343 (Global Pass).

Our Eurail pass guide lists prices and reservation fees in full, and the Global Pass value guide tests the pass against operators’ published fares.