Buying tickets

Alasdair Skelton

The main challenge one faces when buying tickets for rail journeys from Sweden to other European countries is that there is not one “European Railway” company. Instead, for almost all journeys, one buys tickets from several providers.

To do this, you have 3 main options. These are:

Buy tickets and seat reservations directly from rail providers.
Buy tickets and seat reservations from an online platform.
Buy an Interrail pass and seat reservations.

I recommend:

option 1 for shorter rail journeys with one rail provider
option 2 or 3 for shorter rail journeys with more than one rail provider
option 3 for longer rail journeys

Option 1. Buying tickets and seat reservations directly from rail providers

Even if it can be somewhat tricky, buying tickets directly from a rail provider can be a good option for shorter rail journeys with that rail provider. The advantages (sometimes) are:

Tickets bought directly from a rail provider are (often) cheaper.
Seat reservations are (often) included with tickets bought directly from rail providers.

Because each rail provider has its own (unique) system for buy tickets, I will explain how to buy tickets with specific rail providers, where relevant, in the section on suggested itineraries.

Option 2. Buying tickets (and seat reservations) from an online platform

The online platforms which I recommend using to buy buying tickets for rail journeys between CIVIS universities in Europe are:

The reason, I specifically recommend using Rail Europe or DB International is that (unlike some other online platforms), both of them sell “through tickets”. This means that if you miss a connection (which will happen), you are allowed to “continue your journey on the same route or on a different route at the next opportunity”. Rail Europe point out that if you miss a connection, the railway provider operating the delayed (or cancelled) train must “immediately” offer you “continuation or re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to the final destination at the earliest opportunity.” DB International point out that you might still need to buy an extra ticket, keep it, send it to them, and get it refunded later on.

This is how to buy tickets with DB International and Rail Europe:

(As a general rule, buy tickets from Rail Europe for cross-border rail journeys to/from France, Italy, Spain and the UK, and from DB International for cross-border rail journeys to/from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Romania.)

DB International

On their website:

Enter the station where your journey starts and your destination.
Enter the number of passengers.
Select first or second class.
Enter stopovers (for any overnights) and how long these should be.
Set the minimum transfer time to 45 minutes.
(Why? Because German trains are very often delayed.)
Click on “Search”.

The website will respond with some suggested itineraries.

If none of the suggested itineraries work for you, click on “Modify details” and I suggest making small changes to the length of any stopovers or adding a stopover to force a longer transfer time. Click on “Change” to see some new suggestions. This is an iterative process and (with a little persistence) you can often find a much better itinerary.
If one of the suggestions does work for you, select it by clicking on “Continue”.

The website responds by offering a choice of tickets (If you are first asked to enter your age, do so, and reselect your preferred itinerary.):

Select your preferred ticket:
“Super Sparpreis Europa” tickets are the cheapest option, but these tickets are for “train specific travel” and they cannot be cancelled.
“Sparpreis Europa” tickets are also for “train specific travel” but they can be cancelled (for a fee), but this needs to be done one day before your day of travel.
“Flexpreis Europa” tickets are quite a lot more expensive, but these tickets are not for “train specific travel” and they can be cancelled, which can make them a better choice despite their higher price.
Check “Seat reservation”.
(Note: Seat reservations are only included with your ticket if these are required. You need to check this box and pay an additional fee for optional seat reservations.)
Click on “Continue” (a couple of times).
Enter your personal details and pay for your tickets.

You will receive an e-mail with your tickets within a few minutes.

Rail Europe

On their website:

Enter the station where your journey starts and your destination.
Enter the number of passengers.
Click on “More options” and enter stopovers (for any overnights) and how long these should be, or to increase connection times.
Click on “Search”.

The website will respond with some suggested itineraries.

If none of the suggested itineraries work for you, click on “Edit search” and I suggest making small changes to the length of any stopovers. Click on “Search” to see some new suggestions. This is an iterative process and, with a little persistence, you can often find a much better itinerary.
If one of the suggestions does work for you, select it and click on “Continue”.
Choose from “flexible” and “non-flexible”, and from 1st and 2nd class.
(Note: The alternatives are likely to be the same as those offered by DB International: “Super Sparpreis Europa”, “Sparpreis Europa” and “Flexpreis Europa”.)
Check “Seat reservation”.
(Note: Seat reservations are only included with your ticket if these are required. You need to check this box and pay an additional fee for optional seat reservations.)
Click on “Add to Basket” and Continue” and pay for your tickets.

You will receive an e-mail with your tickets within a few minutes.

(Tip: In my experience, DB International can be (a little) cheaper than Rail Europe.)

Option 3. Buying an Interrail pass and seat reservations

Interrail is usually the best option for longer rail journeys. Interrail is both cheaper and more flexible compared with buying separate tickets from rail providers or buying through tickets from an online platform.

With an Interrail pass, if (when) you miss a connection, you can (with a few exceptions) hop on the next train. You will not have a seat reservation. However, you can usually find a free seat on most trains. Problems can arise on trains for which seat reservations are required, especially on trains for which spaces for Interrail pass holders are limited (e.g., Eurostar). However, with some planning, one can minimise these risks.

Interrail passes are clearly aimed at “Youth” travellers. So much so, that you will need to pro-actively select “Adult” when buying a pass (unless, of course, you are a youth!).

Interrail passes can be purchased from Interrail/Eurail (https://www.interrail.eu/en). This is how you purchase a mobile Interrail pass from Interrail/Eurail:

Choose the Interrail pass you need. The itineraries suggested in this guide can be accomplished with one of the following passes (see “Suggested itineraries”):
4 days in 1 month
5 days in 1 month
7 days in 1month
10 days in 2 months
Change the number of travellers from 1 “Youth” to, e.g., 1 “Adult”.
Choose 1st or 2nd class.
Choose the Interrail pass you need again.
Enter your personal details and buy your Interrail pass.

Your Interrail pass will be sent to the e-mail address you entered within a couple of minutes. The “pass number” (a combination of 6 letters and digits) is all you need from this e-mail. To use your mobile Internet pass, you need to add it to the “Eurail/Interrail Rail Planner” app which you can download on to your mobile device. This us how you add and activate your pass:

Open the “Eurail/Interrail Rail Planner” app on your mobile device.
Click on “My Pass” and “+” to add a new pass.
Enter your last name and the pass number.
Create a trip, name it, and link your pass to it.
Enter your passport number (and make sure to take your passport with you as you can be required to show it with your Interrail pass) and choose your first day of travel to activate your pass.

You are now ready to plan your journey:

Click on “Planner” and enter the city or station from which you are departing, the city or station which you are traveling to, and an approximate departure time.
Click on “Plan my journey” and choose the journey you prefer, making a note if seat reservations are required (more on that in the chapter on “Seat reservations”).
Click on “Save journey”.
You can repeat this process to plan an itinerary.
You can click on “My trip” to see your planned itinerary at any time.

When (and not before) you are ready to start a leg of your journey, activate that leg only:

If it is the first leg on a new day of travel, you will be asked to confirm that you will use a travel day from your Interrail pass.
If it is an outward journey from a railway station in your home country or a return journey to a railway station in your home country, you will be asked to confirm that you will use one of your outbound/inbound travel days.

(Important: Interrail passes purchased in your home country can only be used for journeys to/from destinations outside of your home country.)

* * *

If you are travelling by rail for work in Europe, I recommend using Interrail and (if you can afford the extra cost) I also recommend travelling 1st class.

I recommend Interrail because:

It’s cheaper.
(Our example of a return journey from Stockholm to Brussels cost 9000 SEK with separate refundable 1st class tickets purchased from SJ and DB International, 9800 SEK with separate refundable 1st class tickets purchased from Omio, and 4800 SEK with Interrail.)
It’s more flexible.
(All that’s at stake if you miss a connection is the cost of seat reservations. In our example: 150 SEK for Stockholm to Copenhagen, and 5 or 7 EUR for Copenhagen to Brussels.)

I recommend 1st class for business travellers because:

You’re not on holiday. You need to work on the train: 1st class means more space and a calmer working environment. This makes it easier for you to get more work done. You are also more likely to have access to an electric socket and WIFI can be faster.
There’s a better chance of finding a seat if you miss a connection: With a 1st class Interrail pass, you are free to sit in either 1st or 2nd class (wherever you can find a seat).
It’s not a lot more expensive than 2nd class. Indeed, 1st class with Interrail is often (considerably) cheaper than 2nd class with tickets purchased from an online platform or directly from several rail providers.