How can you prepare for your DiscoverEU adventure?

poslední aktualizace neděle, 08/03/2026

You won a DiscoverEU Interrail ticket, but you don’t have any idea how to get started on your trip? Don't worry, Alex and Márton, two previous travellers (turned young journalists), are here to help you have an adventurous journey!

Tips and Tricks

A big trip around Europe can cost a lot, but with some tips, you can save a substantial amount of money.

Buy cheap seat reservations: DiscoverEU offers 3 free seat reservation credits on its own app, but we really recommend buying the other seat reservations on the ÖBB websites. The Austrian national railway company offers cheaper seat reservations for many train lines across Europe. For example, Márton bought his seat reservation from München to Budapest for 2 euros on the Hungarian railway app instead of 15 euros on the DiscoverEU app for the same train.

Free visit to the big attractions around Europe: Several top highlights in Europe offer free entrance for students between 18 and 25 years. For this reason, Marton went for free to the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles. Look at these discounts on the attractions’ websites!

Book your tickets earlier and online: To avoid the big lines near the highlights in summer, buy your tickets earlier and online. For the big attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, you must book a few months in advance.

Apps and websites: In addition, some apps also help you during the trip. For instance, use your host city’s local travel app. It’s easy to buy a local metro or tram ticket on the app, and you can download it before your trip, so you will skip the lines for the ticket machines or ticket offices. During your travel, your most important and useful app will be the official DiscoverEU app: you have to plan the journey and search for the available trains on the app. But it is also good to use other applications, like the host country’s railway app. It’s sometimes much more punctual, insightful, and up to date, especially if you want to take a route off the beaten track.

Seat reservations: Necessary or unnecessary?- the never-ending issue: Some trains, for instance EuroNights,  you must buy seat reservations, but on the other lines it is not obligatory. During holiday time, especially during summer, trains are really busy, and it happens that you can’t sit without a reservation. So it’s a big dilemma between convenience and low-priced journeys. If you want to save a lot of costs, you don’t have to buy these. Márton recommends that you book seats for longer train lines(min 2-3 hours/train), which may travel across more than one country, in order to relax better.

Planning and Budgeting

The DiscoverEU program might offer you an Interrail pass, but everything else, including planning, accommodation, food, and other expenses, is completely up to you. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Redeem your European Youth Card: Take advantage of your EYC (European Youth Card). Together with your DiscoverEU pass, you also get 1 year of discounts and deals with the EYC, available on the EYC app and website. Ranging from food to accommodation and touristic activities, you can find decent deals in every country of the EU and save some money on your journey.

Chase youth deals: Be on the lookout for unexpected deals. Alex wanted to begin his journey in a country (Italy) other than his home country (Greece). He concluded that using all his travel days to reach Italy would cost him more money in the long run, accounting for accommodation and food along the way. So he went on the hunt for other cheap alternatives and found out that his country’s largest airline company (Aegean, the largest Greek airline) offered a -50% discount on the first flight of all young travellers that signed up for their free youth travel program. Airlines and travel agencies offer these types of deals all the time, but sometimes you have to dig deep to find them. Checking out multiple Instagram travel and airline accounts is the best way to stumble upon such deals.

Think outside of the box when planning: If you have trouble planning certain parts of your trip, for example, a link between two countries or even your return, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. When Alex was planning his own journey, he had gone over 90% of the planning. He had chosen cities, issued train tickets, picked out travel times and accommodation, but then he faced a big final issue. He had already spent 6 out of 7 travel days, but returning to his home country would require at least 2 more travel days and many additional expenses along the way. So, he went looking for answers on the DiscoverEU websites and forums, and found out that you can apply for plane tickets to visit island nations, such as Ireland, Iceland, Malta, and Cyprus. Unable to think of another cost-efficient way to reach Athens from Venice in less than 24 hours, and also very curious about this new possibility, he decided to apply for some tickets. Ireland was the only available destination, and suddenly his summer Mediterranean vacation took a very unusual twist. Visiting 2 countries so different from each other, like Italy and Ireland, made this journey even more memorable and taught him that when travelling, the best adventures are sometimes the most unexpected ones.

Location, Location, Location: DiscoverEU journeys are fast-paced, full of objectives to see and activities to do, so time can be more valuable than money. Picking out the perfect location, even if it means going over budget, saves a lot of time and energy. So, when picking out your accommodation, don’t forget to take into account its distance from the nearest train station and its distance from the city centre. Sometimes giving a couple more euros for your room feels better than waking up at 5 am to catch your morning train in the other part of town.

Research, connect, and plan accordingly: Don’t hesitate to ask for help. There are so many resources available for planning your journey, such as travel guides and national tourism websites (such as https://www.italia.it/en in my case), that can assist you in picking the right itinerary. But there are also a lot of fellow travellers who can help you. I found many, many helpful tips on DiscoverEU’s official forum and Facebook group, but even simple searches about DiscoverEU or travelling on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit taught me a lot of tips and tricks. You can even make friends and co-travellers on these sites, who are willing to meet up and explore destinations together. Sometimes asking a local for recommendations can be more meaningful than asking ChatGPT for travel tips.

And the most important: Have fun and relax! During your travels, you might have to face some problems and difficulties. Don’t worry, the DiscoverEU is also a good activity to improve your problem-solving skills and collect unforgettable memories. For me, the DiscoverEU slogan: “Expand your comfort zone!” was a great guide during the journey.

Young Journalists in Europe - Meet the authors

Alexandros Tsianakas

“My name is Alexandros and I am studying Mathematics at the University of Athens. I have always been interested in politics and economics and I spend most of my free time reading books and articles about international relations, political economics and history. For me, current developments and events are history in the making and journalism is the most efficient way of recording it.”

Márton Benkő

“I am currently finishing my last year at a high school in Hungary. I've been attracted to the world of media since I was young. I mostly like writing articles and conducting interviews, and I am also very interested in photography. Later, I want to study communication and media at the university. In my free time, I dance in a small folk dance group. I’m really keen on movies and travelling.”

This article reflects the views of the authors only. The European Commission and Eurodesk cannot be held responsible for it.