DiscoverEU Interrailing

When I was in secondary school, I heard a lot of people talk about Interrailing the summer after graduation. But at the time, I was saving up for a work and travel trip to New Zealand, so I couldn’t do that as well. A friend of mine was lucky enough to win the DiscoverEU Pass, which you can apply for when you turn 18. When I asked her about her experience, these were the memories she shared:

“When I won the DiscoverEU Pass I was super shocked and surprised, because that year so many of my friends who went into the competition also won. So, I was thinking that statistically I wouldn’t win, but in the end I did. I went from Nancy to Lisbon, passing through Paris and the north of Spain. I also went to the south of France after and then I came back up to Nancy. I actually travelled on my own because I was meeting my family in the south of France, and a friend to go to Nice and Marseille. So technically I was travelling alone, but I remember when I arrived in Lisbon I met these other girls who had won the ticket, so we spent a few days together. We did walking tours and we went out, so it was super fun.”

Like my friend, many young people make wonderful memories, have great first-time experiences and meet amazing people along the way.
As for me, I thought my chances to go Interrailing had passed, because it seemed to be a trip people only did right out of secondary school. But luckily I learned that I was wrong. So, during my winter break in my second year of college, I decided to take the month to do Interrail. It was chaotic and didn’t turn out the way I had planned, but it was an exciting experience overall.

Instead of my planned route to travel from Germany to Hungary, I spent some time in Austria and made a trip to Poland, because the friend I had planned to see in Hungary got Covid. It was January 2022, when Covid was still a thing and FFP2 masks were your companion. This was my first trip around Europe, and I have since gone twice more. Each time, I have used the Interrail pass to visit friends and family in different cities and was fortunate enough to save a lot of money on accommodation. I have come to appreciate the Interrail pass as the perfect way to travel flexibly, on a low budget, and with the chance to visit friends across Europe.

A lot of people have the illusion that the Interrail pass is only for young people or people who are European. But that isn’t the case. As long as you live in Europe, you can get as many Interrail passes as you want. And if you’re lucky, you can find really good deals and save even more money. If you think about it, you can see three countries in one day if you wish or go for a coffee across the border. I once took the train from Copenhagen to Malmo to spend an afternoon in Sweden, only to then take the night train the same day to travel to the Netherlands. You can even get a special Interrail pass to travel to your Erasmus destination or for your trip to your European Solidarity Corps project. Interrail offers endless possibilities.
And if you miss a connection, you just wait for the next one.

Updated on An Mháirt, 17/02/2026