Interrail seat reservations: which trains need them and what they cost

Prices last checked: 27 October 2026 · Fees per person, one way, in euros

The short version: with an Interrail (or former Eurail) pass you ride regional trains and most German, Swiss, Austrian, Dutch and Belgian intercity trains with no extra payment. You must buy a reservation for almost every high-speed train in France, Italy and Spain, for Eurostar, for EuroCity trains between Switzerland and Italy, for scenic trains and for any night train. Interrail's tables give €13 for a Frecciarossa, €10–€20 for a domestic TGV, and €22 to €35 for Eurostar in 2nd class. Book them through Interrail and it adds €2 per passenger per train.

Why a pass still needs reservations

The pass is your ticket. On trains that run with compulsory seat booking, the operator also wants a reserved seat, and it sells passholders a reservation at a fixed price instead of a full ticket. Interrail calls its figures "indicative", and for some trains (Nightjet, French TGVs) it gives only a range. Eurostar and French TGVs also keep only a limited number of seats for passholders, so on busy dates the passholder seats can be gone while ordinary tickets are still on sale.

The fee table

Eurostar

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
Eurostar Paris – Rotterdam – Amsterdam	Required	€32	€37
Eurostar Paris – Brussels	Required	€27	€32
Eurostar London – Paris	Required	€35	€40
Eurostar London – Brussels	Required	€35	€40
Eurostar London – Amsterdam	Required	€35	€43
Eurostar Brussels – Rotterdam – Amsterdam	Required	€22	€27

France

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
TGV INOUI (domestic) Within France	Required	€10–€20	€10–€20
OUIGO high-speed (domestic) Within France. One class only; seat reservation e-mailed 4 days before departure.	Required	€10–€20	€10–€20
Intercités (mandatory-reservation routes) Within France	Required	€10–€20	€10–€20
TGV Lyria Paris – Basel / Geneva / Lausanne / Zurich. Interrail's own page gives €25/€35 in the country sections and €29/€39 in its 'most popular' table.	Required	€25–€29	€35–€39
TGV / ICE France – Germany Paris – Frankfurt / Stuttgart / Munich. A passholder fare; an ordinary DB seat reservation is not valid.	Required	€19	€19
TGV Paris – Barcelona Paris – Girona – Barcelona	Required	€35	€35
TGV Paris – Turin / Milan Paris – Turin – Milan	Required	€31	€45
Frecciarossa Paris – Lyon – Milan Paris – Lyon – Turin – Milan	Required	€13	€13

Italy

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
Frecciarossa / Frecciargento Within Italy	Required	€13	€13
Frecciabianca Within Italy	Required	€10	€10
Intercity Within Italy	Required	€3	€3

Switzerland

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
EuroCity Switzerland – Italy Zurich / Basel / Geneva – Milan	Required	€13–€17	€13–€17
InterCity (domestic) Within Switzerland	Optional	none (optional seat €4.40)	none (optional seat €4.40)
Glacier Express St. Moritz / Davos – Zermatt. Interrail's page lists €37 (44 CHF) and €53 (49 CHF): the euro and franc figures contradict each other, so we do not quote them.	Required	not quoted, see note	not quoted, see note
Bernina Express Chur / St. Moritz – Tirano. €30 short route all year; €34 low / €39 high season on Chur – Tirano.	Required	€30–€39	€30–€39
Gotthard Panorama Express Lucerne – Lugano. Interrail lists a 1st-class fee only.	Required	no 2nd-class fee listed	€15

Germany

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
ICE / IC / EC (domestic) Within Germany	Optional	none (optional seat €5.50–€6.90)	none (optional seat €5.50–€6.90)
ICE Amsterdam – Frankfurt / Berlin Amsterdam – Cologne – Frankfurt; Amsterdam – Berlin. Required from 26 June until 31 August.	Optional	none (optional seat €5.50–€6.90)	none (optional seat €5.50–€6.90)

Austria

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
Railjet Brenner (to/from Italy) Munich – Innsbruck – Verona – Venice / Bologna. Supplement to/from Italy; within Italy a reservation plus supplement costs €12.90 / €22.90. €5 more if bought on board.	Supplement	€10	€15
Railjet (domestic) Within Austria	Optional	none (optional seat €3)	none (optional seat €3)

Spain

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
AVE Within Spain. Premium (meal included) €23.50.	Required	€10	€13
iryo Within Spain	Required	€10	€13
Alvia / Intercity / Euromed Within Spain	Required	€6.50	€10

Netherlands

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
Intercity Direct (Schiphol – Rotterdam) Schiphol – Rotterdam. Interrail gives €3 on its fees page and €3.20 on its supplements page.	Supplement	€3–€3.20	€3–€3.20

Poland

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
Express InterCity Premium (EIP) Within Poland	Required	€10	€10

Sweden

Train and route	Reservation	2nd class	1st class
SJ high-speed Within Sweden	Required	€6.50	€14.40

Where a cell shows a range, the price depends on route, date or season. Interrail's own pages sometimes disagree with themselves; we show both figures (as a range) or none, and list every case under "What we could not pin down" below.

Night trains

A night train always needs a reservation, and the price depends on how private you want to be. A direct night train uses one travel day on a Flexi Pass, the day it leaves, if you do not change trains after midnight.

Per person. Interrail's night-train fee page.
Train	Seat	Couchette	Sleeper
ÖBB Nightjet (Interrail's figures, status June 2026; prices vary with demand)	€4.90–€24.90	6-berth €19.90–€64.90; 4-berth €29.90–€94.90; mini cabin €29.90–€94.90	3-bed €59.90–€184.90; double €69.90–€224.90; single €114.90–€479.90
Trenitalia Intercity Notte (Italy)	€3	4-berth €41	3-bed €48; double €58; single €122
SNCF Intercités de Nuit (France)	€10	€19–€25	none
European Sleeper (Brussels / Amsterdam – Berlin – Prague)	€11–€21	5-berth €64–€74	see the operator

Does the Global Plus Pass pay for itself?

The Global Plus Pass includes reservations. On Trenitalia, Renfe (not its Premium class), DB, ÖBB, SBB and most other operators they cost no credits at all. On Eurostar, international SNCF trains (including Lyria), ICE France–Germany and EuroCity Switzerland–Italy each reservation uses one of its 3 credits; a domestic SNCF train or a Nightjet seat uses 0 or 1. Beds on night trains are never included.

For an adult in 2nd class it costs €99 more than the standard 5-day Global Pass and €99 more than the 7-day one. Three Eurostar or Lyria reservations at up to €32 each, plus Frecciarossa and AVE seats, can cover that; a trip through Germany, Switzerland and Austria will not. The Plus Pass must be activated within 3 months of purchase, against 11 months for the standard pass. One caveat: the credit list we read says it was last updated on 2025-05-15.

How to pay less for reservations

Use regional trains where the detour is small. Interrail itself suggests regional trains from Zurich to Milan via Chiasso (or via Cadenazzo) to avoid the EuroCity reservation, and the Spittal–Lienz–Fortezza line instead of the Brenner EuroCity.
Skip optional reservations. In Germany, Switzerland and Austria a reserved seat is optional and costs extra (€5.50–€6.90 on a German ICE). Worth it on Friday afternoons; not otherwise.
Compare with the ticket price. Eurostar's cheapest Standard tickets can cost little more than the passholder fee. If the ticket is close, buy the ticket and save the pass day.
Avoid the €2 fee by reserving at a station or with the operator, where that is possible (Interrail's timetable shows the options under "How and when to book").

What we could not pin down

TGV Lyria: €25/€35 (country sections) vs €29/€39 ('most popular' table) on the same Interrail page.
Brussels Airport Diabolo supplement: €6.40 (domestic fees page) vs €7.10 (supplements page).
Intercity Direct supplement: €3 (domestic fees page) vs €3.20 (supplements page).
Glacier Express and Chocolate Train: the euro and CHF figures on the domestic fees page contradict each other; not used.
Railjet Brenner 2nd class: €10 (Austria and Germany sections) vs €13 (Italy section) on the international fees page.
The Global Plus credit table says 'Last updated: 15 May 2025'.
Senior discount: Interrail's senior page says 10% on all Interrail Passes, but the Global Plus senior prices are about 8% below adult (youth about 19%, not 25%).

See also our Swiss guide to Glacier Express and Bernina Express reservations, which quotes the operators' own prices.

Sources

Every price and rule above was checked against these official pages on 2026-10-27. If something has changed, the operator's page is right and we are wrong. Please tell us.