Decide what countries and cities you want to visit in Europe. If your budget or time is very limited, choose countries that are close to each other. Eurail passes cover travel in and between 25 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Determine how many days you want to spend in each city. Put each city in order based on its geographical location so that your travel proceeds in one continuous loop without backtracking. This will maximize the efficiency of your travel and ensure that you get the most value out of your Eurail pass.
Look at the Eurail website to determine the best pass for your journey. Eurail offers four different types of passes depending on what region of Europe you want to visit. Note the restrictions on each type of pass, as some passes only allow travel on a certain number of days within a specified period of time.
Review your itinerary against the pass you have selected and begin to assign dates of arrival and departure for each city. Be sure your travel days do not exceed the number of travel days allowed by the pass. If they do, you will need to adjust either your itinerary or the pass you have selected.
Examine the Eurail timetable booklet, which is available from the Eurail website. Note the train times for each of your journeys and adjust the dates for travel if necessary. Be sure to re-check the conditions of your chosen Eurail pass if you've made a change to your travel days.
Purchase your pass. Special rates apply for youth passes or saver passes, where two or more people travel together at exactly the same time. Be sure to check if you are eligible for these discounts before ordering your pass.
