Rail travel in Europe discount cards · Discount Cards in Rail travel in Europe
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Discount Cards in Rail travel in Europe
Discount Cards in Rail travel in Europe
Most railways have a discount card, normally with versions for youth, adults, seniors and the disabled offering a standard discount on domestic tickets. You may need local documents or residency to obtain it but often all you need is a passport photo and ID. Discounts vary. Cards are valid for one year unless otherwise noted.
Austria offers the Vorteilscard (€20 for youth under 26, €100 for adults) gets you 50% off 1st and 2nd class and includes RailPlus.
France offers a 12-25 youth card for 50€ which can be both purchased & renewed online and which guarantee at least a 25% discount on all trains whatever the time of your departure. But it can also gives up to 60% discount on some trains (TGV, Téoz, & Lunéa) and 50% discount on off-peak trains (Corail, Corail Intercités, & TER). It also includes RailPlus. For more information, refer to: (in French)
Germany offers the the Bahn card in versions for 1st and 2nd class and for 25% and 50% discount.
In the Netherlands it might be interesting to get yourself a Dal Voordeelabonnement, for €50 a year, which gives a 40% discount on saturday, sunday and fester days, on weekdays only before 6:30 am, after 9 a.m., but not between 16:00 and 18:30 pm. The moment of checking in (not earlier than 30 minutes before travelling), consist you will get reduction, or not. The pass is a Ov-Chipkaart and you anly can travel with it by checking in an out, buying paper-tickets is with this abonnement no more allowed. The abonnement is at thismoment only valid on NS-trains, but from 2012 other Railcompanies (ARRIVA, Connexxion, Syntus, and Veolia) will give reduction with this card. Untill that time, you must buy their discount-cards to get reduction (only Veolia offers a free reductuiion-pass (to beloaded on every personal-chipkaart). The Dal Voordeel allows 3 other passengers travelling with you to benefit from the same discount, and also enables you to buy a Railplus card for €15. It can be bought online, but has to be paid for with a Dutch bank account.
United Kingdom has 'young persons', 'family', 'senior' and 'disabled persons' Railcards, which entitle the holder to a 33% discount. These are available from train stations for £24.00.
RailPlus is a program offering a 25% discount on all border crossing train tickets in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Hungary. It is included in some national discount cards, but must be purchased separately in other countries. In France, Ireland, Sweden, Portugal, Spain and Norway the Railplus scheme is only for those under 26 years of age. The RailPlus card also provides a discount on some international ferries.
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Rail travel in Europe Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.