Eurail, the longtime savior of shoestring backpackers, ditches its name
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The flexible train ticket Eurail is rebranding itself as the Interrail Pass; for many travelers, the old name evokes a bygone era of freewheeling European travel.
PHOTO: RICK STEVES/NYTIMES
Ryley Ober
- Eurail, the iconic train pass for international travellers since 1959, has been renamed Interrail as of September 10.
- The Eurail pass was popular among young backpackers, offering flexible, unlimited train travel across Europe.
- Despite competition from budget airlines and fewer overnight trains, over 1 million passes are sold annually.
AI generated
Travellers of decades past flocked to the rails of Europe with “wild abandon” for whirlwind tours of a small continent made even smaller by a little red-and-white card called the Eurail Pass.
In 1959, 13 countries across postwar Europe came together to create Eurail, giving foreigners access to a flexible, unlimited train ticket that refused to confine travelers to a fixed route or destination. That sense of uninhibited freedom gradually expanded its reach over the years, covering 33 countries by 2020.
