It’s a dog’s dinner, isn’t it? What if I just want a pass for the UK for three days in a week to do some leisurely touring, without stacking up reservations in advance and without having to scrutinise categories, lines, timetables and peak period regulations like an unpaid civil servant?
When it comes to UK rail tickets, which run the sick-making gamut of split-save, off-peak, peak, super-off-peak and the bizarre situations on the East Coast line, where different tickets are valid depending on what station you get off/on at, or the recent absurdity of Northern suing people for using their 16-25 railcards on Anytime single train tickets before 10am – the pass situation is not at all passable.
It needn’t be like this. In Europe, as well as the long-established Interrail deals, individual countries have begun rolling out great-value passes to encourage green, slow, domestic travel for residents. The best right now are Germany’s €49 Deutschland-Ticket and Portugal’s recently released €20 Green Rail Pass – which, sadly, is for the Portuguese.
But, across Europe there are easy to understand, and easy to buy, multi-trip, multi-day country and region passes. Here are the best of them, in all their simple, great-value glory.
Portugal Green Rail Pass
In August, Portugal’s prime minister announced the launch of a new €20 monthly rail ticket, dubbed the Green Rail Pass. The deal allows passengers to get on nearly all urban, regional, and inter-regional trains run by Portuguese Railways (CP), as well as inter-city networks, for the cut-price fare.
The amazing deal is for residents only, and means they can travel several times a day for 30 days for just £16.69. Sixty and ninety day passes are also available at the same price pro rata. The premium Alfa Pendular service is excluded.
More info here.
For non-residents, the Portugal Rail Pass allows three days second-class travel in a month for €73.