Australia continues to dominate as Eurail’s second largest market globally (after the USA), with 2024 seeing more than 57,000 Aussies and over 7,000 Kiwis traversing Europe’s great cities and towns by rail using a flexible Eurail Pass.
In fact, Aussies made the most of their Eurail Passes last year to take an average of eleven different trains journeys per Eurail trip, travelling an average of 1,652km by rail, and spending an average of 7.6 hours onboard European trains.
Releasing the company’s 2024 data and insights, Jody Bauer, Senior Research Analyst at Eurail, said of the Australian Market that “Aussies are hugely important travellers for Eurail, with some interesting findings reflected in 2024 full year data. For starters, despite cost-of-living concerns at home, Australian Youth travellers (those aged 12-27) dominated, representing 43% of all Australian passholders last year. This was followed by Australian Adult travellers (those aged 28-59) at 36%, Australian Seniors (60+) at 17%, and Australian Children (4-11) at 4%. Furthermore, the share of Australian Youth travellers has jumped from just 32% pre-COVID (2019) to 43% last year (2024).”
With discounts offered for Youth, Senior and Child Passes, and children under 4 travelling for free, it is clear that Australian travellers are drawn to the price competitiveness of the Eurail Pass.
Eurail has also noted a shift towards more affordable 2nd class travel. Pre-COVID (2019) the majority of Eurail’s Australian travellers found themselves traversing Europe’s rail network in a 1st class cabin (54%), however last year (2024) this dropped to 44% (vs 56% travelling in a 2nd class cabin).
Despite the obvious shift towards discounts and more affordable travel options, Bauer added that, “One of the reasons why Australians are so important for Eurail, and European tourism in general, is their longer length of stay and their curiosity to explore different parts of the continent. The most popular Eurail Pass category for Australian travellers in 2024 was the ’10 Days in 2 Months’ Pass, which gives travellers the option to choose ten different rail travel days within a selected two-month period.”
Recently released Australian Bureau of Statistics data has shown a surge in Aussies travelling to Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Türkiye, Switzerland and Portugal in 2024 (vs pre-COVID). While all of these countries are included in Eurail’s 33 country Pass network, Bauer pointed out that according to Eurail’s own 2024 data “The most popular city destinations visited by Australian Eurail Passholders last year were Milan, Rome, Florence, Zurich, and Amsterdam.”
Now in its 66th year, Eurail, which enables borderless rail travel across 33 different European countries, spanning more than 30,000 destinations, is also pleased to announce a few recent additions to its Pass network.
New train routes now included within the Eurail Pass network include:
- New cross-border connection from Venice: A new cross-border connection between Venice and Nova Gorica (the designated European Cultural Capital for 2025) commenced on 8 February 2025, and is now available for Eurail Passholders.
- A new rail carrier in Poland joins the network: The addition of Polish regional rail carrier Koleje Małopolskie (as of 1 January 2025), has opened up new routes from Kraków to Tarnów and Zakopane.
- Streamlined rail connections in the Baltic States: For the first time ever, Eurail Passholders (since 6 January 2025) have been able to enjoy a seamless train connection between Vilnius–Riga–Tallinn, making it possible to travel from Vilnius to Tallinn in one day.
More options coming for Spanish rail travel:
- New daily high-speed trains connecting Spain with France: Commencing in mid 2025 (exact date yet to be announced), Spanish railway carrier RENFE, will launch a daily high-speed train service between Barcelona and Toulouse.
These latest announcements come as Eurail launches its latest sale, offering 15% off all Eurail Global Passes and One Country Passes (in both 1st and 2nd class travel). Australian travel agents are encouraged to take advantage of the sale, which runs from 17:00 AEDT on Tuesday 11 March 2025 until 08:59 AEDT on Wednesday 2 April 2025, to maximise savings for their clients. Eurail’s official Pass distributors in Australia include International Rail, Klook, Rail Europe, and Rail Online.
