How can we make the most of our European Rail Pass?

Simon Calder answers your questions on travelling across Europe via rail, EU money matters and flight refunds

Light relief: start your journey in Norway for a spectacular getaway (iStock)

Q Thank you for alerting us to the very attractive European Rail Pass sale. We managed to take advantage just in time. We are planning a three-week trip in September. What itinerary do you recommend?

Mike and Kate W

A You have wisely taken advantage of the half-price offer on Interrail passes to celebrate 50 years of the pan-European unlimited travel ticket. I bought one, too. Let me share with you my plan for making the most of it. I am not interested in using it in nations such as France, Italy and Spain where high-speed trains require advance booking and the payment of supplements. Nor will I use it in eastern Europe, where trains are absurdly cheap and there is no point using even a half-price Interrail deal. Or Luxembourg, where all public transport is free.

Which leaves Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia. My strong recommendation is to start in Norway – with a two-hour, £17 flight to Oslo (that’s the fare on Ryanair from London Stansted on many days in September). It will give you maximum time for a September wander through the Nordic lands. Head for Stavanger, take a ferry (with a 30 per cent Interrail discount) to Bergen and then return to Oslo on Europe’s highest railway.

Go north from the Norwegian capital to the end of the line at Bodo; another ferry to the Lofoten Islands and on to Narvik – from where the railway goes only to Sweden. Meander south via Umea and Uppsala to Stockholm, switch coasts to Gothenburg and trace Sweden’s western shore to another fine city, Malmo, and its twin, Copenhagen.

Then a string of great cities – Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Innsbruck – before immersion in the spectacular Alpine routes in Switzerland. Return from Basel down the Rhine, calling in at Strasbourg (you can walk across from Kehl in Germany) and Cologne. Then either head back to the UK via Aachen and Brussels or Dusseldorf and Amsterdam; the Eurostar supplement is £26.50 in standard or, if you have invested in a first-class pass, £33.50 for standard premier – for a champagne end to your trip.

How do I show EU border forces I’ve got enough cash? (Getty)

Q This is a follow-on from your reply published in Saturday’s edition. How is one meant to provide “evidence of sufficient means of subsistence” to the EU? And what is meant by “available funds”? Are we supposed to take bank statements, share certificates and Premium Bond statements?

Lindsay M

A The question was from a reader asking about proof of “intended date of return” from the European Union – one of the conditions that the UK asked to become subject to after leaving the EU. In the course of responding I mentioned another hurdle: “Evidence of sufficient means of subsistence.”

You might think this looks like a ridiculous condition for British visitors to Europe, but it is what we wanted (the rules were drawn up while the UK was still a member of the EU). The “third-country nationals” category we asked to join includes the vast majority of the world’s population. Border officials for every country seek to identify people who might become a financial burden.

So what constitutes “sufficient means of subsistence”? The EU defines “sufficient” as “average prices in the member state(s) concerned for board and lodging in budget accommodation, multiplied by the number of days stayed”. You also need either proof of a return or onward ticket, or show you have the funds for “return to the country of origin or transit to a third country into which he or she is certain to be admitted”. How do you prove your financial worth? A shortcut is “confirmation of the booking of an organised trip”. But if you are travelling independently, it must be by showing “cash, travellers’ cheques and credit cards”.

Even in early 2016 when the rules were drawn up, travellers’ cheques were history. A wad of cash could suffice, but it might also trigger more questions about how you obtained it. So it’s all about the plastic. As you will realise, credit cards do not in themselves reveal your spending limit – and debit cards do not show how much you have in your bank account. To minimise the possibility of being turned away, you could take a credit card statement showing your spending limit, or a bank statement to back up your debit card. But I think having confidence that you can convince a frontier official you are a person of good standing and will not become a burden to their nation is a reasonable alternative.

The Garonne river and Dome de la Grave in Toulouse, France (iStock)

Q I was booked to fly from Bristol to Toulouse on 3 June and back to Bristol on 7 June. The airline has cancelled the homeward flight which means I had to cancel the whole holiday. The airlines refunded the cost of the cancelled flight but of course I want a refund my outward flight. All I get is a link to a website with answers to frequently asked questions which doesn’t help me at all.

I should point out that the trips were booked as two separate transactions, because one of them used a voucher for a cancelled flight in 2020.

Gareth S

A Through no fault of your own, you find yourself in a most unfortunate situation. When an airline cancels a flight, it must offer passengers a full refund of the grounded departure, obviously – and also any linked flights, usually the outward or return leg. But this applies only when they are on the same booking reference, bought in a single transaction. Infuriating as it may sound, the airline has no legal obligation to refund the outbound flight (though it seems to me it has a clear moral duty to do so).

This is, once again, a reminder of why it’s always a good deal to take any flight cancellation refund as cash, not vouchers. While you booked in this manner to redeem a voucher, in doing so you inadvertently diminished your consumer rights.

However, I think you can make a strong case for a refund – because there never was any need to cancel your holiday. The airline was obliged to provide an alternative flight on the same day. While there are no direct departures on the route now, any carrier that cancels a flight must offer you alternative arrangements as close to the original booking as possible.

At least three possible options on KLM via Amsterdam on that day would work. If you can resurrect your trip, then ask the airline to buy you the appropriate ticket (or a suitable option on its own services). But if you can’t, I suggest you write a polite letter explaining you were not given a full picture of your passenger rights and therefore you deserve a refund of the outbound leg as well. If this does not get the desired effect, you may need to resort to the courts to get your cash back.

Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder