Remember we reported back in October that the EU was giving away a staggering 35,500 rail passes? Well, if you missed out last time (and were born between July 1 2006 and June 30 2007) we’ve got some good news for you.
The DiscoverEU scheme is once again doing a huge giveaway of 36,000 rail passes to 18-year olds, and all you have to do is answer five multiple-choice general knowledge questions, plus outline your travel plans and how you’ll pay for them, and you could well be in with a chance.
Those five questions will be used to rank you against other applicants, and if the scheme is oversubscribed then it will operate on a first-come-first-serve basis. However, you can also enter yourself as a group leader with up to five others – the leader will answer the questions and everyone else can register with a group code.
So, what do you need to do to be eligible, other than fall in that age bracket? Well, you’ll need to be a legal resident of one of the 27 EU states or live in a country with the Erasmus scheme (Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Türkiye). You also cannot have been granted a pass before.
Lucky winners can use their pass for up to 30 days between July 1 2025 and September 30 2026, which includes up to seven travel days. Oh, and it can only be used in your home country for one departing journey and one arriving journey – the whole point is to expose yourself to other brilliant cultures, after all.
Live on an island? No problem – coach and ferry passes and possibly even flights could be included for young people who come from more remote destinations, and there’s a quota of tickets for each country, according to euronews.
Alongside the pass, you’ll be granted a European Youth Card (EYCA) for one year, which gets you discounts on cultural attractions and activities across the continent, as well as on local transport and accommodation.
In exchange for all that, applicants are encouraged to become a ‘DiscoverEU Ambassador’ by sharing what they get up to on social media or, for example, in a presentation at school. Easy peasy, right? Head to the European Youth Portal to sign up, and make sure you do so by April 16.
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