1. First off, check into Interrail (for citizens, residents of Europe) vs. Eurail. You may have been in Dublin long enough to qualify as a resident. If you decide to buy a eurail pass, compare what they cost on-line to what they quote you at the Eurail office. It normally costs 20% more to buy the pass at the office in Europe, so buying it on-line from a US based source and having it shipped internationally (since you presumably have an address in Dublin to ship to) is usually cheaper. However, passes are shipped via secure options so someone will have to sign for it when it’s delivered. Thus, it’s possible that fluctuations in the currency exchange will bring the prices close enough to the same that the convenience of just buying it at the office will off-set the extra cost.

2. Interlaken doesn’t have a lot of direct overnight trains. I think you’ll need to spend some time with schedules to figure out what works best. The Swiss national rail company website is: http://www.sbb.ch/en… You can also check schedules for anywhere in Europe at the German rail company site: http://reiseauskunft… Zurich is usually a good bet for overnight trains as it’s a major transportation hub.

3. Overnight trains and a Eurail pass…. A rail day is a calendar day — midnight to midnight. There’s a special exception called the “7:00 PM rule” that means most direct overnight trains only count as one day. If you take a train that leaves after 7:00 PM and arrives after midnight, with no connections before midnight, you mark arrival day on your pass. Make sure you have no connections before midnight on your route as that will cause you to use 2 days of your railpass.

4. Check the individual national rail company websites. The links are in a sticky at the top of this forum and under “transportation” on the “travel tips” tab. There are often really cheap specials on overnight trains (like 39 euros for ticket and reservation) that will be cheaper than buying a railpass.

Thanks a lot for the help. I already bought a eurail pass online and my travel companion is bringing it out from the states in two weeks to start our travels. Thank you for the information on the overnight trains with the “7:00 PM rule.” That makes a lot more sense now. I know there are overnight trains from Luzern I believe which is close to interlaken so I will look into that.
Thanks again for the help!

Anyone else that wants to share their experience/advice traveling to from Interlaken on overnight trains would be greatly appreciated.