Interrail / Eurail in Sweden
Interrailing to Sweden? Here is how to book the mandatory seat reservations on Swedish trains with an Interrail or Eurail pass. You will learn how to book with SJ and Snälltåget, how to search only the part of the trip that needs a reservation, and the pitfalls with time zones and late timetables during track works.
Paper Pass?
Mandatory seat reservation
Check Railplanner for which trains have mandatory reservations and also the country information to see participating companies.
Track works
The planning for track works often takes time, so trains might be unavailable for booking until uncomfortably close to the departure date.
Öresundståg
E.g. Copenhagen-Malmö-Gothenburg.
- Reservations are not possible.
- Timetables are published late.
- Typically, there's a train every 15 minutes across Öresund during daytime.
SJ
SJ: how do I make a reservation with interrail / eurail?
No SJ trains from/to Copenhagen at the moment. Take Öresundståg (no reservation possible) to Malmö and book from there. Snälltåget´s day trains run from Copenhagen or from Hamburg.
Time zones
If you try booking an SJ ticket from another time zone (Sweden is in time zone CET), the times shown could be your local time. Use some other planner, e.g. Deutsche Bahn, to verify train numbers and departure/arrival times.
Searching
Search only for the part of your trip that has mandatory reservation.
Do not include parts that do not have mandatory reservation. (e.g. Öresundståg).
SJ might sell you a regular ticket for that part.
E.g. Do not search Copenhagen - Stockholm with a change from Öresundståg in Malmö.
Instead, search Malmö - Stockholm, the section with mandatory reservations. Copenhagen-Malmö is served by Öresundståg.
Add interrail
Add Interrail with pass number to all travelers (customise) and activate the toggle for “travels with travel card”. Select “Interrail or Eurail” from the drop-down menu and add your pass Numbers in the “card number” field.
Select ticket
Select “refundable”
Prices (for a seat in a SJ high speed train) should be:
2 class 75 SEK per reservation
1 class 165 SEK per reservation
And it should say that it’s an interrail price ("With interrail/eurail")
Select seat from the seat map if you want
These prices are for day trains, prices for night trains (especially those to/from Germany) are more expensive. But reservations for domestic Intercity are cheaper.
It's not possible to travel in "2nd class calm" with Interrail.
I should update the screenshots, but you get the point :)
Price (SEK) of a SJ reservation with Interrail
| 2 cl | 1 cl | |
|---|---|---|
| High Speed Trains | 75 | 165 |
| InterCity | 40 | 40 |
| Euronight to Germany. Seat / Couchette / Sleeper | 195 / 415 / 945 | Ej med interrail |
| Domestic night trains Seat / Couchette / Sleeper | 40 / 250 / 405 | - / - / 800 egen kupé (ej 1 kl sitt / ligg) |
It’s not possible to book “2nd class calm” with Interrail. There's no Interrail price for 1 class sleeper on Euronight. Only regular price which generally is very expensive.
A valid Interrail pass number is required
If SJ’s ticket system doesn’t accept the number, a non-specific error message might be shown.
Full trains
SJ's trains Malmö - Stockholm are often fully booked.
It's possible to travel without seat reservations via Gothenburg.
You can also try to book a seat part of the way, at least that will get you closer to your destination on a fast train.
Another option (if you manage to book part of the way) is to try to book another reservation the rest of the way and switch seats.
E.g. Malmö - Linköping + Linköping - Stockholm.
Snälltåget
select Interrail
A lot more straightforward: Check “I have an Interrail or Eurail Pass” and enter your pass number.
There is a validation of the pass number
prices
However, the price options are very confusing. They have high/low-season prices, and you need check the price list of their Interrail page to understand what you're buying.
Options
Snälltåget doesn't have any sleeper cabins in their night trains, only couchettes and seats. They only sell four of the six berths in each compartment.
They also release tickets earlier than SJ, they can do that since they don't sell with connections like SJ often does.
Change within the train
The option to only buy a berth ("Berth in mixed shared compartment") only exists Malmö-Germany and v.v. If you travel to/from Stockholm you'll have to select the trip with a change in Malmö. I guess some couchette carriages are turned around in Malmö and some continue to Stockholm. Don't worry about times for the "change" in Malmö, it's different seats/berths in the same train.
VY
Select "Seat reservation for interrail/eurail" and enter your Interrail pass number.
Search and select "Fully flexible tickets",
Maps
https://larstransportmaps.com/2025/05/03/rail-services-in-sweden-2025/