EUROPE: The European Commission has opened applications for the latest round of the DiscoverEU programme, which offers 18 year olds the chance to explore Europe by train for free.
A total of 40 000 passes are available, offering 30 days of travel between July 1 2026 and September 30 2027. Participants will also receive a card offering ‘tens of thousands’ of discounts on public transport, culture, accommodation, food, sports and other services in eligible countries. They can also access pre-departure information meetings and DiscoverEU Meet-ups.
Participants with disabilities, health conditions or from low socio-economic backgrounds may obtain additional support including the possibility to travel with accompanying persons, or access to extra funding via the DiscoverEU Inclusion Action. While DiscoverEU encourages sustainable travel by rail, special arrangements are available for young people from islands, outermost regions, overseas countries and territories and remote areas.
Eligibility
The programme is open to people born between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008 who are from the European Union and countries associated with the Erasmus+ programme, including Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.
Applicants need to complete a quiz with five questions about the EU and one additional question on the European Youth Portal. The Commission will offer travel passes to applicants following their ranking, up to the limit of available tickets. Applications close on April 22 2026.
Programme aims
DiscoverEU was launched in June 2018 at the European Parliament’s request, with the aim of giving young people a better understanding of other cultures and European history, and improving their foreign language skills.
So far more than 1·9 million people have applied for 431 931 available travel passes. In the latest post-travel survey, 72% of participants declared it to have been their first time travelling out of their country of residence by train, and over two-thirds said that they would not have been able to finance their travel pass without DiscoverEU.
