Crossing borders by train, coach, ferry or car: documents, checks and cash

Your Europe states that you don’t normally need to show your passport or ID when crossing the internal borders of the Schengen area. EU citizens travelling inside the EU are advised to carry a valid passport or national identity card, valid on the day of travel; a driving licence is not an accepted travel document.

Member States can temporarily reintroduce border control at all or specific parts of their internal borders in the event of a serious threat to public policy or internal security. They notify the other Member States and the Commission — for foreseeable events at the latest four weeks before the planned start. The Commission publishes the notifications on its page on temporary border control.

Ireland applies its own visa and border policies and is not in Schengen: Your Europe says you must show your passport or identity card at the border when travelling to or from Ireland.

Between Ireland and Great Britain, GOV.UK states that you do not need to show your passport to a Border Force officer when travelling from Ireland to Great Britain, but you may still be asked for documents. It says that other travellers may be asked to show a passport or identity card and that an EEA or Swiss national identity card cannot be used to enter the UK except in specific cases, such as settled status. For visitors from the EU, EEA and Switzerland, GOV.UK’s general rule is a valid passport, a valid Irish passport card or, in some cases, a valid national identity card.

Goods are checked separately: before crossing the UK border you must declare goods that exceed your allowances or are banned or restricted.

Anyone entering or leaving the EU with 10,000 euros or more in cash, or its equivalent in other currencies, bonds, shares or traveller’s cheques, must complete a cash declaration. Cash includes banknotes, coins and bearer negotiable instruments such as cheques.

There are no EU-wide rules on carrying cash between EU countries: some Member States have their own national rules, so check with the local customs authorities before you travel.

Some non-EU nationals must hold an airport transit visa even when they only change planes in the international transit area of a Schengen airport. Whether you need one depends on your nationality, and the Commission links the common list from its visa page. The UK has its own transit visas, of two types: Direct Airside Transit, for changing flights without passing UK border control, and Visitor in Transit, for passing border control and leaving within 48 hours.

Moldova’s foreign ministry publishes which nationalities need a visa and which are exempt, and its border police state that foreign citizens may cross the state border only through international border crossing points and that stays are typically limited to 90 days in a six-month period.

Ukraine’s entry rules are set under martial law and change quickly; the State Border Guard Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are the authorities to check. We do not summarise them.

The catalogue has four overnight rail routes, each recorded as a direct service with no change: Vienna to Zurich with ÖBB’s Nightjet or EuroNight, Helsinki to Rovaniemi with VR’s night train, and Kyiv to Przemyśl and Kyiv to Warsaw with Ukrzaliznytsia. The route pages show the operator and only what could be confirmed.

For a delay of 60 minutes or more, the EU rail rules entitle you to meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time and, where an overnight stay is needed, accommodation where and when physically possible. We found no sleeper-specific right in those rules, so read the operator’s conditions for anything to do with berths, bedding or reserved seats. The rail rules also do not apply on services a Member State has exempted or outside the EU.

Driving across a border adds a rental-contract question and a road-charging question: whether a rented car may leave the country, and whether the car needs a vignette or toll device in the country you drive through. See the car rental and road-charging guides, and the train guide for what a missed connection means for your rights.