How does the "10 days within 2 months" Eurail pass work?

Question

I've been reading over the FAQ page and terms on eurail.com before I purchase my pass (first trip to Europe, so I'm trying to triple-check everything) but there are a couple points that I don't find as clear as they could be, so I could use some clarification on how these passes actually work. There may be more than 1 specific question below, but I believe they are fairly related.

I planned on getting the "10 day within 2 months" pass between France and Germany. From what I can tell, that means I'm able to choose 10 non-consecutive days within that period, correct? (example, could I travel every day from the 1st to 9th, then use my last day on the 25th?)

Related to the previous question, how do trains spanning more than 1 day count? I was planning for at least one of my trains to span a night (ex. Lyon to Munich). Do both days count toward my total 10 if I were to leave Lyon around 9 and arrive in Munich around 12 and there are a few transfers throughout?

What determines the start date of my 2 months? I'm assuming I have to do something other than just getting the pass and my 2 months starting immediately. Do I have to activate it somehow? Does it begin when I start traveling?

Answer 1

With a '10 day within 2 months' pass, you can travel on any 10 days within a two months period. It does not matter if the days are consecutive or not.

A travel day lasts from 12:00 midnight to 12:00 midnight. If you travel on a train 'across' midnight, the trip generally counts as two days. There is however an exception, the so called '7PM rule':

If you board a direct night train that departs after 7 p.m. (19:00) and arrives at its final stop after 4 a.m. (04:00) then only the day of arrival needs to be entered into the travel calendar.

Note that the applicability of the rule depends on the initial departure and final arrival of the train, not when you board and leave the train. There are no direct night trains from Lyon to Munich and I can't find any other connection where the 7PM rule may be applicable, so if you want to travel over night from Lyon to Munich, you will have to use two travel days.

The pass is not automatically activated when you buy it. If you know your exact travel dates when ordering your pass, you can provide these and the pass will be issued with a 'valid from date' as provided by you. If you don't know your travel dates, you will have to go to the ticket office at a railway station in one of the participating countries and have the pass activated before first use. Be aware, that in some European countries it may actually be difficult to find a staffed ticket office even at larger stations.