Train Passes - Global Pass?

What countries are you traveling to? What trips are you making?

The RS "train cost" map leaves quite a few things out. It mentions full price walk up prices. However when you purchase tickets in advance you can usually get steep discounts. It also does not indicate which trains require reservations, and wether these are easy to get.

To see if a Eurail Pass makes sense, you need to first look at your travel style.
If you are the kind of person that wants every ticket booked months in advance forget about the Eurail Pass. Just by train tickets for all the long distance segments in advance (but be aware that booking more than 2-3 months out is often not possible) from the operator. Buy local transport locally.

If you are however the kind of person who books a return flight to Europe, and then just "wings" it, then the pass is for you. If your style of traveling involves deciding on the next city to travel to when you are already on the ground in Europe, the pass is for you.

Thanks Wengenk! I am generally the type of pre-book major connections and hotel stays ahead of time, and city to city shifts, so it might just make sense as you say to book these ahead of time. I was just using another site to help me estimate prices (rio2rome) and it allowed me to be a bit more accurate on what each leg of rail or bus travel will cost. As the total is climbing, it suggests that there would be savings, and a bit of handy flexibility with having a pass, but....on the Eurail site it lists the following rail companies for each country I will be visiting, below, but I don't see one of them that it seems I would be relying on for many segments of my trip, namely Dutch Railways. Is the Eurail not supposed to cover most common trail travel? Or is this Rail Company a subsiadary of one of the below?

France- SNCF, Eurostar, RENFE, Irish Ferries, no public transport
Belgium- NMBS/SNCB, no ferries or public transport
Netherlands- NS and private railway companies: Arriva, Blauwnet, Connexxion (Breng), Keolis (Blauwnet), Syntus, R-net (NS and Qbuzz), Eurobahn (Keolis Deutschland) and DB Regio, no ferries or public transport.

Just please note that one big drawback of the pass is that at least in France for long-distance fast trains (TGV), there are limited reservations available for pass holders. So that in order to take advantage of the pass, you might have to make your reservation far in advance (and in that case, you might as well have bought a discounted advance-purchase point-to-point ticket), or if you try to remain flexible, you may have to end up buying an individual ticket at the last minute (i.e. most expensive) as you learn that there are no pass holder reservations still available.

Note: the same difficulty in finding pass holder reservations holds true for Eurostar too

We see so many people who come to the Forum after they have bought a rail pass and then are frustrated as they face the reality of trying to make it work. I am glad you are doing advance research so you can really figure out what will work best for you.

Dutch railways is the following :

Netherlands- NS and private railway companies

Eurail is not a railcompany. It is a just product setup by the national railways of Europe. You will not find an "Eurail" train anywhere.
With Eurail you travel on the normal, national services. And that is one of the drawbacks, as there are also, private open access operators operating on many routes.

Rome2rio is not a very good research tool, as they often just make up things. For researching rail travel best start with www.seat61.com, where anything you wanted to know about train travel but were afraid to ask will be answered.

Another thing to be aware of is that local travel is often cheap. For example regional trains in Italy are very cheap, and tickets can just be bought at the station. No need to waste an expensive pass on that. Same applies for Belgium and the Netherlands.

The European train system is mostly a mesh of overlapping commuter rail systems, with a long distance network overlaid on that. Most people here buy tickets on the day of travel itself. (ie, me, on my way to Lausanne right now).

Figuring out whether a pass or individual tickets is best for you requires a lot of effort on your part. And upi need to keep a couple of things in mind.
- Use the current prices of tickets not the prices for when you intend to travel because some are discounted if you book very early
- Remember that the Eurail/Interrail ticket does not cover all networks, so turn on the filter to only use supported networks
- Check if you need reservations for your trip and include then in the cost of your travel pass. again there is an option in the app to filter out routes that require a reservation
- There is no generic rule of thumb for this you need to do the calculations. For instance last month I went to Germany from home here in Switzerland for a week and direct tickets were cheapest, this month I was in France and used three days of a four day pass global pass as that was cheapest for me.

RENFE is the Spanish national Rail System so has little to do with France. Because of reservations required on the trains in Spain a pass may not be the best idea.

Irish Ferries are one of the cross channel ferry operators, but unless you are driving to England you will not be using them- as they do not carry foot passengers.

Eurostar is the only practicable surface method of travelling from France to England (at least on the 'short' sea routes to Dover) unless you take a bus, or are really determined to use the ferry

Hi Jim, Can you please let me know which app I can use to generate estimates of the cost of each trip? Do you mean the Eurail webpage (or possibly there is an app too)? I'm planning to do a couple of larger trips, but many many short ones for day trips, etc. I'm happy to spend the time, with a little further guidance, on looking up the prices...but I'm not sure how to ensure I'm using the correct sites to check for each leg...

I suggest that you share your itinerary with us and then we can point you to the right company. Can you do that?

The best way, and certainly the way I would price such an itinerary, is to use the websites of the national railway for each country.

And price for maybe 4 to 6 weeks from now.

For any journey which travels to, through or in Germany I would use the DB (German Railways website).

For Spain, if it is a route with competition, then check Iryo and Ouigo. Rather than googling whether they do or do not operate a certain route just check the 3 sites as a matter of routine- they will tell you if they do or do not operate a certain route- information straight from source as they expand. Then you have gone straight to source.

Although in say the Netherlands, the railway is split between a number of operators, NS (Dutch National Railways) is your one stop shop for them all, and it is not important who actually runs the trains. . For an international journey from the Netherlands (like to Brussels or Germany) use NS International

In most European countries (except Swiss mountain railways) every railway is covered by the Eurail Pass.

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in France for long-distance fast trains (TGV), there are limited reservations available for pass holders. So that in order to take advantage of the pass, you might have to make your reservation far in advance

There was not a single train trip we took last summer in France in which we were shut out of seat reservations because we were Eurail pass holders, including several legs we reserved only a day in advance or even same-day. We held first-class passes, though, which might affect things.

We're likely doing a 2-month unlimited travel pass this summer, again first-class. We'll post our experiences when we get back. We're choosing the unlimited in part because we plan to headquarter ourselves outside the large cities and instead in satellite cities (Ghent and Utrecht rather than Brussels and Amsterdam). The freedom to travel unlimited legs when we're in Benelux will be extremely refreshing, I'd expect. We'll be riding lots of trains.

Can you please let me know which app I can use to generate estimates of the cost of each trip?

I use the RailEurope website (https://www.raileurope.com/en-us) and get my fare estimates on my anticipated dates of travel purchased now, which in most cases works. If your travel dates are too far out, pick a date on the same day of the week you plan to travel but a bit closer to now (say, in July). Once I've got the pricing in the desired fare class, Excel works great.

The Global Pass can be a good deal provided it is the Senior Pass bought during a promo and for 15 days in 2 months, 2nd class. As the exchange rate is currently favourable , I got my Senior Global Pass , 2nd class, 15 days/2 months with the daily expenditure only 23 Euro.

True, that France has a pass quota which I have encountered in the past a few times, so what. You work around it, never had to change my departure date due to that surprise since these all happened in the summer and last minute too, say the day before my departure, which increases the odds of running into the pass quota...still no big deal.

I use the Pass for ICE rides in Germany, the night trains (very good bargains here), and some TGV rides. I don't use Trip Planner.

Currently looking at the Eurostar (ex Thalys) trains from Brussels to Paris I see no availability for pass holder reservations in the next couple of days. So on that route reserving on the spot may be problematic. Especially for the cross border TGVs the Eurail Pass is problematic. For Domestic French trains it is fine.

Hello WengenK and Fred,
If I purchase the pass, and then get reservations for the "big" stretches, Paris - Bruxelles, and Bruxelles Amsterdam, can I not make the reservation a few months ahead of time if I know what time and date will work? Or should I give up on a pass and simply buy train tickets in advance?

I apologize, but I am sooooo very uneducated around trains.

Hi,

Absolutely no need to apologise. Based on the information provided above, you may have to modify your trip. Since it is pointed out that no seat reservations are available ,presumably, for your route., no big deal, nothing serious. I have run across this. If your Global Pass is 1st class, both 1st and 2nd class seat reservations are available to you. Obviously, if your Pass is 2nd class. then only the 2nd class seat reservation is available.

I don't book seat reservations in advance, a a couple of months or even a couple of weeks when using a Pass. I get that at the ticket counter. say 2 days prior or the night before. If I encounter that tedious Pass quota, then I pay for the seat reservation but still using the Pass to board. Once I had I 1st class Pass between German and France, wanted to ride in 2nd class but was told that the Pass quota did not allow for any more seat reservations in 2nd class, so I paid for the 1st class seat reservation.

The absolute worse scenario pertaining to you is that you might have to change the date of your preferred ride due to the Pass quota.

Changing my date of the ride or even the time of departure on my desired date never happened to me at all in all the rides on the TGV between Paris and Frankfurt regardless of direction and always in the summer.

part 2 here.

If you intend to get a Global Pass for only 7 days, that would not be my advice. Better that you book the advance tickets, the seat reservation is included. The Pass I get is re: duration the max, ie 15 days/2 months, 2nd class , and as pointed out above much depends on your travel style, ie, taking the long distance ICE and TGV and the night train routes. A few day time ICE and TGV rides plus a couple of night train routes, my Global Senior Pass is already well paid for.

I don't use Trip Planner and above all, do not consult Rail Europe. If you want to get the Global Pass for its convenience, then choose that. Forget about the price differences since flexibility and convenience take priority over price savings.

If I purchase the pass, and then get reservations for the "big"
stretches, Paris - Bruxelles, and Bruxelles Amsterdam, can I not make
the reservation a few months ahead of time if I know what time and
date will work?

If you really plan to get your travel finalized months in advance you should not get the pass. It will make things more complicated and expensive.

A pass is good for last minute travel in countries to the north-east of the Latin-Germanic Europe divide.

A 7 day in a month pass costs 286,- euro. So that is 40,- per day.
If you add the reservation fee for Paris - Brussel that means that your trip costs you 68,-
If I look at prices for Paris - Brussels 2 months from now I see tickets at 57,-
So the pass is not saving you money.

For local travel a pass is overkill. You will never spend 40 euro on local trains in Belgium or the Netherlands if you just buy tickets in stead, and buying tickets is a lot easier than you may think. (And in the Netherlands you just tap in/out with your CC)
And on routes that do heavy yield management., like all Eurostar routes, you are better off just buying tickets as well as getting Eurail reservations is complicated.

The picture changes if you plan on doing long trips in Germany. There an Eurail Pass does make sense, as walk up fares are high. I often get an Interrail (the equivalent pass for Europeans) pass for last minute trips to Germany for example.

The best way we can help you is if you post your itinerary here. I'm happy (as are others) to then give you very specific cost info...

Thanks Emily! I just posted my train legs under Belgium - Choosing stations, so I cannot repost here. It includes each train day and cities and some of what I have gathered around the cost of a pass vs. point to point for NL paired with Belgium 10 trip ticket pack. I'd welcome your comments there! From what I can see, given my itinerary, the costs work out to only a bit more for a pass, plus the trouble and cost of reservations for th longer 2 legs of travel on the train. The idea of the 10 pk of trip tickets in Belgium might work ok too, with less point to point tickets to deal with in the NL. I have used trains in the past, but years ago, and only needed a couple of major tickets. This is going to be a bit different! :)

This is what you posted:

“Paris - Brussels - Dinant (near Namur)
Dinant - Dinant Brussels
Brussels - Bruges
Bruges - Ghent
Ghent - Antwerp - Ghent (day)
Ghent - Brussels - Ghent (day)
Ghent - Brussels - Amsterdam - Haarlem
Haarlem - Delft
Delft - Rotterdam
Rotterdam - Arnhem
Arnhem - Amsterdam
*Other trips - unplanned day trips, bus required, or airport“

You state that the pass will be $480 and that you’ve consulted a travel map which tells you that these fares will add up to $500 if bought point to point.

Can someone more familiar with local travel in these areas please explain to the OP how to do this cost effectively?

I already gave you the prices for the train journeys you plan to take in the Netherlands in your other thread; https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/choosing-stations-when-reserving-seat-from-paris-to-brussels

You can easily find the prices for the Belgian train journeys yourself. Just be sure to use the website of the Belgian national railway company and not some 3rd party train ticket reseller. Use this website https://www.belgiantrain.be/en

Hello again!

For the longer stretches across borders (France - Brussels - Dinant), I assume I must purchase a ticket for France-Brussels on the SNCF site (and then also for Ghent - Brussels - Amsterdam - Haarlem, purchase the Brussels-Amsterdam portion separately)? or can I purchase one ticket for each of these multi-point stretches? I guess because they cross boarders, they have to be broken up?

I guess because they cross boarders, they have to be broken up?

No. It is not because it is cross border that it needs to be broken up. Best place to book tickets to/from Belgium is www.b-europe.com
Note that you should not make a priori assumptions about the best route. For example. Gent - Haarlem does not require returning to Brussels or passing through Amsterdam. You can buy a through ticket Gent - Haarlem, and let the system find the route for you.

Another tip: You can save yourself a big lump of money by travelling Paris - Dinant via Givet. Take the train Paris - Givet, and change for the bus to Dinant there. (There used to be a train Givet - Dinant, and there are talks of reopening, but for the moment it is a bus.) . It will be probably an hour longer than taking the High Speed train to Brussels, but significantly cheaper.

Hello Wengen,
Thank you! WAS making the assumption that i needed to go through major cities for some reason. Maybe my default is to think like this because of booking flights as a norm. I will look up the Paris - Dinant routes as you described, and also try this for Dinant - Bruges, and Ghent - Haarlem. I recognize there will be a need to change trains, but it helps to have the whole leg booked. It seems I should book Paris-Dinant via the Belgian site, and then Dinant - Bruges too, but then the Ghent - Haarlem leg via an NL site?