Help! Studying abroad in Salzburg... best rail pass??

There are two major passes for European train travel:
Interrail (for European residents) http://www.interrail.eu
Eurail (for non-European residents) http://www.eurail.com

I do not know whether you will be counted as European resident when studying in Salzburg. Interrail is not valid in the country of residence (with two specific exceptions).

What pass will the best for you depends strongly on your travel plans. Generally speaking, all passes are for a pre-defined time frame and a certain number of countries. They are valid for all trains, as far as I know. The seat reservation you must buy extra.

It is my impression that these passes pay off only, if you do a lot of long train rides within a rather short time period.

All major railroad companies offer special bargain tickets, e.g. Sparschiene (OeBB, Austria), Sparpreis (DB, Germany) or Sparbillett (SBB, Switzerland). If you plan a trip from time to time during your studies, I guess this is the better option.

Hi,

If you are under 26, you qualify for the Youth Pass. I rather doubt that you need a Global Pass unless you're planning to travel all over, based on the countries listed above, lots of zig zag traveling, especially in Germany taking the ICE trains. The main advantage in getting a Youth Pass is the flexibility you enjoy regardless of savings. Yes, the Pass is valid on the high speed trains but in France you might run into a Pass quota, which then you change the time of departure or the date. I've encountered that quota, no big deal, certainly not an important obstacle to your travel plans.

The high speed trains in France have mandatory reservations, a small expense not covered by the Pass. If you take the night trains, say from Budapest to Prague, the ride is covered by the Pass, you need to pay only for the seat reservation, if you don't want the "sleeper" or "couchette" Those two options are not covered by the Pass. I use a Pass and take night trains too but never use the "sleeper/couchette." (basically don't need it). That's the cheapest way to go.

I would ask the school liaison about what kind of local ID card you may be able to get. Some countries, particularly Germany, have especially good deals for students and young residents. But a US citizen (?) might have trouble qualifying for some of them. The point is that they are outside the common "tourist" products most often discussed here, and on our host's travel website - which is famous for lots of free train advice, see top left.

Another factor is weekend discounts, which is presumably when you'll be doing the most traveling. Many of those don't depend on citizenship. Beware of railpasses that don't turn out to be a bargain, or that require advance payment for seat reservations on faster trains. The days of showing up with a pass and hopping on a long-distance train are fading.

It makes sense that your friends have been split 50/50, since both a Eurail Youth pass and a Vorteilscard have advantages and both work fully with the OBB. Eurail also works with WestBahn. The Vorteilscard gives you 45-50% off Austrian tickets and 25% off in neighboring countries, although I'm surprised to see that the RailPlus list does not include France; they did participate a few years back. The Vorteilscard is a small up-front purchase, but you continue to pay most costs as you go. A Eurail pass is a bigger purchase to cover trips you're confident you will take. The more clear your trip plan, the easier it is to compare options.

For instance, is there a break period where you'll travel more by train? Will you travel outside the country every weekend? If you're there longer than the 2-month duration of most passes, can you concentrate on shorter trips for a period before activating the pass?

Since the Select pass only covers 2 - 4 countries, the 28-country Global pass is your more likely choice (and happens to be one of the few passes that covers Poland). A common choice would be a pass for 10 travel days within 2 months, which could cover 5 weekend roundtrips for $510, or 15 days for $670. I do expect to see some special offers in the next month or two. The European East pass (not a Eurail product) is well priced for travel in that direction, but that doesn't sound like your main focus. See our Austria rail page.

You're in a location where you can catch overnight trains to Italy, northern Germany, Zurich, Budapest, or Krakow; sometimes with one connection. If you're using a flexi style of Eurail pass, try to board the actual overnight train first and make any necessary connections the following morning, so that you only use one counted travel day. (See also Using Your Pass.)

You should also consider if there are some routes that you'll fly. Search for budget airlines at www.skyscanner.com.

I'm glad Laura mentioned the possibility of cheap flights. As a student you'll probably be taking mostly 2- or 3-day trips over a weekend. Unless overnight trains work well for you (and their number is shrinking), you'll probably find yourself tempted by great flight deals to places like Rome, Paris and London--which are not practical weekend destinations by train. Although the budget airlines often have very low carry-on weight limits and high charges for checked bags, those are not likely to be issues for a weekend traveler. To the extent that you fly to distant destinations, any rail pass you have will be unused or extremely lightly used that weekend.

However, the good flight deals often must be purchased shortly after tickets go on sale, because the fares escalate as the cheap tickets are snapped up. How soon does your study-abroad stint begin, and when are you leaving Europe to return home? It's possible that a lot of the great airfares are gone and you'll be more dependent on the trains than I'm anticipating.

You can use skyscanner.com to check the availability of cheap flights out of Munich; it's worth checking Salzburg, of course, but I suspect the bargain options will be more limited there.

Consider visiting Ljubljana and Zagreb while you're in Salzburg. I think there's bus service to both that will be faster than trains (another situation in which a rail pass will not be useful).

If you're contemplating trips high into the Swiss mountains, be aware that the Eurailpass provides only a discount on the very, very costly high-mountain transportation.

@ Cat...As pointed out above, you are close enough to one of the two hubs for night trains...Munich. The other hub is Budapest. Between the two is also a night train running. The nights trains to east central Europe, southern Europe, north Germany all pass through either Munich or Budapest. If you're going to Berlin, easily done by night train from Munich via Hannover Hbf or Budapest direct. Keep in mind that with a Global Pass you can be creative and tailor the route, ie making it the route you want to take, not just the quickest way from A to B.

That the Global Pass covers Poland (it did not used to) is a real advantage in traveling there, Czech Rep, Hungary, eastern Austria, and Germany, both by day and night, such as going from Vienna to Gdansk direct.

Rick's son Andy has written a book geared to college students studying abroad and looking to visit major European cities for a long weekend. In addition to chapters about the cities, he has a lot of travel tips; since they are for young people already in Europe traveling for a short periods, they are different from Rick's travel tips.

The book is called Andy Steves’ Europe: City-Hopping on a Budget https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/andy-steves-europe-city-hopping-on-a-budget

Thanks everyone- the advice was so helpful! After some calculations and comparing, I've decided to get a Vorteilscard, which is something like 45% off Austria trains, and 20% from Austria to a different country. With budget airlines, I'll mostly be flying to other places. So excited for the Austrian train-rides though!

Cat

I've decided to get a Vorteilscard

The price reduction offered by the Vorteilscard applies to the regular fare, only. You should alwasys check - well in advance - whether you can get a Sparschiene ticket which could be even cheaper. Note: Sparschiene tickets for rides completely within Austria cannot be bought at the ticket counter, only via the Internet.