Beginner Info on European railways

Look at the seat61.com website for tons of train info. The bahn.de website can show you train schedules for all your travel, but prices and tickets only for trains that have a segment within Germany, for others you need to check each country's national railway site.

Figure what point-to-point tickets will cost and compare it to the Railpasses cost; don't forget to add reservation fees for using the pass. Some railway companies offer big discounts for buying tickets 90-120 days in advance, but you cannot change the cheapest tickets in any way.

First of all, try looking for some travel cards - 20 year olds are usually included in all sorts of programs, especially if you're students. Try entering all the dates and destinations in the The Rail Europe Pass Finder and see what you come up with.
PS: Zoe is right, buying in advance might make a big price difference with most of them! Also, The sleeper trains are cheaper for couchettes, but they will have an extra charge for beds.
Good Luck!

When in Poland, consider Polski Bus for long-distance routes (it's very economical, even more so if you book early. The website is very user-friendly). You would have to change your routing a bit to take advantage of it. The Czech Republic may have its own version of this type of transport - directed toward budget travelers like you. Of course you may want to compare tradeoff between train cost/duration vs. bus before deciding which to take (for some routes, a train is much faster although may not be cheaper).

Also, you may want to consider going to Wroclaw to make the journey work to Prague since that's the best connection via Polski Bus. Wroclaw is a vibrant college town and nice to visit. Check out In Your Pocket guides (free online, see below) for the city to see if it interests you.

http://www.polskibus.com/en
http://www.inyourpocket.com/poland/wroclaw

Florence, Italy > Vienna, Austria: 11 hours
Vienna > Krakow, Poland: 6.0-9.5 hours
Krakow > Prague, Czech Rep: 6.5 - 9.5 hours
Prague > Munich, GER: 4.5-5.5 hours
Munich > Amsterdam: 8.5-9.0 hours

That's some darn serious traveling. Anytime you get over 6 or 7 hours on the train start looking at flights also. Try www.whichbudget.com to see the various discount airlines that may fly between your destinations. Either that or narrow down your area of travel.

Rail Passes are almost NEVER economically a good way to travel. Buying directly from the national rail sites as well as booking in advance can sometimes save you lots of money.

Italy - www.trenitalia.com
Germany - www.bahn.de
Austria - www.oebb.at
Czech - try this: www.cd.cz

Do NOT use RailEurope to price and/or book your tix. They are a reseller who charges more, includes a "processing fee" AND doesn't show you all of the available trains.

Cheapest and most time efficient generally do not go together well. Roughly speaking you have three levels of train services. High speed, fast trains will go the quickest between major cities. Fewer stops, faster travel, and more expensive. The next level is ICs, Inter-cities, IC expresses. These trains are still reasonably fast, connect smaller cities to the larger cities, will make more stops. The slowest trains and cheapest with be the local train, Regional, etc. Think of a bus on wheels hitting every stop along the way. That is your cheapest but also the slowest. You have some very long distances to cover. I would start putting pins in a map and trying to find shorter distances. Most travel systems now have a discounting program for no change, no refund advance ticket purchases from the web that can save significant money or the full price fare. How much time do you have? You need to do a lot more planning.

Prague to Munich is partially by a bus connection via Nürnberg.

Münich to Amsterdam is a 7.5-9 hour train ride, and that doesn't include the time you would take getting to and from the main train stations. If you can commit to riding a specific train in advanced, though, you can buy tickets now for €59 per person.
If it's affordable for you, consider flying, or if not, break the trip up.

Vienna to Krakow is 7-15 hours, depending on which options you take.

I'm not familiar with the route of Florence to Vienna, but I wouldn't be surprised if the duration is something similar.

Florence-Vienna can be done with a night train. Every 20 yo should give it a try once when they're young and tough.

If you do all this by train, then the best pass fit will be a Eurail Global Pass for 15 Continuous Days at $320 per person for a youth in 2nd class. Sleeper reservations are extra and overnight trains are available on four of these five routes. Daytime trains on these routes mostly don't require seat assignments, but you might want them anyway (required $15 in Italy for fast trains, required $5 for Prague-Munich direct bus, required but free for fast trains in Poland, optional $5 for other trips listed). There's no deadline to reserve any of these, but reserving a few days in advance could help you to feel more confident.

Are you visiting any smaller towns in between these travel days, or only the big cities listed? With the Continuous type of pass, you're not counting trains or travel days as you go, so you are free to hop on other trains between towns (but not most in-city transport).

Point to point tickets can add up cheaper for the 5 legs above if you are ready to lock in advance discounts soon for specific travel dates and times. Most are on sale now. Flying can also be affordable for longer legs, like the first one.

"Prague to Munich is partially by a bus connection via Nürnberg."

At one time, the Bahn IC bus from Prague went only to Nürnberg, from which you would take an ICE to Munich. That connection was sold as a single advance purchase ticket starting at 29€. Now, they have added a direct bus from Prague to Munich - same price for advance purchase, takes about an hour less than the bus/ICE.

That advance purchase ticket is bus specific with limited refundability.

There are also a couple of direct trains from Prague to Munich. They take an hour longer, but you can use on them a regional pass that is not train specific and the price doesn't go up as the travel date approaches. If you leave on the EX at 13:14 or the one at 17:14, you can use a Czech ticket for 100 Kc (3,65€) per person to Pilsen and then a Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket (26€ first person, 5,60€ each additional up to 5, total). The Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket can be purchase in Bavaria or online from the Bahn ticket shop.

The direct train that leaves Prague at 9:14 runs in the Czech Republic as an EC. Supposedly the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket is not valid on that train (although the fares are the same as for the EX), but you can purchase a Czech ticket to Furth im Wald in Germany for about 14€/person and use a Bayern-Ticket (23€ plus 5€ per additional person) from there to Munich.

Hi,

Of the routes list above, you can go Munich to Amsterdam on the CNL night train, direct. Travelers your age (and older) take night train option. On week-ends they do have a greater chance of selling out. I've run into that If you have the Youth Pass, 2nd class, asssuming you're 25 or younger, you would only pay for the mandatory seat reservation. That's the cheap option. If you want the luxury of a sleeper or couchette, those options are not covered by the Pass. It's extra (pricey), I wouldn't pay for it.

If you decide to stay somewhere between Munich and Amsterdam, I'd would choose Frankfurt, not only for the cultural and historical reasons but logistically it allows to ride both legs, Munich-Frankfurt, and Amsterdam-Frankfurt on the ICE. But be advised that breaking the distance up will use up 2 Pass days. The CNL night train option uses one Pass day.

Your call on this. The CNL night train is the best operating night train, better than the EN. I have no problems taking the CNL in the general seating area. I assume your "fellow travelers" will have to come to an unanimous decision on which option to take...one of the drawbacks when traveling with others.