Eurail travel questions

I'd like to add that we'd prefer to take the night trains from Amsterdam to Munich, and from Munich to Venice.

Railpass selection is a topic to consider in more depth in December or January, when some special offers may be available and when the plan is more complete. You can't buy a rail pass more than 6 months ahead of the start date (e.g., departing from Brussels). Will you both be over or under 26 on that activation date? Meanwhile, work on fine-tuning the destination list, such as any additional destinations in France.

What is the duration of the trip, particularly how many days on the continent? For instance, would it fit within the window of a 15- or 21-day consecutive Eurail global pass? When you travel from Munich to Venice, you will cross Austria and should have that on the pass, or would need an extra ticket. For a fairly complete list of seat reservation fees and other price comparisons, see Ricks's downloadable Rail Guide. Direct Switz-Paris TGV trains currently charge higher fees than what's on the list, but that could change again at any time. Most railway schedule, price, and rule changes take effect in mid-December.

If you take trains for 3 or 4 days across Britain, then a BritRail pass is a good deal and especially cheap for Youths under age 26.

You've said that you won't use the trains much in the UK - you do realize that Eurail passes cover neither trains in Britain nor the Eurotunnel?

By the time you come over it may no longer be the UK - what with Scotland leaving (or not) and all, and if Scotland becomes independent who knows what will happen with train passes. Whatever is put in concrete in December will dictate May.

What part of May do you expect to be in Switzerland, and particularly the Berner Oberl;and and Gimmelwald? Early and even mid-May can be dodgy for weather and you may find trails closed and a cable car or 2 having annual maintenance.

How will you get between the various parts of what is currently the UK?

I'm a tiny bit confused - this may sound cheeky but I hope not. When you say you are a first timer at the top of your post, it is not clear to what you are referring. You mean first time to Europe? Your intended's first trip too?

You want to ride on two night trains? Is that to say time or because you think that they may be romantic?

It would be helpful to clarify the length of your trip. Several days in each of 7 countries could be 30 to 50 days. Is that right?

Yes, I know about the separate rail passes for the UK. As for travel in the UK and Ireland, we will sometimes use a rental car, sometimes ride with friends we have there, and sometimes take a train, plane, or bus. Mostly rental car in Ireland, fly to UK, ride with friends around Cardiff, car rental up western coast of UK and then east to Edinburgh, bus or train to London.

We will be in Europe during the entire month of May. We'll be in Switzerland during the third week of May 2015.

This will be our first time in Europe...for both of us. We have extensive travel experience in Asia, but we've never been to Europe.

We were planning on the night trains for a time saver and their romance. However, we are open to looking at cheap flights from one place to another.

We are staying in most cities 3-5 days.

Cindy

There are two schools of thought with the passes.

1. If you know what dates you will be in each city and are making hotel reservations ahead of time and are fine with locking in your travel dates then advance purchase point to point tickets will have considerable savings over a rail pass.

2. If you will be winging it and not sticking to a pre-scheduled itinerary and are fine with paying for the flexibility & convenience of a pass that might be the way to go. We love arriving at the train station knowing what train we want, confirming the platform and getting on - no lines, no waiting!

Additionally the youth pass can save $$ as well if you qualify.

Decide which method best fits your budget - if you are budget conscious then the very smart folks here can help you figure out what will work best for your itinerary and save you some money.

If money is not a major consideration then we can help figure out what method will give the most flexibility & convenience.

As I have often posted here - it is possible to travel on a pass without the additional expense of reservations - you just have to be creative & selective with your timing & routing - we only pay extra for a deluxe sleeping compartment w/ensuite bath on overnight trains.

Hi,

Good idea for doing the Amsterdam-Munich route by night train, but check on that! I believe that route is one targeted for non-existence by DB. If so, all is not lost. What you do is to take the night train from Duisburg to Munich. First, take the train from Amsterdam to Duisburg. The CNL night train starts in Duisburg. Taking that route you'll arrive in Munich a bit after 0700, ie gives you an extra day. I'd do it.

Don't even consider an unecessarily expensive 3rd party railpass for Belgium. Domestic train tickets are inexpensive, and if you plan more than two destinations, the national rail company (NMBS) sells it's own discount pass that more than one person can use at a time.

Also, the main rail link between Brussels and Amsterdam is operated by the premium Thalys service, which limits the number of seats sold to pass holders, and requires them to buy a seat reservation and pay a hefty supplement. If you can commit to riding the train at a specific time, you can purchase tickets at a substantial discount in advanced.

For Amsterdam to Munich, same thing. Buy the tickets in advanced directly from Deutsche Bahn for the cheapest option.

Most of us have found sleeper trains to be neither romantic nor time savers. Many manage barely an hour of sleep, then we arrive at our next destination exhausted and needing a nap.

We traveled from Paris to Ghent to Brugge to Amsterdam on a pass with no reservations - no problem. Take the IC trains rather than the Thalys - Brugge to Amsterdam takes about an hr 20 minutes longer that way with 2 changes instead of 1.

There is more than one way to do things.

Thanks for all the replies. I have no problem finding the trains that require no fees/reservations. So, now I'm leaning much more toward buying a pass.

Three questions about the night trains. I want to take the CNL from Munich to Vienna. We want to get a 2-person sleeper/cabin on that train. The Deutsche Bahn website says the approximate price for a 2-persons in a "deluxe double cabin" is €308. This is with no discount. So,

1. Does the Eurail Global Pass provide a discount for this and similar trains?
2. Will the Eurail Pass serve as the ticket for the train, and I just need to book the cabin online...or do I need to also book a ticket?
3. Has anyone traveled on a CNL with a Eurail Pass? Did you book a room on the train?

Thank you for all your help. We don't travel until May, but I want to be well informed before we go.

Hi,

The CNL does not go from Munich-Vienna, the Rail Jet train does. With the RJ the ride takes 4+ hrs. If you want to go Vienna by night train, go from Frankfurt. I did that once in 2010, sat in a 6 seat compartment. If you take a CNL to Munich, it gets in a bit after 0700 or 0800 (from Berlin), then you transfer to a RJ train to Vienna, if you want a direct ride. Other trains also go Munich-Vienna but include a change at least once. I prefer the RJ since I don't want to be bothered with transfering.

Cindy

I bet you were thinking Venice but typed Vienna!

2 persons in Deluxe Double cabin 268,00 EUR*

Talk about crazy - 2nd search the rate is
2 persons in Deluxe Double cabin 308,00 EUR*

München Hbf Th, 23.10.14 dep 23:40 8:44 0 CNL
Venezia Santa Lucia Fr, 24.10.14 arr 08:24

It seems to me there was a discount when booking CNL with a railpass. Contact DB for rate. Somewhere on this site someone posted instructions on how to book reservation only on a train when using a rail pass. Not sure if this would work for night train as well but you can definitely do it by phone.

You can book this 92 days in advance for best rate & availability

Yes, I meant Venice.

I wanted to update you friendly posters with my findings. Maybe someone will find this useful. I'm new at looking up things like this, so if there is a glaringly wrong price, please politely correct me (I'm pricing as far out as I can right now with the understanding that in May the prices may be slightly different). Is Switzerland really this expensive?

Here are most of the trains I wanted to take and their rough cost in $ (that I could find) for point-to-point 2nd Class-1st Class / With Eurail:

2nd Class-1st Class / With Eurail
$700 Global Group Pass 15-days continuous

• Brussels to Bruges 20-27 / 0
• Bruges to Amsterdam 63-100 / 0
• Amsterdam to Munich CNL 167-180 per person / 100 per person (2 people double cabin)
• Munich to Venice CNL 193-207 per person / 100 per person (2 people double cabin)
• Venice to Florence 19-40 / 14
• Zurich to Gimmelwald (round trip - priced via Muerren) 187 - 312!!!! / 0

• Zurich to Paris 85-132 / 13-36

• 2nd class point-to-point $734

• 1st class point-to-point $998

• Eurail $950

So, unless I'm missing something, the Eurail Global Pass is my best bet - offers the most flexibility, as well as the lowest price when compared to point-to-point 1st class. I see that 2nd Class is cheaper, but this is for my honeymoon, so I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars for a pinch more comfort.

Where are you getting those point-to-point ticket prices from? Eurail or the actual operators of the individual national rail websites?

As Tom says, it is most unlikely that prices derived from the overpriced ticket resellers RailEurope will be close to the best available. The same is true for the planning map found on this website.

If you are thinking in dollars instead of Euro and CHF (Swiss Francs) it is unlikely you are using the national rail websites unless you went to the trouble to convert each price.

Use the DB website for all European timetables, and prices on trains which run in Germany or begin or end their journeys in Germany, and CNL.

Use the SBB website for Swiss train prices, uncheck the default half price card unless you intend to get one.

Use the SNCF website for French train prices, and for cheap TGV trains look for PREMs and idTGV tickets. If you don't like the SNCF website the new Capitaine website or app will give you the same prices.

For Italian trains note that the passes are not valid on the fabulous maroon coloured and exceedingly comfortable and very inexpensive many times Italo Treno trains. Italo Treno has its own website, very easy to use and very clear. I much prefer them to Trenitalia Freccia trains on the same routes.

Or use the Trenitalia website.

For the trains in the UK use National Rail.

For Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg each country has its own national rail company and website.

I suggest you stay in Euro until it is all added up (and think in Euro when over in Europe except in the UK, Ireland and Switzerland) and then change to dollars.

I think you may find your prices high.

Those are prices from the regional operators. Please check them for me if you want, because maybe I entered something wrong.

Yes, I converted the prices to dollars

Please say exactly what date(s) you used. That will help others to help you with the review. Times would also be useful because prices can vary by time of day.

Cindy - I checked them and you are certainly in the ballpark for all of them. There are some slight (less than $10) differences probably due to using different days/times than you.

Could you have switched the prices for the Zurich/Gimmelwald & Zurich/Paris?
UGH! The Swiss Rail site is NOT user friendly!

Yes, I may have accidentally swapped those. I checked each trip as far out as I could, and sometimes on different days to get a rough figure. These were the prices for the days of the week I would need to travel.

Thank you for helping me to check. I've never done this before, and I'm sure there will be mistakes along the way.