My wife and 3 kids, ages 10, 13, and 15 are trying to figure what we need to purchase for a 4 country plexipass. It looks like 2 adults (with one free child) and 2 youth passes are the best/cheapest option - true? Then if we buy 2 youth second class passes for our teenagers, can they reserve for first class with the adults and child?
Mark
If you all want to travel together, just get first class passes for everyone. You could all travel in 2nd class even if two of you have 1st class passes. The real question is, do you need rail-passes at all? Where are you going?
"Then if we buy 2 youth second class passes for our teenagers, can they reserve for first class with the adults and child?" - short answer NO. In order to travel in first class, you need a first class ticket.
Are you sure your 10-year-old is free? I would double-check the conditions.
But, as Sam says, you need to first work out if a pass is the best option:
Look up the costs (advance purchase tickets) of each trip on the website of the company running the train (not a reseller) and add them up, see if it is more or less than the cost of a pass plus reservations.
I'm sorry, Mark, but we will need much more information about what you are considering to be able to give a reasonable answer.
You don't give much of a hint as where you will be going, much less what countries. We really need that to help.
And, no, if your teenagers - anywhere - have 2nd class passes they cannot move up into First Class to sit with you. It works the other way, you move down with them.
I'm trying to get past your typos (I think), and I assume that you are talking about the very expensive Eurail Flexi Pass. Is that right?
Our plans for travel are from Sorrento to Rome, to Venice, to Cinque Terre, to Gimmelwald, and finally to Munich (5 travel days total and 3-4 days on each city visited). Looking at the estimated fares via Rick's website for the trips and doing the math showed the 4 country Select Pass appears the best option (the website says the 10 year olds ticket will be free with the 2 adults at first class). Wish there was a 3 country Select pass...
So it appears first class for the 2 adults and child and first class for the 2 youths will be best option ($1,504 total cost). If other suggestions, let me know.
Thanks for the help!
Mark
Our plans for travel are from Sorrento to Rome, to Venice, to Cinque Terre, to Gimmelwald, and finally to Munich (5 travel days total and 3-4 days on each city visited). Looking at the estimated fares via Rick's website for the trips and doing the math showed the 4 country Select Pass appears the best option (the website says the 10 year olds ticket will be free with the 2 adults at first class). Wish there was a 3 country Select pass...
So it appears first class for the 2 adults and child and first class for the 2 youths will be best option ($1,504 total cost). If other suggestions, let me know.
I'd be astonished if the railpass is cheaper on those connections.
Hate to say this, but throw away the Rick Steves figures. The figures he puts on those maps are for the most expensive seats assuming you buy them right before you get on the train, and they are very vague.
If you use a railpass in Italy each seat used on a fast train (you will want that for your routes, mostly), on each leg will cost €10. Often an inexpensive seat you buy in advance will be as low as €9 per person including the reservation, or perhaps €19 or €29. Way way less than than a pass day. It looks like you are showing about $80 per pass day?
The train from Sorrento to Napoli is not covered by the railpass, it costs around €5 pp.
Rome - Venice - Cinque Terre - Berner Oberland is back tracking. As you go through Firenze on the way to Venezia you pass the turn off for the Cinque Terre.
You could do these segments your way (add up all those supplements I spoke of) Napoli - Roma (maybe change, maybe stay on) - Venezia - Firenze - La Spezia - local trains in CT - La Spezia - Firenze - Milano - Switzerland or ...La Spezia - Genova PP (no escalators or elevators, a grotty station or it was to me in March) - Milano.
Trust me, we can save you shovelfuls of money.
Mark, to reiterate:
Look up the costs (advance purchase tickets) of each trip on the website of the company running the train (not a reseller).
This site is a re-seller.
To add the the great advice you've already gotten, that a rail pass is not a good idea for this itinerary:
A great source for information about European train travel is The Man In Seat 61. Here is his discussion of whether you should buy a rail pass. Read it thoroughly and make sure you understand EVERYTHING in it before making any decisions: http://tinyurl.com/bkw4u6c
For domestic trains within Italy, and for international trains from Italy to Switzerland and Switzerland to Germany, if you can book early online and can commit to non-refundable and non-exchangeable tickets, you can save a lot of money. For domestic tickets within Switzerland, there is no discount for early booking.
Next, to get the real prices of trains, you need to go the the website of the company that operates the train (as said above). For Italy, that's usually Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
It often helps, even on the English version of the site, to use the Italian names of the stations:
Rome - Roma Termini
Venice - Venezia SL
Naples - Napoli C
As Nigel said, you are backtracking, and should see the Cinque Terre between Rome and Venice. In order to get schedules, you will need to put in a specific one of the five towns; you can use Vernazza just to get an idea.
From Sorrento to Rome, you take the Circumvesuviana to Naples, then a Trenitalia train from Naples to Rome. The Circumvesuviana is cheap and has no reservations (think of it as a "bus on wheels"). It also accepts no rail passes of any kind. The ride from Sorrento to Naples is about 70 minutes.
On fast trains in Italy (most of the ones you are taking), there are three classes of fares. Super Economy is non-refundable and non-exchangable; Economy can be exchanged, but not refunded; and Base is full fare. If you want Base fares, or if these are the only ones left for your dates, there's no advantage to buying in advance. Each fast train ticket is only good for ONE specific train; if you get on ANY other train, you'll pay a heft fine. So, if you miss the 8 AM from Naples to Rome, you can't just get on the 9 AM (even with a Base fare ticket); you have to change your ticket first. However, if you're using a pass, the same is true of reservations; if you buy a reservation for the 8 AM train, it's only good on that train. So, having a rail pass does not add flexibility, since you can't just hop on a fast train. You can hop on regional trains, but these are cheap, and not worth using a pass day for.
For Switzerland (and Switzerland to Munich), use the Swiss Rail site. Note that the default price you will see on this site is with a Half-Fare card, so if you're not getting one, make sure you are looking at the correct price: http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html. Swiss trains are more expensive, so a Half Fare card or some form of Swiss Pass can be a good deal.
Most people find second class fine, but some do prefer first class. If you do want to ride first class, the price difference between a pass and point-to-point tickets is lessened. On the other hand, for Italy, if you can book early enough and can commit to non-refundable and non-exchangeable tickets, you can sometimes get first class tickets for little more than second class - a win-win.
Youth passes are sold in 1st (or 2nd) class this year. If you buy the Eurail Select Pass, then get the 1st-class version for everyone. (The savings to put the youths in 2nd class is not much when you consider that it affects 5 people.) Note the current coupon code that allows you to take $75 off each order for 1st class passes; supplies are limited, so don't count on the offer lasting through July 15.
You mention only five days of travel but 3-4 days in each location. I can't imagine that you actually plan to spend 3-4 days in Gimmelwald and not actually go anywhere. You can walk from one end to the other in about 5 minutes and personally, if I was to spend 3-4 days there only I'd be leaning towards jumping off the nearest cliff out of pure boredom. You need to take your other travels (cable car, mountain trains, etc) into consideration for the Swiss portion of your travels.
