Global Flex Pass

A 10 day Eurail pass is valid for 10 travel days, not 10 trips.

Also, two 10 day passes cost €758. If you only need 8 trips, that is €95 per trip. For Munich to Garmisch-Partenkirchen you could instead buy a Bayern ticket for €36 that will take both of you to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and back.

Well, I meant 10 travel days, on a flex pass, over 2 months, for 2 seniors. I’ve added up the train fares on our proposed route and it added up to over $600 per person with just 7 travel days. So, it seemed to me that the 10 travel day flex pass at $868 might make more sense, over 24 days. The pass says 2 seniors. My question is, when we use it - would that pass then be reduced from 10 travel days to 8 remaining? Or, since the pass says “2 seniors”, does it count as one travel day for the both of us? Sorry to be confusing, just trying to sort out the train business. I am looking at Rail Europe. The Eurailpass site from the Munich airport does not show Garmisch-Partenkirchen as a destination.

I’ve added up the train fares on our proposed route and it added up to
over $600 per person with just 7 travel days. So, it seemed to me that
the 10 travel day flex pass at $868 might make more sense, over 24
days.

Where have you found the cost of single tickets? And have you checked that the Eurail pass is valid where you plan to travel?

My question is, when we use it - would that pass then be reduced from
10 travel days to 8 remaining? Or, since the pass says “2 seniors”,
does it count as one travel day for the both of us?

One day is one day. Ten days minus one day is nine days remaining.

I am looking at Rail Europe.

That explains a lot. Avoid Rail Europe! For pass information, use www.eurail.com for official information. And for the cost of single tickets use e.g. www.sbb.ch for Switzerland and www.bahn.de for Germany.

The Eurailpass site from the Munich airport does not show
Garmisch-Partenkirchen as a destination.

What site?

Eurail.com. I was reading up on the forum on eurail.com and it said that not all of the destinations are listed, but there is train service (to Garmisch-Partenkirchen) , I just can’t add it to my itinerary on that site. So…..unsure how to proceed.

For the ticket prices I used Rometorio.com and also Deutche Bahn

I presumed that since Garmisch-Partenkirchen was not on the destinations list with Eurail.com, that the Eurail pass would not work there…but now I don’t know if that is correct.

Do not use Rome2Rio for fares, travel times or frequencies! The information is often way off-base. As Badger has said, you should use the website of the company operating the trains.

Eurailpass will work to Garmisch. The Eurail website tool where you add destination is just something designed to help you decide wether you want a pass or not. It is not a trip planner. In Germany pretty much all trains are covered. But as already pointed out, using an Eurail Pass to travel from Munich to Garmisch will result in you overpaying for your trip by quite a lot.

Maybe if you tell us which places you plan to visit, then we can give you advise on what the best pass to buy is, or wether a pass is even the best idea at all.

One thing to be aware of is that in Switzerland Eurail is not valid on all railways. You do often get a discount though, but this is only 25%, and can only be obtained by actually going to a ticket office, which means you can't buy tickets in advance on line, or use the excellent SBB app. For Switzerland Eurail is not really a good solution.

This is excellent advice, thank you. We arrive in Munich (by accident…I did not know what I was doing) we arrive at 9:30 am. We plan on catching the train to Garmisch, to arrive in the early afternoon, in time to hike through the Partnach Gorge and stay at my niece’s home the first night. The next day we have a reservation in Chur (having a bit of a challenge getting from Garmisch to Chur - prefer to go through Lichtenstein, not back through Munich…) Then on October 3 we catch the Bernina Express (do we need a reservation? ) from Chur to Tirano, transfer to a train to either Verano or Menaggio for 2 nights. Then we take a train to Montreax, where my other niece will pick us up and take us to her home in Champery for 2 days. Then on the 7th we train from Aigle to Pisa, where we will stay for 6 days with friends, they will then drive us to Florence for 3 days. Then we train to Sorrento, maybe stay the night somewhere, but want to catch the 4:15 ferry there, along the Amalfi coast to Salerno. Stay somewhere there, then on the 22nd train up to Rome for 2 nights, then we fly from Rome on the 24th. Maybe we don’t need a Eurail pass…? Do wonder about reservations on the Bernina Express though. So: train from Munich to Garmisch, Garmisch to Chur, Chur to Verano or Menaggio, Verano or Menaggio to Montreax, Aigle to Pisa, Florence to Sorrento, Salerno to Rome. Thank you so very much for your help.

rail passes are best for either lots of long distance trains or a need or desire to not plan.

As you know when and where you want to travel, you may find that buying tickets for specific trains - acknowledging the restrictions, just like when you buy airline tickets - is significantly cheaper.

I'm curious - how do you buy tickets to Munich by mistake if you are going to Garmisch to see family? It is a very good airport for that. Where did you think you were buying fares to?

Sounds to me that you'll be fine.

Be aware that out of Garmisch-Partenkirchen towards Austria via Mittenwald you will have an SEV = because of the rail works you need a rail replacement bus. Plan on how you will deal with luggage. Use the DB app or webpage https://www.bahn.com/en for trains starting or ending or running in Germany.

Re: I'm curious - how do you buy tickets to Munich by mistake if you are going to Garmisch to see family?:

It is kind of a convoluted story. I got what I thought was a good deal to Munich before I considered where we were actually going beyond our arrival date. Plus, I’m meeting friends over there and they paid twice as much as I did for airfare, so I thought it was a good deal. Then! it turns out that my niece who is an ambassador to Serbia won’t even be in Garmisch. But we can stay at her house and hike the gorge there. I just thought it would be a great first night. But then it seems to be more difficult to extricate oneself from there… but that’s OK. We will just take another train ride from Garmisch through Munich to Chur.

It seems to me now that the point to point train tickets are going to be cheaper than a Eurail pass. But I still have to look further into that, considering what you’ve told me about Swiss trains and the Eurailpass. You’ve been so great in helping me think this through! Looking into Eurail pass v. point to point today….again! Hoping I don’t need a reservation on the Bernina Express- prob cheaper to get at the Chur station? Thanks again. MK

So given your train trips, this is what you should get:
- Munich to Garmisch: Get the Bavaria ticket at the airport.
- Garmich to Chur: While going through Austria would be nice, currently that is not a good option because of the line being down. So just go via Munich. Book on bahn.de
- Chur - Tirano: If you want to take the Bernina Express (BEX), just book that, including reservation on www.rhb.ch
You can take other trains as well, and you do not need a reservation, even for the BEX, as there are always a couple of cars at the front of the train where reservation is not compuslory.
- Tirano - Varenna: Buy that when you have some time and any station, eg. in Chur. You will not have enough time while changing trains to buy this in Tirano. Varenna makes for the best base on lake Como for your itinerary.
- Varenna - Montreux: Book on www.trenitalia.com. Currently costs 49,10 pp currently. If you were to have a Eurail Pass you would still have to pay 13,- pp for your reservation, and will find out that getting those reservations is not easy. In fact, when my sister was in Italy not even the ticket office was able to help here there. A Eurail pass is useless in Italy.
- Aigle - Pisa: Book with www.sbb.ch (you could book this with Trenitalia as well, but my advise is to favor booking with the railways where your trip starts). Would be about 80,- pp.
- Pisa - Napoli again on www.trenitalia.com, and Salerno - Rome idem. The trip from Napoli to Sorrento is on a local train that you just buy tickets for there.

All in a Eurail pass will not save you money, and not having one will also spare you the head ache of trying to use one while in Italy.

WengenK - I would buy you a cocktail if owe were together. Your information is invaluable, and I can’t thank you enough.