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Worth to get a railpass?

Posted by (Singapore, Singapore) on

Hi, I am going for a 2 weeks trip in Nov to cover these cities.

Prague > Budapest > Salzburg > Munich > Frankfurt

The problem is there are no railpass to cover all these countries. The closest is the eurail selectpass, but will need to get another point-to-point ticket from Prague to Budapest, which cost 94USD.

The most "budget-friendly" combination I have found is to get a Eastern Europe pass (covers Prague, Budapest, Salzburg) and a Germany pass (covers Salzburg, Munich and Frankfurt).

But with these 2 passes, it will mean that I won't be fully utilizing the pass. I would probably use 2 out of 5 days for the Eastern Europe pass, and 3 out of 4 days for the Germany Pass.

To add up all the point-to-point train costs, it is just slightly more than getting the passes, so I am really confused if I should get the passes and waste the days.

Is there something wrong with this plan though? Really need some advise.

Posted by
71 posts

I'd do point to point tickets, Cheong. Sometimes, as you have found, railpasses don't make sense. Any interest in renting a vehicle? That might be a viable solution.

Jim

Posted by
683 posts

Point to point tix are better in your case (and we might add in virtually all others). From Munich you can utilize the Bayern Ticket which for about €30 allows up to 5 people to travel to Salzburg Innsbruck and areas of Switzerland

Posted by
956 posts

Railpasses make perfect sense depending on the itinerary. In our case, it worked out well and we saved lots of money on certain legs of our trip. If you use Rick Steves' worksheet, you can see which trips you should use it for and which you should not... In Cheong's case, it sounds like it doesn't make sense. But to say that railpasses don't make sense is an unfair statement.

Posted by
864 posts

Having driven to all these cities I'd say unless you're touring the countryside as well (which is GREAT) ditch the car idea. Parking and driving in any city is an expensive pain. I'd do point to point rail travel. Make reservations for high speed trains whenever possible for the long distance stuff. More expensive of course but saves hours and hours of time. If you go the rail pass way that's also good (so what if you don't use all the days - this is not cleaning your plate at dinner stuff). Even with a rail pass upgrade to the high speed trains (can be done at the station) to save time as the cost is minimal.

Posted by
7514 posts

One factor not taken into account so much, but may apply now, Railpasses tend to be priced yearly, with new prices coming out in the spring. Given the decline of the Dollar, the fixed price of a pass gains value compared to point to point tickets. I believe you can also buy a pass for the Summer of 08 before the price increase hits, or at least I ran into that several years ago. The combination of the two may tip the balance in the decision. With the weak Dollar, we may also find that the powers that be discount passes or at least hold prices to entice at least some US tourism, a consideration you do not get with standard purchases.

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