First, which is better service, raileurope or eurail? Raileurope passes seem to be cheaper. Second, I'm traveling in Austria and Switzerland next April. I am planning on buying a rail pass to use on days with longer trips. Some of the routes I want to take have an R in front of the train name, so I think for those I need a reservation. But I can't figure out how to make the reservation when all I need is the reservation and not the ticket. When I go to the OBB site, I can't seem to find the "buy reservation only". I realize I can't buy the pass yet because the trip is more than 6 months away. Just doing my homework now. Anyway, can someone suggest a step by step process for getting the reservation once you have the pass? Thanks
Jim
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"First, which is better service, raileurope or eurail? " Neither. Their sole reason for existing is to mark-up ticket prices and sell them to non-Europeans. Buy your tickets directly from the national rail companies. 3rd party rail passes almost never save any money, and they don't even offer that much convenience any more.
Posted by
OP
Roanoke, Virginia
16 posts
Tom, Thanks for a very interesting idea. I will investigate.
Jim
Posted by
Whittington
984 posts
You perhaps need to read - http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm#Should you buy a railpass or pay-as-you-go
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19118 posts
First, Eurail is a cooperative effort of the national rail lines in Europe (and some other businesses) to package and market rail passes. Eurail sells only railpasses, not tickets nor reservations. RailEurope is a for profit travel company in the US, the biggest owner of which is French Rail, that resells Eurail passes and sells tickets for a portion of the trains in Europe, mostly the fastest and most expensive ones. In most, if not all, cases, RailEurope's prices are higher than what you can get at a counter over there or online from over here. In Germany, in particular, prices of online advance purchase tickets are much, much less expensive from the German Rail (Bahn) website than from RailEurope. I bought my last rail pass, a German Rail one, in 2000. Considering the trains I actually used, I just barely broke even, but I now know I could have saved money by using less expensive trains. Since then I have used a combination of advance purchase tickets, regional (Länder) tickets, and point-point tickets, and I've always seen significant savings vs a pass. Since 2000, I have traveled 11 times on reservable express trains. Three times I had a seat reservation, but didn't need one. Seven times I did not have a seat reservation and didn't need one. Only once did I need a reservation, and that time I didn't have one and had to stand for half an hours before people got up to get off, and I found a seat.