My girlfriend and I are going to be doing a 3 month Europe trip and are deciding on whether to get a Eurail Pass or just do Point To Point tickets. After reviewing the places that we will be seeing (France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and U.K) all together there are about 20 travel days where we will probably end up taking the train. Which would be better?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
Unfortunately there is not an easy answer to your question. In the old days it was no brainer but rail pass have become quite expensive so you really need to do a lot of homework by determine which trains you are going to take and the point to point fares. Only then can you determine if the pass saves money. We cannot do that for you.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The only way to do this is plan your itinerary, then compare the point-to-point ticket prices with the applicable rail passes.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32351 posts
Josh,
You might find it helpful to have a look at Rick's "rail travel map", which I believe is shown in the PDF Rail Guide on this website. It provides not only an approximate cost (in US$) between various cities in Europe, but also the travel times. It's very handy to get an approximate idea.
If your Itinerary is reasonably complete, you could also try entering your travel details into www.railsaver.com. The site (which I believe is provided by the European rail networks) will "recommend" the best combination of Railpass and P-P tickets for the travel details you enter. I've found that railsaver provides a fairly good estimate, but it's not too precise.
On longer trips I usually find that a combination of a Railpass and P-P tickets is the best combination. I use the Railpass for longer (more expensive) trips and P-P tickets for the shorter (cheaper) trips.
As you're travelling for 3 months, be sure not to exceed that time so that you don't violate the terms of the Schengen Agreement.
Happy travels!