I'm planning an 18 day trip to Europe in October. I'll spend most of it in Germany, but will also visit Vienna and Venice. Is it worthwhile to get a 3-country pass, like the one that RailEurope (re?)sells, or am I better off getting a pass just for Germany and paying separate fares for the round trip to those other two cities? I'll probably have a total of six travel days by rail, and three of those are the run to Venice, Venice to Vienna, and Vienna to Munich. Do the RailEurope passes cover ICE trains? I know they're good for IC. Also, I'm sure RailEurope adds their own healthy markup to the price of the pass. Can I get the same pass from one of the railroad companies, like Deutsche Bahn? I don't mind paying travel agents for their services, but paying "convenience" fees to websites reselling someone else's product rankles me.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
How about just a pass for Germany and then use airberlin.com, germanwings.com or tuifly.com to get to Venice and Vienna?
Posted by
OP
Mosul
3 posts
I hadn't really considered flying. I may do that for two legs of the trip, but the ride from Venice to Vienna is supposed to be one of the two most beautiful in Europe...that's not something I want to pass up. I'll look into flights from Munich to Venice and from Vienna back to Germany, though. Thanks!
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19091 posts
Actually, while Eurail, itself, sells the 3 country, 6 day Select pass for $555, RailEurope sells that pass for only $521. No "healthy markup".
In Germany, all trains run by German Rail are covered, including InterCity Express (ICE).
If you are willing to travel in 2nd class and buy your tickets online in advance from the national railroads (German and Italian Rail), you can probably do better with P2P discount tickets than with a pass. This morning, I found fares actually available online from DB for Munich to Venice and Vienna to Munich about $160 total (both legs). It also appears that those two legs could be purchase for as low as $112 (both legs) during the off-season.
What is the rest of your travel in Germany? If you were planning to use the pass for any local travel in Bavaria, you might be better off with a €19 ($30) Bayern-Ticket-Single.
Posted by
Newburyport, MA
683 posts
It will likely be MUCH cheaper to buy tix in Europe, in the countries where u will travel. But, its YOUR money....
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
I would probably go with a German pass for the number of days needed then add pt to pt rail, flights or a combination to visit your other stops.