Buying train pass without set itinerary

Jennie "Europe" is a bit vague, there are 26 countries plus. We can help way more when we can hang our hats on something a little more solid. Generally, if you dig around some of the prior posts here, you will find that passes often don't work well financially. In your circumstances, maybe it would work as you don't know where and when you want to go so the fantastically cheap advance purchase tickets would not fit you. Every country is different, both with passes and tickets. In Italy, for example, a pass holder has to pay €10 for each segment of trains above slow regional trains. If you can share a bit more we can help more.

Train passes are not as simple and easy as they were 20+ years ago. The faster trains will require a premium so in addition to the pass your will pay an additional 10 to 20E depending on train and country. Only the slowest trains - regional, some ICs will allow you just to jump on the train at your convenience. Not only is it best to purchase the pass in the US,. for most passes they can only be purchased in the US. In order to weigh you options you need to have at least a rough plan. Also Dec/Jan can be a tough, unpredictable time to train because of weather. You could consider a limited day pass -- maybe four or five days -- and only use for the long trips and use p2p for shorter trips. The best quick way to look at it is -- for example -- if a 5 day pass costs $500 that is $100/day so you use the pass on the days the train ticket exceeds about 70E. If the p2p is less than that then buy p2p. And with a little planning you can still get the discount tickets, especially in Italy.

Both Nigel and Frank have given you good advice. France-Switzerland-Italy Saver passes probably will be your best choice. According to the Railpasses section on this site, if you order your passes by 29 November, you can get 7, 9, or 11 days at 6, 8, or 10 day prices. If your rough itinerary includes some cities and towns in which you know for sure that you will spend at least one night, then you already know the minimum number of travel days you will need for your whole trip. And you may already have a good idea how many days are likely to include longer rides on expensive high-speed trains for which using a pass day makes the most sense. Buy point-to-point tickets for short rides on cheap regional trains. You can get fares for France at voyages-sncf.com (in French) or tgv-europe.com. To keep the second site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site, choose Great Britain as your ticket retrieval country. Get fares for Switzerland on the Swiss Rail site. Get fares for Italy on the Trenitalia site. Note: Trenitalia only shows fares for regional trains up to seven days in advance so enter an arbitrary date within that time frame. New timetables will go into effect throughout most of Europe on 11 December so don't enter any date beyond that on any site. The new timetables are likely to be virtually the same as the current ones.

Eurail recommends you purchase your rail passes before you leave home. Some rail passes, but not all of them, are available in Europe, but generally for more than you would pay in the US. There is a way to minimize what you might pay for a rail pass. It's called a firm itinerary. Personally, I would never spend that much on air fare and fly all night just to get to Europe and say, "Where do I go now". Accommodations are much less if you book them in advance. Often, special advance purchase rail fares are much less than a rail pass. Or, just buy a global pass for the time you will be in Europe. That will be more expensive, but that's the price of indecision.

Most people here do not favor rail passes and mostly with good reason. But in your case, a pass probably makes good sense. As previously noted, get a pass with as many days as you will have longer train journeys. For short day trips, buying a p2p ticket will be cheaper than using a day on your pass. The seat reservations on high speed trains are not an issue, the cost is generally inexpensive and you can pick them up at the station the day before. Buy your rail pass here in the US. You don't buy them in Europe.

We have a pretty good idea of an itinerary but didn't want to set too rigid of a schedule for ourselves in to anything in case something fantastic came up. And we have heard/read that traveling during our particular time frame shouldn't be difficult to locate good prices for accommodations. Its not like we're going to decide to do Paris and then Nicaragua. We just wanted a little wiggle room. Here is the proposed itinerary (starting in Jan as we know what we are doing in Dec): Paris -> Colmar/Strasbourg Strasbourg -> Chamonix OR Luzern Wherever we decide -> Venice Venice -> Florence Florence -> Tuscany (probably bus though)
Tuscany -> Rome The undecided part is we can't figure out whether we want to ski or delve a little into Switzerland. We thought we would channel Jiminy Cricket and let our consciences be our guides once we head for Alsace.

"And we have heard/read that traveling during our particular time frame shouldn't be difficult to locate good prices for accommodations." Maybe, but not necessarily. Chamonix will likely be more expensive than the summer because of the ski season. If you're traveling over the Christmas holiday, this can also be a busy time for the hospitality industry, especially in cities like Paris and Rome.

Jennie, I would suggest the 3-country pass for at least 8 days, if not 10, provided that your trip is 5-6 weeks. It also depends whether it's important to you if you break even on the Pass or not. Get the Pass here (Italy, France, Switzerland) prior to departure. You can avoid the shipping charge...I did If you plan on taking night trains, do without the couchette/sleeper if you have a choice, since that is an extra cost. Your mandatory reservation from Paris-Strasbourg, 2nd class, costs 3 Euro. I travel with a 3 country ten day Pass but not the exact same ones as you. I understand the spontaneous factor in your traveling, especially with full flexibility, which presupposes that you don't mind zipping long distances, day or night, whether departing at 0700 or 1900. True, I agree that for the short rides buy point to point tickets, esp. in Italy.

You have a minumum of five days of train travel in January (six if you don't use buses one day). Since a six-day Saver pass doesn't cost much more than a five-day pass and you can get a seventh day free, I'd choose the six-day pass with the seventh day included. That will give you some flexibility for spur-of-the-moment train rides using your pass. You can always buy p2p tickets as needed for short rides on regional trains in Italy if you run out of pass days. Save your last pass day for Tuscany-Rome.