Ensuring I get the correct Eurail Pass

Railpasses are seldom worth it bcuz 2d class fares are much cheaper and point-to-point tix are almost never sold out.

Beware of RailSaver. They only take into account full fares in their calculations, not discounted fares which abound in Germany. That tends to "oversell" passes, but then they sell railpasses.

Note: A Select Saver Pass is for 8 or 10 days only, not 9.

I think you should carefully consider alternate fares and whittle down the number of days, definitely to 8, maybe 6. For instance, on the Prague to Basel night train, in addition to the rail pass, you would need a Czech Rail ticket from Prague to the German Border. On top of that would be a supplement (reservation) fee for the accommodations. The supplement alone for 2 people in a deluxe double compartment is €200. Add to that the CR ticket and a day of your railpass.

If you book in advance from CityNightLine (on DB) you can get a SparNight (SavingNight) fare (rail and accommodations) of €238 for two, only €38 more than the cost of the reservations alone. One day of the rail passes, plus the Czech ticket is certainly more than €38. I would try to book the SparNight tickets before I would commit to an extra day of the railpass.

The difference between a 10 day Select Saver and an 6 day Select Saver is about $40 per person per day.

For €10 ($16) per person per day, 2 people can go anywhere by regional rail and bus with a Minigruppenkarte in the Rhine-Mosel transit district (www.vrm-info.de), which covers roughly Oberwesel to Cochem or Linz. For €13,50 per person per day, you can go anywhere in the Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland, roughly Mainz to Trier or Bonn.

K-D, which runs the boats on the Rhine and Mosel (www.k-d.de) charges about €27 to go from Bacharach to Koblenz, and if you arrive in Bacharach by train you get a 20% discount off that.

To go from anywhere on the Rhine to Cologne, use a €26 (for 2) Rhineland-Pfalz ticket to get to Bonn, and a €6,60 local ticket from there to Cologne, about €20 ($32), per person.

Thanks Lee!

We already purchased the Prague to Basel overnight ticket with the upgrade accomodations and even purchased the Prague to Czech border ticket early for convenience (our first time).

Really great points on the trains and boats on the Rhine. I haven't looked into ticket-to-ticket there so that makes sense to consider a 5 or 6 day based on what you found. Railsaver.com does suggest 5 day (but it always does it seems) so I wanted to be sure it was right. Thanks again!

"We'll also use the last day to get to the airport from downtown Amsterdam."

Assuming you are leaving from Schiphol Airport, the train from downtown only costs €3,80 pP one way. Hardly worth a railpass day for that.

For the trip from the Rhein area to Köln (Cologne), I suggested a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket for €26, plus a local ticket from Bonn to Köln for "€6,60". Actually, it is €6,30 pP one way. For that you get not only the train to Köln's main station (Hauptbahnhof), but also use of other transportation inside Köln to get to your hotel, as long as it doesn't take more than 3 hours from Bonn, and you go directly (no detours, round about, or backtracking). Interruptions or changing of conveyances are allowed.

If you want to use the transit system in Köln more the same day, instead of the single trip tickets, buy a Preisstufe 4 (price level 4) Tagesticket 5 (for up to 5 people), for €20. That will give you unlimited use of all the transit system in Köln for the rest of the day.

Note that with a railpass you have unlimited use of only the regular trains and S-Bahn in Köln. With the Tagesticket, you can also use the buses and Stadtbahn.

Are you going to spend a day in Köln. An all day "City-Ticket" costs €9,80 for both of you (actually, up to 5 people). The City-Ticket is valid for all means of transportation in Köln (reg. rail, S-bahn, Stadtbahn, and buses), compared to just reg. rail and S-Bahn with a railpass.

You have some time before you have to order a railpass. I think you had better think this through.

The first five days of a 3 country Saver pass cost $400, $80 or €50 per day. So you need to be replacing fares or €50 for you 5 longest days, or making up for it in days 6-8, in order to make the pass pay. So far we have identified that downtown Amsterdam to the A/P should only cost €3,80 each. A day running around Köln would cost €9,80. Running around in the middle Rhein will cost €20-€26 per day. We're not even close here.

You four longest days, as I see it, are Prague to Interlaken, Interlaken to the middle Rhine, the middle Rhine to Köln, and Köln to Amsterdam. According to DB, you can get a Europa-Spezial-Niederlande fare of €29 to Amsterdam. Even it you wait until that fare is not available, full fare is still only €55,60. As already pointed out, the Middle Rhein to Köln will only cost about €20, €26 if you want to use the transport in Köln that day. -Continued-

I looked up Interlaken to St. Goar on DB and found a Europa-Spezial Schweiz fare of €49. As for the reservation you already made for Prague to Basel, you probably need to call CNL at (49) 1805 14 15 14. Several years ago, they told me that to use a supplement (reservation) you don't necessarily need a railpass - just tickets covering the entire stretch of your route. I think that a Savings Fare "Global" ticket for a seat on that train at €29 should qualify as a rail ticket. But ask them.

So, to cover what the railpass covers, I get €133. You need €200, €67 more, to break ever for the first four days, and another €50 for the fifth day, whatever it is.

Oh, using a railpass gets you all the way from Prague to Interlaken. My way only gets you to Basel. To get the rest of the way, you need a €29 Anschluss ticket from Basel to Interlaken. Still doesn't bring you up to €200 for the first four days.

The only thing I can't figure out is what trains you might want to ride in the Berner Oberland, and what you might save in discounts there.

Lee, you are amazing!

I need to read over this some more so I can digest it all.

As a side note, I already purchased the deluxe sleeper car for 2 of us on the Prague to Basel overnight which is pricey (and less of course with the Eurail pass which I need to present or pay the difference) but done (we figured with the cost of hotels we are okay with the cost each). I think the least I can get is the 3 country 5 day Eurail Select Saver which I'm okay with.

In the Bernese Oberland we do plan on doing the Golden Rail out of Lucerne on the way from Basel to Interlaken (seemed like a good use of train travel to the same destination) and that gets discounted with the Eurail pass I think 25%. We also plan to go to the top of Schilthorn which gets discounted at least 25% and plan on taking the various cable cars, gondolas and stuff for fun in addition to hiking where we are able in that whole region.

Thanks again - this is SO helpful!