EuRail

You could search tis site for threads on Eurail passes, the consensus seems to be that they are overpriced for Italy and inconvenient for France, where reservations available for pass holders are limited.

You should check the national rail sites and compare pricing with the pass price (be sure to include reservation fees with the pass). If you can commit to traveling on a specific date and time, you can save lots of money by buying super economy or economy tickets from the national rail system.

There is no 3-country pass, only versions for one, two, or four countries. If you have your train plan set, you can compare prices, however, the relative value and convenience of a rail pass is best in Switzerland, where separate seat reservations are neither required nor limited and advance-purchase train ticket discounts are not an option.

• For a direct train from Lourdes to Paris, book about 3 months ahead for the best ticket price.
• Italian trains also offer advance discounts, but your travel distances may not be as long or expensive there.
• As on your previous question, I still recommend flying from Switzerland to Lourdes. See www.skyscanner.com.

P.S. To answer your other question, yes a two- or four-country pass could cover trains between Zurich, Lourdes, and Paris, but the TGV fast-trains across France require advance seat reservations and limit the number of place for pass holders, and the reservation fees are quite high for trains departing directly from Swiss cities. That, combined with the actual train schedule, are what prompted me to recommend flying to Lourdes.

You don't need railpasses in Italy because the point to point tickets are so cheap. Buy them ahead of time on www.trenitalia.com and hopefully you can get the super economy tickets. Reservations already included. You can also just walk up to the ticket counter and buy them after you arrive in Italy.

Switzerland - best seen with some sort of Swiss Pass. The most economical is the Half Fare Card which reduces your price by 50% wherever you go even to the super expensive Jungfrau.

Paris - passes are not worth it as reservations for eurail passes are very limited. You'll have a ticket but you may not be able to get a reservation with it. Just buy point to point at http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/

Just say not to the Eurail Pass because they're a relic of olden times...just like Traveler's Cheques.

There is an airport a short taxi or bus ride from Lourdes. I believe the name is Lourdes/Tarbes (sp?). Minimally Ryan air flies into that the airport, as does Air France. Definitely fly, it's faster and usually cheaper. You can check skyscanner.com for the schedules.

If you go to www.eurail.com/plan-your-trip you will be able to see where you can go with a 4-country Eurail pass and also see how t go ahead and reserve trains that require reservations to ensure you get a seat. Many trains require no reservations. I'd make reservations though just to be sure. We travel all over Europe with Eurail passes.

Hi,

The three country Select Pass has unfortunately been abolished. You can get around that by making other train arrangements. That was the Pass I had used often. Now I use a two country Pass, fits my purposes fine. You don't need a Pass to include every country on your trip itinerary. Italy is not worth it to be included on a Pass. Use the point to point tickets in Italy.

Despite the above recommendation that a Eurorail pass makes travel easy, that's probably not applicable if you're traveling in France -- unless you can make all reservations LONG before you go. The number of seats available for passes in French trains is very limited. Therefore, there may be lots of seats available, but you can't get one if you are traveling on a pass. I learned the hard way. I tried to reserve a few weeks ahead, and there were no seats for passholders. Consequently, I could not use one segment of the pass that I had paid for, and I had to pay full fare for a regular ticket. And this was not in high season or on a particular busy travel day.

In addition, you will almost always pay more for travel with a pass than by pre-purchasing individual tickets at a discount.