Eurail Cans and Cannots, Help?

DO NOT BUY A RAIL PASS! It will be one of the worst options for your trip. First, you need a 7-country pass (covering Netherlands, BElgium, France, Swtizerland, Germany, Austria and Italy), because you must have a pass even for countries you cross but don't alight in. Now, let's examine the sectors: 1) Amsterdam - Paris: the cheapest Thaly advanced tickets sell for € 35, which is LESS than the compulsory reservation fee they would charge your to use a day from your pass, and which is also subject to quotas 2) Paris-Luzern: once again, you will need a train (TGV) subject to quota and reservation fees. 3) Luzern-München: lowest advance-purchase tickets sell from € 39. 4) München-Venezia: once again, advanced fares ara available 5) Venice-Rome: reservation for passholders is compulsory, buy either an ItaloTreno or Trenitalia advanced fare.

Just a comment on Andre's excellent suggestions. The new Italo train will not accept the Eurail pass. Second, the thoiught of just showing your pass and getting on board is fantasy in many of the countires you want to visit. As Andre points out, the Thalys train between Amsterdam and Paris has one of the highest supplemental fees in Europe for passholders. As Andre also points out, you can by a special fare ticket for less than the supplemental fee. Plus, the seats for pass holders is limited. Once in France, they too limit seats for passholders and you won't just jump on the TGV trains either. Once in Italy, the seats for passholders are not limited by there is a 10E supplemental fee for each high-speed that you will be on. You won't just jump on those trains either. It's a lot more work but try pricing out a few of the point-to-point tickets. Yes, you have to go online with several different rail systems but we can tell you which ones and how to do it.

"you need a 7-country pass (covering Netherlands, BElgium, France, Swtizerland, Germany, Austria and Italy)" First, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg are not considered separate countries under Eurail, but one "country", Benelux. So make that six countries. Second, you don't have to have a pass covering all the countries you go through; you only have to have some kind of ticket coverage for each country. You can purchase a separate point-to-point ticket for Austria (Rosenheim or Kiefersfelden, Germany, to Brennero, Italy). So, a 5 country pass will do. Since there are no six country passes, including Austria would mean purchasing a global pass, which would probably increase the cost significantly. However, if you do the math, you will probably find that you can get p-p tickets, particularly advance purchase ones, cheaper than using a rail pass. And, with p-p tickets you don't have to worry about reservations. BTW, you can get reservations for many trains through RailEurope, but the markup over European prices is often pretty steep. For a large number of reservations, it might be better to go through Euraide, www.euraide.com. They sell you the reservations at European prices (charged to your credit card in Euro) and charge you one flat fee (for consulting and shipping) for your entire order.

Hi, If you choose to get a Pass, I would suggest a three country Pass, with France, Germany, and Switzerland listed. In your case, I am not even sure I would get a Pass... not for 6 days. Normally I get the max. ...a Pass covering 10 days for 3 countries. I don't include the flanking countries on a Pass since it is not worth it, esp in the case of Italy where I would use point to point tickets. No need to list Holland either. Just because the route might take you through a country not listed (say Austria), get a ticket covering only that portion. If you're going through Germany (say Munich) and Austria, there are no mandatory reservations (day trains). Youi might stand but even that is unlikely to be for long. If you do Munich-Venice by night CNL, then the reservations are mandatory, even with your Pass.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It sounds like it would be cheaper to get point-to-point tickets, but I don't really see where these prices are coming from. Here are the dates that we NEED to travel based on sleeping arrangements which are booked already: September 25 Ams-Paris (€35) September 27 Paris-Lucerne (€80e, couldn't find one site to quote me) September 30 Lucerne-Munich (€60) October 3 Munich-Venice (€60)
October 5 Venice-Rome (€50) The numbers by the legs are approximate from when I priced these out on some websites (some of these I could understand only the numbers, so I'm not sure how I would be able to reserve a ticket) and it came to around €285, which is cheaper than a pass. It looked like the Deutsche Bahn website and the Italia site were the only two that I could easily order by mail. Some of the others asked about where I'd like to pick them up, so maybe that would work but I'd like to have a folder full of documentation and tickets before I leave. Am I on the right track? Also, I'm guessing there will be some significant reservation fees on top of the fare prices? Though it may be included for the German and Italian fares. I really appreciate all the help. I've only ever been on a short trip to Paris so I can't wait to see more of Western Europe!!

Hi, neighbor! Amsterdam-Paris: Book now at thalys.com to get the lowest discount fare of €35.00. Paris-Lucerne: The cheapest discount fare tickets are gone. If you're willing to depart at 06:15, you still can get a fare of €70.60. If you depart at 07:25, you still can get a fare of €89.50. Book at tgv-europe.com. Uncheck the default box on the home page that says "Direct trains only." Say that you live in Great Britain or you'll be diverted to the US Rail Europe site. Then choose to stick with tgv-europe or you'll be diverted to the UK Rail Europe site. Choose to pick up your tickets in France. Lucerne-Munich: The cheapest discount fares are gone, but you still can get a fare as low as €59.00 by booking now on the German Rail site. Munich-Venice: The cheapest discount fares are gone; but if you book now on the German Rail site, you still can get a fare of €59.00 on the direct EC train that departs at 11:31. Venice-Rome: The cheapest discount fares are gone, but if you book today on the Trenitalia site, you still can get a fare as low as €29.00 for some departure times. For any trains that require reservations, the reservations come with the tickets and are included in the fares.

It looks like I'll be going this route (no pun intended). Thanks for the good information. If I book a ticket and it says the specific date and time (which is nonrefundable and can't be changed as a super early saver fare), I can assume that the price I pay includes the reservation right? I've used trains and subways in Paris briefly, New York, Tokyo, and some other big cities, but I've never been as time-restricted as I may be during some of the Europe rail changes/connections. What should my minimum or ideal change time be if I'm bound by my saver fare contract to catch a train in a station where I've never been before and cannot speak the language?

Your "minimum" change time in a station very much depends on the size of the station. It also depends on how much luggage you will have, and if you need extra time getting up and down stairs with it. Many, but not all, track changes involve going up down one flight of stairs, walking through an underpass, and going up another flight of stairs to your new track; often there is no elevator or escalator. Others, like Rome, are a terminus; this means you walk all the way to the front of the train, walk along the tracks to your new one, then walk back along your new track to your carriage. While this means no stairs, it can actually take longer due to the distance. Time required is much less dependent on language, as you're mostly looking for train numbers, track numbers, and city names (as long as you recognize the name of the last city on your train route, in the local language, you're fine). Also remember, most of the people in each station are used to using it. While taking a train in Europe will be a new experience for you, for locals, it's as routine as driving to the mall. Don't be afraid to ask for help - from anyone but an obvious tourist! So, we need to know which stations you will have to change in. For example, Milan's station is huge, in addition to being a terminus - I'd allow 15 minutes minimum. Other stations only have a few tracks, and 5 minutes is fine. And in some, you literally walk across the platform, and even 2 minutes is fine (as long as the train is on time).

"I can assume that the price I pay includes the reservation right?" If you take Thalys between Amsterdam and Paris, yes. It works like an airline, and your ticket and reservation are one and the same. On Deutsche Bahn, no. You pay an additional nominal fee for the reservation, if you want one. If you buy the tickets online, it will display this option. "if I'm bound by my saver fare contract to catch a train in a station where I've never been before and cannot speak the language?" Although I can't vouch for all of the stations on your list, in many major stations, English is the second language on displays and over the public address system. The layout of Amsterdam Centraal is as Harold described in the first example. Munich Hbf is like his description of Rome.

You can consider this a post of shame. I just booked the tickets for the first leg, Amsterdam-Paris, and paid for it. Upon getting the confirmation email, and I don't understand how this is possible, the first names and surnames are backwards, so we're Smith John and Doe Jane instead of John Smith and Jane Doe. Our passports will obviously have both names on them, so I'm guessing this won't be a problem, but does anyone know for sure? It concerns me a bit that the early bird tickets are non-changeable and non-refundable, even though I do want the same people at the same time. The only contact by which I can verify seems to be a .35e/minute phone (plus international fees). Anyone willing to give me any reassurance that we won't have a problem getting on the train? I really don't know how this happened.

That crap happens all the time on all kinds of stuff. Nobody gives a rip. It probably happened because you didn't real the field names. Go back to whatever you were doing. Non-issue.

Name matching is not essential for embarking on a train. They will allow you to board if the only discrepancy is an inversion of first name and surname.

Excellent! Thanks for your help, everyone! I have one last question. I'm all booked everywhere, and I assume there will be space saved for me on all of the trains because they're all only valid for certain cars and times, but I don't have seat numbers for each leg. Example: Lucerne-Munich stops in Zurich, and I have seat assignments from Zurich to Munich, but not from Luzern to Zurich. I don't care where my friend and I sit and I'm assuming the seats couldn't be chosen because I booked through Deutsche Bahn and Luzern-Zurich is a Swiss route.
Is there any reason to doubt that we'll be able to get on board, or will we definitely be allowed on and just obtain our seats on the travel day?

Your Lucern-Zurich leg will be on a regional train. There is open seating on these trains and no reservations are possible. If all seats are taken (highly unlikely since the trains run about three times/hour), you can stand.