Eurail Pass Confusion

Hey there!

We are flying into London and out of Athens on a 30 day trip in May. We were going to book a Eurail pass (I think it was a flexi pass or something...10 trips within 2 months).

After seeing how many extra fees we would have to pay on top of the $1600 pass (I think it worked out to an extra $400 or $500), we just decided to book point to point. The only trains we haven't been able to book yet are our trains into and out of Slovenia and around Italy.

Now, the reason for a lot of those fees was because we were taking high speed trains and night trains. We have a limited amount of time, and need all the extra hours we can get!

If you have more time and can take a slower train or skip a night train, then the pass may work out best for you! Just be sure to research it as much as you can :)

The pass is good for nearly all trains (at some level) plus some ferries and boats. The only trains I am aware of that a pass is no good on is some private trains in Switzerland, and some suburb/city lines in major cities. Reservations are not required on many trains. Basically if you are looking at a schedule and see a "R", then a reservation is required, and you need to get it before boarding. Trains where reservations are optional, you can board, but might find yourself seat hopping to take unreserved seats or going without, but only on the rare crowded train. Some Fast trains also limit the number of passholder seats, so you may not be able to get on some trains.
If your travels will be limited to a few days, a flexipass may be better. Also, for your route, the Eurostar(Chunnel) is not included in the pass, though there are a limited number of discounted tickets for passholders. Probably best just to buy a ticket for that, plus the pass is not valid in Britain.

Convenience is no bargain on this one. You don't need a Eurail pass in Italy. P2P is less expensive. In Italy, you will pay a supplemental fee of 18Euro for each ride on a Eurostar train. The seat reservation fee is included in the P2P fare. Next, there are private train systems in Italy that will not accept the Eurail pass. The Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento is one such train system. P2P is much cheaper in Italy and very easy to do.

Second, a Eurail pass is not good in England. You can see England, Scotland and Wales missing from the Global Pass map on the Eurail website. Third, I think that there is an added reservation fee in France.

I would concur. In Italy you will probably pay almost as much just for reservations as you would pay for point-point tickets. In cities, a local (metro) ticket is often less than a day of a railpass and covers all the modes of transport. For the longest days of your trip, and those across borders, a Eurail 3 country (Italy, Switzerland, France) Select pass for just that number of days might pay, but I don't think a global pass would.

How many travel days in each place? The best deal (depending on what you want to do) may be a Eurail Select 3 or 4-country pass, plus point-to-point tickets in Italy. If you have an itinerary pretty well sketched out, then I would recommend you do the math with the help of something like Rail Europe to at least get base prices.

I think you will find that the best will either be point-to-point tickets in Italy plus a Eurail select 4-country pass, or point-to-point tickets in Italy plus a Swiss pass, plus a 3-country Eurail select pass.