Hi. I'm considering buying a two-month Eurail pass, but now I'm second guessing that idea. In reading all the details, it states that the pass can't be used for local/regional trains. We will be using public transportation of some kind (bus, metro, train) nearly daily during our two months in Europe. So would it be better for me to count the actual travel days to a new city instead and buy a pass that reflects that instead (say a 15 day pass)? We have a minimum of 22 cities we'll travel to, plus multiple trains in between those destinations. There's quite a learning curve for the Eurail pass and how it works, and train travel in general. This is our first European trip, so any useful advice would be appreciated.
Posted by
Green Bay
21942 posts
Eurail pass is good on regional/local trains, but not subways, street cars, buses. The biggest drawbacks are that high speed trains in France, Italy, Spain, Eurostar trains between the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands require you to purchase separate seat reservations. This can be from 10 EUR and up per leg.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6841 posts
What countries will you be traveling in? That can make a difference in terms of whether the pass makes sense or not.
Posted by
Washington DC
28934 posts
We really need details about where you plan to go--as much as you can tell us at this point.
Posted by
1217 posts
Read the fine print. A two month pass may only allow so many days travel within that two months, not infinite travel. With 22 cities in two months you will be doing a lot of travel.
Posted by
California 🦋
5334 posts
Crystal,
You may want to read this very informative website,
www.seat61.com,
before deciding to buy your passes.
It may be less expensive to book point-to-point tickets, especially if discounted tickets are booked in advance, but this depends on which countries you plan to visit.
Posted by
Fort Myers, FL
1998 posts
You can use a Eurail Pass on local/ regional trains.
If cost is your concern, I would look at buying the two month Global Pass. This allows you to travel unlimited train travel every day for two months. An adult first class two month ticket is priced at $1,112. A minimum of 22 days of travel will cost you $51.00 a day for the pass. Depending where you are traveling to, I can assure you, you will come close to $51.00 per day, unless you are just staying in one country. If that is the case, there are cheaper, but more restrictive Eurail passes. A second class Global ticket is about $40.00 a day for those 22 days.
If you take local/regional trains for day trips in addition to the 22 days of one way travel, your cost becomes even cheaper per day. If you buy point to point tickets during this trip and day tripping, remember that is a round trip cost. My advice, because this is your first European trip is to buy the Global Pass. As was stated, some travel trains may need seat reservations, but those are relatively nominal fees.
The other benefit to Eurail passes is the ease of use, especially on local/regional non-seat reservation trains. After this trip you will learn more about train travel through experience. Many seasoned travelers here who are so familiar with purchasing train tickets on the fly, forget how daunting a first time trip can be.
In taking a long trip like you are doing, depending on the number of places to travel, I still sometimes buy a Eurail pass because of cost and ease of use. Even in the end if I spend a couple hundred dollars extra on a 60-80 day trip, I am already spending thousands. A couple hundred for convenience on ease of travel is worth it. I always budget a 5-10% amount for "oh crap moments".
Enjoy your trip wherever you are going.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6841 posts
I will admit to never trying a Eurail pass because every time I've looked at it, it was way more expensive than point to point. With so many countries now having the machines with an English option, I feel its very easy to buy train tickets the day of travel. When I hear about seat reservations, etc., with the Eurail pass, that seems complicated to me.
Again, it really depends on the countries you are visiting. For example, Switzerland has its own passes that do work well. Germany has regional train tickets that are quite a bargain and easy to buy.
If you are taking high speed trains, that is where it gets slightly complicated if you want to buy those tickets in advance. But, yesterday, I purchased tickets online for the faster train that goes Naples to Rome and I was surprised at how much easier the process has become.
If you do decide on the pass, the RS office sells them, and I think they are occasionally on sale.
Posted by
SoCal
1552 posts
We had 3-month, 1st-class unlimited Eurail passes this summer. Worked great. The only regional train that wasn't covered was a round-trip from Lecce to Gallipoli in Puglia; all other trips were covered. It even covered the subway in Naples (the line that's operated by Trenitalia) and a couple of S-Bahns in Germany. We did need to pay seat reservation fees in Italy and Switzerland. We saved a fair amount of money and a lot of time compared to purchasing individual tickets.
The budget benefits of the pass are greater in some countries than in others. France is probably cheaper to do individual tickets because of the seat reservation fees. Also, benefits are likely much less if you plan to travel second class.