My husband and i are looking at getting a 15 day eurail global flexipass. On the eurail website they have travel times from every city that we're planning on visiting; however, I keep reading about the renfe and bahn trains also. Are these included in your eurail pass, or are they separate? Also, any good experience on how reliable the time schedules are for trains? If you have a connecting train, how much time would you give yourself between stops?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
Renfe is the national rail line of Spain; the Bahn is the national rail line of Germany. They run the trains. Eurail doesn't run any trains. It is a subsidiary of the European National Rail companies, like Renfe, the Bahn, French Rail, etc, organized to package and market rail passes. All of the national rail lines accept the Eurail passes. Some trains require a surcharge. ETA: I guess I should qualify that. All of the rail lines in the Eurail group, virtually all of the western continent, but not including UK, accept the pass. The Eurail website has a schedule finding function, but they refer you to national rail websites. IMO, the best source of schedule information is the German Rail (Bahn) website. Transfer time depends on the station and the amount of luggage you are carrying. For a small station with a simple layout and luggage you can carry easily, 5 minutes would be sufficient. In a large station with a multilevel layout and so much luggage you have to find a cart, you're on your own. If you get a schedule for a multi-train connection from the Bahn, you should expect to be able to make the connections.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
A quick comment about any rail pass. Twenty years ago it was no brainer, good deal, to get a rail pass. Just jump on the train and go. These days with supplemental premium fares for the fast trains and the availability of deep discount for advance purchase, it can be very hard to make a rail pass cost effective. So, you must do you home work , and compare p2p tickets with the total cost of the pass. It is rare that a pass saves money unless you are doing a lot of long train rides.
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3287 posts
Emily,where are you and your husband traveling? There may be better options than a 15-day global pass. Maybe a pass for 3 or 4 countries ( can't imagine you are visiting more in 15 days). Or maybe tickets. It all depends on where you are going. People here are really good at helping you work it out if you will say where you are going.
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
Everyone seems to leap towards the global pass first for some reason. Compare it with the cheaper passes for the specific countries you're traveling to. Are you going to be traveling on 15 days? If not, get a shorter pass. And as others have said, the eurail passes are not always the best deal, although in SOME places (that don't require mandatory reservations for fast trains) they can offer flexibility that you might want.