EuroRail Pass

Hi Keisha, well for starters you are moving around a lot. 13 out of 23 days. That means traveling every day or two. Or maybe you are just stopping by Lucca and Pisa on the way to Cinque Terre? Anyway, I don't think you want a rail pass for most of this trip. The Italy legs are usually cheaper on regional trains or with economy fares bought in advance on Trenitalia. Those legs would be Rome to Florence, and then from Monterosso to either Milan or Florence and from there to Venice. You might find economy fares for those for 19 or 29 euros if you act fast. If you use a pass for those, you must pay a reservation fee of 10 euros. And the regional trains do not require reservations but those legs are so cheap you would not want to use a pass. You probably won't be in Switzerland long enough to make good use of a Swiss Pass. And a Global Pass won't cover Brussels to London onnthe Eurostar,mitt just gives you a discount I believe. But I just checked and you can buy 5 tickets on Eurostar (2 adult and 3 youth) for Aug. 15 for 223 GBP. Price will go up if younwait. So if you want a pass at all it would be for the middle of your trip. And what about Normandy? People seem to talk about renting cars for that so maybe the train doesn't go there. Anyway I hope someone else can help you figure this out for Austria, Swiss, France etc. As I'm no help there. And you might think about cutting out a few stops so you csn spend more time in some of these wonderful places. As it is you have a day or two in each and that is not enough for Rome, Venice, Paris or London for sure.

Keisha, Just to clarify, the replies here are provided by well travelled volunteers rather than Rick or his staff. A Railpass may or may not be the best solution for the rail trips you mentioned. You'll have to do some "number crunching" to determine whether the cost of P-P tickets is higher or lower than the cost of a Pass. One point to keep in mind is that Railpasses DO NOT include the reservation fees which are compulsory on the "premium" trains such as the TGV in France or EuroStar Italia. Especially in Italy, it's IMPORTANT to have reservations as those without face hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot! You may find it very helpful to download the free PDF Railpass Guide. Click the "Railpasses" tab at the top of the page and then look in the lower right corner for the link. I believe there's a "Time & Cost" chart that will help you estimate the cost of P-P tickets. Visiting 14 locations in a time from of 24 days is EXTREMELY ambitious, and I'm not sure will even be possible once the travel time is factored in and considering the distance you're covering. That's an average of 1.7 days per location. Have you accounted for the two travel days to and from Europe? I really believe you'll need to pare down the list somewhat. I'm assuming you've already bought air tickets? Have you also booked Hotels? Good luck and happy travels!

Another problem with passes is that the 3- or 4- country passes are in First Class for adults and Second Class for youths. That means for a family traveling together the parents will pay for a First Class pass but will end up sitting in Second Class, assuming you want to sit with the kids.