EuroRail Pass

1. Ten years ago I bought my last rail pass. When I got home, I added up the fares on the trains I actually took and found that I just about broke even. Had I not had the rail pass I would have chosen different trains and would have saved money. Since that time, I've become more aware of savings available from German Rail (you can go from anywhere in Germany to anywhere else starting for €29 with advance purchase). Now,I check before I go, and a pass never comes close to being cost effective. In the last 52 days in Europe, I've averaged €15/day for transportation. The most I've ever spent in a day on pass-covered travel was €47,50. That was in Austria and I had to pay full fare because I was traveling alone. Had I been with someone, I only would have paid €28 for 2 (Einfach Raus Ticket). Only you can determine whether a pass will work for you and which one to get. Make an itinerary and look up fares on the national rail websites (Rick has a list under "Compare Train Ticket Costs". If you use the fares on RailEurope, understand that for some countries the fares they give are probably 20% higher than the full fare at a counter over there, and maybe five times the discount fares. 2. Understand that Eurail passes are not available to European residents, so they are not that readily available over there. They are sold at a few major train station, but not every pass type, and the cost is more than over here. See here.

Tracy,
Without a point-to-point itinerary, I don't think anyone can answer this question definitively. You'd have to price out the costs of each leg of the journey to see if it's worthwhile in price (and time!). I would also expect that you would fly from Dublin to the next stage (Netherlands?) of your trip. A rail pass would be worthless to you end up flying several legs. I haven't purchased a Eurrail pass in recent years (a Britrail pass is the closest I've come), but I don't believe you can purchase them after arrival. I may be wrong.

1. Select or Global depends on how many days you need to be traveling. Count up the number of days you need to be on a train and compare the costs of the select pass vs. global. Don't rule out point to point tickets, either. With the cost of reservations (which are required on the fastest trains or you get a BIG fine, and they do check), the cost of a railpass is not your only rail cost. You can use www.bahn.com to see costs and whether reservations are required for the legs you are going on (indicated by a little R). 2. You can only buy a Eurail pass in the U.S., or pay a lot more at select locations in Europe (and not many places sell them). We just went to Europe in May-June of this year and bought a global US pass.