I'm going to spend a month touring the UK and Ireland with my two grandchildren, a 14 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. I don't want to drive. We'll spend two weeks in the UK and two weeks in Ireland. We'll fly into London and out of Belfast. Does it make sense to buy a Eurail pass?
Posted by
Washington, DC, USA
571 posts
Kathy, I don't believe any Eurail pass covers the British Isles. You could get a Britrail Pass, or a Britrail + Ireland Pass if you're entering the Republic of Ireland, but whether it makes financial sense depends on the details of your trip, particularly how many days you intend to use the train systems. Personally, we (a couple, no children) found the Britrail pass to be worthwhile in terms of cost and convenience for two weeks in England and Scotland. I've never been to Ireland, but I've read that trains are not necessarily the best choice of transportation to some locations. You may want to plan your itinerary first and then see how much the cost of point-to-point transportation will be and then compare that to the costs of the pass options.
Happy travels!
Posted by
Clarksville, TN, USA
959 posts
Kathy, not sure specifically where you're going, but we refused to drive when we went, and this is how we did it: Train from Dublin to Galway Bus from Galway to Portstewart (via Derry, I think there was a train in between, but can't remember which part) Bus then train from Portstewart to Belfast Plane from Belfast to Edinburgh Train for a day trip from Edinburgh to Glasgow Plane for day trip to London Plane from Edinburgh to Dublin (Surprisingly, the flights were dirt cheap...)
It can be done depending on which cities you're going to. Although a lot of people on here don't fear driving over there, my husband refused to drive, and I'm glad because I think we'd be divorced if we had!!! ;) We would have gone to Dingle had we been willing to drive. Oh, and we didn't get a Eurail pass. The options weren't going to make sense financially...
Posted by
kansas, us
33 posts
i will moosh off any responses you get... it seems that the majority of people out don't use them much...
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
As Matt said, you're just going to have to do the math on this one yourself. In Ireland, the train system is not as extensive as in England, and depending on where you intend to visit, there might not be train service at all (or you might have to do train plus bus to get to some locations).