Global Rail Pass/Reservations

You are not naive. I don't know where you are going in Europe, but it sounds like you've gotten bad advice. It would be a good idea to fill out your itinerary so some of the experts here can help you.

Something similar happened to me the first time I got a rail pass. Here are a few things that should help. 1. There are a couple of really knowledgeable experts on this forum who helped me. If you post your specific routes, chances are they will help you figure out if you need reservations or not. 2. Originally I thought I needed more reservations that I really ended up needing. Between what the forum experts helped me with combined with what I figured out by reading the fine print, it ended up being about half of the reservations that I actually needed compared with what I originally thought. 3. In most cases, you can buy your reservation when you get to Europe which is much cheaper. Rail Europe is more expensive and I only used it to buy one reservation because it involved France and my trip would have blown up if I was not on that train. Other countries do not inventory seats for rail passes so you can buy them over there. I hope that helps. Good luck!!

I agree. Depending on the countries and how long each day's trip is, I would think you could do better with advance purchase, discounted tickets. Of course, that requires you to commit to specific trains (time and date), but lack of planning (some call it flexibility) is expensive. You really need to post your itinerary. In my opinion, if you are traveling long enough and far enough for a railpass to pay, you are spending too much time on the trains. Use the German Rail (Bahn) website to plan connections and get tickets in Germany. Reservations are not required for most trains in Germany, but, if you desire them, you can get family reservations for most trains in Germany for 8€. Yes you should have reservations for the Munich to Venice night train, but with advance purchase, you can get three in a four person couchette for less than 300 Euro. "we needed to get 'reservations' ahead of time for any trains going in and out of France" Not exactly true. Any train? The TGV in France requires reservations. A reservation comes with the price of a ticket if you purchase a full fare ticket. If you have a railpass, reservations are not always available. Regional trains do not require reservations, nor are reservations available.

Thank you for the helpful replies. Here is our itinerary: Arrive Frankfurt - train to Saarbrucken, 1 nt. Saarbrucken - train to Paris, 4 nts. Paris - train to Lauterbrunnen/Swiss Alps, 3 nts. Lauterbrunnen - train to Cinque Terre, 3 nts. Cinque Terre - train to Florence (day trip) - train to Rome, 3 nts. Rome - train to Venice, 1 nt. Venice - night train to Munich, 1 nt., Munich 2 nts. Munich - bus to Prague, 4 nts.
Prague - bus then train to Frankfurt, fly home When we made reservations with Rail Europe there were various segments we were told were required, and some that weren't covered by the rail pass. For example, Paris to Lauterbrunnen the route was Paris/Basel - required ($42 ea./$126), Basel/Interlaken OST - required ($13 ea./$39), Interlaken OST/Lauterbrunnen - not covered by rail pass ($11 ea./$33).

Kari, what RailEurope has on their website are all of the supplemental fees and reservation charges by most of the train systems in Europe to ride their nicer and faster trains. Unfortunately, they don't inform you or point to these extra pages. I have them bookmarked. If you are traveling between Amsterdam and Paris on the Thalys train, look to pay an extra 39Euro. Plus, Thalys limits their seats to passholders. France limits their TGV tickets to passholders also. Their extra fee is 9Euro for each TGV you will be on. Italy charges 10Euro for each fast Frecci train you will be on. If you intend to travel into the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland and go up to the tops of the Jungfrau and Schilthorn, your pass will only get you a 25% discount on the really expensive fares to the mountain tops. How old is your teenage son? If under 16, he rides free in Switzerland with the free Swiss Family Card as long as one parent has a valid ticket. Finally, some countries don't even accept the pass. The siren song of the global railpass is so sweet until you see the rocks. If you have a bit of time, you can do your own planning, buy tickets in advance and save money. It does take some time and you do have to do your homework. We can refer you to all of the train and plane websites to make this happen. I just had a nephew return from 6 countries in Europe. He was going to pay $1,500 for a global pass. We made all of his travel arrangements for $800 including a plane flight from Prague to Amsterdam that the pass would not cover. The train was 12 hours. We can help you with this. In reverse, here I am planning a family trip to Denali via Anchorage and the Denali Star train.

3 Global Eurail Saver passes at ~$770/person plus $900 in reservations = almost $1100/person, or $110 per day per person, $330 for all three of you. I'm assumeing your son is over 15 and therefore an adult, at least for German Rail. If he is under 15, he is free on German trains. First, FRA to Saarbrücken, without any Saving Fare tickets (Savings Fares are not a good idea because your flight can be late), is, at most, 150€ for three adults. Right now, you can get an advance purchase Saver Fare for the next day, when you know you'll be there, Saarbrücken to Paris, from German Rail, for 117€, including reservations, for three adults. As for Paris to Lauterbrunnen, perhaps someone familiar with French and Swiss Rail can do better, but you can get advance purchase tickets for all three of you from Paris to Offenburg, Germany, for 147€, then from Offenburg to Lauterbrunnen, for 87€. Again, from Venice to Munich, 3 persons in a 4 person couchette is 297€. With advance purchase, the bus from Munich to Prague is as low as 87€ for all three of you. Finally, the bus from Prague and an ICE from Nürnberg to Frankfurt, is no more than 132€. This is just an example of what you might find by doing point-point tickets on you own rather than a rail pass and reservations from RailEurope.

"The siren song of the global railpass is so sweet until you see the rocks." I intend to use this at every opportunity, because it's so true! Kari: To get train routes and schedules within Europe, use the Bahn (German rail) site, with Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/db_tips.htm That site will only have prices and allow booking for trains that start or end in Germany (Frankfurt to Saarbrucken, Saarbrucken to Paris, Venice to Munich, Munich to Prague, and Prague to Frankfurt). For Paris to Lauterbrunnen, use SNCF (French Rail) http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/. Choose "France" as your ticket collection country, and refuse to be redirected to Rail Europe if asked. For Lauterbrunnen to Cinque Terre, use Swiss Rail http://tinyurl.com/mc7g322. Be aware that the initial prices shown here assume you have a half-fare card. Whether to get a half-fare card, a Swiss Pass, or no pass is a whole other discussion. For Cinque Terre to Florence, Florence to Rome, and Rome to Venice, use Trenitalia, following Ron In Rome's tutorial: http://tinyurl.com/c4t693b You may need more help with these, as it is not "easy" or "self-explanatory"; you can search for other posts on these routes, or post another note. Yes, it is a bit of work, but as you can see from Lee's post, the potential savings are gargantuan.

Kari, You've received lots of great advice so far, which I'm sure at this point must seem quite overwhelming. I'm assuming you've already purchased the Global Railpasses? I also have some comments..... > Frankfurt to Saarbrucken - there are two rail stations at the Frankfurt airport, a Regionalbahnhof and a Fernbahnhof. The train you'll be using may depart from either one and travel time will be as short as ~2H:07M, possibly with one or more changes. What time does your flight arrive? > Saarbrucken to Paris - an easy 1H:48M if you choose a direct train. You'll arrive at Paris Est so will have to get from there to your hotel via Metro or other means. Which part of Paris is your hotel located? > Paris to Lauterbrunnen - you'll likely depart from Gare de Lyon, so again you'll have to use Metro to get there. The first leg will be via TGV at 300 kmH and then changes at Basel and Interlaken Ost. You should be able to buy your reservations for your next trip at any SNCF Boutique in Paris. Reservations for Pass holders may be limited, so you may have to end up buying tickets. > Lauterbrunnen to Cinque Terre - that will take the better part of a day, but it's very straight forward. The easiest trip (IMHO) will be a departure at 07:03, arriving Monterosso at 15:02 (only 3 changes). > C.T. to Florence - I'd suggest using a train with only 1 change at Pisa Centrale, perhaps departing Monterosso at 11:04. You can buy the reservation for that trip at the full service ticket office at the station in Monterosso. I'm using Monterosso as an example, since you didn't indicate which of the five towns you'd be staying in. It's easy to get from there to any of the other towns in a few minutes. continued......

Kari - part 2...... One important point to note regarding rail travel in Europe is that many cities have more than one station. When buying tickets or reservations, you'll need to know the local names for stations. In Florence you'll be going to Firenze Santa Maria Novella (often abbreviated as 'SMN'), in Rome the main station is Roma Termini and in Venice you'll be going to Venezia Santa Lucia. Continuing with your trips..... > Florence to Rome - there are two services operating on this route, Trenitalia and Italo. You'll have to use Trenitalia as Italo doesn't accept Railpasses. That's a very easy trip at 300 kmH on the Freccia trains, with some great scenery. You can buy reservations for your ongoing journey at Roma Termini at the ticket office or Kiosks. > Rome to Venice - again an easy trip via Freccia high speed trains. > Other three trips - I'm not as familiar with the German rail system, but Lee and the others have provided lots of good information. While in Prague, you might enjoy taking a www.segwayfun.eu/en/ tour (this is the one I used, but there's at least one other Segway tour company). They're a LOT of fun and it sure beats a walking tour! You may find these short videos on rail travel to be helpful: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AxtbifeoBY www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBLrjKFP9Xw www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1MOAlpPLzE Happy travels!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post your suggestions and share your knowledge. This entire process is quite overwhelming, so it's nice to know that there are people out there that have done it all before and are willing to offer advice. I'm sure I'll be posting additional questions as we work our way through everything. All the best.