For example, if I have a rail pass for Germany and Switzerland, but can I use the rail pass to travel from Germany to Italy, even thought Italy is not included on my pass? Does only the country of departure matter on the pass, or the pass has to include both the countries of departure and arrival?
Thank you for your help!
If I understand your question correctly. --- YES.. If you have a rail pass you must have a pass for every country that you travel in. Typically speaking, if you are traveling from Germany to Italy you really have two tickets -- Germany to the Italian border and from the border to where ever you are going in Italy. You can use your pass in Germany to get to a border town but then you will need a ticket to go further.
PS.. Do you homework and make sure you do need a pass. The days of a rail pass being a no-brainer good deal are long gone. Most people now use rail passes for convenience and not to save money.
You can use your pass only in countries you purchased on the pass. In your case, if you travel through Switzerland from Germany into Italy, you can use it on valid days in Germany and in Switzerland, and between Switzerland and Germany. You cannot use it to enter Italy, so depending on your route you could use it for a day from wherever you have started in Switzerland (or Germany if all in one day) as far as the Swiss/Italian border - probably either Domodossola or Lugano and you will need a ticket from there to your destination in Italy, probably via Milan.
If you start your journey to Italy in Munich, Nuremberg or other more eastern part of Germany you may well want to go directly south from Munich to Italy, especially if you want Venice, Verona or eastern Italy, or continuing south towards Florence or Rome. If you want to go south from Munich the trip will probably take you to Innsbruck and over the Brenner Pass which is on the Austria / Italy border. That will mean that you can use your pass as far as the Austria border, either Kufstein or Salzberg, and then you will need an Austrian ticket to Italy and an Italian ticket for Italy, or you may be able to get a through ticket all the way which accounts for whatever pass you may have.
Is this a hypothetical question - if so it is likely that we can tell you ways to travel which are cheaper, and in many cases much much cheaper than a railpass, if you will share your itinerary and travel dates with us - or have you already got the Eurailpass and want to know how far it covers or how to add to it?
When is your trip, and what trips are you taking?
If you look at the German Rail Pass, they do allow certain trains into Italy included. For other countries, they are valid on the IC Bus on certain routes.
https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/passes/german-rail-pass.shtml?dbkanal_007=L04_S02_D002_KIN0060_PAESSE-INDEX-GERMAN-RAIL-PASS_LZ01
Download the "German Rail Pass flyer" by clicking on the link on the right hand side. It has a map showing the included routes.
She is not using a German Rail pass but a Eurail pass for several countries. Not the same as a German pass.
Since Italy is not really a Eurail pass friendly country, (with reservation and surcharge for every leg of the trip), I don't really want to get a Eurail pass that includes Italy. I'm considering an Eurail pass for Germany and Switzerland to tour around Munich, the Black Forest, Zurich and the Swiss Alps, all as a part of a 6-week trip for next summer. Germany and Switzerland are the only two countries (from my itinerary) that an Eurail pass might make sense. I will buy point-to-point tickets for other countries, or fly. In my plan, I want to take an overnight train from Munich to Italy (Rome or other major cities). But seeing Italy has to be included in the rail pass, I might have to alter my plans. My travel date (June and July, 2019) still so far away, it's hard to check prices on train tickets.
Germany has some very good deals on regional train tickets, and I doubt that a rail pass will pay off for you there. In addition to the pass-type options, Switzerland has a half-price card that many people on this forum have found useful for their own trips to that country.
...... it's hard to check prices on train tickets. ..... No it is not. Super easy. Go to the national rail site, and plug in fake dates (same day of the week and about two or three months out) and that will give you all of the schedules and various prices including discount prices. Prices could increase for next summer but the increase would be small. Train ticket prices are very stable not like US airline tickets that seem to change hourly with huge swings in prices.
Barbara, To clarify, your pass needs to be valid for every country you are travelling in (from, through and to).
If you have a Germany+Switzerland Pass, and are travelling from Germany via Switzerland to Italy, you are covered up to the Swiss/Italian border (Domodossola, Chiasso or Tirano depending on which route you take). You would need to buy an Italian ticket from there to your final destination.
If you are travelling via Austria, you need a ticket for Austria and Italy.
Passes are not a good buy for Italy as normal tickets are cheap.
I would also investigate buying individual advance-purchase tickets for Germany and a Swiss Pass.
And always do your research for train times and prices directly on the railway company websites. It is not in the interests of websites selling passes to display the cheapest ticket prices.
@ Frank, I believe the OP prefaced her post,
For example,
Just another suggestion to look at.
Switzerland is also not very Eurail Pass friendly as the important routes in the Berner Oberland do not accept the Eurail Pass, but only provide a meager 25% discount. It only provides a discount on a few of the lifts to access the high mountains. Better would be a 30-day Half Fare Card.
The overnight train from Munich to Rome (or Florence) passes through Austria, so that is out.
With the Germany-Switzerland Pass, or a Swiss Pass alone, which may be more cost-effective, you need to enter Italy from Switzerland. You can buy the ticket for your first destination in Italy on the Swiss rail site, SBB.ch, Trenitalia, or from a Swiss ticket agent. Any of these will give you an opportunity to declare your pass and will deduct the cost of travel through Switzerland to the border, charging you just for the Italian portion of the journey.
What if I just get a point-to-point ticket for the overnight train from Munich to Rome, then I don't have to worry about which country is included in the pass, correct?
Yes, if you buy a regular ticket for the overnight train, you'll be fine. It might be possible to get credit for the part of your journey in Germany if the Pass is still valid at that time, but I am not sure.
The German Rail Pass does include Munich to Venice on the once daily, direct EC train. I don't think it includes the connections with a change in Verona and an Italian train from Verona to Venice.
If you are using a Eurail pass, it will need to include Austria as country or you will need an additional P-P ticket from Germany to Italy (Kufstein to Brennero).
A rail pass has to include every county you traverse through, unless the train does not stop in that country. Example: travel on an ÖIC from Salzburg to Kufstein, where the train passes through Rosenheim but does not stop anywhere in Germany. That train is considered to only travel through Austria. However, there are no trains that go from Lindau, Germany, to St. Margrethen, Switzerland, without stopping in Bregenz, so you need a rail pass including Austria, or a ticket trough Austria, to go from Lindau to St. Margrethen.
What if I just get a point-to-point ticket for the overnight train from Munich to Rome, then I don't have to worry about which country is included in the pass, correct?
Correct, normal tickets cover what it says on the ticket, all the way from Munich to Rome, and you don't have to know which railway companies are involved. BTW, that train travels through Austria, but not through Switzerland
Instead of the two-country Eurail Select Pass, you can consider two separate passes - one for Switzerland with lots of coverage there and a German Rail Pass with it's international daytime coverage to Italy. It sounds like your travel distances within Germany are relatively short, if you're not going north of Munich. But maybe you haven't told us all routes - for instance, will you fly into Frankfurt or Zurich?
