P2P vs Eurail

Lisa,

I imagine anyone who could help you would be interested to know which 5 countries you thought you were buying pass coverage for ? Looks like Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and ...? For self-help, check out www.seat61.com for step by step help with the major rail websites.

For sure, the Mainz- Bacharach segment is not worth a railpass day ( under 10 Euro) , and Interlaken - Gimmelwald is not likely worth burning a pass day either. Of course you dont say what days you are travelling, so step back and spread this out over the actual days of travel to figure out how many days you are actually in motion.

BTW- You may already know this but there are Czech/ Germany and Austria/Czech Regional passes.

i should have explained more. first i was going to just buy a eurail pass. now i am investigating a 10 day 5 country select pass vs P2P to see which will come out ahead.

the 5 countries i would use are france, switzerland, austria, italy and germany. they had these listed on the eurail site so i figured they would work. if you excludee london, amsterdam, berlin, prague, bacharach, gimmelwald and paris i believe you will have 10 travel days.

outside of bacharach and gimmelwald (and not counting the extra for sleepers and reservations) would there be any extras i would have to pay or would the pass cover these countries/places?

"I know Eurail doesn't cover Berlin > Prague and Prague > Mainz"

Eurail does cover Berlin > Czech border and Czech Border > Mainz. However, that first leg might be done more cheaply by regular ticket than by using a railpass day - reg tix cost about 40 euros. Passage within the CZ republic should be pretty cheap.

Mainz-Bacharach: use the Regional trains for this route and it should cost less 10 Euros or so.

Reutte-Mittenwald: 11 Euros on a beautiful route. No railpass day needed.

Mittenwald > Salzburg: Save a railday here. Go via Munich on a "Bayern Ticket" single (19 Euros) or group (2-5 people, 27 Euros total.) You must travel after 9 am weekdays (but anytime is okay on Sat or Sun) on the regional (RE, RB, IRE) trains. Buy this ticket from a DB ticket machine for the cheap price - costs more at a counter.

Salzburg > Hallstatt: Couldn't be worth a railpass day! Cost is about 5 Euros.

So... I sorted through some of the shorter routes on the national railway sites to obtain ballpark prices. Possible routes for the Eurailpass days. Looks like 8-10 days will work for you:

AMS - BER

CZ border - Mainz

Bacharach - Interl.

Interl. - Gimmelwald (Gimmelwald is tough to get to. about 4 Euros to Lauterbrunnen; beyond that, you'll have to check private railway costs. I'm not sure what discounts a Eurailpass may give you on these or if they require a railpass day. Personally, I'd look at staying in lovely Lauterbrunnen and spending any extra cash on a trip to the Schilthorn - magnificent.)

Gimmelwald - Reutte

Hallstatt > Vienna (about 45 Euros reg. price)

Vienna > Venice

Venice > Rome

Rome > Vernazza (only about 30 Euros)

Vernazza > Paris

Hope this helps.

It's important to know if P2P will be cheaper. It's also important to remember that Railpasses can provide flexibility, and some discounts.

In my case, if the P2P tickets are only going to save me 5% to 10%, I still go with the Railpass. It allows me to change my mind at the last minute about when I move on... or if I stay another day... or another 4 hours... and I don't have to go to a ticket window and work it out with anyone.

yes, i need to do a comparison of costs between the two. one question i have: on the site that tells you the length and the price there are two prices, a normal one and then some sort of special price for 39 euros.

i believe people have said that you don't need to reserve your train travel before, unless its a sleeper or has an R next to it. can you get this special price up until the day of travel or does it sell out like airfare?

say i decide P2P is the way to go - should i be purchasing these special fares before or can i wait until i actually need them. since the special fare is 50% less than the regular fare, obviously i want to make sure i am able to get it.

Lisa, in the Lauterbrunnen Valley (Gimmelwald), your Eurail pass will only get you a 25% discount on transportation. This includes the Jungfrau ($177 roundtrip) and the Schilthorn ($92). In Italy, you will need to pay a seat reservation fee of 18Euro on any Eurostar-class train and 3Euro on any ICPlus-class train. That's mostly your Venice/Rome and Rome/Vernazza runs.

Lisa...they work just like airfares. Only a certain number of seats are set aside for the deals, and when they're gone, they're gone. There are some good deals out there...just make sure you understand under what conditions (if any) they allow refunds or changes. The cheaper the ticket, the less chance you'll have of altering it or getting it refunded.

i have really enjoyed planning my itinerary but i feel completely overwhelmed when i think of trying to figure out which rail pass to buy (global, select, regional) if any or to go P2P.

is there one website (like that german rail one) where i can figure out the costs for each leg or do i have to go to multiple websites?

is there like a dumbed down step by step that someone could recommend for me?

i can figure out the difference between a global/select pass and P2P. i get stuck when trying to figure out whether a regional pass should be bought for some legs of my trip.

can anyone help a girl out?

Russ has given you p2p fares for several of your routes. Here are some more.

Amsterdam-Berlin: Booked far enough in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at www.bahn.de, you can get a Europa-Spezial Niederlande fare of €39.

Berlin-Prague: Book well in advance as above and get a Europa-Spezial fare of €29.

Vienna-Venice: Booked well in advance by phoning the Austrian Rail Call Centre, you can get a SparSchiene fare of €29 for a Vienna-Venice day train. For the night train you can get SparSchiene fares of €49 for a bunk in a six-person couchette, €59 for a bunk in a four-person couchette, and €69 for a bed in a three-person sleeper.

Vernazza-Paris: Get fares for Vernazza-Milano and the Milano-Paris night train at the Trenitalia site. Enter a date within 60 days from today for Vernazzo-Milano and within 90 days from today for Milano-Paris. "Go" and "Smart" online discount fares are offered, but registering and booking on the Trenitalia site is often problematic.

Why are you flying from Paris to London? The Eurostar is faster--city center to city center in under 2 1/2 hours.

"can anyone help a girl out?"

We help the guys out too except when it comes to "cute and comfy shoes".

The only single place that I can think of to find P2P ticket prices is www.raileurope.com. Unfortunately, they are a ticket broker so their ticket costs will be higher. Beyond that, you have to learn to use the different railsites. For as many countries as you want to visit, that could be 4-5 different sites. Also, if you are trying to get a quote for international runs, the sites may not provide you with a P2P quote. That's why so many travelers stampede to the railpass.

thanks for the help on the P2P rates. i also have some of the rates per leg.

tim - i am flying because it was only 30euros.

okay, i'm having trouble. i saw the suggestions that some of you made regarding regional trains (mainz > bacharach, reutte > mittenwald, salzurg > hallstatt) - do you have to reserve these beforehand? how do you get tickets?

there were alot of legs that i couldn't find fares for on either OBB or Bahn. i'm sure there are other websites to check legs but i only know of those two. here is what i found so far. the time is notes next to the fare (unless i couldn't find the fare).

Amsterdam > Berlin – 39E (6.5)
Berlin, Germany > Prague – 56E, special fare not available (4.5)
Prague > Mainz (Frankfurt) – 105E (8)
Mainz, Germany > Bacharach, Germany (1) Fare??
Bacarach, Germany (mainz) > Interlaken, Switzerland – 39E (6.5)
Interlaken, Switzerland > Ruette, Austria – 49E (6)
Ruette > Mittenwald, Germany (5.45) – fare??
Mittenwald > Salzburg, Austria (3) – 37E
Salzburg > Hallstatt, Austria (2) – fare??
Hallstatt > Vienna, Austria (4) – fare??
Vienna > Venice, Italy - (8) – fare?
Venice > Rome - (4.5) – fare?
Rome > Vernazza, Italy (4.5) - fare?
Vernazza > Paris - fare?

so i have three options:

1) P2P
2) global eurail pass (30 days) - $1279
3) select pass, 5 country (germany, austria, switzerland, france, italy), 10 days - $879

can someone help?

Lisa

For something like Mainz to Bacharach you do not need to reserve in advance. Walk up the the ticket machine, punch in the destination, how many tickets you want, pay and walk on the train. There are a fair number of local commuter-like trains that travel the route, with people going into and out of Frankfurt thru Mainz and up and down the Rhine, all day long etc. Dont stress over this segment.

Is there a risk with leaving some of these connections as Point to Point ? Perhaps. You are going to have to make up your own mind as to whether the savings are worth a little bit of uncertainty. Others can share info with you, but have no idea what you value or how much risk tolerance you have personally.

Example: My trip was for 3 people. Any P2P savings over using a railpass were 3 times as much as a single traveler. That got my attention. Saving a hundred dollars or more on a given day of transportation meant something to me and it was worth it to put the work into understanding how to get that result. Others may have not care about the cost and prefer not to have the small uncertainty.

If, after all your inquiries here you are still unsure, it might be best to call and use the Rail planning service Rick offers and pay a few bucks to ease your mind.

thanks - i think i will do that