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Please help me choose the right Eurail pass

Posted by (White Rock, BC, Canada) on

I’m leaving to Europe in 3 weeks and I have to order my rail pass. Can I just confirm with you guys that this is the best rail pass for me. Im thinking of buying the 15 day pass to be used up in 2 months for 1179 dollars. For each day travel that averages out to 78 dollars per ticket. I only have a rough outline of the cities, which pretty much includes the large cities because I don’t want to have a firm schedule cause I want to be free to meet people and go where I please (I’m going by myself). My plan is to stay in the larger cities for a few days then take day trips from them or go for a day or two to the smaller cities in between my longer stays.

I’m in Europe for 3 months. Landing in London on March 3rd. I’m going to wait as long as possible to activate my ticket so that would be either from Paris or Chartres. That should save me at least 10ish days from when I land. Then I’ll follow this route:

Down to Barcelona, Madrid, Nice, Rome, (Bari or Brindisi), Athens, Thessaloniki and various islands, Florence, Venice, Salzburg, Vienna, Prague. Then off to Poland. Poland isn’t covered by the pass so that’s not really important (I’ll be there for 2ish weeks then back home)

From the time I activate it somewhere in France to Prague, I hope the 2 months is enough. There’ll be more cities then what I wrote there but I wanted you guys to have the rough idea of my route.

My other option is to buy the 10 days in 2 months for 899 which could make sense too because I looked at the italy prices, and those are cheap so I don’t know if there’ll be 15 tickets that cost more then the average of 78 dollars. But 15 days means I don’t have to worry as much about choosing my “days.” What about the unlimited 2 month pass for 1735. i dont know if that's worth it.

Any thoughts?

Posted by
49 posts

Steve definitely has some good points. I know what you're thinking right now, and I know how overwhelming it can feel to make a decision like this. The time & cost worksheet that Steve mentioned is a good start.

I'd like to add a few things:

  1. night trains/faster trains will require seat reservation fees; these can end up being substantial, especially for night trains (though you save the cost of a night's stay at a hostel)

  2. I've found point-to-point tickets in some countries to be a great value. I've had especially good luck in Italy. I think purchasing point-to-point tickets tends to be cheaper as you move both south and east.

  3. Thought purchasing point-to-point tickets may end up being cheaper, the freedom of being able to hop on any train you want, when you want, (and not having to wait in lines to purchase tickets from counters/machines) may be worth the extra price. Remember, for fast/night trains, you'll need to stand in line anyway, so this added freedom is somewhat limited.

  4. Make a decision, stick with it, and don't worry. Your trip sounds amazing, and in the end, spending an extra $200 (on either option) on train tickets probably won't matter when you remember all of the amazing experiences you've had :)

Good luck!

Geoff

Posted by
4132 posts

I am with Steve about the likely costs. However, passes do bring some simplification and flexibility (at least for routes that do not require reservations).

For me at this stage of the game the value of that is low, but it might be worth it for Anna and others.

Also, second-class passes can be a good deal.

Posted by
19240 posts

Referencing a discussion over on another thread, "RailEurope" Passes, the Railsaver website is pretty good at determining WHAT pass would be best. Just don't trust it's "pass vs tickets" comparison.

Posted by
59 posts

Anna, For the time of year that you are going, a pass would work great for you. There are always trains that don't need reservations if you are not in a hurry. Reservations are not mandatory for all trains on all routes. The convenience of hopping on and off trains is still there for you budget-minded travelers who choose to use a railpass and don't have a strict schedule.

P2P tickets are great, but you can work it so you are paying no more than $40 per day average with routes that you choose! We have done it with railpasses yearly since the early 80's. So it can be done! We uses P2P along with our railpass and saved big bucks! Every traveler and their routes are different so there is no absolute right way. Have a great time. Cheryl

Posted by
15 posts

Thank you all for your responses.

I have decided to go with point to point tickets. I think that will work out fine for me. If it turns out that i end up spending a couple of hundred euro more then with the pass then oh well. i'll spend a whole lot more then that on the trip overall lol. thanks all :)

Posted by
4555 posts

Anna...I would suggest that you start delving into the train trips you're planning to make as far as routings are concerned. The German Rail website is just about the best on-line source available for checking routings for most places across Europe. The vast majority of trains you will encounter in France, Spain, and Italy now require reservations, which come with your point to point ticket purchases....they're usually indicated by a circled "R" on that website. As well, you will be able to determine travel times a little better, and plan accordingly....links from Spain across southern France to Italy, for example, are not terribly convenient.

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