We are planning a trip for late spring starting in Prague and ending in Paris. Our 2nd city we planned to be Salzburg. I see there is a train from Prague direct to Salzburg, but cannot figure out if a Global railpass will cover this leg. I am a first time Europe traveler, looking for suggestion on resource to answer this. I tried the German rail site, which shows the train running, but couldn't sell it. Since we are going to France, we were looking at the Global Pass so that we wouldn't be restricted in France. I see there are additional costs from Amsterdam to Paris on the high speed line. Is it possible for us to use the Global pass to go from Amsterdam to Antwerp to Bruges and then to Paris on "slow trains" or is this entire corridor additional reservation costs? Thank you.
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
Hi, To allay any concerns on the validity of the Global Pass, the only place it is not valid in Central and Western Europe is Poland...a big disadvantage. It's valid in France, Italy, the Low Countries, Luxembourg, Ger., Austria, CZ, etc. Buy point to point tickets for the "slow trains," such as Paris to Beauvais, (very nice town) or Caen, unless you used the Pass the night before and going to Normandy, as per the example, is a continuation. Then both legs use up one day. The Global Pass covers the entire Prague-Paris, depending on the route you take. I don't think the DB bus accepts the Pass if you're leaving Prague. Go a different where you tailor the legs yourself so that Pass is accepted the entire route. For Prague-Paris I would buy a point to point Prague-Dresden, then take the CNL Dresden Hbf.-Paris night train direct. Or, by day, the same route but with one more change in Frankfurt after Dresden ie., Frankfurt-Paris direct. The additional cost is the mandatory reservation when taking a TGV or the Belgian Thalys train. Avoid the Thalys, change your dep time if needed. On the "slow trains," ie, the TER trains, no reservations are mandatory or possible. I've been on TER (in France) trains where it was a sardine can; people are literally hanging over you. This was in the summer. How many weeks is the trip? That determines if you really need the Global Pass along with how much zig zag traveling you're doing. The Global Pass would be much more economical were it valid in Poland, esp. for multihour rides like Amsterdam to Warsaw, or Toulouse to Gdansk (Danzig).
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
Hi, One more thought...If your Pass is not for 10 days, I would reconsider buying one. You can plan the trip without one but sacrificing flexibility as a result...depends on the length of the time and distances of the trip.