We will be traveling from France- Germany- Switzerland and Italy. I am looking at Select pass saver but am wondering do I need to buy it before we go on our trip or can I buy it there.
Second question is it cheaper to buy tickets point to point as we go. Family of 5 select pass saver will cost $2,500.
During our 3 trips to Europe (varying from 9 to 22 weeks), we have never used a pass. P2P tix give more flexibility and are almost invariably cheaper.
Where specifically are you going? It depends on where all you're going what's cheapest. Google: Rick Steves Train price map, and rick has a good (slightly out of date) map with approximate rail prices and times for single purchase trips.
With 5 people, car might be much more affordable, even with a 1 way drop off fee if you have one. That's a beautiful area to drive in, and even comfortable 5 seater SUV's get good mileage over there.
I've always used point to point tickets, every single time, and spent much less than I ever would have with rail passes. May just be me though! ;)
Certainly price out the point-to-point ticket options. If you are looking at getting a pass, the Eurail select saver pass MUST be purchased prior to departing as that pass is not available for sale in Europe.
I just returned from Italy from 6/21/09-7/5/09. We took the following route: Milan - Padova - Venice - Rome - Florence - Pisa - Montecatini - Cinque Terre - Milan.
The advice I found before we left was to add up the cost of the individual legs and see if they were more or less than the pass. Even with all the trips above, the pass was more expensive (I get the impression that it generally is). So I didn't get the pass.
However I wish I had. The reason is that you validate the pass once and then simply get on any train you want after that. The additional cost of the pass would have been well worth it (even more so if I had had kids along) to avoid queueing at every train station and dealing with the not always so friendly workers behind the ticket counters.
I think you must have the pass shipped to you before you leave.
Actually, in Italy, you can't just get on any train you want with a Eurail pass. It's true that you can for the lower-class Regionale and Inter-City trains. But, for the ICPlus and Eurostar-class trains you must pay a seat reservation fee. For the ICPlus train, its 5Euro. For the Eurostars, it's 15E-20E (almost half the P2P fare that includes a seat reservation fee). I don't think you can pay these seat reservation fees onboard. Thus, you will be standing in a line to pay the fee and get your seat reservation. A Eurail pass is not as convenient as you think for the Eurostars in Italy.
