Rail Pass for long travel days only or extra for local travels too?

It's possible the entire trip would be cheaper with point-to-point tickets. Can you sketch out your itinerary for us?

You won’t know until you do the math with your specific itinerary. Spend some valuable time on this website https://www.seat61.com/ to find the name of the train companies for each country so you can research prices for each leg of your trip. Purchasing tickets for journeys in advance vs day of travel can make a difference in price. On some regional trains in some countries there is no price difference. Read up, take notes, compare and then you’ll know if a Eurail Pass per day is more or less than the journeys you plan to take.

Hi acraven,

Land in Florence, Italy x 3 nights
Travel to Bellagio, Italy x 3 nights
Travel to Lauterbrunen, Switzerland x 3 nights
Travel to Colmar, France x 4 nights (Will want to go up and down the wine route for a day or two)
Travel to Bacharach/Cochem, Germany x 4 nights (Will want to go up and down the Rhine, over to Cochem)
Travel to Bruges/Ghent, Belgium x 4 nights (Will want to visit Ghent from Bruges)
Travel to Amsterdam x 3 nights

Thank you!

Thank you, Mona, I'll check out Seat61.

Travel to Bellagio, Italy x 3 nights

You will have to buy a reservation for the fast train from Florence to Milan leg.

Travel to Lauterbrunen, Switzerland x 3 nights

At Interlaken Ost station you will see a sign reminding you that Eurail Passes are not valid beyond this point. You will have to go into the ticket office and buy a ticket to Lauterbrunnen, although you will get a 25% discount with your pass. Same applies when you leave. Extra Pass days won't help here.

You may want to use some buses in the Colmar region, not covered by Eurail pass, and local trains are pretty cheap.

If you stay in Boppard rather than Bacharach, you will receive a free VRM pass for all local trains and buses in the region, including Cochem.

Thank you, Sam.

A Rail Pass is a bit of a hassle in Italy and France. You need reservations for long distance trains, and the only practical way to get them is to go and queue up at the ticket office once there.

Just buying tickets on line in advance is a lot easier. Another thing to consider is that in Italy and Austria there are now also private operators running trains on the main routes, and these are not covered by your pass.

Note that the 25% off you get for tickets beyond Interlaken is only if your pass is active that day...

How were you planning to get to Lauterbrunnen from Bellagio by the way? If you were planning on going over the Bernina Railway you are better of staying in Varenna. From Bellagio the most practical route would be to go down to Milano again, and then up to Spiez and Interlaken.

“A Rail Pass is a bit of a hassle in Italy and France. You need reservations for long distance trains, and the only practical way to get them is to go and queue up at the ticket office once there.”

Our granddaughter bought and used a multi country Eurail Pass for her 7 week trip last summer. It was a bit of a learning curve for her but she showed me where all of her tickets and reservations were stored in the Eurail app she used. She bought the reservations online with the app ahead of time through the account she’d set up. She didn’t have any problems. She knew the daily value of her tickets and when reservations were needed and planned accordingly. For her 18 year old brain it worked great. At the time she bought the pass, there was a 10% sale going on so it reduced the daily amount making it pretty competitive for long distance trains, even with their reservations.

You won’t know until you do the math, route by route.

WengenK,
Great info, I forgot about the Berninia. I have been researching over the past year and slowly putting things in to place. The last pieces are more precise transportation and a few planned excursions. Everything else is guided by the wind.
When you go, safe travels!

Thank you, Mona, The convenience of all-in-one-place is appealing. Thank you for your input.