Hi, I am new to Rick Steve's Web site, hoping someone can suggest which option is better. Like so many others I find it's a little confusing!! Our plan, over a 4/5 week time frame is to travel: Eurostar London to Paris TGV Paris to Zurich Lucerne to st moritz (glacier express) St moritz to Lugano (bernina express) Lugano to Milan Milan to Venice Venice to Florence Florence to Rome
We are happy to book point to point 90 days out but wondering if a rail pass is a more convenient/cheaper option. I have done a rough comparison and from what i can see there is not a lot of difference between the two. The only thing I haven't factored in is the reservation costs. I make the assumption I only have to do this of using a rail pass? Any advice would be appreciated thank you
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
A couple of thoughts. The railpass can be the most flexible and most cost effective if you ride the Regionale-type trains in most countries. No reservation fees or seat reservations but these types of trains are the slowest and make every stop. They will slow you down a bit. Also, you will change trains more often. Many travelers with railpasses choose to ride the more premium trains which do require seat reservations, supplemental fees or other extra costs on top of the cost of the railpass. You still have the flexibility to get close to your travel dates and then pay your extra fees online or at the station but now, your tickets are becoming a bit more expensive and you are spending more time online or in the station. Next, the point-to-point tickets can be much less expensive if you are willing to do the upfront planning and will now more precisely when you will be traveling by train. This is not difficult. We do it all the time and have never missed a train. France has discounted fares on their TGV runs. Switzerland has discounted fares on many of their runs. Italy has mini-fares as low as 9Euros for many of the major runs. You can't get these special fares with a railpass. For your travels, I offer the following: 1) a railpass will not work on the Eurostar from London to Paris. It won't work in England either. 2) TGV from Paris to Zurich, I see the regular fare of 94.40E. And, I see special fares of 25E if you book and lock in now. 3) Lucerne to St. Moritz is not the Glacier Express. What you can do is take the Golden Pass from Lucerne to Spiez and then go south to Brig. At Brig on the GE, the portion of the journey between Brig and Disentis is not fully covered by your railpass according to the Eurail website. Your railpass will get you a 25% discount for this part of the trip. You are covered for the remainder. (See next message).
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
4) For the Bernina Express, the railpass will cover the entire trip, including the bus portion and the portion of the trip through Italy. You will have to pay extra for the seat reservations. You will be required to have a valid railpass for Switzerland. 5) Lugano to Milan is a short 1hr 20min ride. Your railpass should work on this Reginale train. If not, the fare is 16CHF (Swiss Francs) at Lugano. 6) For the remainder of your journeys in Italy, you could be on the nice Italian high-speeds. You will need seat reservations on each of the trains on which you will ride. With a railpass, the fee is 10E for each high-speed that you be on. For point-to-point, your in the land of the 9Euro mini-fare if you can get them. If there are no 9E mini-fares, there are often 19E, 29E and 39E mini-fares. Here's the bottom line. You can take the easy and more expensive way out and buy the railpass or you have to plan well and learn to buy tickets on www.tgv-europe.com (French), www.rail.ch (Swiss) and www.trenitalia.com (Italian) to get the least expensive way to go.