I have been doing some preliminary research on Rick Steves' rail passes section of this website, and it looks like we don't really need to buy a rail pass after all. This is our itinerary, and we are staying two to three nights at each place: Frankfurt to Munich; Munich to Reutte; Reutte to Salzburg; Salzburg to Venice; Venice to Florence; Florence to Monterosso (CT); Monterosso to Gimmelwald Switzerland; Gimmelwald to Colmar France; Colmar to Frankfurt. That's nine days of train travel. In Italy, we have been advised to use Trenitalia. How about the other places? We have everything else booked - the plane tickets and all the accommodations. The train travel looks very scary to me..... Thanks for any tips! You guys are awesome!!
Posted by
Green Bay
20979 posts
Not scary at all. The 2 legs Munich-Reutte and Reutte-Salzburg can be done with a Bayern ticket (22 Euro pgr 1 plus 4 Euro each addtional pgr) unreserved trains, buy from vending machines in Munich. The FRA-Munich ticket can be bought in advance from Deutsche Bhn as low as 29 Euro pp, leave plenty of slack time if your inbound flight is delayed. The remaining legs can be purchased in a advance on line from individual rail sites.
Posted by
Whittington
984 posts
You say 'preliminary' and then 'we don't really need to buy a rail pass' - you do not say how you came to this conclusion. You have a fixed itinerary, if the money matters and you have done a maths. comparison between whatever rail pass (and any supplements) and purchase of point to point tickets from the relevant rail companies and come to the conclusion point to point purchase is cheaper (which I am almost certain would be the case), surely not much more to be said.
Posted by
OP
Vancouver, BC, Canada
12 posts
Thanks, Sam! The information you provide is very helpful. I will check it out.
Posted by
Moreno Valley, CA, USA
18 posts
We are "very old'(83 and 70)travelers and ALWAYS recommend rail passes. Here's some reasons why: While you may still need to stand in a line to get a reservation on a particular train, if pressed for time there's nothing wrong with jumping on a regional, or other non-reservation train at last minute. The freedom of traveling whereever you want within the area of your pass for "free" is a great bargin. We were in Rome one time when President Bush was there. The city security was locked down so tight, we changed our reservation, found the charming town of Orvieto a rail-ride away and spent 2 lovely days. Another time I got locked in a bathroom in Colmar (no joke - this really happened) and we missed our connection. Without the pass it would have cost us a premium to "get out of Dodge". Anyway - just my 2 cents - I think you can be more flexible with a pass. You're probably spending a fortune anyway - so a few mor dollars for the ease of a pass is so worth it. On the other hand - if you're under 26, travel 2nd class, tickets might be better. We're too old for the bargin proces. Happy Trails
Sandi