Railpass help-which type for 4 week trip

Check out the Selectsaver Pass for 2 or more traveling together. Divide the # of travel days into the Rail Pass Cost to determine the cost of a "Travel Day". If the point-to-point cost is less expensive then buy p-t-p...then you save a Travel Day on your pass Do buy the Rail Protection Plan.

Do your homework before you buy a pass.

Enter the travel data on this site and it may also help to determine which if any pass to buy.
http://www.railsaver.com/

Also check out the Lander and Barvarian passes for Germany.

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/englisch/travelservice/laender_tickets.shtml

Enjoy.

Thanks JB! Will check out that website. With all the countries we're visiting it's hard to see if we should get a 3,4,5 country pass, individual country pass, or combinations! I'll do some more research with that site.

If you want the flexibility of a pass, why not choose 2nd class rather than 1st class and save yourself some money? Railsaver.com compares the cost of a pass to FULL FARE tickets and doesn't take into account fares that are available if booked well in advance online.

If you are able to commit to specific times and dates and travel 2nd class, you can get some very low fares for point-to-point tickets if booked online in advance. Examples: Cochem-Berlin, Fuessen-Rothenburg, and Rothenburg-Bacharach each for 29€. By traveling only on regional trains, a Bayern (Bavaria) ticket will get up to five people from Fuessen to Rothenburg for a total of 27€. No advance purchase necessary.

There are also cheaper tickets for your routes in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.

IMO, the only pass that might be cost effective for you would be a Switzerland Pass, but the Swiss Card might be even better. Click on the Railpasses tab at the top of the page for more information.

Thanks Tim! Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought since we're both over 26 we'd have to purchase a 1st class pass. When I get a chance this weekend, I'll look through some of the fares on Railsaver.com. We will be pretty locked in with a lot of our dates, so perhaps some of the other options such as the Bayern ticket would be a great alternative for us. So many choices and options it can seem overwhelming (sometimes too many choices are more problematic than to few!)! Just want to make sure we get a good deal and don't overpay by doing one way over the other.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I'll look into them!

Used railsaver.com and it suggested a 5 Country 10 day Select Saver Pass for about $650 p/p with a couple of point to point tickets fro Mont St. Michel/Bayeux and Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken.

Also checked out the deal on the Bayern ticket which seems like a great deal!

This at least gives me a place to start as I'm not sure the 5 country pass is the best deal. So many options....

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Jed, you are correct that the multi-country Select Pass doesn't have a 2nd class option. However, individual country passes do. In Germany and France walk-up fares can be expensive; but you may find that buying standard fare 2nd class p-to-p tickets will still be cheaper than a pass, especially a 1st class pass.

I gave you examples of discount fares in Germany. If you want me to calculate discount fares for your routes in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, just ask.

Thanks Tim! Let me fool around a little more with some of this. Good for me to learn about it all. Using Rick's maps I've figured the cost of Point to Point tix in 2nd class. I want to look at some of the other deals you and others have mentioned. I notice that my trip from Lauterbr. to Fussen could complicate things depending on the pass or type of ticket (Same also with Bruges/Paris)

Maybe a silly question (or two), but it gets kind of confusing reading in the RS books and website....

1) A flexipass is any pass that has "x" number of days in a month (or two), correct? So a 3 country Select Saverpass with 10 days in 2 months is considered a flexipass?

2) With the Saverpass, what are the discounts on the Jungfrau and Schilthorn lifts? I see 25-50% in the RS literature. I thought it was 50%?

3) With a flexipass(including the Saverpass), the KD lines on the Rhine and Mosel are free but use up a day of your pass?

These would be the other benefits I see us using.

Roll up your sleeves and dig in! There's no better way to sort out all the details.

Yes, a three-country Select Saverpass is a flexipass. The only high mountain lift discount I've seen on this site is for 50%. Where did you see 25%? This site says that using a pass on those boat rides will count as a pass day.

The fares shown on Rick's map are "ballpark" figures. The only way to be precise is to go to an individual country's Web site and check for both standard fares and advance purchase discount fares.

I was looking in the 2007 Guide to Railpasses that we picked up at their travel store (it's from earlier in 2007). It has a table that compares the Eurail/Select or Two Country passes to the Swiss card/Transfer Ticket and the Swiss Pass/Flexipass and it says no discounts for the high mountain lifts for Eurail, but 25-50% for the Swiss Card/Transfer Ticket and 50% for the Swiss Pass. For Jungfrau it's 25% for Eurail, 25-50% for Swiss Card/Transfer Ticket, and 50% for Swiss Pass. It says the same on the website here. But in the 2007 Switzerland book it lists 50% discount. That's where I was getting confused.

In your opinion though, the Swiss Pass (4 days 2nd class saver) or the Swiss card (2nd class) would be a better option. Then the question above is moot as we'd get the 50% discount with either one. If we got one of these though we'd probably have to buy a p-to-p ticket from a swiss town to Fussen on the way out, but probably not too bad I'd guess.

Tim-How far in advance do the sites usually offer advance purchase fares and specials? If I look out a month ahead is that the best time? Thanks!

Jed - I found the reference to smaller discounts on mountain lifts. I was only looking at the various kinds of passes/cards in Switzerland.

My suggestion of limiting yourself to either the Swiss Pass or Swiss Card was based on buying point to point tickets in every country except Switzerland, taking advantage of discounts, when available, for advance booking.

If you choose a route from Lauterbrunnen to Fuessen that takes you through St. Margarthen, you can book a Europa-Spezial Osterreich fare of 19€ at www.bahn.de for St. Margarthen-Fuessen.

Booking on www.voyages-sncf.com and www.bahn.de can be done up to 90 days in advance. To get PREM'S (discount) fares on the SNCF site, it's best to book as soon as the 90-day window opens.

Jed - The international guru of railpasses is at www.themaninseat61.com.

Thanks for the info Tim and Doug! I will look at the ticket deals and also the guru's website!