Railpass Use Help

Rachel, To begin with, the first bit of "help/advice" that I can offer is that this trip is FAR TOO AMBITIOUS and perhaps not even possible. If I read correctly, you're planning to visit 14 cities/regions in a 23 day time frame - that's an average of 1.6 days per location, with no allowance for travel times which will be a minimum of at least half a day each time you change location. IMHO, you need to seriously pare-down this list or add some time. You're covering a fairly wide geographic area, and you need to allow time for getting from one place to another. Regarding the Rail Pass, you may find it helpful to download the PDF Rail Guide from this website. Click the "Railpasses" tab at the top of the page, and then look in the lower right corner for the link. Generally speaking, the Railpass will cover your fares on trains, but WILL NOT cover the reservation fees which are compulsory on the "premium" trains (ie: the TGV in France). Especially in Italy, if you're caught without a valid reservation, you may be fined on the spot and it won't be cheap! The Pass does NOT usually cover Metro or Trams within cities. There may be discounts for the lifts in Switzerland, but I believe it depends on the Pass. Good luck with your planning!

I agree with Ken that your itinerary is much too ambitious. But to answer your question for Germany, a railpass will let you travel on the S-Bahn in Munich or other German cities, but not on the U-Bahn or buses in Germany.

I agree with Lee's agreeing with Ken that chewing what you hope to bite off may be a bit difficult. No European rail pass will help in Great Britain, and the discount available with a pass on services with the channel tunnel Eurostar is not as good as the cheapest advance purchase. In Italy, with Mini fares available as low as €9 per journey, like Milan to Rome, there is no way that a railpass is that cheap for a day's travel. Your pass will not work on the Leonardo Express to Rome's airport. It is often the case that specialized passes or point to point give better results in Switzerland than the usual ones, and normal passes do not work on mountain railways or cable cars. Trains are relatively inexpensive in Belgium and the Netherlands. If you use the International Train it is not bad. But if you want the high speed Thalys train it will cost and cost big and the mandatory reservations are hard to find as they are highly restricted. If your pass is costing, as you say, $504 for 15 consecutive days, you must use at least $33.60 (or €25.51 at today's rates) each and every day of that pass for it to pay off.

Thanks everybody for your advice and help. I tried to add up the cost of traveling between the distances we are and comparing that with the pass, but I was't using the mini or saver fares to do so, so I will double-check just by using the sites themselves instead of RS estimates. And yes, you guys are making me worried that I am planning too much for the time I have there. I went to Europe with my family a few years ago and just did London, Paris, Rome with five days in each place, but this time I'm going with my husband who's never been and is definitely more fast-paced. I was thinking we want to "see" this and "see" that (go to Burg Eltz, then take KD boat up the river, then train to Rothenburg, walk around, see a museum, maybe take a tour, then train to Nuremburg, and so on and so on), but maybe if I plan that way I will miss out on the "being" and "experiencing" aspects. I could potentially cut the Alps, and Cinque Terre from my itinerary, but I just hate to do it because those places will be very different from the other types of sight-seeing we'll be doing. I don't know - I just have to make some tough decisions (we're also on a fairly tight budget but we're using miles/points for our airfare and a lot of our hotels). We're not going until May 2013, so I have lots of time to figure it out, but it's so fun to plan!

Rachel, "we're also on a fairly tight budget" That's another good reason to reduce the number of places you'll be visiting. Each change of location will have a cost in both time and money. One suggestion that might work - compile a list ranking each location in priority from "most important" to "least important". For a 23-day time frame, pick the top six or seven locations on that list and start working out an Itinerary. Try to allocate more time for the larger cities (London, Paris, Rome) and less time for smaller places. Depending on which places you choose and the travel route, you might find that you can add one or two locations. Keep in mind that you'll lose two days of your trip in travel times. You'll arrive in Europe the day after you depart, and the last day will be spent on the trip home. You'll also be jet-lagged for the first day or two after arrival, so you won't be up to full "touring speed". As Rick frequently says, "assume you will return". Good luck with your planning!