Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic- Saver passes Vs. point to point

Yeah, Rick's map is a rough estimate, but not really that useful, or, I think, up-to-date. Railsaver.com makes too many mistakes to be helpful. Unfortunately, the only way to accurately tell which is best is to grind it out. Look up the point-to-point prices on the national rail websites and compare everything to the cost of a railpass.

For Switzerland, its www.sbb.ch. For Austria, it's www.oebb.at. For Czech republic, its www.cd.cz/static/eng. Unfortunately, none of these websites give fares outside their country. Use one of them to get the full schedule for that train, including the border crossing. Then get the fare from each of them from/to the closest station to the border. Use the time difference to make a rough guess as to the remaining fare to the border. And remember, due to currency conversion, profit, etc, the country where you buy the ticket might not use the same price from the border to your destination in the second country.

Definitely point-to-point in CR. Train travel is very inexpensive there.

A Rail Pass depends on how many "travel days" you plan.

I do not recall if the previous responder posted the rail site for Austria but here it is:

http://www.oebb.at/vip8/oebb/en/

Check out this site:

http://www.railsaver.com/

This site will indicate the train fares in Czech Republic. If you enter from Prague to Cesky Krumlov you will note 4 hrs 15 mins 224/KC. That is Czech Karuna.

1 US Dollar = 21.35200 Czech Koruna.

http://www.jizdnirady.cz/connform.asp?tt=a&cl=E5

Link for IDOS.

As I try to compare, I'm also not sure whether the Swiss- Austria Pass has the same bonuses as the Swiss Pass. Does anyone know? It could make a difference in the Berner Oberland.

Here is the link for the Swiss/Austrian Rail Pass:

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/ausswitz.htm#combo

Go to this site and enter all information and it will suggest which pass if any you should buy:

http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp

Check the Swiss Rail and the Austrian rail sites for price of point-to-point tickets.

Hope these help.

I just found Autrian "1-PLUS-Freizeit-Tickets", and was wondering if anyone has used them. My German is rusty, and the translation not great, and I'm not sure whether there are limitations on them, if they are bought here or in Austria, and whether all tickets after the first are 1/2 price, or whether more tickets have different discounts. They do look interesting.

You could spend a lot of time checking this and the fares system is often very complicated, but as a rule of thumb I would suggest that if you spend more than 2-3 days per week in each country travelling by train a significant distance (say greater than 150km) daily, you will find the Saver passes better. Other wise use the point to points. Note that the Saver passes do save confusion at booking offices and are normally heavily discounted.
In Switzerland, only the Swiss Pass covers the Bernese Oberland railways. The InterRail single country pass doesn't. But you can also get a half price card at main stations in Switzerland, valid for one month, and costs about USD80 or so per adult plus a Junior card (about USD 16) per child. This gives you unlimited half price travel, including the Bernese Oberland lines, and this is often the best way of doing things if you don't want to travel that much in Switzerland. (The Junior Card is also valid with Swiss Passes etc., by the way.)