I am trying to figure out making train reservations for a trip this summer, two middle aged adults who haven't traveled European trains before.
We are looking to travel from London to Bielefeld or Herford Germany on a mid week day (Thursday in late June), and then 4 days later (the following Monday), travel from there to Paris.I have been reading up on European train travel, and going to the various reservation sites, but I am not sure how to understand our options in order to make a decision whether we should go with Eurail pass or not. We know what travel days and desired itinerary.
Eurail pass is 307 euro a person right now (4 days; with the 15% off; 1st class). It sounds like we will have other costs - seat reservations and maybe a passholder fee? How can I tell in advance what the actual total costs would be for what we want to book, if we had the rail pass?
Looking at booking without a pass, I've looked at Eurostar site, Rail Europe, Train Line, and DB (int.bah.de) and it seems to range quite a bit : For the first leg of our trip, London to Herford (one way) I get results from ~380 euros to ~250 euros a person (eurostar 'plus'). Feel like I am doing something wrong that I am getting that range.
Based on those costs, plus cost of Germany to Paris, it seems like the Rail pass would be cheaper and give us more flexibility in the event of needing to make changes... or am I missing something? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!