Do we need to make all reservations ahead of time or can we do it as we go? We plan on purchaseing a Eurail Global Family Pass. We will be traveling from Venice to Florence to Rome to Cinque Terre. Thanks.
Joe
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
First double check carefully. The Global Pass is probably overkill unless you are doing a whole lot more travel than you indicated above. With the exception of night trains, you can make reservations the day before or the hour before. There is a fee to make reservations with a pass.
Posted by
OP
Round Rock, TX
12 posts
Italy is just part of our trip. We just heard it is the one country that you definitely need to make Eurail reservations. We are visiting Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France. Spending a good portion of our time in Italy. Thanks.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19275 posts
"We just heard it is the one country that you definitely need to make Eurail reservations."
The fastest express trains in Italy, EuroStar, are considered premium trains, not fully covered by a railpass, and thus require a supplement (about $15) to ride them. When you pay the supplement, you automatically get a seat reservation, hence the name "reservation". However, in most cases, it is perfectly alright to get the seat reservation at the station before you travel. You could even get all of your reservations as soon as you arrive. On other trains, like most ICs, seat reservations might be desirable, but are not required. Regional trains don't even have reserved seats.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17446 posts
JOe, I remember looking at your itinerary on you "getting from CT to Mürren" thread, and thinking the Global pass might not be a good choice. Have you already bought them? If not, consider these points:
For the 21-day passes, 2 saver passes and 2 youth passes, you will pay $2800. To that you will have to add supplements for trains that aren't covered, reservation fees for trains that require them, and pay most of the fare for travel between Interlaken and Mürren (the Eurail Pass only covers 25% beyond Interlaken). Plus, the adult passes are only available in 1st lass and the kids' passes are only for 2d class. So . . . assuming you want to travel with your children, you're paying for 1st class and riding in 2d.
You might do better with point-to-point tickets for Italy, 2 Transfer Tickets for Switzerland (these will get you all the way to Mürren, and the kids will be free if under 16), and a 4-country "select" pass (say, for 6 days) for the rest of the trip. total cost for that pass for the 4 of you would be $1678---but you'd still have to pay for supplements and reservations, and you'd still have the 1st class-2d class problem.
Or, given the availablity of advance-purchase discounted tickets, you might do as well or better with P2P tickets for the whole thing. It's a lot of trouble to "do the math", but you might save some $$$.