I live in Nairobi...going to Frankfurt next Tuesday and needed to get Eurail pass tickets by Augst 5. They do not do etickets and we are concerned that they might not arrive by Monday to us in Nairobi though that is 5 working days. Is it really advantageous to have the Eurail pass...for 3 countries...Germany, Switzerland, Austria with only 2-3 days in each country, or would we not spend a lot more if we were at train station buying. The cost shown online is double but just wondering if that is true in person. And if we got point to point tickets, what would be the best thing to buy in Switzerland to spend couple days in Lucern area?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
I always plan my trips and figure in advance the cost of P-P tickets and rail passes. As a result, I have not used a rail pass since 2000. A few times I have taken advantage of (online) advance purchase discount tickets, but for the most part I have used point-point tickets and regional passes. Now, admittedly, most of my travel in Germany/Austria has been short distance. Nevertheless, I spend an average of $20 US (15€) for travel. Most of the times I have bought these from ticket automats, and I have never spent a lot of time buying them at the train station. I imagine that Luzern has a metro district with ticket valid for the entire area, for all transit, for less than the daily cost of a rail pass, which does not usually cover all modes. Yes, Luzern has a metro disrict ( VVL) and they have local day tickets for less than a day of your railpass. A railpass would be valid in Luzern for the S-Bahn, but not for buses. A Luzern metro day ticket (Tageskarte) would be valid for all modes of transit (including buses) in Luzern.