Train travel

You are correct. British rail is not included. However, you do need to do some homework and decide exactly where you want to go and when. Rail passes are not an automatic good deal like they were 20, 30 years ago. Now most trains charge a premium fare to ride certain trains, a seat reservation fee is sometimes required, etc. In France the number of seats/per train available for a rail pass is very, very small so sometimes you cannot use your pass in France if you want to go at certain times. Adding in the deep discounts for advance purchase makes it even harder to financial justify a rail pass. However, a rail pass can provide a high level of convenience with uncertain schedules so that may make a rail pass easier to justify.

The famous rail guru The Man In Seat 61 has a great discussion of the issues around buying a rail pass compared to other alternatives, here: http://tinyurl.com/bkw4u6c

Make sure you understand it thoroughly before making any decisions.

Hi,

On my last trip end of May/June, I was, as usual, at Berlin Hbf standing in line waiting to use the DB ticket machine. Ahead of me were 2 Americans guys (20 somethings). One of the DB machines became available, they got to it, then another one for me. Something must have gone amiss with their efforts to buy a ticket since one of them yelled out in frustration as they were walking away from the DB machine, "Why do they build ticket machines when they don't take credit cards?" He was wrong, the DB machines do take US credit cards. If most of your traveling is going to be in Germany, some in Austria, some or more in Switzerland and France, I would not advise a 4 country ten day Select Pass, not necessary. I use a Pass 10 days/2 months but no Select Pass.

If you decide on a Pass based on zig zag traveling, long rides, etc, get the Austria-Germany or Germany-Switzerland Pass. True that in Germany scheduling is sometimes not reliable, (I encountered that this time), you'll see that on the blue electronic board (Fahrplanveränderungen). If you get the discounted tickets, train and departure time specific, and if that specific train is not running (Zug fällt aus) or changes were made to the original departure time, you'll have to check whether that ticket is still valid, ie more time wasted.

I can identify with the frustration of the guy in Berlin (although I didn't go ballistic like him). It took me several tries to figure out how to get the ticket machines to take my credit card.

I usually use cash, so it wasn't a big problem, but occasionally I wanted to try my credit card. I would walk up to the automat and insert my card, only to have it seemingly rejected - spit back out. I finally realized that a ticket automat is not an ATM. With an ATM, the first thing you do is insert your card. With a ticket automat you go through the process of selecting the ticket you want, then, when it gives you a price, you insert your card.

The DB ticket machines in Berlin, like in many other train stations offer not only the DB tickets but tickets for local transportation too. Many of the local companies in various German cities don't allow credit cards, so the guys in Berlin may have been frustrated with that, not with getting a ticket from the Deutsche Bahn.

Lee, you have just highlighted the point that what is obvious to one person is not to another. The credit card reader is a separate machine with bank security. Of course (obvious to me) you do not put your credit card in until the total amount is known. You choose your ticket (or tickets) on the machine, get a total and then it says "do you want to pay by cash or card?".

Exactly the same as a shop checkout, you ring up your goods, get a total, and only then is the credit card machine handed to the customer.

P.S. the machines also take debit cards.

Travel from the Continent to Britain by train, plane, or ferry is always a separate ticket, not covered by any pass, and that Eurostar train is a good example of a route to reserve ahead to get an advance-purchase discount (departs primarily from Paris, Brussels, or Lille to London). If bought on short notice, second-class tickets can go as high as $300 per person. If you don't plan to spend time in Paris, Brussels, or Lille, then flying to London becomes more attractive, but prices are again better when booked ahead.

If you plan to use a Eurail pass for travel in France, then you are advised to reserve well ahead for any faster TGV or Thalys train. You'll normally need this type of train if coming into Paris from a neighbor country and for most long-distance routes within France.

If your time in England will be significant, then maybe you won't need a whole month on the other pass. If you want a pass for train travel around England, then look at the separate BritRail passes.

I assumed that since the two guys were using a DB machine, (two of them were side by side), they must have been trying to get a DB ticket, which is plainly obvious how to use, step by step, and how to pay, ie, either with an American magnetic stripe credit card or cash both coins and bills. My immediate reaction was when they go to France, they'll find out there the SNCF train ticket machines don't accept US credit cards period.

To amplify an earlier comment, I would not plan to use a pass in France unless you are very, very flexible about your travel days/times or you can buy the reservations a long time before the travel day. My schedule was not very flexible, and I tried to get reservations about a week before my travel day. This was in the fall, not the height of the travel season. And no reservations were available, even though there were plenty of seats available. Consequently, I had to buy an expensive, full-fare ticket, and allow a segment of the pass to go unused. An expensive lesson.

The rail passes are very expensive I would instead use loco2.com or goeuro.com and buy rail tickets as needed, no point to pay more that you have to.. in Germany this summer DB has an offer of tickets to anywhere for 29 Euros... therefore a monthy ticket will end up costing you more.