I am flying into Dusseldorf and taking a train to Lucerne. From Lucerne I am taking the train in and out of the Lauternmen Valley. Then taking the train to Salzburg for a layover then on to Vienna and then to Munich and finally to Trier. All within a three week period. Should I buy a Eurorail Pass or is there a cheaper way of getting passes? Will a Eurorail pass cover all of these destinations?
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New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
First, look at this excellent discussion on the railpass question: http://tinyurl.com/bkw4u6c. A pass for Switzerland can often be a good deal (there's a half fare card as well as more comprehensive passes). But for the rest of your trip, you'll probably do much better with advance purchase tickets bought on line. As long as you can accept non-exchangeable and non-refundable tickets, you'll save a lot. For train schedules, follow this tutorial on using the Bahn website: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/db_tips.htm. This will not have prices on trains outside of Germany. For Swiss rail, use http://tinyurl.com/mc7g322 (and be aware that the default price shown is with the half fare card). For Austrian rail, use http://www.oebb.at/en/index.jsp. To check how much you'll save with advance purchase, look at tickets for tomorrow vs tickets for your actual travel dates.