GG
Full Travel Member
Posts: 31
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Post by GG on Nov 24, 2002 23:30:57 GMT -5
With exams over *phew* I can now start planning my trip in July 03. If I was to buy a pass to cover a few countries, how do I estimate the number of days worth of travel to prepurchase? I plan to travel over a four week period and it looks like you purchase so many days worth of travel, I think??
Any advice would be helpful, thanx, looking at travelling thru Germany, Austria, Luxemburg and Switzerland.
;D
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Post by Kim on Nov 25, 2002 0:37:13 GMT -5
OK, first the passes that you have to choose from (this is if you will be under 26 on the first day you use your pass-let me know if you won't be):
Second Class Youth Selectpass
Basically, a selectpass is good for ajoining countries. In your case, you would be looking at 4 countries. (By the way, the Benelux-Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium is considered one so you could also go to those). You choose the amount of countries you want (from 3 to 5 countries) then the amount of days you want-from 5-15 days in a 2 month span.
Second Class Youth Selectpass (2003 Prices)
5 days in 2 months:
4 Countries: $279
6 days in 2 months
4 Countries: $306
8 days in 2 months
4 Countries: $359
10 days in 2 months
4 Countries: $409
15 days in 2 months
5 Countries Only :$556
Eurail Pass-Not a good option for you.
Basically, it offers consecutive day travel which means if you buy a 15 day pass, after 15 days it expires.
Flexi Pass Second Class Youth
Eurail Flexipasses permit rail travel in the 17 European countries of the Eurail network: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Here are the prices:
Eurail Youth Flexi 10 days in 2 months $488 (2003 Price)
Eurail Youth Flexi 15 days in 2 months $642 (2003 Price)
Whew! Did you make it through all that? ;D
Basically if you stick to your 4 countries, the youth Selectpass will be the best pass for you at $409.
If you think you might want to leave open the possibilit of other countries, the Eurail Flexi where 10 days in 2 months is $488
Now, how many days do you need...
Basically, your best bet is to map out a rough intinary for yourself of the cities you are planning on going to, that should tell you how many days you will be travelling to. Even if you change up the places, the number of days you travel on will be about the same.
Say you are looking to stay approx. 3 days in each city, which is a good amount, the 10 day pass would fit you well. You probably don't want to spend less than 3 days in a place or you will be exhausted-we found 3 days to be good for most places.
Like I said, map out a general intinary for yourself and give yourself around 3 days in each place and see what you come up with.
Kim
{Edited as I remember the Europass isn't being sold in 2003}
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GG
Full Travel Member
Posts: 31
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Post by GG on Nov 25, 2002 0:44:27 GMT -5
WOW thanks for that. I am a young 39 yo!!!! So the student pass is out. but will now plot my destinations once I have a map of Europe and the latest edition of Lonely Planet. Santa!! did you hear that! hint hint....  |
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 25, 2002 19:19:51 GMT -5
To Kim: Where do you find the 2003 Rail pass prices?
How much is the difference between 3-countries and 4-countries Select pass? IIRC, 5-days 3-countries pass is currently 243$...
Since Luxemburg is a small country, you might not need to add another country for the short journeys in that country, that would likely cost only a few $ (or Euro).
As a young person who unfortunately is too old for youth fares, the multi-countries passes available to you are only in 1st class. If you don't want that luxury (there's not much difference, 1st class is just less crowded, and for this you pay about 50% extra) and prefer 2nd class, you can buy point-to-point tickets wherever you go, or single-country passes which are available to "oldies" also in 2nd class. But in this case you need a carefull planning and have less flexibility to change plans on the road, since you need to pre-determine the # of travel days for each country. Some single-country passes can be bought locally, unlike multi-country passes which should be bought outside Europe.
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 25, 2002 20:13:44 GMT -5
Sample fares of rail passes available to you. Note: These are 2002 fares. You should expect fares in 2003 to be about 3% higher. All prices in US$ unless otherwise stated.
Eurail Selectpass 3-countries adults 1st class:
5 travel days in 2 months - 346
6 days - 380
8 days - 444
10 days - 502
Eurail flexi pass (17 countries) adults 1st class:
10 travel days in 2 months - 674
15 days - 888
Eurail pass adults 1st class:
15 days (consecutive) - 572
21 days - 740
1 month - 918
Note: If you stay 3-4 days in your first and last destinations, the 21 days may be enough for you, and it's not much more expensive than 10-days flexi pass. But if you travel in 5 countries or less, the selestpass is much cheaper.
Single-country passes:
German flexipass - 2nd class:
4 travel days in 1 month - 180
5 days - 202
6 days - 226
There are also passes up to 10 days.
Swiss pass - 2nd class:
4 consecutive days - 160
8 consecutive days - 225
15 consecutive days - 270
(also passes for 22 days and 1 month)
Swiss Flexi pass - 2nd class:
3 travel days in 1 month - 156
4 travel days - 184
5 travel days - 212
6 travel days - 240
8 travel days - 282
Swiss passes allow free travel on buses, boats, urban transportation and some private railways as well as federal trains, which is an added value to the multi-countries rail passes.
Austrian flexi pass - 2nd class:
3 travel days in 15 days - 107
4 days - 122
Each additional day (up to 8) - 15
For about the same price of 10-days 3-countries selectpass 1st class (502$) you can buy:
4-days German flexi pass - 180
4-days Swiss flexi pass - 184
4-days Austrian flexi pass - 122
Total - 486
But considering the difference in class and that days may overlap (if you travel from one country to another you may need to use a day on 2 tickets), and especially the added flexibility, it looks like 3-countries pass is a better deal.
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GG
Full Travel Member
Posts: 31
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Post by GG on Nov 25, 2002 20:31:21 GMT -5
Thanx to both of you for all info.
;D
As I am looking at paying in Aussie $, it will be a big part of my pretravel expense, (double the US$ quoted) so will have to be well organised with plans to make sure I get the appropriate ticket.
Happy Travels to all!
Kathy
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 25, 2002 20:49:19 GMT -5
but will now plot my destinations once I have a map of Europe and the latest edition of Lonely Planet. Santa!! did you hear that! hint hint.... There are plenty of maps available on the net. Here is a rail map that could be helpful... www.railsaver.com/map.aspIIRC, new editions of LP will be sold only after the new year, but you can already order them... |
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Post by Kim on Nov 25, 2002 21:16:30 GMT -5
Nitsansh.. They are posted in the Rail News section of Rick Steves site: www.ricksteves.com/news/monthly/railnews.htmThey should be around the same price everywhere, give or take a bit. Gives people an estimate at least. Kim |
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 25, 2002 22:19:12 GMT -5
Here are the new prices:
2003 Selectpass Prices
First Class Selectpass 3 countries 4 countries 5 countries
5 days in 2 months
$356
$398
$438
6 days in 2 months
$394
$436
$476
8 days in 2 months
$470
$512
$552
10 days in 2 months
$542
$584
$624
15 days in 2 months
n/a
n/a
$794
2003 Eurailpass Prices
Consecutive Day Pass First Class First Class Saverpass Second Class Youthpass
15 days
$588
$498
$414
21 days
$762
$648
$534
Please note:
The difference between 3-countries and 4-countries Selectpass is 42$. Between 4 and 5 countries it's 40$. I presume the cost of ticket from the German border to Luxemburg city and back should be much less. Travel within Luxemburg definitely doesn't worth a use of travel day.
A 15-days Selectpass is more expensive than 21-days Eurail Pass.
While Eurail and Select passes up their prices in 2003, single country passes in Germany, Switzerland and Austria should remain the same. A combination of single country passes could give you 14-15 travel days for the price of a 10-days 3-countries Selectpass, or 11 days for the price of 8-days Selectpass. That option need careful planning, though.
Unlike Kim, I don't think there are many places in those countries that worth 3-days stay. Berlin and Munchen in Germany, Vienna in Austria are the only places that come to my mind... Germany is a big country, but Austria and Switzerland are rather small and the distances are not so long. Travel in the Alps is by no mean a wasted time!
While I visited Switzerland I travelled almost every day until my pass expired, and I had to slow down... and that was after 3 months around Europe, so it wasn't at all tiring!
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Post by me on Nov 25, 2002 22:21:04 GMT -5
GG, depending on your travels, it may well be cheaper to buy point-to-point tix. Or, as i did on my last central europe trip, get a 2nd class Germanrail Flexipass - don't think this pass has an age restriction, and pay cash for non-Germanrail tickets. [i.e. if you go from Luxemburg to Salzburg, Austria, 95% of your train travel will be in Germany]
Germany covers the majority of the area among the 4 states you list. (Austria, Luxemburg and Switzerland combined are less area than Germany)
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GG
Full Travel Member
Posts: 31
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Post by GG on Nov 25, 2002 22:31:09 GMT -5
Lots to consider, but one last question of a million I have.
Do I purchase the german pass before or when I arrive?
Am flying directly into Frankfurt then have a festival to attend in Hamburg 2 days after my arrival. It has been suggested to try and prepurchase as much as possible to save $.
Thanx
Kathy
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 25, 2002 22:56:14 GMT -5
Germany is 3 times bigger than Austria and Switzerland combined in size, and 5-times bigger than those two together in population. Luxemburg is less than 1% of Germany in size...
According to LP, Germany has 84 cities with population of 6-figures or more... Switzerland and Austria have 5 cities each of this size and Luxemburg none...
However, despite its small size and population, Luxemburg has 3 official languages...
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 25, 2002 23:13:19 GMT -5
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Post by me on Nov 26, 2002 13:11:11 GMT -5
my understanding is that an Austrian & Benelux railpasses aren't worth it. p-2-p tix are cheap, so it doesn't pay to buy the pass.
Germanrail tix, however, are NOT cheap! when i was there, one could not buy a Germanrail pass in Germany. I had to step over the Swiss border, in the same building, to buy the pass.
my info is a few years old. things may have changed.
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Post by nitsansh on Nov 26, 2002 14:12:09 GMT -5
You can't know if a pass is "worth it" unless you set up an itinerary and calculate the cost of P2P tickets vs pass. The cost per day goes down as the # of travel days goes up. A 3-days Austrian pass cost 36$ per day, but as the increment supplement for each additional day is a modest 15$, a 5-days pass cost 27$ per day, and 8-days pass only 23$ per day.
The same principle works for all passes. 3-days Swiss flexi pass cost a whopping 52$/day, 8-days flexi pass cost a reasonable 35$/day.
Giving the much larger distances, the German pass is potentially a very good deal. A single P2P ticket in Germany could cost over 100 Euro, so a 4-days pass at 180$ (45$/day) could pay back with just 2 or 3 long journeys.
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