Cheapest way to get a RailPass?

[alligatormtn]

Ive been looking for a EuroRail pass. I'm pretty sure that what im going to get is a youth, select saver pass for 5 countries. Ive been getting quotes of $470 but my friend insists this is too high.

any thoughts?

[WillTravel]

I know you have your itinerary on another thread. I would suggest looking at what a combination of point-to-point tickets and cheap flights cost. Keep in mind that the $470 initial cost is usually not the end of your payments. On some trains, reservations are necessary and you have to pay extra for faster trains.

[alligatormtn]

Thanks for the tips - i'll look into that.

I figure that shorter trips like Brugge to Brussels, and Paris to Champagne will be cheap tickets. Amsterdam to Munich will be a long one and it looks like flying from Budapest to Florence is the best option considering the train ride is almost 20 hours with several stops....

The problem i've found now is that they don't have train schedules for August already...

is there anyway to find what lines will require extra payment with my EuroRail pass?

[alligatormtn]

I'm cool to do whatever is the cheapest and easiest.

What i'm having the most trouble doing is finding out City to city prices for trains in August - although I have been able to find the train schedule (www.railsaver.com) and we figured what trains we would take.

I'll look into flying but I want to make sure that the airline we decide on is taking us to the main airport of the city - i've heard RyanAir is known for dumping you 40-50 miles from the city and you have to take a long cab ride or buss trip to the city, which would cost even more money.

I'll look into flying, there are really only a few routes (Amsterdam>Munich, Budapest>Florence, and maybe even Vienna>Budapest) that are cross country, most in country routes we're taking are no longer then a 3 hour train ride.

Any tips of a day trip to Versailles?

[madamtrashheap]

Glad to see you're looking in to flying some of your routes otherwise you'd find yourself spending more time travelling than seeing.

When you're looking at the airports for each city, just do a search using the airport code (eg FCO for Rome Leonardo da Vinic main airport) if it comes up on the initial request and you'll get an idea. There's also this Post pretravel.proboards1.com/v45index.cgi?action=display&board=intinary&thread=7353&page=1 that might be of help.

Apr 8, 2008 19:39:58 GMT -5 alligatormtn said:

Any tips of a day trip to Versailles?

Yep - go! If you have a day in Paris set aside for this then be all means go. Also, keep in mind how many days you'll be there when you purchase a Monument & Museums Card as this covers most of the things you'll want to see at Versailles. Here's a website that will help you understand what the card is about www.intermusees.fr/flash/hp_fr.html

The RER Line C goes directly to Versailles town station (make sure you take the correct split) from Paris centre and takes around 40mins. Then it's a 5min walk to the Palace (out of the station, turn right and you'll see the Palace if you look left at the next intersection). Also, I'd get an audio guide if you go into the Kings Apartments and Hall of Mirrors if you want to understand all you're seeing (unless you have a good guide book).

[alligatormtn]

Thanks for the tips...here's my final questions.

1) Flying? Amsterdam to Munich - i'm having trouble finding a train ride. Also, we're going from Epernay to Brugge, and stopping in Lille - it's an 8 hour train ride, but it seems the only option for flying would be train to Paris, then fly to Brussels, then train to Brugge...it'd take longer to do that then get to take a train, and we get to stop in Lille, which we want to do.

2) Where can I buy point to point tickets? I'd like to see how much it'll cost for each route w/ the ticket and reservation. Once I do that we'll see about the rail pass. I've found all sorts of schedules, but no actual tickets for purchase with any sort of prices.

[madamtrashheap]

That AMS-MUC route is tricky and I know we've dealt with this before (just can't recall the Post). Check KLM and Lufthansa as whilst they aren't cheap, they should have routes on this sector and sometimes offer special deals if you book far enough in advance.

Point to Point (P2P) tkts can be purchased at the station of depature, either before you travel or a few days before if you are in that city. They can also be purchased online on the website of the corresponding country (eg France is SNCF www.sncf.com ), but I'm not sure that all websites offer this if you aren't residing in that country as often they require a delivery address ("ticketless" journeys aren't widespread just yet, but you will find an online ticket printout option with a few sites. Again, this can have conditions.). However for the purposes of checking costs, the sites for each country will do, or you could even check one like Deutsche Bahn ( www.db.de ) to get an overall idea for your journeys (even if they don't go through Germany).

[alligatormtn]

A lot of the Bahn routes don't have prices or purchases online.

I'm just trying to figure out how to purchase a rail pass. Is it going to be cheaper, or is it not? what do I do about reserving my seat on the train, once I have bought my rail pass...those sort of things are what are making me a little nervous and unsure of what to do.

[madamtrashheap]

Apr 8, 2008 21:33:35 GMT -5 alligatormtn said:

A lot of the Bahn routes don't have prices or purchases online.

Ah yes, if the train doesn't go through Germany then it might not list the price. You'll have to check the relative country sites then for a better idea.

As far as cheaper - hard to answer. In countries like Italy, P2P are fairly cheap when purchased on the day, whereas in Germany they can be very expensive. How does the Rail Europe 5-country pass stack up for you (assuming you'll purchase the Vienna-Budapest tkts P2P or as an add on)?

Reserving your seats is a topic that comes up frequently on these Boards. Here's one to get you started: pretravel.proboards1.com/v45index.cgi?board=Transportation&action=display&thread=4988 and perhaps the others will have more tips.

[Eagle]

alligatormtn,

I'm just trying to figure out how to purchase a rail pass.

You can purchase a Rail Pass from the home page of this web site (click the "GFE" logo at the top, and then the "Rail Passes" in the Transportation section on the left side - that will take you to the Rail Europe site). The cost is the same as elsewhere, and in my experience delivery is very quick (depending on where you're located). Buying the pass here helps to support our efforts on this site.

Flying? Amsterdam to Munich - i'm having trouble finding a train ride

My preference for that particular route would be to use train rather than budget airline. You would have to "budget" a full travel day though. When you account for travel time to the airport, check-in, security and the usual annoyances (at both ends), I suspect the travel time is in actuality going to be close between both methods.

For example, consider this trip via Train (I chose an arbitrary date, just for planning):

- Depart Amsterdam Central 07:04
- Arrive Munich Hbf 14:31
(Travel time 7H27M, one change at Frankfurt Airport, reservation compulsory)

That would get you into Munich early enough to get settled in your lodgings, and also have a quick look around town. Even with a Rail Pass you would need to pay separately for a reservation, but this particular journey would be a good one to use a Rail Pass as it's a somewhat "expensive" ticket.

As MTH mentioned, the easiest method for P-P tickets (which include reservations if required) is just to buy these at the station in each city. I prefer to buy tickets for my outgoing journey either when I arrive in a particular city, or a few days before departure.

Hope this helps. Happy travels!