Need Help With Info RE: Eurail Global Pass

[danielscott]

Hi guys,

A bit curious as to how this works, and my travel agent (surprise surprise) wasn't a lot of help.

I get that it works between major cities, rail-wise... but what about, for example, if I want to go from Nice to Canne? Or Florence to Pisa? Or even just travel to another station in the same city.

Is THIS covered by my Eurail pass?

If it is, it will be great value... but if not, it may not be a worthwhile option (I'm looking at a 2 month unlimited pass for my 6 week trip).

Kind regards,

-Dan

[madamtrashheap]

Have a look on either the RailEurope site ( www.raileurope.com ) or the Eurail site ( www.eurail.com ) and click on the Rail Passes section. This should make things a little clearer for you, but in essence, yes your pass works on trains across Europe, unless they are private trains (eg a few in Switzerland, but even these have options of discounts so ask). So you could travel from Nice to Cannes, Florence to Pisa, etc. Where they won't work is on Metro/Underground trains. Interestingly, although not applicable to your trip from memory, is that they work in combination with some of the ferries travelling to and from Greece/Italy and some boats that travel the Rhein and Mosel rivers in Germany.

Also look at other recent Posts on the topic of Reservations - these are required on some trains (overnight, ICE, TGV, Eurostar Italia, etc).

[danielscott]

Hi Madam,

Thanks very much for your reply.

So essentially the only place the pass isn't valid is within the one city, right?

Fantastic.

I'm going through now and trying to figure out whether one of these passes is in my best interest... but it is looking unlikely.

Regarding train travel... is it like plane fares, where you need to book ahead to get a decent price? Or is it relatively static and a few days in advance is fine?

Kind regards,

-Dan

[danielscott]

Also, to calculate prices I am looking on RailEurope.com.au - is this the best way to go, or will the prices be much better when I actually get over there?

-Dan

[Eagle]

danielscott,

Before buying your Rail Pass, you might want to enter each of the rail trips you're going to be making into www.railsaver.com. The site will "suggest" the most appropriate combination of Rail Pass and P-P tickets. I've found it's not perfect, but makes a fairly good estimate.

It's important to make the most accurate assessment of your needs, so that you don't buy a more expensive Pass than you'll need. If you're going to be using the trains at irregular intervals, you might find that Flex Pass is the best choice.

As MTH mentioned, Rail Passes do NOT include the reservation fees that are compulsory on the "fast" trains and some of the night trains. You'll have to pay these separately.

Even with a Rail Pass, it's sometimes more cost effective to purchase P-P tickets rather than use a day of the Pass. However this depends to some extent on which pass it is. A good example would be the trip from Orvieto to Rome, which is a fairly short distance (about one hour travel time). It's not really cost effective to use one day of a Flex Pass for that trip, especially when the cost of a P-P ticket is relatively cheap for that run.

Again as MTH mentioned, Rail Passes also offer discounts on other transportation in Europe, such as the Ferries from Brindisi to Greece.

You might find it worthwhile to have a look at www.ricksteves.com/rail/rail_menu.htm and download the free PDF Rail Guide, as it explains just about everything you'll need to know (some of this information will also be included with your Rail Pass).

Happy travels! ;D

[danielscott]

Eagle,

Thanks for the tips.

The booking fees are pretty high for the trains I am planning on taking (15 - 25 EUR) which means the rail pass doesn't really make that much of a difference... it's the booking fees that are the killer, and I have to pay them regardless.

I assume it would be very handy if I was stopping in say 20 different cities or whatever over a few countries; as it is, though, I am visiting 1 - 3 cities per country, so it doesn't really help as much as I'd like (particularly considering budget airlines are a good option for me a lot of the time).

Having said all that, is it cheaper to book in advance? Does it make a difference? Are fares often cheaper "on the day"?

Thanks,

-Dan

[Mikul]

I am currently backpacking in Europe, right now I am in Bruges to be precise, and I am using a 3 month Global Pass. For example, I paid 20 Euros in reservation fees for getting from Paris to Brussels. When I went from Brussels to Bruges I didn't have to pay anything.

[Eagle]

danielscott,

Having said all that, is it cheaper to book in advance? Does it make a difference? Are fares often cheaper "on the day"?

Generally speaking, it's not cheaper to book reservations in advance, especially if you're doing it over the net using the Rail Europe web site. I usually just buy reservations for the outgoing journey when I arrive in a particular city, since I'm at the station anyway. Otherwise, I just buy them a day or two before I'll be departing.

It can be cheaper to buy in advance if you're buying P-P tickets, such as the Amica fares in Italy (check the website www.trenitalia.it for details. These can be purchased at the station either from the ticket agents or the ticket machines. I don't know where you're from, but one thing to note is that if you were going to use a credit card or debit card to pay for the ticket at a machine, most of these will only accept the newer "chip cards" now.

A few web sites you might want to check for more detailed information are www.roninrome.com/ or parisbytrain.com/.

You can avoid paying reservation fees by using the slower regional trains rather than high speed trains (depending on the specifics of your Itinerary at the time). If you check each of your trips on the www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml website, it will indicate which trains have compulsory reservations. The slower (non-reservation) trains usually have more changes in addition to being slower, so make sure you're completely "up to speed" on the methods for changing trains. There's lots of information in the the PDF Rail Guide that I linked in my previous post.

Cheers!