Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
age of twenty-six (you can't get a second-class rail pass) and second-class tickets for those under twenty-six
(though those under twenty-six can buy first-class tickets).
Rail passes are sold via Rail Europe (raileurope.com), which is a United States-based seller. You can
also find passes on the main Eurail website (eurail.com). There's no difference between the two—Eurail is
the pass issuer and Rail Europe is the reseller, but often Rail Europe has cheaper prices, since they have
sales while Eurail doesn't. Europeans need to use the site InterRail.
Most travelers use the popular Global Flexi Pass. A two-month fifteen-day (that is, fifteen trips) second-
class ticket costs about $721 USD (a value of $48 USD per trip). A first-class adult ticket costs about $1,100
USD (a value of $73 USD per trip). A “flexi” pass allows you to use your days anytime during the two-
month period, unlike consecutive day passes, which have to be used day after day. Consecutive day passes
can be bought for up to three months. These passes cost up to $2,000 USD for a three-month pass and are
not worth the price, because every day you don't use the pass, your money is wasted.
You buy your pass before you go, and it becomes valid from the first time you use it. You don't need to
buy a ticket ahead of time, you can simply show up on the train, present the conductor with your pass, and
keep going on with your journey. Some countries require you to book a seat ahead of time. When you re-
ceive your rail pass, you'll get a small book that lets you know the specific reservation rules for each country
the pass covers.
Take, for example, my trip around Europe with the first-class Global Pass ($1,100 USD) on a journey
that took me to Spain, France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The cost of my travels was $1,294
USD for the reservation fees and the pass. The cost without the Eurail pass would have been $1,767 USD.
For a second-class ticket, assuming the same reservation fees, I would have spent $878 USD, whereas the
trip would have cost $1,157 USD without the pass. No matter what class I was in, I would have saved
money.
Eurail passes work if you get the right pass and plan your trip well. Last-minute trains cost a lot of
money, and rail passes really help in those sorts of situations. However, as we can see, short trips actually
cost more with a Eurail pass. With the Global Flexi Pass, each trip is worth $73 USD, but the price of my
short train trips (that is, rides less than three hours) was typically around $65 USD. However, where I saved
money was on the longer journeys. My trip from Berlin to Munich would have cost me about $192 USD
without the pass, so I saved $120 USD in that instance.
If, however, you like to plan in advance and are willing to buy your tickets early, you will be able to find
cheap train tickets without a Eurail pass. Advance bookings of two weeks or more can get train tickets for up
to 50 percent less than the cost of buying tickets the day before or the day of. If you are OK with accepting
that rigidity into your trip, then a Eurail pass is not something you should get, as booking in advance will
get you cheaper tickets than Eurail.
I like to go with the flow, and hardly ever know my travel plans well enough in advance to book a dis-
count ticket. There have been many times I've said or heard other people say, “I'm going to Paris tomor-
row,” only to then leave three days later. Eurail passes are much better than buying the tickets the day of and
they retain that same “today, I'm going here” flexibility.
The key to saving money with a rail pass is to do your homework before your trip. Most travelers' com-
plaints are due to the fact that people either didn't get the right pass or they failed to read the fine print.
Getting the wrong pass will definitely lead to spending more than what you would spend buying indi-
vidual tickets. If you buy yourself a Global Pass and then visit one to three countries close to one another,
you're going to lose money. A large multi-country pass only works when you travel to many countries and
over vast distances. If you are only visiting a few countries, you need to get a more regional pass.
