Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You also need to read the fine print. For instance, some countries require you to pay reservation fees to
secure your seat, while others do not. France and Italy, for example, charge reservation fees of $3-6 USD.
But you don't need a reservation in Germany, Austria, or Holland. Know the rules.
A major criticism of the Eurail pass is that you have to make reservations for overnight trains and pay
a reservation fee (roughly $30 USD) in addition to what you paid for your pass. But this stipulation is right
there on the website, as well as in the topic they send you with train times and fees. You can't just get on an
overnight train in any country, find a bunk, and go to sleep. You have to reserve your bed, and if you don't
book ahead, you can end up stuck in the expensive sleeper car, which can cost as much as $100 USD. Rail
passes reduce the cost of sleeper trains, but unlike for day trains, they don't eliminate it.
So are Eurail passes worth purchasing? Maybe.
Rail passes are all about money. If it doesn't save you a dollar, it's not worth getting. That means you
have to do a lot of math to figure out if a pass is right or not. It can be a time-consuming process but is
certainly worth it in the end.
Just like the airlines, prices are now variable and no longer fixed. Depending on when you book, your
ticket cost will fluctuate. If you are willing to prebook months in advance, you'll easily find some unbeatable
bargain deals such as Paris to Amsterdam from $46 USD, Rome to Venice for $38 USD, and Amsterdam to
Berlin for $78 USD. As I mentioned, Denmark offers orange tickets that are 50 percent off the normal price.
Because rail passes cost roughly $79 USD per trip, you can't beat booking individual tickets far in advance.
But who prebooks a multimonth trip to Europe?
If you are planning on a two-week trip months from now and you already know your dates, it's not going
to be a good idea to get a rail pass. Even though those early-bird tickets are nonrefundable, they are still
pretty cheap, and you probably won't be changing too many of your dates.
But if you are traveling around Europe with no fixed plans, rail passes can work out to be a better value
than buying same-day point-to-point tickets. To me, the pass is about flexibility and being able to hop on
and hop off trains when I want. If you are traveling long term, you aren't going to schedule ahead months of
travel. You are going to want the ability to go with the flow, which using a pass will give you.
I think one of the best ways to use the passes is to mix and match, using the rail pass for the expensive
trains while paying for cheap tickets individually so you can maximize value. For example, for eleven days
of train travel in Europe, it's cheaper to buy a ten-day Eurail Global pass plus one point-to-point ticket for
the cheapest train. Additionally, I place a value on flexibility. If the math is roughly the same, I'll buy a pass
because saving $3 isn't worth trading the flexibility a pass gives.
How to Pick the Option That Is Best for You
Rail passes are all about math. The only way to know for sure whether a rail pass or point-to-point ticket
would be cheaper is to work out the point-to-point prices for most of the trips you're planning using the
various European train operator websites.
After you have a general idea of where you want to go, visit the national railway websites and work out
two sets of prices: one for tomorrow (that is, a last-minute fare) and one for two months from now (an early
bird fare). Add up the prices in each category.
Next, head to Rail Europe, find your rail pass, and divide the rail pass price by the number of days you'll
be traveling by train to figure out the cost of each journey on the pass.
See which is cheaper and take that option, bearing in mind that your journey may change or you may
take more high-speed rails. If I know I'll be in a lot of countries that don't charge reservation fees and the
