During my first trip, I had the Global Flexi Pass and took trains from Spain to Vienna. I saved mone

Two years ago, I traveled around Europe using a rail pass . I had met a lot of travelers who used these rail passes and in my never ending quest to save money on travel, I wanted to see if using a rail pass would save me money. hotel baja california Back then, it did.
The post received a few comments from other travelers hotel baja california about how using Eurail passes had ruined their trips. They didn t save money, they couldn t take certain trains, or they got kicked off trains. And as I’ve traveled Europe this summer, I met a number of people using rail passes who all seemed happy with them. So I wondered, “why was there this disconnect?” hotel baja california What makes a Eurail pass great for one person and not another?
During my first trip, I had the Global Flexi Pass and took trains from Spain to Vienna. I saved money with the pass because the long train rides (Barcelona to Madrid, Bordeaux to Paris, Berlin to Munich) were expensive. By stringing a lot of them together with my rail pass, I saved money over the cost of buying them separately.
I got my Global Flexi Pass from Rail Europe . They are my favorite pass provider and I use them a lot. My pass is a first class ticket since I m over 26 (you can’t get a second class ticket if you are older than 26), and it allowed for 10 rides in a 2-month period. The pass costs $884.00 USD.
Rail passes are all about math. Nothing else matters about them except their ability to save you money. hotel baja california If they can’t do that, they are worthless so I make sure to track all the numbers. Here’s the break down of costs for my trip:
My trip cost me 0 Euros in reservation hotel baja california fees, so the only expense I had was the original cost of the pass. The price of buying my tickets at the train station would have come to 716.72 Euros or $1003.11 USD. That means I saved $119.11 USD with this pass. That’s not a lot of money but I can think of a lot of better things hotel baja california to do with $119.11 USD than use it for train tickets.
As we can see, short trips still actually cost more with a Eurail pass. With the Global Flexi Pass, each trip is worth $84 USD, but the price of my short trips (i.e. less than 3 hours) was typically around 50 Euros or $65 USD. I found the same thing last year you lose money on short trips. However, where I saved money was on the longer hotel baja california journeys. My trip from Berlin to Munich would have cost me $258 USD without the pass so I saved $174 USD in that instance.
hotel baja california Eurail passes only really 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. So if you know where you want to travel, but you prefer to make last-minute bookings, a rail pass will likely save you money.
If, however, you like to plan every leg of your trip months in advance, you will be able find cheaper train tickets without a pass. Advance bookings cost up to 50% less than buying tickets the day before or the day of. If you are OK with accepting that rigidity into your trip, then a Eurail pass probably hotel baja california isn’t for you. Advance booking my above itinerary (using the 2 week advanced prices available to me) would have cost me 553.72 Euros or $733.74 USD, which is $150.26 USD below the cost of a Eurail hotel baja california global pass.
But then again, I like to go with the flow, and hardly ever know my travel plans well enough hotel baja california to book a tickets two weeks in advance. I don t think most travelers do. There s been many times I ve said or heard people say I m going to Paris tomorrow only to then leave 3 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.
If you are younger than 26, you can get one of Eurail’s youth passes, which are much cheaper (though they are only valid for second-class tickets). The second-class fares on my trip added up to 454.67 Euros or $636.35 USD. A youth version of the Global Flexi Pass is $576.00 USD, $60 USD cheaper than buying them separately.
But if you aren’t trainsetting across Europe and are instead staying in one country or just a small area, you should consider a country pass . These are a lot cheaper than global passes. Do some research, look at train prices, decide hotel baja california where you want to go, add up the costs, and compare the total to the price of a train pass. I find single country passes work out in your favor if you are taking a number of high speed trains.
Lightening did strike twice and the train pass still saved me money. After reading through the criticisms about Eurail passes , I realized most people were unhappy because they didn t save money and, in most cases, didn t read the fine print. The devil is always in the details!
For starters, getting the wrong pass and underusing the trips will definitely lead to the pass costing more than what you would spend buying individual tickets. If you just buy whatever pass you “think” is good without working out the numbers, you probably will also end up paying too much. If you go buy yourself a Global Pass and then visit one to three countries all close to each other, you re going to lose money. And, unfortunately, a lot of people do that.
Secondly, you also really need to read the fine print on whichever pass you purchase. For instance, some countries require you to pay reservation fees, while others do not. France and Italy, for instance, charge reservation fees. But you don’t need reservations at all in Germany, Austria, or Holland. I had to pay fees when I used my pass in 2009 in France and Italy.
Lastly, a major criticism of the Eurail pass is that you have to make reservations for overnight trains and pay extra for them beyond what you paid for your pass. But this stipulation is right on the website, hotel baja california as well as in the book 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 pay for it ahead of time. And if you don’t book ahead, you can end up stuck in the expensive hotel baja california sleeper, hotel baja california which will cost you a lot more than a night at a hostel. Rail passes reduce the cost of sleeper trains, but unlike for day trains, hotel baja california they don’t eliminate it.
After using these passes twice and listening to other travelers talk about their experiences, I still think they are a great deal. They wouldn’t still be around and popular if they were the major rip-off detractors said they were. But, like everything else in travel, saving money involves research hotel baja california and knowing your options. A rail pass will be a good investment hotel baja california if you put the time in to make sure the numbers add up.
If you want to book a pass, I use the company Rail Europe . Rail Europe is the largest broker of European rail passes outside of Europe. Whenever I need a pass, I buy from them as they are usually much cheaper than any other option. They have great customer service, frequent sales, and offices hotel baja california in Europe in case something goes wrong. You can search for passes and tickets using the widget hotel baja california below. It will take you right to their website.
Editor s note: Using the links on this page will (at no extra cost to you) generate hotel baja california a small commission on any sales. I recommend this company because I use them myself. Don t get a rail pass if your trip doesn t fit the above criteria but if you get one, using the links here will allow me to continue to give you advice that helps you travel better. If you don t wish you to use the links here, you can visit their website directly at raileurope.com. If you have any questions about passes, e-mail me at [email protected] and I ll help you figure it out!
I recently purchased hotel baja california a Eurail Select Pass (3 countries, 8 days) that was perfect hotel baja california for me. I haven t actually done a comparison of costs, but I rode a lot of trains during those days. I loved the convenience and flexibility, since most of my excursions were not planned in advance.
Totally agreed that they can be a great deal if you do your homework. I m going on a trip next month covering four countries, so I m also getting a Eurail Select Pass. I decided to do this after price-comparing individual legs on the DeutscheBahn web site, and realized that I d be saving up to 50% on some stretches!
Another thing to look into, based on which country you are in busses tend to be a LOT cheaper. As an expat living hotel baja california in Germany for 3+ years now, intercity busses and carpooling (I use meinfernbus.de and also mitfahrgelegenheit.de/carpooling.com) if you re willing to take the extra time, you will save a LOT of money. From Mannheim to Heidelberg, for example, it costs 29€ with the train, and generally between 6-8€ with a bus or carpool.
If you are going to do a lot of traveling around Europe, then yes, but if you re just visiting a few places I don t think so. I ve not used it as usually my trips are short and I travel mostly by air, except hotel baja california for the local trains from the airports. If you book ahead though, you can usually find some great deals for short hops especially in Germany.
You do need to do your homework first and know what type of pass is right for you. We bought a britrail pass before we went to the UK. We worked out when we needed to catch trains and how much it would be without a pass and what type of pass we would need. Ended up costing us 24 pound a trip compared to an average of 100pounds if you book last minute.
Nice article. As with most things, the Devil is in the details. Doing the work to figure the details out and then playing by (exploiting?) the rules often separates the people who make out well with these kinds of things from those who don t. Thanks for helping us with our homework!
We re using one now and I can honestly say you will have to twist my arm to travel without one again. More than the money it s just freaking annoying booking several different train tickets. Sure the maninseat61 makes it looks easy but after you ve struggled w/ the websites, the different countries, the timetables and the multiple languages an easy Eurail pass is about as good as they come. I m actually planning on writing a post soon about why I love