I would love to see a comparison of train tickets booked in advance versus eurail. I m sure the resu

Every two years, I use a train pass to ride the rails of Europe in an effort to answer the most important question travelers have on the subject: do these passes cheap european river cruises actually save you money or are they a giant waste of time?
Back in 2011 , I found that rail passes were worth the cost if you took lots of high speed, long distance, or overnight trains and were traveling last minute. This year Rail Europe again gave me a pass to determine whether that was still true. I set off on a journey from Lisbon to Berlin, taking a variety of trains in order to explore the differences in value.
Over the last couple of years, I've heard from fellow travelers that passes have gotten harder to use due to limited seat availability and increased fees. It used to be that you could buy a rail pass, hop on a train, and go wherever you wanted. And if you needed a reservation for the seat, it didn't matter whether you had a pass or not if there was a seat on the train, you got it. Now there are often only a set number of seats available for passholders cheap european river cruises on any given train and many countries have instituted high-priced reservation fees (I'm looking at you, France!).
Additionally, as railways have had to deal with the rise of budget airlines, they have changed their pricing model to more closely imitate airlines. Now they now tend offer cheap early bird prices and expensive last-minute fares.
The pass I was given was a first class 15-day, two month Global pass that costs $1,189 USD. (Why first class? Because it s the only pass you can get when you are over 26.) This means that I can use the pass for 15 non-consecutive days of travel in a two month period. The value of each journey works out to be $79. Since I was only in Europe for two weeks, cheap european river cruises I didn't use the entire pass, but I used a variety cheap european river cruises of different trains for my tests. My five train rides then have a base value $395.
So with all the fees plus the base ticket price, did I save money? My total costs were $800 USD (the base cost plus fees). The added fees were for seat reservations. On night trains, they are required. In some countries, like Italy and France, reservations are also required for day trains. So that means on top of the base fare, you are also paying a small fee for the seat (anywhere between 2-9 Euros ($3-12 USD)). Without the pass, my first class tickets would have cost me $975, a savings of $175.
I never had any problems finding a seat, except on the Paris to Amsterdam journey. The Thalys train has a limited number of passholder seats and since I didn't pre-book a ticket, instead of travelling direct, I had to make a number of stops. It made the journey cheaper but also a lot longer than it needed to be. Other than that, I had no problem using the pass or finding seat availability.
But rail passes are all about money. If it doesn't save you a dollar, it's not worth getting, and that means you have to do a lot of math, which 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 cheap european river cruises cost will fluctuate. If you are willing to pre-book months in advance, you ll easily find some unbeatable bargain deals such as Paris to Amsterdam cheap european river cruises from $46, Rome to Venice from $38, or Amsterdam to Berlin from $78. Denmark offers orange tickets that are 50% off the normal price. Since rail passes cost roughly $79 per trip, you can't beat booking individual tickets far in advance.
If you are planning on a two-week trip months from now and you already cheap european river cruises know your dates, it's not going to be the best idea to get a rail pass. Even though those early bird tickets are non-refundable, they are still pretty cheap and you probably won t be changing cheap european river cruises 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 cheap european river cruises point-to-point tickets. To me, the pass is about flexibility and being able to hop on and hop off trains when you want. If you are traveling long term, you aren't going to pre-plan 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 11 days of train travel in Europe, it s cheaper to buy a 10-day cheap european river cruises Eurail Global pass plus one point-to-point ticket for the cheapest train. Additionally, I place a value on flexibility. cheap european river cruises If the math is roughly the same, I ll buy a pass because maybe saving $3 isn t worth trading the flexibility a pass gives.
That being said, reflecting on the high costs of the sleeper trains, I don't think I would take an overnight train again. If you don't mind a seat, it's a great deal but I can't sleep in seats and am not a huge train enthusiast to begin with, so I would opt for flights instead. At $79 USD, day trains work out to be cheaper cheap european river cruises than last-minute flights (baggage and service fees add up) but the added fees for night trains might make airfare better value.
Special note: Train passes also come with some other perks that you can see here . For example, by just being a passholder you get 50% off ferries in Greece, Italy, and Germany, 40% off ferries in Finland, and some other bus discounts. If you look over the perks and plan on taking advantage of those as well, those savings should be factored into your decision as to whether a rail pass makes financial sense for your trip.
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 cheap european river cruises using the various cheap european river cruises European train operator websites.
After you have a general idea as to where you want to go, visit the national railway websites and work out two sets of prices: one for tomorrow (i.e. a last-minute fare) and one for two months from now (i.e. an early bird fare). cheap european river cruises Add up the prices cheap european river cruises in each category.
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 cheap european river cruises reservation fees and the prices are for booking early versus cheap european river cruises using a pass are close, I'll probably go with the pass as there is value in flexibility (I change my mind a lot).
In the end, a train pass isn t right for all trips but for most people spending a long time in Europe and traveling vast distances, having a pass will save you money. While the reservation fees stink, the basic principles of the pass still hold: if you are traveling vast distances, using a lot of high speed trains, and are traveling last minute, a rail pass is still going to save you money.
Editor s Note/Disclosure : This post is the beginning of a series of blogs, videos, cheap european river cruises and giveaways revolving around train travel in Europe. As mentioned in the beginning of the post, Rail Europe gave me my pass for free and also paid the reservation fees. Rail Europe has been a site partner since 2009.
Thank you Matt! This is really helpful! I ve always been curious about the Eurail passes and wether they are a good deal or not. Last time I traveled Europe, I opted for buses and cheap flights. I m planning on traveling Europe once my year of teaching in Spain is done and will be considering the Eurail pass this time.
I have been traveling in Europe since 2009 and I find that planning it yourself and booking the planes, cheap european river cruises trains and buses that makes most sense financially and is the most convenient for your trip is so much cheaper than buying a eurail pass.
I do agree somehow that Eurail can be an option if you want a flexible trip. But even then, you still have to plan your route and you still need to book your seats and stuff. Does this make it really convenient and cheaper?
I would love to see a comparison of train tickets booked in advance versus eurail. I m sure the results will be interesting. I might actually use eurail this summer and do this kind of comparison myself.
I would like to see a second class Eurail Global Pass like InterRail offers. Better yet, just bring back the good old Eurail Pass of days past that did not require the additional monetary payment for seat reservations.
We re in Germany cheap european river cruises right now with a German Rail pass. Average value for first class is €45/day. Average on-the-day cost of 2nd-class tickets we want is closer to €80. And I d rather be in 1st class having left money in my pocket. That said, the law has recently changed in Germany and allows the coach networks to compete with DB Should be some interesting price wars in the next few years.
Yea these new coach companies in Germany are great! The savings are great as long as you re willing to spend a bit more time on a bus. A second class train ticket cheap european river cruises to Berlin from where I live in Mannheim costs around cheap european river cruises 80 euros one way. By coach bus, it s only 20 euros!
Great post lots of good advice. When my wife and I travel in Europe (we re 65+ and love train travel), we usually cheap european river cruises are there for about two weeks at a time and always buy a multi-person saver pass for 15 consecutive days of travel (even though we don t travel every day), since my wife and I are always together on the train. We find it to be more convenient and are usually traveling on regional/local trains that don t require seat reservations. We try to plan our trip so that we know in advance what fast trains we ll be riding that will require a seat reservation and book those online before we go, but in countries like Austria seat reservations are not required for any trains, so a pass is very convenient. On our last trip, we did a cost comparison and found that the pass was a big savings for us, even after paying for seats on some German trains and all Italian trains.
In my experience, when planning single train trips, It can be quite challenging to get advance quotes on tr