Purchase a second class rail pass if you re under 26. The people in first class are older folk and b

Every European adventure is different. Some people car rental in san jose costa rica travel for 12 days and some travel for over 12 months. There are rail passes to meet most people s needs. But with so many options, choosing the perfect rail pass for Europe can often become overwhelming. My best advice is to read about each pass and then start planning your trip. This guide will cover everything you need to know for making your pass work for you.
Between 5 and 15 travel days in a two month period, but you re limited to traveling to 3, 4, or 5 bordering countries (depending on what pass you choose). These passes are good if you have a group of countries you re interested in visiting.
For example, one pass could be 8 days of train travel between France, Germany, and the Czech Republic. You have a two month window to use of your 8 travel days. Each day you travel by train counts as one travel day.
Not technically part of Eurail, but this pass is a great deal if you spend a few days in Switzerland. Trains are very expensive and even short journeys will cost a lot. Swiss trains don t require any type of reservation or extra fees.
Travel in Italy, Spain, and Eastern Europe: car rental in san jose costa rica Train tickets in these countries are usually cheap (even if bought at the station), so you ll save money by simply buying point-to-point car rental in san jose costa rica tickets. Conversely, train travel is very expensive in Switzerland, car rental in san jose costa rica so a rail pass is often a great deal if you plan on traveling there.
Preplanned Journeys Will Save You Money: It is much cheaper if you can plan your entire trip before arriving car rental in san jose costa rica in Europe and buy your tickets online a month or two ahead of time. Be aware that most of these cheap tickets are non-refundable so pre-purchasing severely limits most, possibly all, of your flexibility. Click here for the guide about purchasing train tickets.
Reservation car rental in san jose costa rica Fees: A lot of high-speed and overnight trains require reservations — even if you have a rail pass (look for an R on the train schedule). There is a small fee for reservations. Note: Most non-regional trains (aka. the trains that don t stop at every tiny town) to/from/within France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Portugal require reservation fees. The fees can range from about $5-$28 (depending on length of travel).
Your Pass Doesn t Cover Subways/Suburban Metro/ car rental in san jose costa rica Trams: Some people assume that the pass will work on the subway or other city public transportation, but it doesn t. Although, you can get a free ticket from Paris Charles De Gaulle airport to Paris Gare du Nord railway station (in this direction only). You have to ask at the RER station desk and show them your pass. I don t know if your pass has to be validated though. If it does, it wouldn t be worth using a day of travel for a 8.5€ ticket.
Adult/Youth car rental in san jose costa rica Pass Price Difference: Youth passes (anyone car rental in san jose costa rica under 26) get a sizable discount. car rental in san jose costa rica If you re over 25 you can only buy a 1st class rail pass. I never understood why there isn t a 2nd class adult rail pass. I guess they don t want us corrupting the youth.
Travel With a Group and Save: Eurail car rental in san jose costa rica offers saver rail passes car rental in san jose costa rica for groups of 2-5 who are traveling together. There is only one ticket with everyone s name is on it, so all riders car rental in san jose costa rica must ride on the same train.
Rail Passes Are Great For Flexibility: Being able to choose where you travel is a great thing about having a rail pass. You can show up at the train station, choose car rental in san jose costa rica where you want to go, and simply hop on. If you wanted to do this without car rental in san jose costa rica a rail pass it could cost a fortune car rental in san jose costa rica to buy a point-to-point car rental in san jose costa rica ticket the same day you want to travel. I loved being able to choose where I wanted to travel on a whim.
A rail pass is great if you want a lot of flexibility, or you don t want to bother with the hassle and frustration of planning out your entire trip ahead of time (and believe me you can spend hours hours planning).
Buying point-to-point tickets makes more sense if you can plan your adventure well in advance and buy your tickets a month or two ahead of time. Click here for my guide on buying point-to-point train tickets.
I ve done European trips with and without a Eurail pass. I really loved being able to hop on the train whenever I pleased. I didn t have to worry about planning anything, and I decided where I next wanted to visit on a whim. On the trip where I purchased point-to-point tickets I had to do a lot more planning (which can be stressful). I bought most of my tickets about 2-3 weeks prior to my trip. Afterward, I added up everything and compared it to the cost of a rail pass, and I saved about $80-$100 by buying car rental in san jose costa rica tickets separately. I also spent many hours planning everything so the trip would fit together perfectly. The money I saved probably wasn t worth all the extra time I spent planning.
There are a few different online companies who sell Eurail passes. There is no virtually no difference in price between companies. I used raileurope.com and they sent a few extra things with it (map, train schedule, helpful information about how to use the pass — nothing you couldn t find on the savvy backpacker website).
Insurance: car rental in san jose costa rica Most companies offer rail pass insurance. If your pass gets lost or stolen they ll refund some of your money (check each site s policies). If you lose your pass and don t have insurance, you re out of luck. Make sure you keep track of your rail pass even if you do have insurance car rental in san jose costa rica because you re still going to end up losing money.
Purchase car rental in san jose costa rica a second class rail pass if you re under 26. The people in first class are older folk and business people. You have a lot better chance of meeting other young travelers in 2nd class. And more importantly, it is a lot cheaper.
When using the continuous pass be sure to plan your trip so you can get the most out of your pass. Start your trip in a city where your pass doesn t work London for example. You can spend a few days in London and then take a cheap flight to Amsterdam. Spend a few days in Amsterdam and then validate your pass once you leave Amsterdam.
car rental in san jose costa rica When using a flexi pass don t waste a day of your pass for a short cheap trip. Combine the flexi pass with point-to-point car rental in san jose costa rica tickets to get the most out of your trip. To see if using a day of your flexi pass is worth it divide the cost of your ticket by the number of travel days. If your cost per day is $50 and you want to take a small side trip that costs $18, it is smarter to just pay for the point-to-point ticket. Save your travel days for more expensive trips.
Plan your trip and compare different rail pass plans. You don t want to purchase a pass that doesn t give you enough travel days, but you also don t want to waste left over days from a pass that was too large.
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i m cruising eurail websites to learn why raileurope site prices for the eurail pass are 50% higher than from the eurail site. that s more than virtually no difference , e g, $775 vs $507 for the pass i m considering.
Hey, I have a question about reservations. How far in advance do they need to be made? The idea of having to make a reservation kind of defeats the purpose of a rail pass if the reservation need to be made so far in advance. How often do the trains sell out if you get to the station just before it departs? Is it important to make the reservations way before or can we do it all on the fly at the stations car rental in san jose costa rica the day we plan on departing?
For the Flexi Pass that has a certain amount of days, how do they count days? If you get on at 8pm and get off at 8am do they count that as two days of travel since it spans over two days or does it count as one since you were only on the train for twelve hours?
Hi, I m Canadian but am studying in Florence and have been living here for 3 months (since September). I want to buy a 5 country eurorail pass, but it didn t occur to me that they wouldn t ship to European addresses. What should I look into doing? Thanks!
Hello, I have just come across this site and it has been an exceptional help so thank you! A friend and I are planning a 12-18 month backpacking trip around Europe, and we want to spent at least 15-30 days in each destination. I noticed Eurail passes are only valid for short amounts of time, even if we got a 3 month pass we may only use it once or twice. car rental in san jose costa rica What do you think would be the best thing to do in this situation?
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