pacer142

It does still exist in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, to name just a few. It's not outdated at all. Please stop pushing this myth that rail must be like air, or at the very least justify it, taking into account that most European railways run as a public service and not purely for profit.

Neil

nrr

Even more so for Switz. than the others: (1)no high speed network, (2)except for a few "tourist" routes, trains have no supplements (3) they do offer (periodically) special discounted fares, but other than these, all ticket prices are the same (or 1/2 fare--if you purchased that card).

baby_tux

In Germany, no reservation needed (except during busier periods, if not they will even say you to not waste money on a reservation), except rare exceptions (once I just waited a slower RE train). Even the Amsterdam-Frankfurt ICE did not need a reservation, however paying €4 for one is not a bad idea.
In France, no problems if reserved at least 3 weeks in advance on TGV (for September in my case).
In Austria I could have used an InterRail pass (became a resident), but with the €20 youth discount card, I paid half the regular fare for RailJet tickets bought just before departure. Also got a discount for an Innsbruck-Zürich trip, maybe 40%.

The only problem is that I booked my hostels, so I knew in advance the dates I would travel. However, in Germany I decided to make a day trip with my pass at the last minute.

richinaz

I'd agree with the advantage of rail passes within Germany/Switzerland/Austria. I've been on a couple rather ambitious trips in the last 3 years and used the passes w/o any additional supplements (except for riding on private trains in Switzerland - Jungfroch).

Generally advantage purchase of point to point tickets or certain discount cards can be cheaper if you are not doing much traveling (e.g. Bayern Ticket). You really need to figure out your itinerary and check prices online.

In my case we were changing cities every 2-3 days and when I did a price comparison the rail pass was competitive. Throw in the flexibility and it was an easy decision for me.

catbarone

Has anyone heard of people being fined for not having their Europass dated when the conductor checks it? My son is traveling with 6 other people right now in Italy, all passes except his were marked with dates, he was holding the group's food and could not reach his pass, so when the conductor approached he tried to explain, but was fined 50 Euro. Do you think he was taken or is this part of the system?

railways

The rules specifically state that the passholder can be fined if the correct date isn't filled in.

There really is no excuse, frankly - the pass should be dated before boarding the first train of the day, and not when the ticket inspector is approaching.

ksandness

North Americans and Japanese who travel with European flex passes should remember that Europeans write dates with the day first and the month second, so that 6/7 is not June 7 but July 6.

JClasstraveller

It's time consuming but you must take into account every single route you are likely to take and cost them separately if you know when you are travelling in order to work out whether you will save money or not.

My experience is limited to France, Switzerland and Italy and I would be merely echoing seat61.com's excellent advice that if you are going to take a couple of trains or more in Switzerland, you should get a Swiss Pass, 1/2 half fare card, or incorporate it as one of your countries into your Eurail pass. Point to point tickets are very expensive (compared to France or Italy) and even taking a 2 hour train trip (like Geneva to Visp) every day will give you value.

The Eurail pass also gives great value if you are able to take advantage of the benefits (like discounted cruises etc). The catch with this is that the offer is only valid on a travel day. Eg - I decided to do a day trip from Zurich to Luzern - took a cruise and it was free - since the day was one of my Eurail pass travel days. So effectively, the 99CHF boat fare (1st class) was included in the cost, as was the Zurich to Luzern and return train fare - that was good value.

If you take tourist trains in Switzerland like Glacier Express or similar, you get discounts on that as well.

I would grab the Eurail pass brochure or look online and find out what benefits passholders get (e.g. discounts on cruises, cable cars etc) and cost it all up.

The pass also makes sense if you are daytripping and not sure what time you want to leave to go back to your city of accommodation.

In short, each itinerary will differ. I costed our entire train travel itinerary requirements using the Eurail pass (and reservation fees included for TGV, Cisalpino, passholder fares on Eurostar etc) and priced a 60 day advance booking (which are usually cheapest). In France, it was break even or a slight loss, but Switzerland was a big win holding a Eurail pass because of the added benefits I was able to take advantage of. For some (like my itinerary), Eurail was best, for others, buying point to point tickets in advance will be better.

It's important to do the homework. In short, though, passes in Italy are not worth it - the trains are cheap and the daily Eurail pass rate is greater than most trains in Italy.