<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by KathyWdrf:
Yeah, railpasses only pay off if you ride a lot of distance in a given amount of time.
On the other hand, a few years back when I did get a Eurailpass (the unlimited kind, not the "x days in y time" kind), it encouraged me to go farther afield than I originally planned, and to take some day trips that I might not have done otherwise, since the marginal cost was nothing.
But on other Europe trips, I have found point-to-point tickets the most practical.
Rick Steves' website has some good info on deciding whether a railpass makes sense for you, and which pass to choose in his online "2002 Guide to European Railpasses" (also available as a free booklet on request):
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/home.htm
Kathy
</font>
I totally agree with you about rail passes and the added incentive to travel. The one time I used a Eurailpass, I travelled several thousand miles with my sister in three weeks in a huge circle (Copenhagen to Naples, Vienna to Madrid). Even then, we might have done better with point-to-point tickets (and also used the bus instead of train in Spain sometimes where it's more convenient).
Excellent website, but his comparisons are bogus, because he uses US-issued prices for point-to-point, which are always include a huge commission and are always based on the most expensive train anyway (e.g. ICE in Germany).
Yonatan