ccna101

Hallo,

I did the a rental 5 years ago from Paris-Bodeaux-Monaco-Venice-Rome for the record.

Now, with the group of 6 for travel by rail 15 days global pass (~$3000us) and 15days one-way rental (~900us) ... What I am missing here ? is the petrol/highway that expensive ?

FYI, this second trip we are plan, including France(Paris-Burgundy-Lyon-Marseille-Nice-Monaco, Switzeland, Austria .

TIA, Dong

Gagravarr

What's the price if you forget the rail pass (normally bad value on anything involving high-speed trains), and instead just bought non-flexible train tickets for everyone 90 days in advance?

farci

Put your journey details into www.captaintrain.com for a better quote

WorldLux

Seems a bit high though. TGV is roughly around 25€/ticket (non-flexible + if booked in advance). The train is probably going to be as expensive as the car.

Concerning the car:
- Diesel is currently "cheap" and sells for ~1.15€/liter (compare that to >1.30€ two years ago... )
- The tolls are really pushing the charges up. (You can check them on viamichelin.fr)

Bogwoppit

Did you [rice up each individual train ticket on each countries websites?

When we did a similar trip with 6 people, we just booked regular tickets as far out as possible for the best prices.

Rail passes were not a good deal and as long as you bought on the actual website, not on sites aimed at tourists, we got very good deals.

ccna101

No, the ~US3000/ 15 days based on global passed for group of 2 adults and 4 teens.
I think I need to place more time to the country by country train ticket and unfortunately, I do not have time ... oh well.

I book a 30 days van for the trip: I will have to spend time on saving somewhere else .

Thank you for all your help.
D

ccna101

Hi WorldLux,

I second that, that is why I look for driving and here is the est. driving cost (1/2 of trip)
Costs: 349.05 $ including Toll 165.97 $, Consumption 183.08 $

I seem to do better driving for group of six... Assuming the europerail.com cost is correct , and that is for only 15 days.

Thanks again,
D

Romanianflyer

No matter how much I love rail travel, when on a prelonged trip covering bigger distances, on travels in (mostly) West- and Central Europe, car drive/van rental is almost always much cheaper for a group.

Fuel will be next to nothing as you can divide costs per person, tolls and road vignets are not thát expensive and can be avoided if wanted (in a country like Switzerland, it's anyway more enjoyable to stick to the B-roads for which you dont need a vignet).

For trains, unfortunately nowdays with compulsory reservations, travel on a train pass has losts its charm and price-effectiveness. Indeed, often a compulsory reservation for a train (which on many a train you need in addition to the pass you already paid for), is more expensive than a normal discounted ticket booked in advance!

Biggest plus for a car/van: you can stop at intermediate towns, or stop to admire the scenery on mountain roads etc.