Hey all,

I'm heading to Europe in a few weeks, so I've been doing some research (old FT threads and Rick Steves, mostly) about Eurailing. I've also checked prices, and am thinking that perhaps the passes are not of great value for my trip. What I'm looking for is sage advice from all you experienced Europe travellers (it's the one continent I haven't really 'done' yet).

Some questions:

Some sites say you have to buy the 1st class pass if over 25 (I'm 26). Does this also apply in person. As in, can I just show up at station XXX in Europe and buy a 2nd class ticket even though I'm over 25? It appears that if I go second class the whole way (which I can't do by buying a pass for the reason mentioned above) then it would be a bit cheaper to do this trip point-to-point instead of with a pass.

My other question is how do you find the prices as a walk-up at the stations in Europe; more or less than the point-to-point prices listed on sites like ricksteves.com and raileurope.com?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Anyone can buy a second class rail ticket.

Youthpasses are for people under 26.

There is no connection between the two except for the fact that Youthpasses are 2nd class


Tony Bailey

I went in 1996 for 6 weeks in Europe with Eurail Pass. One of my traveling companions was over 25 so we had to buy 1st Class passes. It turned out great. On most trains the only difference is the labeling of the car (1st or 2nd), but our experiences turned out much better than had we gotten 2nd class passes. Many teens in Europe travel by train from country to country and city to city. They all travel 2nd class. On many trains there was standing room only in 2nd class, while we would have rows of seats to ourselves in 1st class. And the conductors did a good job of keeping them out of the 1st class cars. If you can stretch it buy the 1st class pass. Also if taking premium trains (i.e. TGV) the cars are nicer and on a few trains we even got free meal service.

Don�t overlook that there are by now many low cost flights within Europe - it could work out cheaper for you than point to point train tickets.

True, but PLEASE be careful to do additional research on your specific destinations using the proposed LCC. In some cases, to save money they use out-of-the-way alternate airports (such as Hahn instead of Frankfurt) that are many miles/kms further from the center city than the primary airport, and which have poorer transit options to the center city. Also, some of the LCC cancellaton policies are onerous.

Another advantage of rail travel is that, if you arrive at the city's main station, you are usually at the central hub for local busses, trams, streetcars, suways and commuter trains.

www.bahn.de (the German railway page) will give you the prices for trips within Germany, and www.sncf.com (the French railway page) gives you price information on trips all over Europe, but it is harder to use than the German page. Both let you negotiate the page in English though. These are the prices charged in Europe, i.e., much less than raileurope charges.

Im looking at taking the eurostar from bru to lon one way.I am a student who is 20 Im curious is it better to buy it from a european point of sale when I get there.Or should I just buy it from rail europe?
-howie

You can often take advantage of special deals if you book well beforehand. And sometimes it pays to buy a return, even if you only need a one way.

Try: http://www.eurostar.com/dctm/jsp/index.jsp

Yeah, like Charleroi instead of Zaventum.

Thanks all for the advice!