Eurail Currently 20% off, Worth It?

Lboofbuscus on 17/10/2017 - 17:15

I am planning an (up to) 6 month trip to Europe from Melbourne, wanting it to be as flexible but also cheap as possible without locking in too many dates.

I won a tour through flight centre and when I went into store to speak with them they were trying to sell me on a EuRail pass which is currently 20% off until the end of October.

I have spoken to friends who have done Europe, some say it's better and cheaper to get the pass here some say it's cheaper just booking a few days ahead while over there.
I will be in Europe from April - October, so over their summer period.

What do you recommend for the cheapest method in getting around Europe via train?

Thanks!

Travel

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 17/10/2017 - 17:25
    +1

    Depends on what countries. Some are (much) cheaper to buy point to point. Seem to remember seat61 talks about this.

  • toniyellow on 17/10/2017 - 17:59

    Point to point will be cheaper if you plan ahead. If you are keen on trains with flexibility as you have mentioned, the pass will likely be cheaper than last minute bookings.

    However certain trains require seat reservations even with a pass, or in summer it will be busy enough that you will not get a seat without one. Unless you are committed enough to plan a route with no trains that require reservations and to stand in the aisle when all the seats are booked, you are forced to plan ahead and in that case you are back to square one where it would have been cheaper to just buy point to point.

    If you are not committed to trains, buses are often a lot cheaper - flixbus.com or similar.

  • Stewardo on 17/10/2017 - 23:40

    How much did they quote you?

    https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes?cur=AUD&gclid=EAIaIQ…

  • try2bhelpful on 18/10/2017 - 04:08

    Just back from Europe and we used our Eurail passes through Eurostar, Switzerland and France. We got a 10 day of use pass for 2 months. The value is dependent on where you are travelling and when. For any international travel, or the scenic trains, TGVs, you usually incur a booking fee on top of the eurail pass.

    If you are only doing Switzerland use Swiss rail pass, there are extra discounts available for attractions. Switzerland is somewhere where the rail pass is worth it, it tends to be very expensive even on local trains.

    We went first class rail, which is not the cheap option, but the seats are better, you get the bigger windows and it is less crowded.

    If you are just travelling internally in some countries, e.g. Italy, I would look at the point to point costs before committing to a Eurail pass day. You can mix and natch if you use the individual days rather than the full duration.

    Eurail passes do not work on local networks, e.g. the metro in Paris and the London Underground, so if you need to change stations, e.g from the franch TGV to Eurostar you still need a metro ticket.

    Personally, we used expensive train services so it was worth it. My view is look at the individual sectors and see what you think is worth it.

    We went through rail plus as they had an office in Melbourne we could talk face to face with and they could book all the individual sectors for us for the international and scenic routes. We were very happy with the service as we were doing a lot of jumping on and off trains so it gave us a sense of security. Also we could pick the tickets up from them rather than getting them posted to us.

    Most of the trips were very good, particularly the Swiss trains, however,
    + Eurostar is the quickest way to travel between London and Paris, but it’s first class is definitely sub par. Poor food, seats with blocked views, blocked toilets and poorly maintained facilities at each departure station.
    + check your train timetables for changes at least a day before travelling each sector. Our Paris to Basel train was cancelled and we had a couple of hops interconnecting from there to Interlaken we would’ve missed. My man noticed the cancellation the day before when he checked online: it was a dash to the station that evening to get us rebooked on an earlier train to make sure we got all our connections lined up again but otherwise it would’ve been a complete schemozzle.
    + as indicated above, within countries check if a point to point might be cheaper than burning a sector ticket.
    + Eurail passes cover days of travel so you can use multiple trains in one day. We did the TGV within France and the Eurostar to London on one day as we spent several days in Paris when we came into Europe.
    + preferably look for hotels within walking distance of the train station, this saves transfer costs and means you are in charge of getting to/from the station.
    + booking fees can vary dramatically dependent on the time of day you travel.

    Enjoy your trip.

  • Herodotus on 18/10/2017 - 19:41

    I bought a eurail month ticket in 2000. Sold to me as an ungainly 10 inch passport book like an old bank deposit book. The dates were written on carbon paper in pencil. It was simple enough to rubber out and pencil in expiry. Travelled for 3 months which included morocco.
    Lot to love about analogue world.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join