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Feedback welcome - my first post, so please go easy on criticism.
Price varies with a) continuus or number of days in period; b) period (15d, 1m, 2m, 3m); c) youth/adult/child/senior; d) class of travel (first, second); e) exchange rate.
Best to head on over to eurail.com and spec what pass you'd need for current pricing.
Its cheaper to book your train journeys in advance
It depends.
Sure but it is way better to be able to rock up and go anywhere
If you plan every single journey for your whole trip including exact time then yeah usually. But the most fun part about Europe for me is having the freedom to not have to stick to a plan. And I find it's not even much cheaper planning in advance.
Our family for 4 Euro trip we got a 15% off Eurail pass earlier this year - we are saving 30% overall
Can you give an example? When i work it out it isn't cheaper. Night trains and Eurostar get killed by the booking fee. They say kids are free but are mostly free on European trains anyway, or at least cheaper.
So keep in mind this is family of 4, 1st class: Eurostar $700 without the pass, $300 with the pass, Average cost per day on the 7-day pass is $200, so still $200 better off after that. Best savings: on Eurostar is London to Disneyland via Lille. $500 total instead of $900; Grindelwald to Strasburg would cost $700 without the pass and I'm not sure we'll need any seat reservations with it, so $0 (+$200/day pass fee)
Where it wasn't cost effective was Salzburg to Venice via Innsbruck (just paid OBB direct in advance on that one), around Italy and airport trips.
Our 7 "travel days" are nearly all high-speed routes with some connections:
* Munich > Salzburg
* Bellano > Zurich (via Bernina Express)
* Zurich > Grindelwald
* Grindelwald > Strasburg
* Strasburg > Paris > Versailles > Paris
* Paris > London
* London > Disneyland
About $4500 without pass; 3100 with (including pass at 15% off) - Munich Salzburg is the only one less an $200 without the pass, but the 7-day worked out better than the 5 day for us.
@T-Quizzle: Thank you! Its because its in First class, and those tickets are so much more. The cost of Eurostar in standard, purchasing the ticket, is the same price as the booking fee, making the Eurail pass have no value especially as there are limited seats and you still have to book in advance- not offering the flexibility others have talked about.
We previously got the Swiss half fair card and rail card.
Im surprised how expensive
Strasbourg-Paris is- carry on!
This sort of blanket advice is useless. When I went to Europe, I traveled extensively on trains from east to west. This pass saved me at least $1400.
i used buses like a true ozbargainer
Contiki ?
flix, blabla, etc
What’s your opinion on Flix? I’ve looked at reviews online that sound more like a plot to a horror movie
@skampt: Honestly between smells and discomfort etc they are just affordable, for me it was the value and i was solo etc and was willing to put up with it and the benefit of a few good stories/meeting people. Can be stressful with a family/kids i imagine or even someone who isnt too comfy in those scenarios/high maintenance
Reminding me of the good old days when the Internet wasn't a thing.
It's regularly cheaper to just hire a car in Europe and worth considering depending on where you are going or would like to.
Euro trains are just so good.
If you're planning on traveling Europe, fly. From experience they are shockingly bad and they simply don't care. A first class trip from Frankfurt to Paris direct turned into a 14hr journey of 10 regional trains. Luckily I was able to book a separate ticket in Cologne on a different company so it only took 8hrs. The refund process was fill out a form with evidence of photos of the cancelled train, they don't check their own records for evidence you have to prove it was cancelled or delayed and post it in, like I'm doing that on my holiday. Luckily I had paid with PayPal and got a refund easy.
From reading reviews it's a very common experience..
Check the Deutsche Bahn or Eurostar reviews for yourself. The Eurostar experience was better.
Having spent two six week trips travelling Europe with a Eurail pass this is highly recommended. Double check suitability for the countries you want to visit though: Eurail is a bad deal in France due to booking fees (though you will stillnsave some money) but very good in Germany and central Europe
We spent 6 weeks travelling around Europe by train and it was awesome - so much better than flying as the European trains are amazing and leave and drop off from the center of the city and you get to see all the countryside inbetween.
But as others have said Eurail is not necessarily cheaper (than if you book tickets in advance) and you still have to pay booking fees in some countries.
The main advantage is the flexibility. Train tickets now are like airplane tickets in that they have variable pricing that gets expensive closer to the date. With Eurail you don't have to worry about that and can change your plans at the last minute. For example we missed one train we were planning to take as we went to the wrong station. It would have cost 300EU for tickets on the next one. With Eurail it cost 0 to get the next one.
Just need to do your homework to decide whether it is worth it for you. Even with the Eurail we still bought a couple of tickets, as they were cheap and didn't want to waste a Eurail day
Has anyone had experience with finding an Eurail deal any other time of the year seeing this deal isnt in my timeframe.
need Eurail One Country Pass for a short travel.
Thanks! I'd been waiting for the next one of these deals :)
I did the sums on planned train trips and Eurail.
Eurail is slightly more, but, having had similar passes in Japan, rail passes were handy when teenagers were dragging their heels getting ready and we missed trains and when we had opportunity to add in a couple of extra regional trips on a whim
In my experience, point to point trains can be cheaper, but offer no flexibility to change and particularly to just rock up and hop on.
Buses are good, but trains pretty much always take you to the centre of town, whereas buses can leave you in the suburbs (Amsterdam, Rome, etc). Also some people get sick on the bus, but not so on the train.
So, horses for courses, but at least the deal is there if it suits.
We've done 3 lots of Eurail in the past 18 months (one coming up next month) and definitely like it for smooth ride and flexibility.
I did one solo over 10 years ago. I think it was 10 days over a month but ran out of days. So ryan air for the last few trips and that was a nightmare. Going next year with family similar route with maybe a cruise tacked on the end.
jv on 05/09/2025 - 18:35 Comment score below threshold.