Tarushka

I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months. The countries
I'm visiting are Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
Republic, Poland, Germany and France. Is it worth getting a Eurail
pass when most of these countries are not on the Eurail system?

Tim Kroesen

There are lots of pass variants; what is your itinerary? Passes can be
had for 'a certain number of day out of' combining that with 3-4-5
adjacent country options. It might be a very good bet for longer
journeys in the more expensive rail countries...

Tim K

"Tarushka" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months. The countries
    > I'm visiting are Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
    > Republic, Poland, Germany and France. Is it worth getting a Eurail
    > pass when most of these countries are not on the Eurail system?

Douglas W. Hoyt

<<<<> I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months.

Here is info on the pass for Eastern Europe (which usually does not pay):
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/easterneurope.htm

For Germany the 4-day 2nd-class Flexipass for Germany alone can be a very
good deal if you are taking 4 travelling days within Germany that would
average $45 or more each:
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/easterneurope.htm

For a pass that includes Germany along with France, Austria, Hungary, and
Germany you can get the 1st class SelectPass:
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/select.htm But do compare pass costs
(these webpages show approximate point-to-point fares), and mesh it with
your cross-border itineraries, to see whether the high per-day cost of the
1st-class Selectpass ($60 per day) is worth it.

Lennart Petersen

"Tarushka" <> skrev i meddelandet
news:...
    > I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months. The countries
    > I'm visiting are Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
    > Republic, Poland, Germany and France. Is it worth getting a Eurail
    > pass when most of these countries are not on the Eurail system?
---------------------------------------------------------------
Difficult to answer a such question unless you provide us your itinerary.
A EurailSelect pass could make sense for Germany,France,Austria possibly
Hungaria.
You may compare the local paid domestic prices on respectively railway.
Find out the prices under timetables on
http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/misc/timetabl.html
Don't compare with the prices on railpass.com as they're inflated.

Tim Kroesen

A question on rail passes since I'll likely be buying one soon myself...

I notice that most sites that sell them do so for the same *pass* price
plus a handling fee. So are the prices set for the pool of buyers in a
certain country like US for example; or set for a certain period of
time whatever country they are purchased in?

When shopping then, the best price is only the best when you observe the
commonly available price you see on most sites plus whatever fee the
seller requires; factoring in the freebies some offer (like
ricksteeves.com tape and map offer)?

What is considered the best deal for passes over the net currently? Any
deals better than that off the net?

Tim K

"Lennart Petersen" <> wrote in message
news:YeKac.54817$...
    > "Tarushka" <> skrev i meddelandet
    > news:...
    > > I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months. The countries
    > > I'm visiting are Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia,
Czech
    > > Republic, Poland, Germany and France. Is it worth getting a Eurail
    > > pass when most of these countries are not on the Eurail system?
    > ---------------------------------------------------------------
    > Difficult to answer a such question unless you provide us your
itinerary.
    > A EurailSelect pass could make sense for Germany,France,Austria
possibly
    > Hungaria.
    > You may compare the local paid domestic prices on respectively
railway.
    > Find out the prices under timetables on
    > http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/misc/timetabl.html
    > Don't compare with the prices on railpass.com as they're inflated.

Douglas W. Hoyt

    >>>>> What is considered the best deal for passes over the net currently?
Any deals better than that off the net?

Rick Steves used to throw in a free guidebook with each pass purchased--but
they have cut back on that. My guess is that Eurail has put pressure on
all vendors to keep the cost the same, and freebies negligible. As far as
shipping & handling, that is something, as always, that we consumers will
have to watch closely.

I think that generally it barely matters where you buy your pass any more.

Tim Kroesen

It appears ricksteeves.com has the standard rail pass pricing; they get
$15 s&h (UPS from W.Coast) average 5 days delivery and offer the
following 'freebies'...

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/freebies.htm

One of the items; "FREE Eurail Schedule & Map" appears to be offered by
everyone who sells passes.

Tim K

"Douglas W. Hoyt" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > >>>>> What is considered the best deal for passes over the net
currently?
    > Any deals better than that off the net?
    > Rick Steves used to throw in a free guidebook with each pass
purchased--but
    > they have cut back on that. My guess is that Eurail has put pressure
on
    > all vendors to keep the cost the same, and freebies negligible. As
far as
    > shipping & handling, that is something, as always, that we consumers
will
    > have to watch closely.
    > I think that generally it barely matters where you buy your pass any
more.

Hatunen

On 31 Mar 2004 16:00:15 -0800, (Tarushka)
wrote:

    >I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months. The countries
    >I'm visiting are Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
    >Republic, Poland, Germany and France. Is it worth getting a Eurail
    >pass when most of these countries are not on the Eurail system?

First Class or youth pass?

In general it is not cost effective to buy a Eurailpass at all,
even if your traveling will be in Eurail countries. There are a
bewildering variety of discount fares available in all those
countries, and you can make out best buying tickets on the ground
there. But not by buying tickets from some web site like
Railpass.

************* DAVE HATUNEN () *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Phil Richards

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 01:47:40 GMT Tim Kroesen <>
said...

    > What is considered the best deal for passes over the net currently? Any
    > deals better than that off the net?

When I last looked www.eurail.com were offering passes at the basic (set)
prices with no additional fees.

http://www.euraildirect.com/

Iceman

(Tarushka) wrote in message news:<>...
    > I will be travelling in Central Europe for two months. The countries
    > I'm visiting are Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech
    > Republic, Poland, Germany and France. Is it worth getting a Eurail
    > pass when most of these countries are not on the Eurail system?

No. In Eastern Europe, trains are cheap and you're better off paying
for them as you go. You might consider getting a French and/or German
rail pass if you plan on taking a lot of trips within either of those
two countries, because their train fares are very expensive.

Lots of people get a Eurail pass, but it doesn't pay off for many of
them. (Anyone who has backpacked around Europe has met people whose
sole objective is to use their Eurail pass as much as possible - I met
two girls in Naples who had been to nine countries in sixteen days.)
Unless your itinerary is focused primarily on France, Benelux,
Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia and you want to be travelling
frequently, it usually won't pay off. If you are spending lots of
time in England, the Mediterranean, and/or Eastern Europe, or if you
plan on spending lots of time in the places you visit before moving
on, then it makes sense to look at other options.