sonja_therese

Is it better to purchase general pass that is valid anywhere (but is expensive) or to purchase for example a 2 country pass to save money, and pay for train fare in the countries that aren't included if we happen to ride the train there. This probably seems like not enough planning, now that I read it!

alan64

It all depends on how much you travel in the country or countries outside of the regional rail pass. If you may just take a short hop across the border somewhere, then those types of trips are best paid for separately.

If you plan on several long-distance trips in 3 or 4 countries then the general Europe pass is best. Do you have any idea of where you might visit?

grsing

The firmer your itinerary, the easier it is to determine, of course, but that may or may not be possible, whatever. If not, which countries would you just be paying the fare in? If it's a relatively cheap country, like Spain or Italy, it's no big deal, if it's a long haul in France or Germany, that could be a LOT of money.

Robespierre

There's a site that figures out all that. Go to http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp and enter your itinerary and age(s). Tick the button "Only if railpasses save me money" and click the calculator icon.

The only thing railsaver doesn't take into account is discounted fares such as inflexible advance purchases and products like France's SNCF "Prem" tickets offered by most of the railroads. The prices vary depending on how far in advance you buy them and how much flexibility you want in changing them.

sonja_therese

We are planning on going to France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, for sure, if we have time we may add another.
Perhaps a pass for Germany and France, would be best.
The thing is, we have family in Austria and Switzerland so for day trips and such, we won't need transportation, but from one country to another we would.

sonja_therese

Thank you for the link! I already used it, and is it ever cool! Once we have a more solid itinerary we will use it again to order our passes! It will cost about half as much as a general pass, and I think it will serve our needs nicely.
Great advice here at Fodor's!