eurailpass
Dec 12th, 2002, 02:04 PM
#2
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Yes. A first class passenger without a seat reservation has the right to be in the first class car, I suppose. But if there are no seats, and you have no sat reservation, what you have is the right to STAND in first class.<BR><BR>And please, consider asking for some advice here on the cost of train travel before committting to buying ANY rail pass.<BR><BR>A rail pass is a good way to ensure that you buy more rail travel than you really want or need.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>
Dec 12th, 2002, 05:38 PM
#3
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For fun, I did an exercise recommended here by Rex and others, that is to put itinerary into www.railsaver.com and it will tell you if a pass or point-to-point tickets is better choice.<BR>I plugged in about 8 legs, starting in Amsterdam, going thru Germany, and ending in Zurich, over 14 days.<BR>Rather than a rail pass (Select/supersaver) at $300-320 each, it recommended separate tickets for $162 each person. Very interesting, I don't think convenience is worth paying nearly double...(at least for that itinerary).
Dec 13th, 2002, 05:58 AM
#5
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Mario has stated he has a pass, so it is pointless here to suggest just buying point to point tickets. To answer your question, mario, yes, if the timetable says reservation required, then you need to get one. We missed that fact once and were actually fined because we didn't have a reservation, only a first class pass. The fine was something like $10 each. So we had to pay the cost of the reservation (a couple of dollars) plus the fine on the spot to the conductor.<BR><BR>I am a little more positive about the passes though. Of course, if you are only doing a few shorter trips then it makes a lot more sense to buy point to point. But one or two long trips will often equal the pass cost, plus give you many more. When I have been somewhere for a few days without a pass, I think twice before buying a round trip ticket for a day trip somewhere because I just don't know if it will be worth it. But when I have a pass, then why not? Just hop on a train and go explore. Those trips are freebies if you have already done your homework and know that your pass has already saved you money from point to point for your main trips.<BR><BR>
Dec 13th, 2002, 07:57 AM
#6
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Mario,<BR><BR>This sounds like a hot topic from resding some of the responses. Rail Pass analysis can drive you crazy. Each pass will cost a different amount per day. The more continuous pass you buy, the lower the cost. I have used the RailSaver site to compare costs and it is setup to recommend point-to-point tickets in almost every case. It just can't take into consideration all the variables of that type of travel.<BR><BR>This is what I look at when determining if I need to buy a pass or not. How many countries? 5 or more, Get a Pass. How many travel days per total vacation time? More than half, Get a Pass. Always try to plan your travel to allow you to get a continuous Pass. Even if you don't travel all the time it is still the cheapest way to go.<BR><BR>Also try to plan as much of your travel schedule before you go, so that you know when you need reservations or not. Have a good trip.<BR><BR>Greg<BR>
Dec 13th, 2002, 08:21 AM
#7
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May I suggest that everyone considering a railpass start at www.railsaver.com?<BR><BR>It does not always default to point-to-point, nor does it always recommend passes.<BR><BR>In my own case, as I have refined my itinerary, I have gotten four different recommendations - some with passes (of varying length) and some without.
Dec 13th, 2002, 08:35 AM
#8
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Good points, Ira. <BR><BR>When my husband and I were planning a fall 2001 trip to Europe, I refined the itinerary a number of times, going to www.railsaver.com to check out a pass vs. point-to-point tickets. The cost turned out to be right on the cusp between the two. We ended up going by train (in a five-week span) from Paris to Cinque Terre to Florence. We rented a car for a week in Tuscany and then took the train from Orvieto to Rome to Salerno to Venice to Munich and back to Paris. For this itinerary, the pass covering three adjacent countries (forgot the name--supersaver maybe?) was about the same cost as point-to-point tickets. In addition, we bought tickets on the Cinque Terre to Florence leg and for a little leg through Austria when we were going from Venice to Munich.<BR><BR>The point of this is to alert travelers that you can do a lot of train travel on point-to-point tickets for less money than a pass. So do check it out.<BR><BR>Before you plug your itinerary into www.railsaver.com, be sure to specify either first or second class. It's easy to miss that option on their site. This allows you to compare first class cost to using a pass and/or second class cost to using a pass.
Dec 13th, 2002, 11:14 AM
#10
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We got the three country (France, Italy & Greece) five day Supersaver for two people traveling together. You travel any five days in a 30 day period and its a first class pass (no second class choice). We lucked out - bought it through Rick Steves, and after ordering it, they called me to say that for the time we would be traveling there was a special - $100 off for each of us.
Dec 13th, 2002, 05:22 PM
#11
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Railpasses vs. Point-to-Point<BR><BR>Railpasses vary between $45 and $70 per day, so it's not too hard to figure that out.<BR><BR>Although it's hard to generalize, I would suggest that if you are planning, say, eight days' worth of train travel, get a five or six-day pass, and pay point-to-point for the shorter (three hours or less) trains.<BR><BR>All other things being equal (which they rarely are), it's nice not to have to hassle with tickets.<BR><BR>Though some say that you can't get much out of a two-night-per-city itinerary, there are some of us that may only get one shot and want to see as much as possible. There are several cities I'm glad I didn't miss -- if only for a day or two.
