PalQ

If planning on buying a Eurail Select Pass, the version of the Eurailpass where you can select your own countries, from 3, 4 or max of 5 you may want to do before Mar 31, 2005 to take advantage of Eurail's just announced bonus of giving away one day free on all Eurail Select passes bought by that date - passes must be activated within six months of the issuing date and as they are valid (flexipasses) for a 2-month period, you could travel as late as 8 months after issuance. Thus if you buy a 5-day pass you get a sixth day free, etc, a $40 value or more. Folks who were planning to buy a six-day pass thus can buy a five-day pass instead, saving $40. For a listing of dozens of European railpasses, including the select passes, contact RailEurope (800-438-7245) and ask for their Europe on Track brochure or call BETS (800-441-9413) and ask for their superb European Planning and Rail Guide, which lists all European railpasses sold in the US and well as a ton of useful rail travel info and rail maps for each country. The EurailSelect pass this year includes for the first time the option of adding on Bulgaria/Serbia and Montenegro as one country (for pass purposes) and Slovenia and Croatia - another unit - all told there are 18 different countries you can chose from. The cheapest Eurail Select pass is a five day in 2 month pass good in three countries of your chosing for $316 on a saver pass in first class; youths under 26 get a bargain $241 second class pass.

PalQ

Note that the sale only applies to Select Passes, not straight up Eurailpasses, good in 17 countries.

Betsy

PalQ, thanks so much for keeping us posted about rail travel. You're a true asset to this forum.

For those trying to determine if buying a rail pass vs. point-to-point tickets is the more cost-effective option, be sure to go to www.railsaver.com and enter your itinerary. Select the "only if it saves money" option. The result will help in making your decision.

PalQ

As for Eurail Select, before opting for these consider the many new two-country passes Eurail is offering. In the past few years we have the advent of the Germany-Benelux pass, France-Switzerland, Switzerland-Austria, France-Italy and Spain-Italy, Romania-Hungary, Brit-Ireland and Iberic (Spain-Portugal) as these passes are cheaper and also can be bought in 2nd class whereas Eurails and Eurail Select if you're over 26 only come in 1st class (which has its benefits - in my opinion as studying the European rail scene for 36 years now there is a big difference between first and second class in terms of comfort and crowding).
New 2005 Passes: Czech-Austria, Germany-Denmark, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, Italy and Greece (includes free ferries between the two).
Some of these 2- or 3-country passes may be better than Eurail Select passes so compare your plans before selecting.

PalQ

Betsy: thanks for your nice comment.
Note if buying EuurailSelect for 10 days then compare with regular Eurailpass - for example an 8-day eurailSeclect five country pass is about the same price as a 15-consecutive day Eurailpass! Of course with select you have a two-month period, but if only going for 15 days???

ETBDRail

Note that 5-day and 15-day versions of the Selectpass are not indcluded in the Early Bird Special and do not get an extra day. We recommend you view our website for pass details and other useful tools: www.ricksteves.com/rail.

PalQ

ttt

PalQ

special ends Mar 31, 2005!

Intrepid1

I always appreciate hearing about deals and so forth but now I'm beginning to wonder if some of this is "pushing a business."