EUROPE BACKPACKING!
 

Hello Everyone! Yet another question I am curious about....
Should I buy a "global rail pass" to travel through all of Western Europe or should I go from place to place via plane? What would be cheaper & also keep in mind that I will not have set in stone plans as to where I'm staying & for how long. Thank you!!

Unless you are travelling a lot.......point to point train journeys will turn out cheaper. With the Passes, you will be saved the inconvenience of purchasing tickets everytime. I have done that exercise myself, and I find that pt-to-pt tickets are cheaper, if I am travelling by train just about once or twice a day, in 5 or 6 countries.
But a combination of passes and pt-to-pt tickets can be beneficial.
For example in Switzerland, you can purchase the Swiss pass or the Half-fare card, besides pt-to-pt tickets in other countries.
Swiss pass gives you access to local museums for free, besides, it can be used on boats and buses.
Similarly, you can also buy some city based passes, like the Paris pass, when in Paris, or the Salzburg pass in Salzburg.......not to mention the Travelcard or Oyster card in London.
These passes or cards give you the convenience of moving around within the city in metros or buses and also give you access to various museums, without waiting at the queues.
I have examined a few flight tickets for my itinerary, using sites like Easyjet or Air Berlin. These flight tickets are sometimes cheaper than the train tickets..........but they do not really save the time. For example, Paris to Geneva by flight is about 1, to 1 and a half hours( by TGV trains, this is around 3.5 hrs). Add to that the time for security checks/ customs, etc......and the lead time of reaching the airport an hour or so earlier....and the advantage of time evaporates. Add to that the hidden costs like baggage, etc( as in Easyjet)......and one feels, it is better to do the journey by train.
You can also consider night-trains for longer journeys of 6 hrs or more, which will save you the night's hotel cost as well.

One more point to add......as I have just noticed that you don't have any 'set to stone' travel itinerary. Now that can throw some plans awry. Because economics say, it will always be cheaper, if you have a pre-set plan as against the itinerary which develops organically.
But still, even if you have a plan which is more or less, defined...pt - to -pt tickets will be cheaper. For that you may have to refer to various websites like bahn.de, seat61, etc. But if you do not prefer to have any plan at all, it will be safer to purchase an Eurail Global pass.

seat61.com pass discussion for me pass cost per day makes you have to train 4-5 hours per day on regular trains just to break even. You lose on any day you do not train.Just for slow
trains big surcharges on fast trains sleepers.Not worth it for me. Currently hop regional trains like a local for short legs and econoair skyscanner.net for longer legs recently 39
euros Paris Venice 48 euro Budapest Paris easyjet.com.

For pass www.eurolines.com may make a bit of sense if you are backpacking and superbudget goes all over cheaply less than half of basic train cost no added cost.You still have to travel relentlessly daily to save bus travel ok not great.

backpackeurope.com
eurocheapo.com

Have fun!

seat61.com good pass discussion few if any make money on pass due to high pass cost per fay and surcharges.Regional trains like a local for short legs are cheap. Skyyscanner.net econoair ryanair.com easyjet.com etc. much less for longer legs. For super budget eurolines.com pass not great but cheap
goes everywhere. backpackeurope.com Global Pass NEVER saves unless you train 5 hours every day.Just train like a local avoid sleepers fly the long legs will work best for you.

Good luck!

OP needs to say what type of travels and how long they envision to be able to answer such a question about efficacy of any kind of railpass - Global, Eurail Select, Two country pass, one country pass. Also what is your age - the Youthpasses can be really sweet deals so if you are under 26 the Youthpass will be considerably cheaper than regular railpasses.

And are you traveling solo or together - again a Saverpass used by more than on person is cheaper than a solo pass, etc.

and what countries are you thinking of going - passes can be better or worse deals in some countries than others.

Here are some great sites to plan a rail trip and to also learn about passes - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

And just ignore misinformation like this "pass cost per day makes you have to train 4-5 hours per day on regular trains just to break even" as this it totally untrue - this poster does not even know I guess of the concept of a flexipass - good for X number of days of unlimited rail travel over a one or two month period - no need to travel every day or even many days - so just ignore that bit of total misinformation.

flying vs trains - do you go to Europe to see airports and tarmacs and a fes big cities or to also see the lay of the land in between? European trains are fantastic and service is very very frequent and with a pass in most countries you can just hop on any train anytime - just show up at the station - full flexibility - to get cheap air fares you must pre-book far in advance and then also have to get into and out of the city centres whereas trains go right into the city centres.

Let's Go Europe is called the bible of backpackers for good reason - this guidebook written for young folk on a low budget provides a wealth of info on hostels, cheap hotels, B&Bs, etc - at any main library - cover the pages most relevant to you.