Thinking of purchasing European East Pass currently at $225 (first class) for 5 days in one month. There will be 5 of us who will traveling in Poland, Czech Rep, Hungary and Austria in June. Need to know the ins and outs of such a rail pass since I have never done it before specifically, do you have to have a reservation, how do you get seats, do you pay extra once you get there, etc. Any info would definitely help.

I bought a second class east pass and have been using it for the past month. I dont know about 1st class, but I realized I'm not really saving any money (train is very cheap here). When you take a Eurostar fast train, you also must make reservations before boarding which costs a little extra. Otherwise, just jump on the train and find a seat wherever you can. Don't be surprised when most train station employees have never seen this pass before- they are constantly confused when I present it, apparently eurorails are not nearly as common in the east. Mainly, the benefit of the pass is convenience not price. One more thing to consider- there is not a huge difference between classes, consider saving your money and buying 2nd.

As ugacaro says, the pass is not worth buying. Here are some second class one-way fares by InterCity trains. Poznan to Krakow 17 euros. Brno to Praue 11 euros. Bratislava to Kosice 13 euros. Budapest to Szeged 9 euros. These are fares on domestic trains, that run within a country. The fare per mile quadruples if you cross a frontier. So you save if you take these routes

Walk or bus between Cieszyn Poland and Cesky Tezin Czech Republic. These asre two parts of one former town. Border crossing is of average size and relatively easy to cross, no problem whatsoever. Cieszyn has a beautiful city centre (rynek): you may want to stop by there and chill out.

Take an international ticket from Breclav to Bratislava

Walk 30 minutes or bus 10 minutes from Komarno Slovakia over the bridge to Komarom Hungary
Bus from Sturovo station Slovakia over the bridge to Esztergom Hungary
Walk 400 yards from Slovensko Nove Mesto station in Slovakia to the bus stop in Satoraljaujhely, Hungary.

You will save about 17 euros if you go from Budapest in three hours to Sopron, then on to Vienna in 80 minutes. Or from Budapest in two hours to Gyor, then two hours by stopping train to Vienna South.

thanks very much to you both.
regards.

We did first class ones several years ago after comparing prices. We used it for several long trips -- Vienna to Krackow, Warsaw to Gdansk, Gdansk to Berlin, and Berlin to Prague. In addition, on the day we went to Gdansk, we got off the train, checked into our hotel then went on to the seacoast for the rest of the afternoon and returned to Gdansk for the evening. With the pass, there was no charge as we were already using that as one of our "days" on the pass. We chose specific trains and made reservations on a couple of them by stopping in a travel agent's office. We weren't charged for making the reservation, but at the same time we booked a couple small trips with them.

After this weekend, I change my reply...I spent the weekend traveling to Vienna with some friends who do not have East passes. While I was jumping off and on trains at free will, they were stressing about making connections and being the exact train for their ticket. While they spent 30 minutes in the ticket office (and there was not a single person in line), I sat and had coffee and read the paper. Ticket window clerks are notoriously slow in Eastern Europe and if you dont speak the language then you're probably not getting the right ticket. If ease is your goal, save yourself the headaches and get the pass. Still...if budget is most important then you can do without. And I stick to what I said earlier about 1st and 2nd class.