Rail pass or not?
Jan 19th, 2009, 01:11 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Rail pass or not?
Any thoughts on the most economical way to go round trip from Paris to Le Creusot (to meet up with a barge trip on the Saone). And then staying in Paris for 3 weeks afterwards. May take some day trips out of Paris. Is it better to buy a rail pass (I read some cons) or just buy a ticket there.
Jan 19th, 2009, 08:09 PM
#2
Enter your cities on railsaver.com and be sure to click "only if railpasses saves me money".
http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp
http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp
Jan 20th, 2009, 05:10 AM
#4
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 260
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am going to hop in with a question here - hope that is ok - but other than cost what are the cons to a railpass? I am considering a rail pass for travel between France and Switzerland as it seems to be the best cost option after considering many alternatives. The cost savings is not extraordinary over point to point tickets, though, so if there is a real down side to the rail pass I would appreciate the heads up!
Jan 20th, 2009, 06:26 AM
#6
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,129
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There is a problem over the use of rail passes in France. On TGVs, only a limited number of seats is available to pass holders: there may be seats on a TGV, but you have to pay the full fare rather than use your rail pass. As far as I know, in every other country, the rail pass entitles you to travel on any train, subject obviously to paying any supplementary fares (for high speed trains or overnight accommodation).
If you take a TGV between Switzerland and France, you may find that the SNCF has no seats for pass holders: you will get a small discount from the normal fare because the pass is accepted in Switzerland, but you will pay the full fare for the French part of the journey.
If you take a TGV between Switzerland and France, you may find that the SNCF has no seats for pass holders: you will get a small discount from the normal fare because the pass is accepted in Switzerland, but you will pay the full fare for the French part of the journey.
Jan 20th, 2009, 07:58 AM
#7
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,572
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here's what a pass was good for:
Hopping on anytime you fancy going someplace, for spur-of-the-moment trips all over the country, thus never having to worry about using more travel cash - you already paid for any trips that you had not even planned on taking when you started out.
The above is the old scenario from the past.
Now a pass only makes sense if it saves you a lot of money. With so many discounts available for advance booking (and you have to book anyway, so you might as well do it and save), and with the constraints on travelling with passes, it is not a no-brainer any longer.
Go for a pass if most of your travel is out in the countryside where local and regional trains do not require the seat reservations that make life on the major routes such a pain.
Some of us have been around long enough to remember the early days of the passes, where savings and convenience encouraged us to go to more places than we had imagined. The only time we paid extra and worried about reservations was for the couchettes. Period!
Now, in some countries, you sit in numbered aircraft-style narrow seats, with no more benches to spread out on, and if you miss that train with your seat in your numbered carriage, you have to regroup and possibly pay extra.
Compare the easy travel in Germany, and in Switzerland where hardly anybody chooses to reserve seats, where people literally walk onto the platform a minute before departure, where most anybody has at least the half-price (Halbtax) card and pays 50% for all trips - compare that with the French and Italian trains where you need a seat reservation, where you are required to validate the ticket on the way to the platform. It's not as bad as with Amtrak where you are herded into departure gates and have to show ID (!!!) just to take a train (whatever is that good for???). But it's getting there.
So which is your way of traveling by train? A pass saves you money if you do a lot of criss-crossing, but it does not take away the inconvenience of having to reserve seat, and now there are not even guaranteed seats for you if you are a passholder - that's how far the pass sytem has come, so think twice before you commit.
Hopping on anytime you fancy going someplace, for spur-of-the-moment trips all over the country, thus never having to worry about using more travel cash - you already paid for any trips that you had not even planned on taking when you started out.
The above is the old scenario from the past.
Now a pass only makes sense if it saves you a lot of money. With so many discounts available for advance booking (and you have to book anyway, so you might as well do it and save), and with the constraints on travelling with passes, it is not a no-brainer any longer.
Go for a pass if most of your travel is out in the countryside where local and regional trains do not require the seat reservations that make life on the major routes such a pain.
Some of us have been around long enough to remember the early days of the passes, where savings and convenience encouraged us to go to more places than we had imagined. The only time we paid extra and worried about reservations was for the couchettes. Period!
Now, in some countries, you sit in numbered aircraft-style narrow seats, with no more benches to spread out on, and if you miss that train with your seat in your numbered carriage, you have to regroup and possibly pay extra.
Compare the easy travel in Germany, and in Switzerland where hardly anybody chooses to reserve seats, where people literally walk onto the platform a minute before departure, where most anybody has at least the half-price (Halbtax) card and pays 50% for all trips - compare that with the French and Italian trains where you need a seat reservation, where you are required to validate the ticket on the way to the platform. It's not as bad as with Amtrak where you are herded into departure gates and have to show ID (!!!) just to take a train (whatever is that good for???). But it's getting there.
So which is your way of traveling by train? A pass saves you money if you do a lot of criss-crossing, but it does not take away the inconvenience of having to reserve seat, and now there are not even guaranteed seats for you if you are a passholder - that's how far the pass sytem has come, so think twice before you commit.
Jan 20th, 2009, 08:27 AM
#8
lynnalan - Seat reservations (required on most faster trains) are not included in a pass so you have to pay extra everytime you want to ride one. The cost is around $20 per seat each time. Most people on vacation have a limited amount of time and want to use the faster trains to get to their destinations instead of slow trains where seats aren't required.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
wishing
Europe
8
Mar 24th, 2006 07:01 AM
