Anyone remember the site where you enter your itinerary and it tells you whether or not it's worth it to get a railpass or to just buy tickets? Can you post a link? thanks!

www.railsaver.com

you're the best, thanks much.

And keep in mind that you are comparing apples to oranges in the case of railsaver vs the often lower fares available in Europe.

Bob hit the nail on the head when he said using Railsaver is like comparing apples and oranges.

While RailSaver might be a good first cut comparison, there is no way it can substitute for doing the research and calculations yourself. I put in a mythical trip for two people from Frankfurt to Munich and back with a week's stay in Munich. Even though it was only two days of travel, Railsaver told me to buy 2 four day German Rail Twin passes for $292, total (I don't think they have accounted for the recent price increase). Based on their price for 2 full fare RT tickets, $288 (which also appears to be out of date), that isn't even a savings. But, to illustrate the weakness of Railsaver, they don't take into account promotional fares that are available. For this trip, a SparPreis fare is available for $122 for two people RT on ICs. That is a savings of $170, almost 60% versus what Railsaver recommended.

Even without the advance purchase of a SparPreis ticket, if you are willing to spend a little more time on regional trains, two RMV tickets to Kahl plus a Bayern Ticket would cost €40 one way, €80 ($107) RT, an even bigger saving. Sure, it takes a couple hours longer, but you can save $185! Railsaver does not tell you about that option.

Not that Railsaver is lying; it is just too complicated to really do what they are trying to do.

The one thing about railsaver that you can count on is that if it says no pass for you then you can be absolutely sure the pass doesn't add up. If it recommends a pass however then do as Larry says and investigate real in Europe fares more.

Why don't you just tell US the proposed itinerary to start with?

been there done that i think, she has.

really..well, what happened????

I could have sworn that we discussed her trip with pass options in the recent pass but i must be wrong if a casual look at her past posts shows anything. Sorry, miss Follies, what's your itinerary - running it by Fodorites is much better than railsaver.com IMO

Hey there--yep, I posted the itinerary here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34914450

(Plus, I'm flying into Edinburgh and will take the train to Aberdeen..will take the train to Edinburgh after leaving Glasgow, will go from Edinburgh to a city in Wales to be determined, and then Wales to Northampton [via Manchester I assume])

kind of insane, but ultimately worth it!