I've heard that buying a Eurailpass is 20% more expensive here in the US through railpass.com or raileurope.com. Should we wait and buy one there? Specifically we are looking at two Eurail Selectpass Saver (two travelers) for 5 travel days within a 15 day span.

Also, do people recommend getting the Rail Protection Plan (if we purchase the pass ahead of time)? Thanks for any advice.

My advice is buy them here. Once you do the currency conversion, they're not such a good deal. We priced out our Swiss Saver passes before we left both ways and it was much better to buy them here, and you don't have to worry about it when you get there.

As far as the insurance, up to you. I've never bought it, but you never know what is going to happen.

I don't know where you got your info, but everything I've heard says you CAN'T buy railpasses "there". There are other kinds of deals available in country, and often point-to-point is cheaper, perhaps that is what your info is about?

We don't buy the "protection".

Hi Rd,

You cannot buy the Eurailpass in the countries in which it is valid.

To see if you actually need a railpass, go to www.railsaver.com to compare P-to-p with the pass price.

As mentioned above, Eurail passes CANNOT be purchased in Europe. Some passes offered by individual countries, such as the German Rail Pass, CAN be purchased in Europe. Prices are fixed, so there should be no difference in price between purchasing in the US or in Germany, except perhaps due to currency conversion.

The real problem with Eurail passes is that they're only available for 1st class travel (at least for adults). This means they seem to be much more expensive than 2nd class point-to-point tickets or even the 2nd class passes available from individual countries.

I just did a comparison using ptp prices on DeutscheBahn website and found the Eurail pass to be significantly more expensive than 2nd class tickets for the same itinerary.

The German Rail Pass (which is NOT a Eurail pass), is more economical since it is offered for 2nd class. You will probably still pay a slight premium over ptp tickets, but you might consider the convenience worth the price.

I haven't bought one in Europe, but I believe Rick Steves claims there may be some rail stations in Europe where you can be some type of rail passes. A lot of maybes/somes, I know. I don't know if Eurail is one of them, or only the single country passes. I suppose they just ask for proof of residency somehow. In any case, I've never heard that they are cheaper in Europe, but I've never heard of anyone buying one there, actually. I don't think it's that easy to do.

Amazing what a simple web search can turn up. Directly from www.Eurail.com (click on the "Where to buy" tab):

- Eurail Pass and Eurail SelectPass CAN be purchased at a Eurail Aid Office in one of the 17 member countries

- The price is 10% HIGHER at the aforementioned European locations than at the regular sales outlets outside Europe.

Well, live and learn.