Train/Bus travelling within Europe and the UK
 

Hello!
I am a student who is about to embark on a backpacking journey across England and Europe. I have purchased an Global Eurail pass, but looking at the map you can only travel with it to bigger city's. I want to explore small towns, see attractions that are not on the route. Is there such a thing as smaller rails or a good bus service? Does Eurail provide smaller trains within countries? Or would I I have to buy bus passes/ train passes (provided they exist) and how much would they cost? Thanks so much! all help is appreciated.

>>Does Eurail provide smaller trains within countries?<<

Eurail doesn't have/provide trains <i>anywhere</i>. They simply sell rail passes. There are trains to MANY small towns.

Are the small trains based out of the same stations as the bigger railways? and how much would a simple city to town train cost?

You can expect to get to all cities, many towns and a few villages by train.

The German railway web site seems to have most of Europe included.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

In the UK, the various Traveline regional apps (or websites) are excellent for getting directions to even the smallest towns, either by train or bus.

http://www.traveline.info/

In many parts of Europe, Google Maps also have the train schedules, and often local bus schedules as well, so that you can use Maps to get directions.

In Rome, for instance, Google Maps is an excellent resource for all local transportation. Just put in your starting address and destination. Make sure you specify a time of day and day of the week consistent with when you'll be traveling (but not more than a week or so in advance), and click the bus icon. It will even give you walking directions to the bus stop or train station.

If you have these on your smart phone, you can consult them with a wifi connection even if you don't have data services. Also, Google Maps lets you download maps when you have wifi, so that you can keep your data services turned off, but your GPS turned on, and use the Google Maps for live directions without any connection to the internet. That way it will even tell you how to get where you want to go from wherever you're standing at the moment. It even tells you how long you'll have to wait for the bus, in cities where they have bus services on their servers.

Traveline also has live directions for their iPhone app and will have the app for Android starting this month. I don't know if they let you download the maps in advance, though, so you might need a data connection. I used Traveline on my Android phone last summer. There was no app for Android then, so I just saved the website on my home screen. Of course, that needed a data connection.

In Italy, almost all the trains between larger cities require a seat reservation, costing €10, which isn't included in your rail pass. Some other countries also require seat reservations for their faster trains, and in other cases they're strongly recommended.

bvlenci (almost) must be talking about the regionale trains, which stop at every haystack and in busy periods become extra crowded to the point of the whole floor disappearing beneath student bottoms. Have fun.

Basic tool for train travel, often mentioned on this forum, is www.seat61.com
As a student, you may save some money with your pass (although on some trains you will still have to buy a separate seat reservation). For the rest of us, the cost-efficient way to research European trains is to check the point-to-point cost of various rides, then compare the total to the pass price.

Eurail is simply a brand name for the railpass marketed jointly by most of Europe's national rail operators.

A Eurail pass is valid on ALL trains operated by the national operator, meaning long-distance, suburban and local/regional trains.

There are tens of thousands of trains it's valid on every day, the various Eurail literature can only mention a tiny fraction.

Use www.bahn.de/en as your general-purpose all-Europe timetable.

You need to make reservations and pay a fee to travel on most high-speed or long-distance trains in France, Italy & Spain, read up on passes, what they cover and what reservations are necessary at http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-E...pass-guide.htm

You aren't restricted to the large cities on a Eurail pass--you have unlimited travel which means you can get off and on anytime you want. You will pay extra for reservations and for the high-speed trains.

There is a limited number of travel days with the pass, however, so you may want to keep the pass for long travel and pay for the short trips out of your pocket.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-ti...ns/global-pass

Do not look at Eurail for train schedules/service - it has only minimal info. Go to the german rail site - bahn.com - there is an english version via the drop down box at the top - and it will give you info on intercity trains for all of europe. (It does not include any info on trains within cities).

Generally buses are most useful to the smallest towns = that often don;t have train service.