koryandleslie

1. Spending a few days in London. Should I add the Britrail to my global pass or is there a cheaper way of doing it?

2. For train travel in Paris. 3 days, do I use my global pass (and days) or do I buy the separate Paris pass and buy a shorter global pass?

janisj

"<i>1. Spending a few days in London. Should I add the Britrail to my global pass or is there a cheaper way of doing it?</i>"

Cheaper way of doing what? A Britrail pass is of no use at all IN London. Are you going anywhere else in the UK and how many train trips?

PatrickLondon

What global pass?

PatrickLondon

If you mean the InterRail global pass, it looks very expensive. Without knowing your overall planned pattern of travel it's hard to advise, but I'd be surprised if you get any advantage over just buying local tickets for travel within the Paris and London metro systems.

Man_in_seat_61

NEVER buy ANY sort of pass until you've checked what normal, regular tickets cost for what you want to do.

TrainRider2011

Hi I'd recommend you to buy train tickets instead. Pass can be very expensive, plus you will have to deal with paying for seating reservations with Thalys...

How much travel are you planing to do? are you traveling across Europe also?

Do buy anything, until you look at regular tickets and have your iternary properly planned out!

Sarastro

Rail passes are rarely, if ever, a good value. It´s not just Thalys that requires reservations be purchased in addition to purchasing a pass, all of the French TGVs, Téoz, and Lunéa trains will require additional fees as well and some trains, the iDTGVs, will not be available to you at all.

Within Paris, the Paris Pass is another very overpriced product. You will never have sufficient time to take advantage of what the PP offers. My strong recommendation is to avoid it. On the other hand, the Paris Museum Pass can be an excellent value and is something you should consider:

http://www.parismuseumpass.com/

For travelling around Paris, most people find that booklets of 10 individual métro tickets are sufficient. These sell for a reduced price of 12€ (over the regular ticket price of 1.70€ each), they may be shared, and they never expire should you have one or two left over after your stay.

koryandleslie

Thanks for the help. Yes, we are traveling all over Europe.
3 days in London (high speed to Paris, switch trains and onto Caen)
3 days in Normandy (beaches area)
2 days in Paris (high speed to Brussels)
3 days in Brussels/Bastogne (then overnight train to Prague)
4 days in Prague (overnight back to Brussels)

From the notes above, looks as though I can't use the Britrail pass for London. Is there a way to pre-pay for some rail/metro within London only?
For Paris, I'll buy 10 metro tickets. Can I pre-pay these and if so, what site?

fredandgingermad

Oyster Card is probably the cheapest for getting around London if you're only there for 3 days, easiest to buy on arrival in London, although they can be bought online

https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do

If you're going out of London at all then buy train tickets as needed

Mimar

Note that you will have to change train stations in Paris to catch the train to Caen. For the beaches, Bayeux might make a better base.

koryandleslie

We are actually staying in Bayeux. There is a direct train from Paris to Bayeux we plan on taking.

What about for the other days?

PalenQ

Rail passes are rarely, if ever, a good value>

I deplore blanket statements like this because they make it sound like railpasses are always a rip-off and for many trip itineraries they are not - including the OP's if she/he travels around France, to Belgium and Prague and back.

What should be said is like Man in Seat 61 said - do your research before buying a pass - lots of folks do think automatically of a pass without looking at fares, etc. but to say <Rail passes are rarely, if ever, a good value> is just really poor advice and sadly typical of the misninformation regarding railpasses that Fodorites seem to want to perpetuate.

I have had zillions of railpasses and they always have been more than cost effective - and there are other aspects to a railpass than cost - like in the many countries where you can just hop on any train anytime - like in Germany - and fully flexible fares are often really really expensive.

and there are ways to avoid the Thalys between Paris and Brussels and only pay a 3 euro extra seat reservation fee - as I recently did.

I am not saying a railpass is cost effective for your plans but I do say to totally ignore the misinformation that many here perpetuate that railpasses are rarely a good value as they simply do NOT know of what they speak IMO.

For lots of great stuff to plan a European rail trip I always highlight these super fine sources - www.seat61.com - Man in Seat 61 who posted above's commercial web site - check out his link on his home page to RailEurope to find out current railpass prices - and www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Sarastro

<Rail passes are rarely, if ever, a good value>

I stand firmly behind this statement.

Passes might, in some locations, add flexibility to the travel equation but they do so at steep price premiums and my comment specifically addresses value. Further, many of the trains in France offer very limited seat availability to pass holders and some, the iDTGV trains, offer no seats to pass holders. These trains as well as the Lunéa and Téoz trains all require extra fees for reservations and these fees alone can approach the price of an advance purchase fare which includes the reservation, to wit: 25€ for PREM fares available up to 3 months in advance and 19€ for iDTGV fares available from 4-6 months in advance.

There was a time when I too used rail passes but that time, just like the era of travelers cheques, is long past.

nytraveler

Rail passes are good for travel between cities - they are of no use for the local transit network (tube, metro etc) within each city. the latter are totally separate with different pricing and passes.

Also - trains are useless for touring the Normandy beaches. You will either have to sign up for tours or rent a car.

janisj

Back on track here (debating whether some passes make sense <i>some</i> times is just going to send kory's thread off on a tangent)

"<i>s there a way to pre-pay for some rail/metro within London only?</i>"

There is absolutely no reason/need/advantage to pre-purchase London or Paris transport tickets. Just get them when you arrive in each city.

koryandleslie

Thanks for all the help.
Let me recap...
3 days in London (high speed to Paris, switch trains and onto Bayeux--won't need a train pass for London or for the switching of trains in Paris, but will need one for the ride from Paris to Bayeux (day 1 of train pass)

3 days in Normandy (beaches area)--going back to Caen for one day to the museum and will need a train pass for that (day 2 of train pass-going back to Paris another day--day 3 of train pass). While in Bayeux I'm doing a Battlebus tour.

2 days in Paris (will use Metro while in Paris, but will need a ticket for the high speed to Brussels). Train/bus from Brussels to Bastogne (day 4 of train pass)

3 days in Brussels/Bastogne (then overnight train to Prague day 4 and 5 of train pas). Tour guide arranged.

4 days in Prague (days 6,7,8,9 of train pass in Prague. overnight back to Brussels-day 9 and 10 of train pass)
I think that would give me a 10 day. I could buy the 15 day Eurail Global Pass to be on the safe side.

Is that right??

Sarastro

The advance purchase fare from Paris St Lazare to Bayeux is 14€, same for the return. The walk up price for this segment is 35.10€. A 15 day Eurail Global Pass for an adult is 820€ or 54.67€ per day plus reservation fees where applicable. On the first two days you use a Global Pass for your trip to Bayeux you´ll pay almost 40€ (or 80€ if you would have purchase the PREM in advance) more per person for the pass than simply purchasing the individual tickets.

To further compare, advance purchase Paris to Brussels is 59€ in first class, 45€ in coach. I am not sure what the pass holder reservation fee is for this city pair but again you´ll pay more using a pass than simply purchasing the tickets in advance.