Train Travel and Passes
 

Help. We will b travelling from Frankfurt to Czech and around Prague. From there into Austria visiting Salsburg and Vienna. Would it be better to get a pass or buy individual tickets for train travel.

go to either www.railpass.com or www.railsaver.com and put in your itinerary to compare the price(s) of point to point tickets vs. using a pass

topping

We did a similar trip this past March, landing in Frankfurt before traveling on to Berlin, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Hallstatt, Bavaria, Rothenburg, and back to Frankfurt for the trip home. We found our best price was buying two flexipasses-- A German Rail twin pass for five days and Eastern Europe passes for five or six days. The East Europe pass covered both the Czech Republic and Austria. We bought them in December before the price went up in January, so I don't know if that's still the best option or not.

By the way, to answer a question that has been asked on these boards before, we were able to validate our East Europe pass in Germany-- in Frankfurt at the same time we validated our German pass. On the pass itself, it is stated that it must be validated in one of the countries for which it is issued, but we were told that if we were using it for a train that originated in Germany, we could have it validated. We did have to use a day on both passes for the trip from Berlin to Prague. However, on a trip from Salzburg to Innsbruck that went through Germany, we didn't have to use one of our German rail days because we were on an Austrian train and no stops were made in Germany.

If your only German travel is from Frankfurt to the Czech border, then your best best might be a point-to-point ticket for that portion and an East Europe flexi pass for the rest of the trip.

take a bus. they're cheaper, faster, run at better times, and are safer. eurolines is the bus company around this area that i know of. it's very reliable, and always bang on time

When travelling from Prague to Frankfurt I used 'diebahn' to work out my routes and timetables thoughout europe It was a great website.

Here's one of those rare deals on raileurope.com - - http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/pa...rsion_pass.htm - - made just for you. I think these are subsidized by the Czech rail company to get you to visit the CR.

For all your other travel, I bet railsaver.com will show you how much better off you are with ordinary point-to-point tickets.

Best wishes,

Rex

Try Euraide.com for rail pass and ticket information. They are based in Munich, but are well-versed on the Prague Excursion Pass. We used it to travel Vienna-Prague and Prague-Munich in June and we saved quite a bit via Euraide. We also used the Bayern Pass for Munich to Salzburg and Fussen. It's 22 Euro/day for up to five people. Have fun.