floridagetawaygal

I will be traveling to germany in Decemnber. I'm a little confused about the rail passes. We plan to travel to Paris and maybe Amsterdam too. Someone suggested a Eurorail ticket. Is it the same as the Rail Europe Pass. Can I use the high speed trains?

ira

Hi F,

Do not buy a railpass or any other kind of Eurail thingy until you have

1. Planned your itinerary and
2. Checked prices at www.bahn.de and www.voyages-scnf.com for point to point tickets.

You have to pay extra to use the fast trains if you have a railpass.

virgi

Hi florida: I'm leaving tuesday for Frankfurt, then Amsterdam, then Paris, then back to Amsterdam, then back to Frankfurt for home. I posted the same question, and got lots of good info, but,(&there's always a but), I found it easier to just fly. I got a flight from cheapair.com from frankfurt to Amsterdam & back, for &123.17, R/T, then a flight from Amsterdam to Paris, & back to Amsterdam, from vueling.com, for $154.28

So me being completely illiterate with the train-route-thing, this is what works for me. You can check postings on the Netherland site where so many kind explanations about this very subject is posted. Anyway, good luck.

floridagetawaygal

Thanks- I'll check into it. Let me know how your trip goes.

Travelnut

Whether or not you are a fan of Rick Steves, his website has an excellent section on Rail Travel.
www.ricksteves.com

suze

If you are only using the trains a couple times, likely point-to-point tickets will be all you need. A pass is of value to people who are traveling around alot more.

Germany to Paris and Amsterdam is a distance, I'd also look into flights as suggested above.

altamiro

>I found it easier to just fly.

Well, it might soemtimes be cheaper, but what it is NOT is easy.

>I got a flight from cheapair.com from frankfurt to Amsterdam & back, for &123.17, R/T

Including taxes? Including the transportation from/to airport?

>, then a flight from Amsterdam to Paris, & back to Amsterdam, from vueling.com, for $154.28

Again - including taxes? Plus, CDG airport is far away from central Paris in comparison to Frankfurt or Amsterdam - add an hour to the transit time.

All in all, you will be in for much more hassle by flying either of these routes, you wil not save any time by flying, any flexibility you might have with a train is gone, and the money savings sound rather insubstantial.

But if you like airports - so be it...

virgi

altomaro: I'm sure your right. Not farmiliar with the rail options, to book a flight worked easier for me. I have to learn by trial & error, so after this trip, I'll know better what to do the next time. Thanks though.

virgi

and yes, it the flights, include taxes.

altamiro

>I have to learn by trial & error, so after this trip, I'll know better what to do the next time.

I´m sorry that you had to find out this way. The Fodors forum exists after all exactly for this purpose - so you don´t have to learn by trial and error.

suze

To the OP, you could do what you describe by walking into a train station and purchasing a ticket for that single trip.

Do you have to return to Germany at the end for a flight home? Or can you fly out from Paris or Amsterdam?

PalenQ

You sound like a novice rail traveler and for these i ditto www.ricksteves.com recommendation and also advise you to go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com for a lot of info on European trains and railpasses - especially good primer on European trains is their free European Planning & Rail guide that has chapters on each country's rail system, trains, rail maps, suggested itineraries, etc. They also have a 800-441-2387 number where you can ask any questions without obligation - i know of no other source where you can query European rail experts but if there is i'd like to publicize it as well. Rick Steves charges like $65/hr or something. The pass you are looking at or should be is the Eurail Select Pass good in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) as one country for pass purposes and France and Germany - a 3 country select pass (select means you pick any three countries of the 18 Eurailpass countries and thus get cheaper rates because you narrow your geographic scope. It's called a Eurail Selectpass and has exact same benefits as a Global Eurailpass (good in 18 countries) except only in those three countries. And yes you can use high-speed trains and every train in these countries with the pass. In France and on Thalys trains between Benelux and France you do however have to make reservations before boarding and the pass pays for the train fare but not the reservation fees - usually a few euros.

MarkvonKramer

PanenQ speaks words of wisdom.

Call those folks at budgettraveleurope. They are extremely nice, very helpful, and won't sell you what isn't best for your trip. I used them this spring and was most impressed.

Let us know how the planning is going, thare are many, many helpful folks here in Fodorville.

MvK

hopscotch

For a novice train traveler there is a good introduction the European rails at http://tinyurl.com/eym5b, ilustrated.

With a Eurail Pass you can use the high speed trains but some of them, e.g. TGV in France, require a reservation. That normally costs €3, about $4. Except for a very few super trains in Germany reservations are not required. Between Paris and Amsterdam the Thalys requires a reservation and a supplement, about €20. For the segment between Paris and Brussels Thalys is the only choice.

Chris_England

Even if a reservation is not REQUIRED, wouldn't it be a bit reckless not to get one.

If the train is full, you can't travel on European high-speed trains can you ? Unlike jolly old Blighty where you are most welcome to stand all the way to Edinburgh for the sme price as someone sitting down !

--- And comparing flights v trains, how long do you spend in the airport security queue waiting for a man to wave his wand at you and make you empty your pockets ? At British airports it is at least an hour - more like two for international flights.

If anyone can't work out how to put a starting station, destination station, date, and time on a railway web site - let me know and I'll try to help....

rkkwan

You can travel on Germany's ICE with no seat reservations, on a regular railpass. If there's no seat, you can just stand.

But only there. Not on the other highspeed lines in Europe.

PalenQ

Yes German and in general many long distance trains in Europe can be quite full - especially in 2nd class IME

I usually have a first-class pass in Germany and never make reservations and always hop on and never have not found a seat - usually an isolated window and aisle seat. But 2nd class seems much more full so i'd certainly make reservations in 2nd class - if you had the Eurail Select pass for adults it only comes in 1st class - to me actually a plus.
But as rkkwan says all other high-speed trains in countries other than Germany require reservations (even though in Switzerland Cisalpino and TGVs don't require reservations inside the country these do not truly run at high speed in Switzerland)

PalenQ

Even though German trains don't require reservations and you can always board - unlike other highspeed trains in europe - it's easy enough to make seat reservations and they only cost a few euro - especially if you want a window seat, aisle seat, etc. Or if you are a group of four or so to get seats together.

PalenQ

<Someone suggested a Eurorail ticket. Is it the same as the Rail Europe Pass>

I assume they mean Eurailpass instead of Eurorail ticket.

and there is no such thing as a RailEurope pass - RailEurope, owned by the French and Swiss national railways, in the U.S. is a major purveyor of Eurailpasses - thus the possible confusion. there are five Eurailpass wholesalers in the U.S. i believe and RailEurope is probably the biggest provider of the passes. Many agents will work thru RailEurope or they sell directly at www.raileurope.com

Pass prices are set by the Eurail Committee or whatever they call it sitting i believe in Utrecht, Holland and prices no matter who sells them must be exactly what they dictate - same everywhere

but handling and postage fees can be added on - Raileurope i believe charges $18 for any pass order under $400 - but handling fees can be added as well. BETS i menton above have no fees except on rush orders i believe and others have no fee as well. So the only reason to comparison shop for a pass are the mailing and handling fees, besides of course service and accessibility IMO

rkkwan

I've found that some countries' train operator also sells their single-country railpasses directly, not via a broker.

For my dad's travel to Germany earlier this year, I bought his pass directly from www.bahn.de. Priced in euro, it was slightly cheaper than through one of the agents here. No shipping or handling fees either, and the pass showed up by regular mail in around a week. But of course, exchange rate's different then and now, so one needs to compare prices.