Trains in Europe
 

Can someone explain the confusing train passes and tickets? Do you need both? Do you buy a pass then get a discount on tickets?

Six of us are flying into AMS, we want to take the train to Paris to Rome and Geneva back to AMS in 4 days. Is that a possiblity? What about the Hotel trains.

You can check RailEurope's website and purchase a train rail pass based on countries and number of users. Otherwise, dependent on when you are traveling, you could just purchase point-to-point tickets at the train stations there, in person. Sometimes that is easier as schedules change. The sleeper or couchette trains for overnight travel are an extra fee and it is added to your train ticket price for that particular segment. AMS is Amsterdam or?

Hmm... with this route and 4 days, you will see a lot of countryside from a train window but not have a lot of time to see the towns. Certainly you can take night trains and sleep in a couchette (basically 4 or 6 bunk beds in a compartment) and save the daylight hours for touring. I would not recommend trying to sleep in a train car for 3 nights in a row. If you are determined to do this, you might consider flying. With 4 days, I would recommend picking one of these cities and exploring it. You are trying to cover too much ground in a short time.

I went to the German rail page, which I use for research a lot when planning. I plugged in your route and came up with this:
Amsterdam to Paris = 4-5/12 hours depending on departure time and train

Paris to Rome = 14-15 hours, depending on departure time and train

Rome to Geneva = 9-10+ hours, depending on departure and train

Geneva to Amsterdam = 9-10+ hours, depending on departure time and train

here is the URL:
http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

As far as ticket vs. pass, if you go to www.raileurope.com and look for the link to find out if a pass saves you money, that might help. But a pass will not cover the supplements you pay for some of the fast trains and the couchette. It will cover most of the fare but there are additional fees.

Good luck.

The 5-day Eurail Saverpass good in France, Benelux, Switzerland, Italy and Germany is the pass you would consider ($325 p.p. in first class - only in 2nd class if under 26.)
This is a flexi pass - good over a 2-month period - you use the five 'flexible' travel days anytime you want within that two-month period.
The pass covers the basic train fare but not reservations or supplements, which are mandatory on trains between Amsterdam and Paris and the fastest trains in Italy - otherwise you can just hop on any trains in Benelux, Germany or Switzerland as these countries have no reservations requirements or supplements with railpasses (except the Amsterdam-Paris Thalys train).
The Artesia Night Hotel train between Paris and Rome/florence/venice similar the pass pays the train fare but you must pay the sleeping accommodations - a minimum of about $30 for a couchette and more for private doubles.
A saverpass is cheaper than individual passes - a saverpass has two or more names on one pass and is abouit $50 per person cheaper than solo pass - you must travel with the other names on the pass so can't take separate trains. You could have two names on each saverpass for some flexibility.
The pass covers all the rail fare with no additional charges on trains except the ones i noted - 100% covered, not a discount.
With the amount of travel you're doing i have little doubt in first class the pass would be good for you. But if you want to do a lot of research online and if you have several weeks before your trains you can get online specials for Amsterdam-Paris trains and night train Paris-Italy but for flexible anytime fares the pass is by far the best. If you have any questions on the passes, reservations, night trains, etc. i'd suggest calling Budget Europe (800-441-2387) as they are experts who will answer any European rail question without obligation - they also sell passes and i always recommend them for their good service -go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com and on their home page request their free European Planning & Rail Guide which will be of great use in planning your trip - i always recommend this to novice train travelers - rail maps, using trains, etc. I also always recommend visiting www.ricksteves.com as his site has a lot of good info on rail travel and passes as does www.euraide.com.
If there are questions i or other Fodor rail knowledgeable folks can answer please pose them (there are many Fodorites who know a lot about trains - especially the online discounted fares that i'm not all that well verses in).

Hi M,

To put it politely, you are out of your everlovin' mind. :)

Check train schedules at www.bahn.de.

Also, if you did do something like that, you would want to fly into AMS and out of Geneva.

((I))

Perhaps I'm misreading your itinerary - are you saying your group will travel to all these destinations in 4 consecutive days? or...4 days within a month? or...what? Gently put, clarification might provide more helpful answers.

ttt

missnw: are you doing this is 4 straight days or 4 days of train travel. Just wondering if i should alert the Guinness Book of World Records or Not!

If you only have 4 days that is too great a distance to reasonably cover.

I don;t know what Hotel trains are - unless you mean trains with sleeper cars - and yes - these are considerably more than just train seats..

In any case - if you think you're going to go from AMS to Paris to rome to Geneva to AMS in 4 straight days - I can only strongly suggest that you

#1 get a map of europe

#2 consult the bahn.de web site

I doubt you would even be able to cover the distance - never mind get off any of the trains.

Day 1 - Amsterdam to Paris
night train to Rome
Day 2 - night train to Geneva
Day 3 - Geneva to Amsterdam
leaves one 'extra day' for sightseeing in either Paris or Rome - i suggest maybe you use this day to 'see' Florence!

missnw: Did you decide to do this type of train trip? Just curious and not saying not to go for it.

hmmmm.

???