Two different Eurail passes for family?
Jul 14th, 2013, 04:29 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Two different Eurail passes for family?
Traveling to Germany, Switzerland and Italy next month with a family of four (children 14 & 11).
We understand that point-to-point tickets purchased in advance are typically less expensive than Eurail passes, but after performing detailed calculations, since we want flexibility with travel times up until the day of travel, even after taking into consideration the cost of mandatory reservations on trains in Italy, the Eurail passes are the most convenient and least expensive option for us.
Since we will be spending time in the Jungfrau region (where Eurail only provides a 25% discount on the trains/trams), we will be purchasing a Swiss half fare card for one of the adults which will allow one of the adults to obtain a 50% discount on the Jungfrau railroads, but more importantly, will provide us with a free Family card which will allow both children to travel for free throughout Switzerland (we have figured out that it would not be cost effective for both adults to obtain a half-fare card, nor to simply purchase the Junior card for each child).
Since the children will travel free throughout Switzerland, we only need a 5-day Select Eurail pass for the children, but a 6-day Eurail Select pass for the adults. Purchasing two different Eurail passes would save us ~$120 (over purchasing the 6-day pass for all 4 of us so that we would be on one single Eurail ticket).
My question: do you foresee any problems with a family of four traveling with two separate Eurail passes? Would you recommend that we spend the extra $120 to keep it simple, or should we not have any problems at all with this plan?
Thanks!
We understand that point-to-point tickets purchased in advance are typically less expensive than Eurail passes, but after performing detailed calculations, since we want flexibility with travel times up until the day of travel, even after taking into consideration the cost of mandatory reservations on trains in Italy, the Eurail passes are the most convenient and least expensive option for us.
Since we will be spending time in the Jungfrau region (where Eurail only provides a 25% discount on the trains/trams), we will be purchasing a Swiss half fare card for one of the adults which will allow one of the adults to obtain a 50% discount on the Jungfrau railroads, but more importantly, will provide us with a free Family card which will allow both children to travel for free throughout Switzerland (we have figured out that it would not be cost effective for both adults to obtain a half-fare card, nor to simply purchase the Junior card for each child).
Since the children will travel free throughout Switzerland, we only need a 5-day Select Eurail pass for the children, but a 6-day Eurail Select pass for the adults. Purchasing two different Eurail passes would save us ~$120 (over purchasing the 6-day pass for all 4 of us so that we would be on one single Eurail ticket).
My question: do you foresee any problems with a family of four traveling with two separate Eurail passes? Would you recommend that we spend the extra $120 to keep it simple, or should we not have any problems at all with this plan?
Thanks!
Jul 14th, 2013, 12:03 PM
#3
I think you are miscalculating somewhere.
>>>We understand that point-to-point tickets purchased in advance are typically less expensive than Eurail passes, but after performing detailed calculations,<<<
Since this statement isn't accurate, I'm not sure any calculations are. Point-to-point are usually less expensive if bought online in advance.
>>>since we want flexibility with travel times up until the day of travel, even after taking into consideration the cost of mandatory reservations on trains in Italy,<<<
Again, questionable. You can't just hop on any train in Italy. There must be seat reservations available to purchase. You are traveling in high season (Italy and much of Europe's vacation time), so that may mean waiting around a few hours for the next available train (would probably depend on days/times/destination).
I can see the Swiss pass situation (or half fare card) if you are doing enough actual travel in Switzerland, but they really have nothing to do with the Eurail pass. You don't state the age of your children, but Italy is running the same kids travel free promo through mid-September so you would really be wasting money buying a Eurail pass for them to cover Italy. Discount ages for children vary by country. Without knowing the Germany/Italy travel itinerary, it's hard to say a 6 day pass is at all economical (I seriously doubt it).
>>>we have figured out that it would not be cost effective for both adults to obtain a half-fare card, nor to simply purchase the Junior card for each child).<<<
Once again, your logic is faulty. If it's not economical for one of the adults to get a half fare card, then it can't be economical for the other adult to get a half fare card.
My understanding is kids travel free if you get the family card which is also free. I further understand you do not need any kind of pass at all to obtain the family card, only a train ticket.
****Swiss Family Card
Coming to Switzerland with the whole family? Take advantage of the Swiss Family Card. It can be requested free of charge with every Swiss Travel System ticket.****
Advantages at a glance
Children under age 16 travel free of charge when accompanied by at least one parent holding a Swiss Travel System ticket
***Information
The Swiss Family Card is available free of charge at attended Swiss railway stations or when you book online
Children travelling unaccompanied are entitled to a 50% discount off the entire range of Swiss Travel System tickets.***
>>>We understand that point-to-point tickets purchased in advance are typically less expensive than Eurail passes, but after performing detailed calculations,<<<
Since this statement isn't accurate, I'm not sure any calculations are. Point-to-point are usually less expensive if bought online in advance.
>>>since we want flexibility with travel times up until the day of travel, even after taking into consideration the cost of mandatory reservations on trains in Italy,<<<
Again, questionable. You can't just hop on any train in Italy. There must be seat reservations available to purchase. You are traveling in high season (Italy and much of Europe's vacation time), so that may mean waiting around a few hours for the next available train (would probably depend on days/times/destination).
I can see the Swiss pass situation (or half fare card) if you are doing enough actual travel in Switzerland, but they really have nothing to do with the Eurail pass. You don't state the age of your children, but Italy is running the same kids travel free promo through mid-September so you would really be wasting money buying a Eurail pass for them to cover Italy. Discount ages for children vary by country. Without knowing the Germany/Italy travel itinerary, it's hard to say a 6 day pass is at all economical (I seriously doubt it).
>>>we have figured out that it would not be cost effective for both adults to obtain a half-fare card, nor to simply purchase the Junior card for each child).<<<
Once again, your logic is faulty. If it's not economical for one of the adults to get a half fare card, then it can't be economical for the other adult to get a half fare card.
My understanding is kids travel free if you get the family card which is also free. I further understand you do not need any kind of pass at all to obtain the family card, only a train ticket.
****Swiss Family Card
Coming to Switzerland with the whole family? Take advantage of the Swiss Family Card. It can be requested free of charge with every Swiss Travel System ticket.****
Advantages at a glance
Children under age 16 travel free of charge when accompanied by at least one parent holding a Swiss Travel System ticket
***Information
The Swiss Family Card is available free of charge at attended Swiss railway stations or when you book online
Children travelling unaccompanied are entitled to a 50% discount off the entire range of Swiss Travel System tickets.***
Jul 14th, 2013, 12:07 PM
#5
Jul 14th, 2013, 06:22 PM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for your responses. As mentioned in the beginning of my posting, the children are 14 and 11. We recognize that we need to make reservations on all of the high speed trains in Italy, and we are aware that point-to-point tickets purchased in advance would likely cost less than the Eurail passes, but we will not know the exact times of travel until the day of or possibly 1-2 days prior. So, we will likely move forward with our plan, possibly with a slight alteration in Switzerland to obtain the free Family card.
We looked into the free kids offer in Italy, but the seats for this promotion are limited and unlikely to be available if we are booking the train at the last moment (within a day or two of departure), so we can't count on it.
The only travel we will be doing in Germany is from the Frankfurt airport straight to Switzerland (Basel), but this one way fare purchased at the last moment for two adults (since we do not know exactly when our flight will arrive) is close to $300 (even though the kids would also travel free in Germany if we were to purchase one-way tickets for this trip).
In order to obtain the 'kids travel free offer in Switzerland with the Family Card, one must purchase a Swiss Travel System ticket; otherwise, we would need to purchase the Junior card for each child (30 CHF each). We had the understanding that this meant that we needed to purchase either a Swiss Card, Swiss 1/2 fare card, Swiss Pass, or Swiss Transfer Ticket in order to obtain the free Family card. The cheapest option of these four would be the 1/2 fare card (with the additional discounts it would provide us in the Jungfrau region, it would be less expensive to get one 1/2 fare card than to purchase the two Junior cards); thus the reason we were planning to purchase one of these in order to obtain the free Family card. But is this true, or could we just obtain an inexpensive short-distance one-way adult ticket that would allow us to obtain the free Family card?
Thanks.
We looked into the free kids offer in Italy, but the seats for this promotion are limited and unlikely to be available if we are booking the train at the last moment (within a day or two of departure), so we can't count on it.
The only travel we will be doing in Germany is from the Frankfurt airport straight to Switzerland (Basel), but this one way fare purchased at the last moment for two adults (since we do not know exactly when our flight will arrive) is close to $300 (even though the kids would also travel free in Germany if we were to purchase one-way tickets for this trip).
In order to obtain the 'kids travel free offer in Switzerland with the Family Card, one must purchase a Swiss Travel System ticket; otherwise, we would need to purchase the Junior card for each child (30 CHF each). We had the understanding that this meant that we needed to purchase either a Swiss Card, Swiss 1/2 fare card, Swiss Pass, or Swiss Transfer Ticket in order to obtain the free Family card. The cheapest option of these four would be the 1/2 fare card (with the additional discounts it would provide us in the Jungfrau region, it would be less expensive to get one 1/2 fare card than to purchase the two Junior cards); thus the reason we were planning to purchase one of these in order to obtain the free Family card. But is this true, or could we just obtain an inexpensive short-distance one-way adult ticket that would allow us to obtain the free Family card?
Thanks.
Jul 14th, 2013, 07:36 PM
#7
Sorry, I didn't see the ages in your earlier post.
>>>The only travel we will be doing in Germany is from the Frankfurt airport straight to Switzerland (Basel), but this one way fare purchased at the last moment for two adults (since we do not know exactly when our flight will arrive) is close to $300<<<
Where are you pricing tickets? The walk-up fare I see for a train with no changes from Frankfurt to Basel is 82€.
As far as I can see, you cannot get a Eurail Select Pass that combines Germany and Italy.
I'm still trying to get the gist of what you are doing.
Frankfurt/Basel - you want to use a Eurail Select Pass
Switzerland - you want to use a Half Fare Card and Family Card (this is not part of Eurail Pass)
Italy - Eurail Select Pass - ? - A few trips between major cities? Most walk-up fares on the fast trains between the major cities will be about 40€.
You can only get a Eurail Select Pass for bordering countries. Since you won't need it for Switzerland (you are getting the Half Fare card for Switzerland) and you can't get it for Germany/Italy, I don't understand what you are trying to do.
>>>In order to obtain the 'kids travel free offer in Switzerland with the Family Card, one must purchase a Swiss Travel System ticket<<<
A ticket on the Swiss Travel System is simply a train ticket, not a pass. The Swiss Travel System website is geared towards non-Europeans for passes, etc. It's just the official website for these Swiss passes, not an actual train line or train company. That would be sbb.ch for Switzerland or the Swiss Railways website.
>>>we would need to purchase the Junior card for each child (30 CHF each). <<<
You got this from the Swiss rail site sbb.ch which is geared towards Swiss residents and Europeans (they can't buy the passes on Swiss Travel System as they are for non-Europeans) and passes/travel cards for them. The Junior Card is for one year of travel.
If you want to clarify the Family Card further and are on Facebook, you can ask the question about simply buying a short ticket and getting the family card with it there. They will respond. Look for the Swiss Travel System page. Locate this to post your question.
*Recent Posts by Others on Swiss Travel System*
If you list your Italy travel, we can point you to getting cheapest walk up tickets for your particular cities. There is a fairly new rail system (Italorail) in Italy that has discounts walk up even when Trenitalia doesn't. Italo only operates between the major cities.
>>>The only travel we will be doing in Germany is from the Frankfurt airport straight to Switzerland (Basel), but this one way fare purchased at the last moment for two adults (since we do not know exactly when our flight will arrive) is close to $300<<<
Where are you pricing tickets? The walk-up fare I see for a train with no changes from Frankfurt to Basel is 82€.
As far as I can see, you cannot get a Eurail Select Pass that combines Germany and Italy.
I'm still trying to get the gist of what you are doing.
Frankfurt/Basel - you want to use a Eurail Select Pass
Switzerland - you want to use a Half Fare Card and Family Card (this is not part of Eurail Pass)
Italy - Eurail Select Pass - ? - A few trips between major cities? Most walk-up fares on the fast trains between the major cities will be about 40€.
You can only get a Eurail Select Pass for bordering countries. Since you won't need it for Switzerland (you are getting the Half Fare card for Switzerland) and you can't get it for Germany/Italy, I don't understand what you are trying to do.
>>>In order to obtain the 'kids travel free offer in Switzerland with the Family Card, one must purchase a Swiss Travel System ticket<<<
A ticket on the Swiss Travel System is simply a train ticket, not a pass. The Swiss Travel System website is geared towards non-Europeans for passes, etc. It's just the official website for these Swiss passes, not an actual train line or train company. That would be sbb.ch for Switzerland or the Swiss Railways website.
>>>we would need to purchase the Junior card for each child (30 CHF each). <<<
You got this from the Swiss rail site sbb.ch which is geared towards Swiss residents and Europeans (they can't buy the passes on Swiss Travel System as they are for non-Europeans) and passes/travel cards for them. The Junior Card is for one year of travel.
If you want to clarify the Family Card further and are on Facebook, you can ask the question about simply buying a short ticket and getting the family card with it there. They will respond. Look for the Swiss Travel System page. Locate this to post your question.
*Recent Posts by Others on Swiss Travel System*
If you list your Italy travel, we can point you to getting cheapest walk up tickets for your particular cities. There is a fairly new rail system (Italorail) in Italy that has discounts walk up even when Trenitalia doesn't. Italo only operates between the major cities.
Jul 15th, 2013, 12:06 AM
#8
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 560
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Kybourbon, she may purchase a 3-country SELECT Pass by selecting a "chain" of 3 countries, and Germany-Switzerland-Italy are such a chain. Whether she uses such a pass in all 3 countries or just a subset of the 3 countries, does not matter. See diagram in
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/select.htm
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/select.htm
Jul 15th, 2013, 06:15 AM
#9
Thanks Reading.
Robyn - I don't know if you saw responses on your Italy thread about walk up prices. Some of your Italy travel days are under 10-20€ (walk-up price) or would be bus, not train.
Don't forget that discounts can still be available in Italy on Trenitalia if you are buying a day or two in advance (not day of). Discounts on Italo Rail are sold the day of departure if still available. Italo would only be for Venice/Florence, Florence/Salerno and Salerno/Rome. They don't serve Milan/Venice yet. Italo also has kids travel free promo also. Passes are not valid on Italo. I don't think they are valid for Trenord either (Tirano/Milan) or at least there is no way to select using a pass on their website like there is on Trenitalia.
Robyn - I don't know if you saw responses on your Italy thread about walk up prices. Some of your Italy travel days are under 10-20€ (walk-up price) or would be bus, not train.
Don't forget that discounts can still be available in Italy on Trenitalia if you are buying a day or two in advance (not day of). Discounts on Italo Rail are sold the day of departure if still available. Italo would only be for Venice/Florence, Florence/Salerno and Salerno/Rome. They don't serve Milan/Venice yet. Italo also has kids travel free promo also. Passes are not valid on Italo. I don't think they are valid for Trenord either (Tirano/Milan) or at least there is no way to select using a pass on their website like there is on Trenitalia.
