Are Eurail a giant scam passports or have to save money?

Are Eurail a giant scam passports or have to save money? -

trains in europe with a eurail pass Every two years, I use a train pass the rails in Europe in an effort to ride out the answer to important question travelers have about :? Money these passports actually save you or they are a huge waste of time

Back in 2011, I found that tickets were worth the cost if you have many lasted long, happened removal. were the last two years have passed, I got back a great pass from Rail Europe and traveled from Lisbon to Berlin to see if the passes were still a good deal for travelers had. have

In the last few years have I heard from other travelers, getting, going harder due to the limited availability of space to use, and higher fees. It used to be that you could buy a rail pass, hop on a train and go wherever you wanted. And if you need a reservation for the seat, it does not matter if you had a passport or not - if it was a seat on the train, you got it. Now, there are often only a certain number of places available for passholders on a particular train, and many countries have high-priced booking fees introduced (I look for you, France!).

In addition, as had Railways have with the rise of low-cost airlines do, they have changed their pricing model to more closely mimic airlines. Well now they tend to offer cheap early bird prices and expensive last-minute fares.

Under these new constraints, which I wanted to see if tickets to make nor economically feasible.

mathematics: How much do I Spent

It's all about the money with the passports. So, how does it work out? Here is a breakdown of what the costs looked like:

train	Returns With Pass	1st class (w / o pass)	2nd class (w / o pass)
Lisbon - Madrid (overnight single)	97	151	60
Madrid - Paris (overnight single)	192	202	180
Paris - Brussels	18	124	72
Brussels - Amsterdam	0	62	34
Amsterdam - Berlin	0	199	123
total	307	738	469

Note: Prices in euros are and reflect at the last minute departure prices at the station at the time of booking.

passport was given to me that I was given was a first 15-days, two months Global Pass, which costs $ 1189 USD. (First-class? Because it's the only passport you can get if you are over 26 I think this is a stupid rule by the way.) This means that I in the pass for 15 non-consecutive days of travel can use a period of two months; the value of each trip works to be $ 79th Since I was only in Europe for two weeks, I did not use the entire ball, but I used a variety of different features for my tests. My five train rides took then I have a base value of $ 395 (one-third the value of the pass).

So with all the charges for seat reservations and the base ticket price, the total cost of my train trips were $ 800 USD. Seat reservations required for night trains. In some countries such as Italy and France, reservations are required for day trains. Without the pass my class tickets would have cost me $ 975, which means I saved $ 175 to use the Eurail Pass.

(A second class pass is $ 774 or $ 51 a trip. Without the pass, it would have $ 620 free, while the pass, the cost would have been much lower.)

with the ball

I have never had any trouble finding a place other than on the Paris-Amsterdam. Thalys trains have a limited number of passholder seats, and since I was booking instead of traveling directly in advance a ticket, I had to make a number of attacks. It made the trip cheaper but also much longer than it needed to be. Other than that, I had no problem finding the pass with or seat availability.

Should You Buy a rail pass?

the beautiful european landscape by rail are therefore worth buying Eurail passes?

[1945001[ Maybe.

many people-train take over in Europe requires a passport, a purchase without looking at the numbers, and then complain about the cost.

But tickets are all about money. If you do not save a dollar, it is not worth getting. This means that you have to do a lot of math to figure out whether a passport is correct or not. It can be a time consuming process, but it is certainly worth it in the end.

Just like the airlines, the prices are now variable and not fixed. Depending on when you book, you will have your ticket vary costs. If you are willing to pre-book months in advance, you will easily find some unbeatable bargain deals as Paris to Amsterdam from $ 46, Rome to Venice from $ 38 or Amsterdam to Berlin from $ 78th Denmark offers Orange tickets, 50% off the normal price. Since tickets cost about per trip $ 79, you can not single tickets well in advance propose booking.

But who pre-books a more month trip to Europe?

If you are planning on a two week trip months from now and you already know your dates, it is not a good idea to get a rail pass. Although these early bird (non-matching, point-to-point) Tickets are non-refundable, they are still fairly inexpensive, and you will be likely to change too many of your dates.

But if you are traveling with no fixed plans across Europe, tickets can work out to be a better value than buying the same day point-to-point tickets. For me, the pass through flexibility and the ability to hop on and off trains, if you want. If you are long-term move, you will not be months of traveling plan before. They are the ability to want to go with the flow, give a passport with you.

I think one of the best ways to use the passes is, to mix and match, the rail pass for expensive trains while for cheap tickets are charged individually, so that you maximize value. , for example, for 11 days of rail travel in Europe, it is cheaper, a 10-day Eurail Global Pass plus a point-to-point to buy tickets for the best train. Moreover, I value flexibility . If mathematics is about the same, I'll buy a pass, because saving $ 3 trade is not worth the flexibility is a pass.

That being said, what think of the high cost of the sleeper trains, I do not, I would take back the night train. If you do not mind a seating, it's a lot - but I can not sleep in the seats and am not a huge train enthusiast to start, so I would opt for flights instead. At $ 79 USD, daily trains train cheaper than last minute flights (Baggage charge add up), but the extra charges for night trains can make better value airfare.

Special Note: train is coming with some other perks. For example passholders receive 50% off ferries in Greece, Italy and Germany, 40% off ferries in Finland and some other bus discounts. Even though the benefits of these reductions take that savings should to be considered in your decision as to whether a rail pass makes financial sense for your trip.

( Note : When the pass is thinking perfect for your trip, use this link and start your pass today picking)

As the possibility to choose which of you

[ tickets are best all about math. the only way to know for sure whether a rail pass or point-to -point ticket would be cheaper, the point-to-point prices for most is to work from the trips that you

After you're planning the various European railway operators websites with

a general idea where you want to go to visit websites the national railway and operate two prices :. one for tomorrow (ie a last minute fare) and for two months from now (ie an early-bird rate). Add the prices in each category.

Next, head Rail Europe, you will find your train pass, and share the rail pass price by the number of days that you are traveling by train, the cost to find out to any trip on the ball ,

you can see which is cheaper and take this option , considering that your trip may change, or you can take more high-speed rails. If I know that I will be in many countries do not charge booking fees and prices are for posting to a sublime are early close, I'll go with the ball, because it value in flexibility (I change my mind a lot).

At the end of a train pass for all rides is not right, but spend a long time in Europe for most people and travel great distances, a pass with you to save money. While booking fees stink, keep the basic principles of the pass even when you are long stretches on the road, a lot of high-speed trains with and last minute travel, will save a rail pass, money

If your If

you: travel in the above category does not fall, it is likely to buy the best maps as you go to a track and skip passes to book a passport, you can use rail Europe passes to search prices and train tickets. you the largest broker of European rail passes outside Europe (and the only option for non-Europeans . If you live in Europe, you must Interail.com to go for your Pass. Rails agreements prohibit not -Europeans of to buy passports outside the continent and vice versa!). You can use the widget below to search for your passports:

Disclosure : As mentioned at the beginning of the post, Rail Europe gave me my passport for fees free and paid reservation. Rail Europe has a website partner since 09. All mathematical calculations are based on exchange rates and prices at the time.