Eurail - To Train Pass, or Not To Train Pass
My boyfriend and I, hence forth referred to as Alex, traveled Europe for 6 weeks for all of July and some of August in 2011. We considered many options on how to get around Europe: Flying, Train, and even renting a car and trying to drive in Italy.....no. What we finally decided that trains seemed to be the highest recommended mode of transportation, and it wasn't long from there that we discovered Eurail.
Let me explain what Eurail is. Eurail is a pass you can buy to travel in most European countries through the railroad lines. If you are a European citizen, you can also get a pass, but you would purchase it through Interrail. There are a couple of pass options. You can travel in one country, multiple bordering countries, have a select couple of countries you choose yourself, or the global pass, which gives you access to all 24 countries in the system (2 more than when I bought it!). Anyone of these would work, depending on your travel situation. Alex and I ended up getting the global pass for three weeks, because we wanted the option to go to any country, and we ended up travelling through 6 of them, so it was the best option for us. At the time when we bought the global pass in May 2011, the pass cost us $682 per person with a $13 fee to cover a lost or stolen pass. The website has it a little cheaper right now at $647 and 3 extra travel days (nice!), so I suggest going and buying it NOW!!!!
Right now you might be thinking: But Rina, you were in Europe for 6 weeks, why did you only get the three week pass?
Alex and I traveled for 3 1/2 weeks, the first half week we didn't use our Rail passes (you can read about our itinerary here). I have family in Germany, so when we first arrived we spent a week with them. My mother, brother, Alex and I then left for Paris, in a rented car where we braved the roads in France (that made me overjoyed that we didn't rent a car), so we didn't have to use our Eurail pass till we left Paris, 5 days later. My brother and mother went there seperate ways and we took our 3 weeks journey on our own. We then finished up our trip in Amsterdam and high tailed it home on the last day of the pass back to Germany with my family, and spent some time going around the countryside before we returned to the states.
But back to the reason of this post: Eurail was an awesome experience. They made it easy to travel through Europe, crossing borders was a breeze (mostly), and looking up trains and timetables was easy online and with the booklet they sent along. We wouldn't travel Europe any other way, even being in the Economy class. We got to see the landscape along the way and met some really great people; if you get a chance, use Eurail!!!
Let me explain what Eurail is. Eurail is a pass you can buy to travel in most European countries through the railroad lines. If you are a European citizen, you can also get a pass, but you would purchase it through Interrail. There are a couple of pass options. You can travel in one country, multiple bordering countries, have a select couple of countries you choose yourself, or the global pass, which gives you access to all 24 countries in the system (2 more than when I bought it!). Anyone of these would work, depending on your travel situation. Alex and I ended up getting the global pass for three weeks, because we wanted the option to go to any country, and we ended up travelling through 6 of them, so it was the best option for us. At the time when we bought the global pass in May 2011, the pass cost us $682 per person with a $13 fee to cover a lost or stolen pass. The website has it a little cheaper right now at $647 and 3 extra travel days (nice!), so I suggest going and buying it NOW!!!!
View from Train - French Riviera Between Nice and Monaco
Alex and I traveled for 3 1/2 weeks, the first half week we didn't use our Rail passes (you can read about our itinerary here). I have family in Germany, so when we first arrived we spent a week with them. My mother, brother, Alex and I then left for Paris, in a rented car where we braved the roads in France (that made me overjoyed that we didn't rent a car), so we didn't have to use our Eurail pass till we left Paris, 5 days later. My brother and mother went there seperate ways and we took our 3 weeks journey on our own. We then finished up our trip in Amsterdam and high tailed it home on the last day of the pass back to Germany with my family, and spent some time going around the countryside before we returned to the states.
But back to the reason of this post: Eurail was an awesome experience. They made it easy to travel through Europe, crossing borders was a breeze (mostly), and looking up trains and timetables was easy online and with the booklet they sent along. We wouldn't travel Europe any other way, even being in the Economy class. We got to see the landscape along the way and met some really great people; if you get a chance, use Eurail!!!
Comments
Post a Comment