Eurail Passes are famous as a way to save money while exploring Europe, but they are also confusing and often misunderstood. They are still an amazing money-saving tool for certain types of travelers, and not a wise idea for most others. Before Europe introduced dynamic rail pricing (like airfares, where the price varies depending on when you buy it), a Eurail Pass was an easy way to save money since all tickets had fixed prices that were generally fairly expensive. These days most travelers can save far more money just by buying their train tickets at least a few weeks in advance.
That said, Eurail Passes are still great for longer trips and especially for people who like to make plans as they go. Dynamic rail pricing made advanced tickets much cheaper, but it also made last-minute tickets MUCH more expensive. Below we will discuss Eurail Passes and whether they are a good idea for your trip or not.
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Note: This article was written in 2012 and has been continuously updated since then, so all information is current as of April, 2024.
Eurail 2024 changes: New countries and a mobile version
This actually changed in 2019 and 2020, but it’s still a big deal and not many people were shopping for Eurail passes in the last couple of years. Eurail Passes now include England, Scotland, Wales, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Macedonia.
Aside from that it’s just the normal fact that they have updated the timetables as of December 2023 and have a few promotions going on, but those usually don’t happen over the busy summer season.
Eurail passes are now available in a mobile version
Until very recently, Eurail Passes were only available in paper form and they were quite confusing at first. You’d get a pass with a series of empty boxes on it and you’d need to enter your trip before you’d use your pass each day and then have the first conductor verify it. If you lost your ticket (and this was not uncommon), it was a whole ordeal to attempt to get a replacement.
Again in 2024 Eurail offers a fully mobile version that is delivered instantly to your mobile device with no delivery fee. And if you somehow lose your phone, you can resume using your Pass on your replacement with no extra headache. This is MUCH more convenient in every way and as long as you can keep track of your phone you’ll always have your train pass handy.
If your trip will be 2 weeks or less, a Eurail Pass probably won't be worth it
About half of the questions I get in the lengthy comment thread of this article are from people planning a trip of 3 or 4 stops in two weeks or less. The good news for those travelers is that they can get fairly cheap train tickets in advance online if they have their dates planned, and a Eurail Pass won’t help at all.
Eurail Passes are ideal for travelers on longer trips, and especially those who don’t want to plan all of their destinations and dates far in advance. If you have your itinerary pretty much planned out and you don’t require much flexibility, you’ll be far better off just locking in your dates and buying your train tickets as early as you can. Again, they can be surprisingly cheap if you buy 2 to 4 months out.
If you are age 27 or younger, a Eurail Pass is probably worth it
Those 28 years old or over must buy the 1st Class version of any Eurail Pass, which is 50% more expensive, and the added comfort isn’t a big deal to most people. But travelers age 12 to 27 can buy the 2nd Class versions at the lowest prices, and the seats are comfortable enough for virtually everyone.
With this in mind, if you are lucky enough to still be 27 or younger, you should seriously think about getting a Eurail Global Pass Youth, partly because the sense of freedom instantly gets more expensive at age 28. The age cutoff was 25 until recently, so this change is a great deal for anyone who will be 26 or 27 at the start of their trip.
You aren’t guaranteed to save money by buying a Youth Eurail Pass, but chances are good that you WILL save money and you’ll definitely save a lot of hassle as well. Especially now that Eurail Passes come in a mobile form, it’s even that much more convenient to just hop aboard any train that is about to leave the station and not worry about buying or even having a ticket. Especially for young people, it can be really fun and exhilarating to literally just walk into a train station with your backpack and look at the departure board and then decide where to go at that moment.
If you are age 60 or over, a Eurail Pass could also be great value
Another fairly recent change is that anyone who is 60 years or older at the start of the use of a Eurail Pass now gets 10% off the normal adult fare. That new discount is going to make this a great value for many travelers who might have been on the fence about buying a full-price pass before.
>>>Check prices on Eurail Passes
If you are planning on traveling in 1st Class anyway, a Eurail Pass is probably worth it
Most 2nd Class trains provide similar comfort and legroom to Business Class airline seats, or at least close enough, so for most people it’s not worth the added expense for 1st Class. However, if you are rich or elderly or fear contact with strangers, a 1st Class Eurail Pass is probably worth it no matter what.
Not only do you get much more comfort and legroom in 1st Class, with only 3 seats across instead of 4, but there is another advantage to 1st Class on European trains. Since it’s mostly business travelers and wealthy people traveling in 1st Class, the carriages are almost always mostly empty except in the mornings and late afternoons between large cities. In 2nd Class the only available seats might be two seats in an 8-seat cabin with all the other seats taken up by a loud family or a group of rowdy friends. In 1st Class you are all but guaranteed a peaceful ride, and usually plenty of empty seats from which to choose.
A hidden Eurail Pass benefit: Making extra stops on travel days for free
A one-way ticket between Paris and Amsterdam in 2nd Class on the high-speed Thalys service takes 3 hours 19 minutes, and costs €47 if you buy way in advance up to €188 if you buy at the last minute. A Eurail Pass can be helpful on this route for almost anyone because you often have to book two months in advance to get a fare under €90 or so. Even better though is the fact that the train stops in Brussels and Antwerp along the way, and both of those are really interesting cities that are perfect for a stop of 2 to 4 hours.
Brussels in particular is one I recommend a short stop in because the small historic center around what they called the Grand Place is amazing and gorgeous, while the rest of the city is rather boring by European standards. With a Eurail Pass you can jump off the train in Brussels and explore the city center for a few hours (luggage storage is cheap and easy) and maybe have lunch, and then hop on a later train to complete your journey to Amsterdam. There are opportunities like this on many if not most trips between larger cities, and if you buy the point-to-point tickets you have to stay on the train you booked.
Another example is the high-speed train between Barcelona and Madrid, which takes about 2.5 to 3 hours in each direction. There are some interesting cities in between, but in this case you could take a morning train from Barcelona to Madrid and then check into your accommodation, and then hop on another train from Madrid to Toledo, which takes about 30 minutes and costs €14 each way. Toledo is a historic and fascinating town, but it’s also pretty small and you can explore the main sights in an afternoon. With a Flexi Eurail Pass where you buy a certain number of travel days, you can save more money by adding on these sorts of nearby stops on travel days.
If you'll be touring major cities within ONE country, a single-country pass might be perfect, and Second Class passes are available for all ages
Until 2019 you could buy a Eurail “Select” or “Regional” Pass, which would allow you to buy a cheaper pass that only covered between two and five specific countries. As of April 2024, those have been eliminated and also lowered the prices of the Global Passes by around 20%.
Single-country passes are still available and they MIGHT be good value for you, but it depends on which country and how much traveling you’ll be doing. If you plan on going all over a larger country such as Germany, France, or Spain, and especially if you like to make plans as you go, a Single-country pass for one of those might be your best deal. On the other hand, smaller countries (such as the Netherlands) or countries where train tickets are already fairly cheap (such as Italy) might be harder to get value out of. Long story short, for single-country passes you really need to check fares of the places you plan on going and see how they add up compared to the pass.
>>>Check prices for Single Country Passes
Eurostar (between London and Paris or Brussels or Amsterdam) tickets are now included for Eurail Pass holders for a €30 reservation fee
The European rail system is confusing at first, so it’s worth pointing out that the Eurostar trains between London and Paris or Brussels are a totally different system and the prices are more like air tickets. In other words, they start out cheap 6 months in advance and prices go up as the travel date approaches. Since you can now use your Eurail Pass within Great Britain, it’s now the best way to get around England and Scotland by train.
Our recent tests show that Eurostar fares one-way from London to Paris can be as low as €49 if you book about 3 months out, or as expensive as €214 for the same seat if you wait until the day of travel to buy. Round-trip/return tickets can be even cheaper if there is a promotion running.
>>>Check Eurostar prices
If you are on a really low budget, a Eurail Pass isn't a good idea
Here’s the thing. As we’ll discuss below, there are many potential benefits to Eurail Passes, and they will often save you money, but they do cost a lot and they only really save you money when traveling in the more expensive countries.
So let’s say you have a flight to Rome and then US$2,000 to last you a month after you arrive. Buying a Eurail Pass before you go would help you see a lot in that month, but you’d practically need to sleep in parks for your funds to last the whole time. You’d be better off moving slowly in the southern countries, or just in Italy itself, as a way to have the best holiday on your budget. You might also be tempted to use a Eurail Pass mostly on night trains so you can save the cost of a hotel or hostel, but those aren’t ideal for most of us.
The cheapest way to get around Europe by rail is to buy all train tickets online at least a couple months in advance. The fares are low, but they are non-refundable and non-changeable. See how far in advance you should buy train tickets to get those attractive fares.
If more than a little of your travel will be in eastern Europe, a Eurail Pass isn't a good idea
While eastern Europe (Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia etc), is where you’ll find almost all of the continent’s best travel bargains, its rail infrastructure continues to lag way behind. A few years ago many of the countries in that area were added to the Eurail Zone (except for Bulgaria for some reason), but even then the trains are still very slow. Worse still, in some areas the trains are much slower than buses, so you really have to research each leg individually.
The good news is that the trains operating in this region, and the buses that operate alongside and/or where trains aren’t running, are quite cheap. So if any significant part of your trip will be into this region, a rail pass doesn’t make sense.
Basic types of Eurail Passes
Long gone are the days of the simple options, replaced by specialized passes that are meant to appeal to different styles. It should be pretty easy to figure out which is best for you, and then keep going down the page to decide if it’s worth it at all.
Eurail Global Pass – 4,5, or 7 days within 1 month or 10 days within 2 months
Until recently the minimum number of travel days with 10 days within 2 months, but now you can buy as few as 4 days within 1 month for about €200 to €250 (for first class). This can actually be an interesting strategy if you are planning many shorter and cheaper trips (like within Italy or Eastern Europe), and also 4 or 5 longer trips such as Berlin to Amsterdam. This way you can buy only 4 or 5 travel days and only use them for your most expensive travel days, and just pay as you go or buy cheap advance tickets for your other journeys.
Eurail Global Pass – 15 to 90 consecutive days
This variation allows for unlimited travel on the system for between 15 and 90 total days. They are really only a good idea for people who are certain they are going to travel very often, with much of it being in the north of Europe. The problem with them is that if you really try to get your money’s worth, you will probably ruin your trip by spending too much time on trains in general. On the other hand, if you will be in Europe for 2 or 3 months and plan on traveling around a lot, you can get a LOT of use out of a longer pass. The 3-month pass is around €900 so it’s literally about €10 per day. Imagine going back and forth between Berlin and Munich or Barcelona and Madrid for €10 per day!
One Country Pass
Obviously these are for travel within one country only. Again, they can be great deals if you plan on extensively moving around one particular country.
Where to buy your Eurail Pass
Eurail Passes are cheapest and easiest to buy online, primarily from two main sources which offer all the same products at the exact same prices:
This is a reliable company based in the Netherlands but with fulfillment offices in the US and Ireland. Price of Travel is a partner with this company, and if you use the links of this site we earn a small commission to help keep this site online. Eurail.com is usually cheaper than RailEurope (discussed below) by the way.
They were founded in the 1930s and are based in New York, but owned primarily by the French and Swiss rail companies. They offer free shipping (2 to 3 business days) on all orders of US$399 or more, although now that a mobile version is available, this is meaningless. Price of Travel is a partner with this company, and if you use the links of this site we earn a small commission to help keep this site online.
Reservations on European trains for rail pass holders
For most of the fastest trains between major cities you’ll need to reserve a seat even with a rail pass. It can usually be done just before you leave and the cost is usually around €5. Here’s a full list of which European trains require reservations and which don’t.
Reservations are required on all intercity (longer distance) trains in or involving France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. For most trains in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, and most of eastern Europe, you can usually find trains that don’t require seat reservations. Often, if you don’t leave until after 9:30am or so, you can ride on any train with no seat reservation, but you have to research each leg to be sure.
How to determine which trains require seat reservations, and also get schedules
You can click on the link just above this section for a list of countries and their seat-reservation policies, but in some cases it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. For example, you can generally ride without a seat reservation on fast ICE (Inter City Express) trains in Germany if you depart after 09:30 in the morning. They do this to free up seats for business travelers who pay full fare, and they don’t mind filling up seats with rail pass holders on trains leaving a bit later.
The best way to be sure about this is to download the RailEurope smartphone app (iPhone and Android). It’s a free app and you can download it and use it even if you buy from Eurail.com or don’t buy a rail pass at all. Amazingly enough, it has the entire European rail schedule built into it so you don’t even need to be online to use it. You just enter a departure city and destination city and it will show you all of the trains and connections going between the two. When you click on a specific train or combination of trains it will show you whether a seat reservation is needed for that particular departure. I’ve used this app literally hundreds or perhaps thousands of times to do my own research and help people find answers, and I’ve noticed that it’s accurate at least 99% of the time. Once in a blue moon you’ll enter two cities and it will show, say, a 20-hour journey when you are pretty sure it should be under 10 hours. Usually it’s actually correct, but I’ve seen a couple times where it missed something.
Night trains in Europe are making a comeback
I’ve been traveling around Europe since the 1980s and I’ve been updating this article since 2012 and one thing that was certain was the night trains (or sleeper trains) were going out of fashion. The main reasons were that high-speed trains grew in coverage so routes that used to take 10 or 12 hours could now be done in 4 or 5 hours, at least in countries like Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. As a result, almost everyone preferred to even depart at 6 PM if they could get to their destination city at 10 PM instead of the next morning.
Fast forward to 2024 and night trains are not only expanding service, but they are very trendy. Some of it is nostalgia for the older way of getting around, but most of it is for environmental purposes combined with European hatred for the “low cost airline” experience with RyanAir and Easy Jet etc.
Personally I’m still not a fan of night trains because I find it difficult to sleep on them since they often get decoupled at interim stations in the middle of the night and then coupled onto other trains coming from other places, and I can’t sleep through any of that. But still, they are worth looking into and they are fun to try at least once.
A bit of warning that they tend not to be cheap and even if you have a Eurail Pass you’ll almost certainly want to book a sleeping cabin with a bunk or couchette, and that will come at an extra fee. On the other hand, if you are the sort of person who can sleep sitting upright in a normal seat, then that won’t cost any extra on most overnight trains.
Factors to consider when thinking about any Eurail Pass
Assuming you know which Eurail Saver Pass option is the best one for your type of trip by now, we’ll go over the main factors that should help you decide whether it’s the best idea for you.
Eurail Passes are best for standard ‘medium length’ journeys
In almost all of Europe, the major cities tend to be between 4 and 8 hours apart by train, and these journeys are perfect for Eurail Passes. For example, from Vienna to Munich it takes about 5 hours on the train, and it’s scenic and relaxing. Flying between those cities would take about the same amount of time once you factor in airport transportation and security lines, and it’s far less pleasant.
However, if you are determined to travel between Rome and Paris, it’s about a 14-hour journey that will almost certainly be overnight. In this case, a cheap plane ticket is probably better, although taking shorter hops on the train is even better, so spend a day or two in Milan or Lyon on the way instead.
And of course, if you prefer to stop in various small towns between the big ones, then a Eurail Pass won’t pay off, except for the traditional kind for unlimited travel in a given period.
Eurail Passes are better value in northern Europe, France, and Spain, and poor value in Italy
Once you do a bit of research you’ll quickly learn that train tickets (and almost everything else) are much more expensive in Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland than they are in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. With this in mind, the regional passes can make sense if you are spending time in the south, but the Global Passes almost certainly won’t. Train tickets in Spain used to be fairly cheap, but in recent years they’ve added new high-speed trains between the major cities, and these are quite expensive.
Unlike most other countries, Italy really subsidizes its train tickets so they are quite reasonable even on travel day, and very cheap if you buy a month or more in advance. For example, you can go between Rome and Florence for around €49 if you buy on travel day, and as little as €19 if you buy well in advance. In most other countries, fares are double or triple that much for similar rides.
So consider your planned itinerary. If more than half of it is in the Mediterranean countries then look into a Regional Pass or just buy tickets as you go, because they tend to be pretty cheap. But if you are planning on spending at least half your time in Paris and places to the north of it, then a Eurail Pass is probably a money saver because those tickets are expensive.
Trains are almost always better than planes
Flying sucks, even in Europe
Until you’ve experienced the joy of traveling around Europe by train you might be tempted to “maximize” your time by flying low-cost airlines between each city. This would be a mistake. In order to get truly cheap airfares you have to purchase long in advance, buying non-refundable tickets. You might also have to commit to flights in the very early morning or in the late evening, because cheap tickets on convenient flights sell out quickly.
And again, most European airports are around an hour outside of the city. They are often on the main train lines, which helps, but still you have to deal with the madness of security and also try to get there at least two hours early. From one city center to any other city center it’s about 5 hours minimum, even if they are close, and those are pretty miserable hours.
Train travel is a positive experience
While it’s true that you do have to reserve a seat on many long-distance trains these days, you can usually do it just before it leaves, or the night before to be safe. And with many trains you can literally just hop on board as it’s pulling out of the station.
Not only are all the seats comfortable on trains, but you also have an interesting view most of the time. Better still, trains deposit you in the heart of every city, which is usually the neighborhood with the cheapest hotels and food. It’s a wonderful feeling to step off a relaxing train ride, buy a hot dog or sandwich at a local shop, and then be in your hotel room only about 10 minutes later.
Eurail Passes are better than train tickets alone
As someone who enjoys the process of crunching numbers and looking for value, I have to also mention that I’d buy a Eurail Pass even if it seemed like it would cost a bit more than the individual tickets. With a pass you get an extra element of freedom that is worth a lot more than you might expect until you’ve used one.
If you fly, you absolutely have to lock in your exact schedule weeks or months in advance, and if you buy train tickets individually you will be spending hours in queues and then waiting around. You can buy European train tickets in advance, though the convenience comes along with an extra fee. But with a Eurail Pass, on most routes you can just hop on any train you feel like.
Let’s say you are heading from Amsterdam to Hamburg tomorrow morning. The 09:00 train you planned for might seem a bit ambitious after a long night out, so you can instead opt for the 10:00 or 11:00 train. As long as you walk into Centraal Station 10 or so minutes before departure, you are on. If you are flying you can’t change your ticket, and if you are buying train tickets as you go you have to be in line at the international desk at the train station at least 30 minutes early, and even then you might miss it if they are busy.
Freedom and getting to feel like a big shot
Bill Gates doesn’t worry about the cost of plane tickets or train tickets. He just goes where he wants, when he wants. When you have a Eurail Pass, you get a taste of this yourself, and even if you don’t end up doing any new spontaneous legs within your trip, it’s a great feeling.
Let’s say you are staying at a hostel in Brussels, and two groups of new friends suggest that you go along with them to their next stops. One group is going to Bruges, which is a short and cheap journey, so you can join them by buying individual tickets (unless you have the unlimited pass, making it free). Then you restart your trip from Bruges, on to your next destination. The other group is headed to Berlin on a night train, which is long and expensive, but with a Eurail Pass you don’t even have to think about the cost. On you go, just like a rich person.
Buying a Eurail Pass is great for those who might run out of money
We all know people who keep meticulous track of every penny they spend, and who are always putting money away for a rainy day. And we all know people who can take a US$100 “entertainment fund” and burn through almost all of it in just a few hours. For the first type of person, a Eurail Pass can help you keep track of expenses, but it’s really the second type of person these are best for.
It’s sad to hear about people who have big plans to see their dream destinations, but they run out of money for transportation halfway into the trip, so they have to just stay put until they fly home. It happens. Locking in your major transportation costs before you leave home, and probably saving money in the process, is a wise move for anyone who isn’t as disciplined as they’d like with their money.
>>>Check prices on Eurail Passes
Bottom line: If you want to keep travel costs down, your choices will usually be a Eurail Pass or buying tickets at least a month or more early
In the last few years, almost every long-distance train ride in Europe has switched to a pricing system similar to low-cost airlines. In other words, tickets go on sale 2 to 6 months ahead of time at very low prices, and they keep getting more expensive as the train fills up and the date approaches. For most trips where a rail pass is possible, this is how things stack up:
Cheapest possible way: Buy advanced (non-refundable, non-changeable) train tickets at least 30 days in advance
Next cheapest way: Buy a Eurail Pass and make seat reservations as you go, usually only a day or less in advance.
Most expensive way: Buy train tickets as you go, or less than a week in advance.
Thinking about it this way should make the choice a bit easier. If you are the type who likes to plan each day and travel segment long before you even leave home, then buy tickets online for the best prices. This can be the best strategy for most shorter trips (10 days or less) because you simply don’t have enough time to change many things as you go anyway.
Buying a Eurail Pass won’t be quite as cheap, but you are buying a LOT of flexibility with the extra money. If you dream of making up your plans as you go, or even making up your plans just a few days in advance, this is almost always your best bet.
But if you wait too long, and just show up looking to buy train tickets as you go, they are going to cost a fortune. As recently as only a few years ago all seats would be the same price on many rail systems, so you could always just wing it. When each country computerized its rail systems so they can sell advanced tickets cheaper, they also had to keep track of seat reservations, so the whole pricing structure had changed to favor advanced ticket buyers and rail pass holders over those who’d prefer to just hop on any train as it is leaving the station.
Have a rail pass or itinerary question of your own?
It wasn’t planned but scores of people began asking me rail pass and itinerary questions at the bottom of this article and a few others. I’m happy to keep answering them and now I’m trying to organize them better as well so they are easier for other people to find.
If you have a question about specific types of European rail passes, please ask it in the comments below.
But if you have a question more about a European itinerary or other non-rail-pass questions, please click over to the European itineraries Q & A article and ask in the comments of that one.
Good day Roger!
I was reading through the thread and I want to thank you for the tips you have given our fellow travellers. I guess it’s my turn to ask you for some advice now lol Just to give you an idea, my wife and I are travelling to Europe for the first time. We’ll be spending around 3 weeks (October 2-18) roaming around and I already bought a Global pass from Rail Europe (6 days within 1 month). Our first stop is Amsterdam since that’s our point of entry. We want to visit Germany (Berlin), Italy (Venice-Florence-Rome), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid). How many days would you suggest for us to spend in those cities? Is it doable given the time frame? (We can extend our flight if needed though it would cost us). Also, should we buy local train tickets within the country like in Italy, instead of using our global pass to hop around from one city to another? Please do let us know since we really don’t have an idea on how many days to spend in each city. Thank you and your suggestion would help us a lot. God speed!
Jonathan,
I’m happy to help, and your questions are fairly simple so it’s my pleasure. You mention your trip is “around 3 weeks” but your date range is only 17 days, which is a pretty big difference.
My general recommendation is to spend 3 nights in nearly any city you visit on a trip like this. You can see all of the main highlights in that amount of time, and you are still moving quickly enough to see many cities. If you try to see cities in only 2 nights it means only one full sightseeing day because you are spending most of the arrival and departure days in transit. With only one full day in a city, you’ll have to scramble to see the top 3 or maybe 4 things, and then you’d be packing your bag again.
There are a few exceptions, however, when it comes to smaller cities that aren’t too far from where you are coming from or going to. Venice is the prime example, as you can actually get a good look at the place in a stay of only about 24 hours. I discuss all of that in my detailed article about where to go in Italy and France.
So let’s say you are flying into Amsterdam and spending 3 nights there. Then take the 6-hour train ride to Berlin and spend 3 nights there. Our first challenge is that you are now in Berlin, which is a LONG way from every other place on your list. So you could fly to Italy or Spain, which might be your best bet, but it doesn’t use your rail pass. The other option would be to string together more cities on your way down to Italy. Personally, that is what I would recommend. Barcelona and Madrid are both quite nice and quite different from each other, but they are way out of your way and might be better saved for a future trip.
Assuming you haven’t been to any of these cities before, the route I’d recommend is Amsterdam to Berlin to Prague to Salzburg (or Munich, or both) to Venice to Florence to Rome. You could do that in 17 days (including 2 nights in Salzburg because it’s a fairly compact town), or do it in up to 21 or 22 days if you can extend your flight. The train ride from Salzburg to Venice is one of the most beautiful in the world, by the way. And since Venice and Florence and Rome are fairly close together, you can do 1 night in Venice (as long as you get the earliest possible start getting there), and 2 nights in Florence, and 3 nights in Rome. If you have more time it would be better, but 6 nights in those 3 Italian cities can still be really good.
If you did that you’d be using all 6 rail pass days, and most of those rides would be quite expensive individually, so you’d be doing pretty well.
For me, the only other option to consider would be Amsterdam to Berlin to Paris (8 hour ride) to Barcelona to Madrid, and then fly to Italy for the rest. If you’ve been to Paris before this might not be ideal, but if you haven’t then Paris should be something to consider.
I love trying to help people sort these things out, and I’m happy to offer more advice as you get this locked in. So feel free to comment again and I’ll help if I can. -Roger
Dear Roger,
Thanks for an excellent website on travel. We are planning a trip to Italy in Sep 2016 along with 2 kids aged below 12 years. Tentative plan is:
Arrival at Milan (flight reaches in evening)
Milan to Genoa: stay at Genoa for 3 nights (have a conference to attend)
Genoa to Rome (evening train)
Rome for 3 nights
Rome to Venice with a halt at Florence (probably will start from Rome early morning spend day at Florence and reach Venice by night)
Venice 2 nights
Back to Milan and departure.
Since we are travelling with kids will it be ok to buy a family pass. Kids are not charged in family pass but when we book online we have to pay for 4 tickets. What does a free day mean: can we can hop on to a train without paying for a ticket with eurail pass?
regards
Kartik
Kartik,
Thank you. I’m assuming you are referring to the single-country Italy Rail Family Pass. It looks like you are planning to travel on 4 separate days, so using the current FREE travel day special, you could buy the 3-day pass. That “free day” is exactly as it seems in that you pay for 3 and get 4 travel days within that month instead. That seems like it could be a good deal because the kids would get to travel free, however, it could be a close call.
For one thing, on most high-speed trains in Italy you have to pay about €10 to reserve a seat when using a rail pass, at least for adults. That fee also gets you a free drink in most cases (including alcohol), so it’s not a terrible deal and it insures that you can all sit together. Just looking now, the Milan to Genoa leg is only 1 hour and 40 minutes, and reservations are only required on some trains, so you could go on one of the others if you like.
From Genoa to Rome and from Rome to Florence and to Venice and back to Milan are ALL the high-speed lines that require reservations. I’m not 100% sure on those fees, but they are at least €5 on every leg. And I’m not sure if children have a lower rate or get them free with adults. In other words, those seat reservation fees could add up.
On the other hand, the individual train tickets within Italy are surprisingly affordable (subsidized by the government), especially if you book more than a month in advance. The distances you are going aren’t long, and I’ll bet even the Rome to Genoa leg could be €30 for adults or less if you buy soon. And of course, if you buy individual train tickets, they automatically come with a seat reservation. My best guess is that all of those tickets, hopefully with cheaper tickets for the kids, would be less than 2 adult family passes and all of the seat reservations.
For the record, there are many routes in Italy (most actually) where reservations aren’t needed, so those Italy passes can be a great deal. But you are mostly going along the busiest routes in the center of the country that are dominated by the new high-speed trains, so they require seat reservations. Best of luck with this and I’m sure it’ll be a great trip. -Roger
Dear Roger,
Amazing to finally open a website where posts are regular and not dated back to 2012-13.
My girlfriend and I are planning a 3-4 month backpacking trip to see as many countries as we can manage and afford beginning march 2017. We will both qualify for a youth rail pass.
I’m lucky to have travelled (Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Amsterdam, London) and on another trip (Athens, Roma, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terra, Venice, Paris, London). These trips were smaller and very much planned. Meaning rail wasn’t used very often.
My girlfriend hasn’t been to these places meaning we would like to travel as far and wide in these 3-4 months while stretching the budget as far as possible.
A very rough plan would be to start in (Paris-Madrid-Barcelona-Roma-Florence-Cinque Terra-Venice-Innsbruck-Munich-Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Warsaw-Krakow-Prague-Vienna-Budapest and time dependent Croatia/Greece).
Ideally we will like to also see certain small towns along the way.
We understand these plans may be a little optimistic, time we will have plenty of, money we won’t. If you could plz help out with any itinerary ideas/complete changes and what your recommendation would be in regards to getting a continuous global pass vs winging it trying to find the best option flying/rail/bus on the run.
We plan to stay at each major city for average 2-3 nights.
King Regards,
Aidan
Aiden,
This sounds like a really good plan, and you guys are definitely the sort who would get very good value out of a 2nd Class Global Rail pass.
As far as your itinerary goes, my only comment is that Innsbruck is nothing more than a ski resort town that is famous for having hosted the Olympics. There is almost nothing to see there unless you want to hit the slopes. I know this because I was tricked into visiting it myself years back. 🙂 Go to Salzburg instead, which is wonderful and loaded with great sights and activities.
I’ll also highly recommend Valencia in between Barcelona and Madrid, as it’s far smaller and less overrun with tourists, and cooler in some ways as well. And it’s cheaper.
For a longer trip like this I think you should plan on 3 nights almost everywhere you go, or longer in larger cities or places you are really loving. Of course, while that is the most enjoyable way to do a trip like this, and also to avoid burn-out of spending half your time on trains and in train stations, it also makes it a bit tougher to get use out of a continuous rail pass that way.
With that in mind, in 3 months you could do 30 cities, and right now you only have 18 or so on your list. So obviously you’ll be doing more stops than 18 if you go for 3 months, and I do think the 90-day Continuous Pass is probably your best bet. If you can afford it, it works out to €11.66 per day. Even if you only did one city-to-city trip every 3 days, it would easily pay for itself by quite a bit. And if you used it for day trips on some of those in between days, it’s ridiculously cheap. With the 3-month one, you really won’t feel the pressure to use the trains all the time just to get your money’s worth.
You may not know this from your previous trips if you didn’t use trains much, but advanced (say, 2 or more weeks in advance) train fares in 2nd Class can range from around €20 to €70 for most routes, but the same-day fares are more like €30 to €110 in 2nd Class. On at least a few of your rides you’ll need to pay about €5 for a seat reservation, but most of them you can just hop on board and find a seat for free. Since you have 3 or more months, I’d definitely do that if you can, as it’s a dream trip that you’ll probably never be able to do again.
The other option is the 15 Days in 2 months Select Pass, which works out to about €38 per travel day and costs a little more than half as much as the 3-month continuous pass. With that one you could use it only for your more expensive rides, and then pay as you go on the cheaper ones, including some bus rides and flights. In the end this one would probably work out a bit cheaper, but it would require far more planning during your whole trip, and won’t give you that same vagabond feeling.
The train is by far the best option in most of where you are going, except for Croatia once you get to Split (the train doesn’t go farther south from there), and also in Spain you can get cheaper buses than trains, though they take twice as long and are less pleasant. In Poland they have affordable buses as well, and those actually go about as fast as the trains.
So in conclusion, if you can afford that 90-day Continuous Pass, it’s a dream situation for a trip like this. If you can’t or don’t care so much about being able to make plans as you go, the 15 Travel Days Select Pass is probably best. If you tried to buy all of your train and bus tickets as you go, you’d either have to spend 1 or 2 hours a day planning and reserving in advance (I’ve done this before), or it would cost you more. Hopefully this is the sort of advice you were looking for. I’m happy to help as you get this together, so feel free to ask more questions if you have them. -Roger
Hi, three of us are planning to do day trips from Vienna, particularly to Salzburg, Munich, Prague and Budapest, in a period of one week. We plan to just get an early train going to these places and be back in Vienna before midnight. In that case, do you think a Eurail pass (4 countries) would be worth it? Aside from flexibility as you have mentioned, would the Eurail pass actually turn out to be cheaper for us? Thanks
Clarence
Clarence,
To start with, I’m looking up the travel times from Vienna to each city. Vienna to Salzburg is 2 hours 22 minutes. Vienna to Munich is 4 hours 11 minutes. Vienna to Prague is 3 hours 59 minutes. And Vienna to Budapest is 2 hours 20 minutes.
With those times in mind, day trips to Salzburg and Budapest would be possible, although they would also be exhausting because the 5-hour round-trip train ride itself will take half your day and much of your energy. For Munich and Prague, I really wouldn’t recommend doing an 8-hour round-trip in one day with the hopes of also sightseeing enough to make it worth the trip. You can get to Bratislava in under an hour each way, although I’d probably spend the extra day in Vienna instead because Bratislava isn’t too interesting.
In general, your plan to use a Eurail Pass to do something like this is a good one, and would save you money. If you buy your train tickets online at least a month or more in advance you might be able to get them cheap enough individually. But a Eurail Pass is great for this sort of trip, and it allows you to pretty much hop on any train in those countries. You might have to pay for a seat reservation on early-morning trains, but that would be about €5.
Let me know if you have any other questions and I’ll be happy to try to help. -Roger
Wish I read your post earlier. I have found that purchasing tickets online directly from train lines is much cheaper compared to EuroRail pass. I also have learned that EuroRail pass boxes you into a particular schedule and am bound to the rules of using EuroRail pass. In conclusion, I do not recommend EuroRail pass, mostly because it boxes your travel into their rules (ie. night trains) Also it is cheaper to have a combination of cheap trains and planes with freedom to choose.
Tom,
I wish you had searched for this information before buying as well, but on a different type of trip you might discover that a Eurail Pass is a big money saver and allows for flexibility that you can’t get by booking the nonrefundable, non-changeable advanced tickets. And that is what the article above is all about. Thanks for your thoughts though. -Roger
Dear Roger,
I am planning a 12-13 days trip to Europe along with my husband in September. Kindly suggest me whether to buy eurail pass (if yes then which one) or any other travel option for following itinerary:
1. Paris for 2 days (1 day local sightseeing and on day 2 either to Disneyland or any place if you can suggest)
2. Paris to Switzerland- kindly suggest cheap and fast route
3. we wish to stay for 4-5 days in Switzerland. kindly suggest if lauterbrunnen is ok as a base location as I don’t want to check in and check out daily.
In Switzerland we want to visit Jungfraujoch, Mt. Titlis, Montreaux, schilthorn, Lucerene, Rhine falls (places are not in order, we can skip some and add as per your suggestion)
4. Austria (3-4 days) – Vienna , Salzburg, Innsbruck. Please suggest a base location for stay, so that we can travel from there.
5. Vienna to rome- (3 days), stay at rome only from there we can visit to Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Vatican city.
Kindly suggest which places to remove or add and also whether to buy euro pass or
separate passes (Paris pass, swiss pass.)
Thanks a lot in advance.
Looking forward for your valuable suggestions.
Ranjana,
I’ll be happy to help you sort this out, but I’m not able to work up a full itinerary for you. A Eurail Pass might work for you, although most likely you’ll pay less by buying your train tickets in advance. Eurail Passes are ideal for people on longer trips where they want to make plans as they go. In your case, you’ll have every day planned, so buying your train tickets online soon will be the cheapest way to go.
Your itinerary is really too ambitious to have an enjoyable trip. If you did what you are suggesting, you’d literally be spending half of your waking hours on trains and in train stations.
For example, I highly recommend at least 3 nights to see Paris, and 4 nights if possible. One reason for that is that you won’t be able to do much sightseeing on your transit days. So 3 nights really means 2 full sightseeing days, with an extra evening when you arrive and a morning before you depart again. Depending on how long your train ride is, you might be able to see one sight on the day you arrive, but probably nothing on the morning you leave. If you also want to spend a full day on Disneyland Paris, then I’d recommend 4 nights if possible.
As for Switzerland, if you mainly want to see the sights in and near Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen, you can do that in 3 nights and still see the main highlights.
For Austria, I wouldn’t recommend fewer than 2 nights in Vienna and 2 nights in Salzburg, and even that would be rushing. If you only have 2 or 3 days for Austria, choose one or the other. And forget about Innsbruck unless you want to spend a day skiing. It’s really nothing more than a winter sports resort, with no real sights.
For Italy, you really don’t want to go to Rome for fewer than 3 nights, although that also includes half a day in Vatican City, which is within Rome itself. The shortest Italy trip that I normally recommend is 1 night in Venice, 2 nights in Florence, and 3 nights in Rome/Vatican. Pisa is an interesting half-day trip (1 hour train ride) from Florence, but Florence itself is so packed with sights that I wouldn’t go to Pisa unless I was staying 3 or more nights.
So with all of that in mind, you are going to need to add days to your trip, or trim down your destination list, or spend most of your time and money on trains as you see only a small sliver of what you had flown all that way to see.
Many people who ask me questions in this comment area are from India, and in case you are familiar with that country, this might help. Your plan would be like flying into Mumbai for 2 nights and then taking a train down to Goa for 2 nights, and then taking a train to Delhi for 2 nights, one day of which is spent going to Agra and back, and then taking a train to Varanasi for 1 night on your way to Kolkata for 2 nights and a flight home. It’s true that the trains in Europe are a bit faster than those in India, and the distances are a bit shorter in most cases, but the point is the same in that you are considering going to these world-class destinations, and then only having 8 or 10 hours of sightseeing time while you are there, before spending as much time getting to the next place. I’m happy to help you figure this out. -Roger
Dear Roger,
Thanks a lot for your reply. based on it I have made a rough plan of my trip. Looking forward for your valuable suggestion and also to decide on passes.
1. September 9, 2016- Reaching paris in evening (Night illumination show of Eiffle tower, if possible)
2. Sept 10 – Paris sightseeing
3. Sept 11 – Versailles tour, anything else if you suggest, I read we have to make prior arrangements.
Now for this, whether we need a Paris pass, metro pass or any other option
4. Sept 12 – Paris- Bern (by TGV Lyra), deposit bags at station and roam around, evening to Lauterbrunnen for night stay.
5. Sept 13 and Sept 14 – Lauterbrunnen (Jungfrau, Schillthron, etc.
6. Sept – 15, Sept 16- Lucerne (Mt. Titlis, Pilatus, Mt. Rigi, City tour, etc. whatever possible)
7. Sept 17- Rhine falls and rapperswill- Now I am confused whether to stay at Lucerne only or take any hotel in Zurich for night stay.
For all these journeys, whether to go for swiss pass or eurail pass or anything else)
8. Sept 18 – Lucerne to Salzburg by train. (will reach in evening, so will see the old town)
9. Sept 19- Salzburg- Sound of music tour and other local sightseeing.
10. Sept 20- we are confused whether to stay at salzburg and visit nearby areas like eagle’s nest, konigsee lake, etc.) or leave salzburg and add one more day to venice.
11. On Sept 20, take night train (1:24 am from Salburg ) which reaches venice on Sept 21 morning at 8:24 am)
12. Sept 21 – Venice day sightseeing
13. Sept 22- Venice to florence by train- deposit luggage at station , go to Pisa (I always wanted to see the leaning Tower), return to florence, little bit sightseeing, evening to Rome by train.
14. Sept 23 – Rome city tour and half day vatican
15- Sept 24- Rome again and evening at 5:45, we have ur return flight to Bengaluru via paris.
Now, I request you to please suggest me about passes and which one for which country and shall I need to make some train bookings, even after having different passes. For eg. I am going from Paris to bern via basel, Do I need to take train ticket for full journey or if I am carrying a swiss pass or intended to buy in basel, I have to buy ticket only for Paris to Basel?
is it advisable to buy these passes online before the trip or once we reach to respective country.
Apologies for bothering you so much and thanks a lot for all your support in advance.
Ranjana,
You can read my detailed review of the Paris Pass, and I do think a 2-Day Paris Pass is probably a good idea for you. Not only does it cover most of the main sights, including the highly recommended hop-on, hop-off bus tour and the Seine Cruise, but it also covers public transportation for those two days. You’ll have to pay a small supplement to get out to Versailles, but it does cover admission once you get there.
The Paris Pass also acts as a helpful city guide itself, as it shows you nearly all of the top attractions and where they are and how much they would normally cost and all of that. I recommend starting with the HOHO bus tour on your first full morning there.
I recently (finally) did a full review of the Swiss Travel Pass. If you plan on doing all of the things on your list, then the pass will almost certainly pay for itself. Generally speaking, if you plan on doing at least two of the scenic train rides then it’s a good deal. In your case you may not be doing two full scenic train rides, but you’ll be doing quite a few regular trips, which will all be covered, and also it gives you 50% off Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn, and Titlis, with Rigi being included fully.
If you do decide to do the Swiss Travel Pass and it’s valid for the whole time you’ll be in Switzerland, then you can just book a ticket from Paris to the border, and the rest will be covered by the pass. And the same is true on the way out. However, you may not want to buy that many days of the Swiss Pass just to save a bit on those trains. In that case you should buy your full train ticket as soon as possible for the best price.
And in general, if you buy those train tickets soon they will be surprisingly cheap. The fares go up as more seats are sold, so the longer you wait the more expensive they will be. Check the fares on Paris to Bern vs Paris to Basel. If you buy soon they should be pretty cheap, so you may not need the Swiss Pass for those parts.
The same is true for all of the other train tickets you need, except for domestic tickets within Switzerland. Those only go on sale 30 days in advance, and they are the same price no matter when you buy. In some cases they offer “supersaver” fares that are cheaper, so it’s worth checking 30 days in advance to see if any of your routes are covered by those. If not, you can buy those tickets in Switzerland, or of course if you have a Swiss Travel Pass they will all be free.
Hopefully this answers your questions. Let me know if I missed anything. -Roger
Dear Roger,
Thanks a lot. Now I am pretty sure about buying Paris and Swiss passes.
Please help me out with the remaining trip as well.
7. Sept 17- Rhine falls and rapperswill- Now I am confused whether to stay at Lucerne only or take any hotel in Zurich for night stay.
8. Sept 18 – Lucerne to Salzburg by train. (will reach in evening, so will see the old town)
9. Sept 19- Salzburg- Sound of music tour and other local sightseeing.
10. Sept 20- we are confused whether to stay at Salzburg and visit nearby areas like eagle’s nest, konigsee lake, etc.) or leave Salzburg and add one more day to Venice.
11. On Sept 20, take night train (1:24 am from Salzburg ) which reaches Venice on Sept 21 morning at 8:24 am)
12. Sept 21 – Venice day sightseeing
13. Sept 22- Venice to Florence by train- deposit luggage at station , go to Pisa (I always wanted to see the leaning Tower), return to Florence, little bit sightseeing, evening to Rome by train.
14. Sept 23 – Rome city tour and half day Vatican
15- Sept 24- Rome again and evening at 5:45, we have our return flight to Bengaluru via Paris.
For Austria and Italy, it is better to buy separate tickets as and when required or any pass or better to book ticket now only.
Apologies for bothering you so much.
One more confusion, after using your discount the cost of Paris pass is 129 euro approx., in another site, it is available at 108 euros only. Is it same pass or something else?
thanks a lot for all your help and support.
Kind Regards
ranjana
Ranjana,
It looks like your plan is really coming together. I’ll answer the questions in the order they were asked.
Lucerne is a really charming and lovely small city, while Zurich is a very expensive city with surprisingly few sights. The trains run from very early morning until late in the evening, so if you can stay a night in Lucerne instead of Zurich, I’d recommend it. You’ll get a much nicer place for the same price.
Oooh, I love the Sound of Music bus tours and you will too. Even for those who don’t know the movie, they are fun and packed with excellent scenery.
Salzburg vs. Venice is a tough call. In my opinion, as long as you are staying around 24 hours in Venice, that is enough. It’s really an amazing place to see in person, but it’s fairly small and so insanely crowded all the time that it feels like a theme park. I echo the advice of many other travel writers in that it’s nicest to explore Venice in the evenings and early mornings, before and after the day-trippers on bus tours have come or gone. Salzburg is also fairly small but very pleasant day and night. With that in mind, choose what seems best.
Your day exploring Pisa and Florence will be a busy one if you go all the way to Rome that night, but it’s doable. Fortunately, the main sights in Florence are within a pretty easy walk of the main train station. Pisa is a bit trickier, because the Leaning Tower is about 30 minutes’ walk from the main train station, or about 10 minutes from a smaller train station. Part of the problem is that most trains don’t stop at the smaller station, so it can often take more time to get there, even if the walking part is shorter.
Your Rome day will also be very busy, but I understand that you want to see as much as possible.
If you can buy your train tickets now or soon, they will be quite a bit cheaper than a rail pass for Austria and/or Italy. The Italy tickets in particular will be very cheap.
The discounts on the Paris Pass are usually the same on all sites, except I have a 10% off code that still works when most other sites don’t have a valid code. If you see a bigger discount on the Paris Pass site, you can still get that lower price using my link. But, there are a few other similar products, and you may have seen one of them that was cheaper. There is a Museum Pass, which only covers the museums, and another one that doesn’t include most of the high-price attractions in the Paris Pass. It’s hard to keep them straight, but as far as I know, the Paris Pass itself is the only one to cover all of the top things including the hop on hop off bus trip, the Seine River cruise, and several others. And the discounts all are available using my link. If no other discounts are going, you can use my code for 10% off.
I’m happy to help, and let me know if you have any other questions. -Roger
Hi Roger,
I’m planning an Italy trip in mid-December this year for about 3 weeks and then either taking a ferry or train into Spain for another 3-4 weeks while also fitting in Portugal for a week. Planning to be doing this backpacking (budget with hostels etc.) and will be on my own in Italy but with 2 mates in Spain/Portugal.
For Italy I’m planning to fly into Rome and am looking at staying in Rome, Naples, Florence and Milan for about 4-5 days each while also hopefully staying in Siena for a couple of nights. I’m not sure what the best option will be to cross into Spain (ferry from Genoa/Livorno) or train through France) during winter. Because of that I’m also unsure of what order to visit these cities in as there’s no real “loop” you can do to go through all of them, and am open to visiting other cities if it makes the travel easier. In Spain/Portugal I’ll be doing a loop type thing with Madrid-Coimbra-Porto-Lisbon-Seville-Granada-Cordoba-Valencia-Barcelona and am thinking that a Eurail pass will be best for that part of the trip? I don’t think theres a pass with sufficient travel days to include the Italian and Iberian legs so I’m thinking maybe buying an Italy pass and then a Spain/Portugal pass separately? Really unsure over how to coordinate the two together so would appreciate any advice of straightening some of the bits out in terms of what passes are worth getting and how to get across to Spain.
Sure you’ve heard this a lot but I really do appreciate you taking the time to help me out.
Thanks again for your help!
Sharar,
I’m happy to try to help. I’ll try to answer the questions in the order they came up.
As for getting between Italy and Spain, it’s surprisingly tricky any time of year. Even though France is known for high-speed trains, they don’t operate along the southern coast, so getting from Genoa to Barcelona takes a minimum of 11 hours and 38 minutes (with 3 train changes), and that is only for one departure a day. Every other option takes between 13 and 21 hours. Those trains are also quite expensive, not to mention tiring to be on a train for anywhere near that long. And the ferry, last time I looked, also took around 24 hours and wasn’t cheap.
So my recommendation is to either take the train and plan for at least one stop in France for a night or two. Or better yet, just fly, which will be the cheapest and obviously fastest way.
Also, not that you asked, but Naples and Milan are cities that most people spend only a day or so in rather than 4 or 5 days. Milan is a big and busy city that isn’t very Italian, although there are a few good attractions to be sure. And Naples has a reputation for being one of the street-crime capitals of Europe. It’s also famous for having virtually no parks or open spaces, so most visitors are happiest to spend a fascinating day or two seeing the archeological museum and the historic center on day trips, while spending the nights in nearby (and extremely pleasant) Sorrento. On the other hand, Sorrento as well as Capri and the Amalfi Coast will be half closed and extremely quiet in December, so that might not be ideal either.
Another tricky thing is that there is surprisingly little train service between Spain and Portugal (for historic reasons). There is a night train from Madrid to Lisbon that can also be used to get to Porto or Coimbra with a change of trains around 2am, but there are basically no daytime trains. And there are no trains from Lisbon to Seville either, so you’d have to go from Lisbon to Madrid and then to Seville.
The good news is that there is very comprehensive bus service instead, with several departures daily between most major cities on comfortable long-haul buses that stop every 2 hours or so for a break. They are quite cheap as well. Especially on a backpacker budget, the buses might be a good option to get around parts of Spain as well. I really don’t think a Eurail Pass would be good value for you, and the high-speed trains in Spain can be quite expensive unless you buy at least a few weeks in advance. The buses, on the other hand, are always fairly cheap. It might take 5 or 6 hours on a bus instead of 3 on a train, but the bus might cost half the price or less. And on a long trip like this, you probably won’t be in such a rush to race between cities.
In Italy the trains are fairly cheap, even on short notice, although they are even cheaper if you buy a week or more in advance. So overall I don’t think a rail pass would work for you, but that’s partly because there are other cheap options for someone with as much time as you have.
And again, within Spain and Portugal, the trains are great if they are going your way, but they won’t be available on parts of your route. The buses are a great option (especially if you know a bit of Spanish), and they are cheap.
This sounds like a great trip, so let me know if you have any other questions I might help with. -Roger
Really appreciate such a detailed response thanks again, I’ll definitely take the short plane trip into Spain then since the other options seem too time consuming and I don’t have that much interest for a train stopover in France so thank you especially for that advice.
Since the Naples area, or at least the good bits, will be closed I might just leave that out-same goes for an extended stay in Milan. Which other cities would you recommend to spend time in instead as I basically have an extra 7 days now with less time in Milan and no Naples? I considered Venice and the Cinque Terre region but apparently Venice is very touristy and (like the Amalfi Coast) Cinque Terre is pretty quiet and the weather can be bad too. Would it be worth spending more time in the Tuscany or Northern Lakes regions?
Also have read previously as well that trains were basically non existent between Spain and Portugal so this pretty much confirms my plan to take an overnight train from Salamanca to Porto through Coimbra and then take a bus from Faro to Seville on the way back.
Might stay away from a rail pass then and just buy tickets on the go or use buses to get around so thanks again for that recommendation!
Sharar,
The city of Naples itself will be bustling in December, and Sorrento is a fun place to visit any time of year, so I wouldn’t rule those out. It’s just that Capri, Positano, and Amalfi will be very quiet that time of year. You can and should still do Pompeii though.
As for Milan, I think it’s probably worth visiting, but probably not for 4 or 5 days. Lake Como and the others near there are also warm-weather resorts, so they will be mostly abandoned that time of year.
Definitely go to Venice for at least a day. It’s an amazing sight to see, and as long as the squares aren’t flooded much when you get there, you’ll love it for a day or two. The Cinque Terre is nothing more than a group of 5 charming coastal villages, and in summer they are ridiculously crowded. In December it might be nice to spend a couple days there because it would be mostly just you and the locals.
So yes, I think I’d focus most of that extra time in Tuscany. You can reach several hill towns from Florence, and of course you’ve got Pisa and Siena about an hour away as well. All of those places are fairly touristy, but they are also real cities and towns that are inhabited year round. It’s mostly the coastal towns and lake towns that are so quiet in winter that it’s not even worth going. Sounds like you’ve got this all under control, but feel free to ask other questions if you have them. -Roger
Alright I’ll keep Sorrento, Venice and the Cinque Terre in mind then and maybe even sort it out when I get there. Will definitely spend more time around Florence. Thanks very much for your help.
All the best,
Sharar
Dearest Roger Sir,
I have read most of your reviews and I continue to be a huge fan of your articles and opinions.
Sir, I have always thought of taking a short trip to Europe (Eastern Europe in particular as it is cheaper than the rest).
I had planned of taking a trip to Prague(3-4 days) and Budapest(3-5 days) with my wife for 7 – 8 days in the the month of March, 2017. However, Sir my wife has recently been diagnosed 2 months pregnant. Though this has been an excellent news, it has compelled me to keep my travel plans on hold for at least 3 years.
Therefore, Sir, I have thought of taking this trip on March, 2020. I am a very determined person and once I plan anything I try my best to achieve it. I had promised an European trip to my wife.
Since, I have sufficient period to arrange finance (save money) for my trip, I would request you to kindly suggest me best ever budget travel plan (itinerary) along with the right traveling options like bus/rail/flights.
Sir I wish to travel to Prague from New Delhi, India.
Sir, whatever options or changes you suggest for my travel itinerary will be welcome.
Thanks.
Warm Regards,
Basab
Basab,
Thank you so much for the kind words. Congratulations on the news as well.
Interestingly, I’ve written an article that addresses this exactly, discussing the best cheap itinerary for Europe. That discusses the 4 cities of Prague, Budapest, Krakow, and Berlin. You obviously have several years to figure out a plan, and things are bound to change at least a bit before then. Still, I’d highly recommend spending 3 or perhaps 4 nights in any city that you visit, except for the smallest ones.
Have a look at that and I’ll be happy to answer some questions, but it’s way too early to get specific because the advice might be very different four years from now. -Roger
Dearest Roger Sir,
Thank you so much for your beautiful reply and for the congratulations and good wishes.I have checked your article “best cheap itinerary for Europe”. Thanks for the link again. Its really admirable that you have written such a great article for possible first timers to Europe like me.
You are absolutely right that any advice for four years from now might be difficult and different, but at least this reply has put me in the right track from a state of utter confusion. Now I have sufficient time to plan accordingly so that my European vacation becomes hassle free.
Thank you once again for everything.
Warm Regards,
Basab
Thanks Roger for your suggestions. It is a great help for me as I don’t know how to properly arrange my itinerary. I’ll get back to you whenever everything’s in proper order or if I have any other questions.
Hi Roger,
I would like to ask some help in fixing my itinerary and how do I get from one place to another place..I am going to Europe on July 16 of this year. I will be flying in to Milan and from there I planned to go to Interlaken and Lucerne Switzerland then to Nice and Paris and push thru Barcelona and Madrid then back to Milan..
I will be alone on this trips and I want to ask what you can suggest I use as transportation alternatives as I go through my itinerary. Do I buy a eurail pass or get an individual train tickets or fly? Which one will be more affordable and budget friendly for me? Or ist it better I join a package tour?
Thanks for your help!
Irene,
It’s unlikely that any package tour would include more than half of those cities in one trip, and doing it on your own will be fairly easy. I’ll help you sort out your options.
You’ll want to travel by train as often as you can on this, partly because it’s far more enjoyable than flying, and it will also be cheaper in many places. But you’ve got some big jumps in here, so you’ll want to fly on at least a few of them.
If you are open to rearranging the order of your trip, the most efficient route would probably be this:
Fly into Milan, then take a train to Interlaken and then a train to Lucerne. Then take a train to Paris. From Paris you should fly into Madrid and then take a high-speed train to Barcelona. From Barcelona you can take a long and lovely train ride to Nice, and then another one to Milan. You might consider a stop in between Barcelona and Nice, or you could even fly. Unfortunately, that coast train route is fairly slow, and kind of expensive.
Another way to do it would be fly into Milan, then a train to Nice, a train to Barcelona, a train to Madrid, a flight to Paris, a train to Interlaken, a train to Lucerne, and a train back to Milan.
In either case, a rail pass might be a good option because it might be tough to get good advanced train fares at this point. You can just add up the number of train rides you’ll be doing, and buy a Select Flexi Pass for that number of days. That way, you’ll be able to pretty much schedule your trip as you go, although you’ll need to buy seat reservations for some of those journeys, at around €5 each.
The other option would be to buy all of the train tickets online as soon as possible. Those tickets won’t be cheap, for July, only 3 weeks out. A Eurail Pass would probably be cheaper, and give you far more flexibility. Either way, buy your plane tickets ASAP as well. You might have to fly at odd hours to get decent fares. Let me know if you have any more questions. -Roger