Europe Travelers: Has anyone used Eurail? How was your experience?
We are still in the planning stages but Denmark, Amsterdam, Germany or Austria, Italy, France are the countries we are narrowing it down from.
Thanks in Advance!

Jessica Ann
When I backpacker Europe I got the pass but wound up spending more money for it when I was over there because I had to pay the reservation fee for the seats. It is cheaper to fly from city to city (€50 st the most) or take a last minute train or bus ticket on sale. The pass became a headache on the trip. Not all train lines accepted the pass either. On the upside the app for the pass works offline.

This is what I had been reading from others too! Thanks for the advice!

I booked flights thorough flight centre at the mall for. 14-city euro trip. It was a mix of rail and flights, and totally worth it. Since I booked my trip through them, I got $500 to spend on hotels, and ended up paying equivalent to $70/night. In Barcelona we stayed in a 5 star for two nights which we wouldn't have otherwise.
The hotels were booked to the nearest point of departure (train station/or airport shuttle) so I didn't waste time commuting.
Best of all, flight centre doesn't charge the individual for bookings with them; they get paid by a referral directly from the airlines/hotels on their network.

Look into busses! Sometimes the trips are longer, but a fraction of the cost of taking the train. The first time I was in Europe, I invested in a Eurail pass and definitely regret it. You’ll save a lot of money if you buy individual tickets and take the bus when you can. Also the Eurail pass doesn’t guarantee you a seat and you can’t use it for certain high speed or overnight trains.

We used the high speed 300k train in Italy to various destinations. It was great, less the ears plugging and unplugging as you whooshed into a tunnel. Also check the prices for easyjet and ryanair, sometimes less expensive than the trains. The high speed rail is not great for sightseeing because You whiz by... it’s okay, but everything close up whizzes by so fast.

Fantastic system that they have up there. Word of advice. Pay the extra for reserve seating. Learnt the hard way on a long distance trip. Had to find new seats every stop because people had reserved the seats that we were in. It was difficult to move our big bag at every stop

We used trenitalia to go from rome to Pompeii and back, from Venice to the cinque Terre, from cinque Terre to piombino, and from civitavecchia to rome. We had zero issues while speaking close to zero Italian. We found buying tickets online ahead of time easy and affordable. We flew from rome to Venice and now regret that, the train would have been a far better choice.

The system is really good and easy to use. We had a pass but found we needed to pay extra for reservation fees on any high speed trains. So just paying as you go is probably cheaper. And ryanair/easyjet are the way to go for further distances.

I've used eurail a few times. If you're buying online, tickets from their site are overpriced. I recommend using trainline instead as it has an app and I found the prices cheaper even when taking the Eurostar from London to Paris.

Took the from Prague to Vienna then Vienna to Budapest in November. Very nice and relaxing. Just be on time and as Kristy mentions, book your seat in advance. Note- Prague to Vienna was on a RailJet- modern and clean....Vienna to Budapest was on an "OBB" train (very old, not that clean, was in a "compartment" with 6 seats), it was fine, but RailJet was better, so just check what kind of train you go on. Have fun!

Two years ago, we booked buses and rail along the way and found it quite cheap. In the UK if you purchase tickets at least a day in advanced, it was much cheaper (in some cases half price). Not sure if this is still the case. Have a great time.

Eurail and TVG are both great and really comfortable. Arrive a little early because most trains we used had a common spot to put your luggage in, and it can fill up or only have top shelves available.

We used it and loved it! I would suggest buying 2nd class, 1st wasn’t worth the extra expense unless you’re looking for peace and quiet as they were usually empty - that said, there are some trains that are not included but typically that includes the high-speed trains only - also make sure to buy the pass before you leave, it’s considerably cheaper - I should add we used the Eurail Pass the first couple times we travelled to Europe for convenience- we have gone every year for 10 yrs and no longer use it as we now do one country per year and it’s cheaper without the pass, we find - safe travels

I bought the eurail pass with 5 travel days on any train i wanted. I felt like i got my moneys worth. I didnt have much of a plan so i paid a little more to have free range on any country. But it can be cheaper if you look at some of there more limited country options

Pack light! I took a big roller suitcase and hated it on the trains. Take less stuff and more money
Have a fantastic trip!

Great advice! Use lightweight luggage and use 'wash and wear' clothing.

Fantastic we bought tickets before leaving and saved tones of money also bought the Oyster card before leaving cause us not available there

It's cheaper to buy individual train tickets than to use a pass. The hop-on/hop-off thing isn't ideal if you've got destinations to go to.

I did use it.. there was a 'certain number of trips' kind of pass. It was a number of years ago but i remember it being very easy!

We used it to get around Italy and then flew to spain on ryanair

Been to Europe 9 times...always take the train and buy single trip tickets. Its been cheaper and hassle free.

We got a eurail pass and it was a ripoff. You can often fly between countries for super cheap or book last minute train tix inter country (even between countries) for cheaper.

I went a LONG time ago but even then it was a great experience and I'm sure it's 10 times better now too.

If you go by train , be on time - a few minutes late and you’re waving to the train instead of riding on it!

It was cheaper to rent a car. Use autoeuro they are great

Really good.

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Sarah Geisler