In summer 2008 I will take a 22-day vacation ALONE which will include flying into London, staying there for a few days, then flying by Ryanair to Rome. After a few days there, I'll go to Venice via afternoon train, then a few days later I will take an overnight train to Paris. In Paris I would like to do 1 or 2 one-day excursions to Versailles and/or Chartres during my stay there. Then after a week in Paris, I will take the Eurostar under the English Channel to London. I am looking at which is easier, cheaper, and better: 1) buying a 2-country Eurail Pass (France and Italy)… or… 2) just buying the tickets AT FULL FARE without a Eurail Pass. I have never been to Europe before and so have no real concept of which is better, and I am a bit confused about how the Eurail Pass works. I know that if I were traveling all over the place, it would be beneficial, but as I am staying put most of the time, would a Eurail Pass really be wise? Please help with any advice. Thanks!
Depends on how much the pass costs, but it's worth trying to price out what "full fare" is. I've taken a look at the Italian Railways website, www.trenitalia.it, and while it's too early to book a ticket for the summer, I tried a date in April between Roma and Venezia/Venice, and got a standard adult fare of €41.50 2nd class, €56 1st class on a morning Eurostar Italia train (4.5 hours) or on an ordinary Intercity train (just under 6 hours), though quite a bit more expensive in the afternoon.
A couchette on the overnight "Stendahl" from Venice to Paris-Bercy appears to cost €80.
Versailles and Chartres are basically suburban trips from Paris - Versailles in particular; if I remember rightly from when I did it in the 80s, Chartres' less than an hour on a suburban train, so it's hardly economic to use a pass just for those trips.
The Eurostar passholder fare is £50 in 2nd class, so you'll be paying that even if you have a Eurail pass. If you commit to a particular train far enough in advance, you can get 2nd class fares between €67 - €199.
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March 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am
Well I'm on the same boat as you are ha ha.
I finally decided to buy the euro pass because it was better for me and my friends, it costs like 300 dollars, and we get to travel any 6 days non consecutive, any place in Europe. We decided we were going to travel at night, and that would save us in hotel nights.
We thought about Ryan air, but the only problem with it is that, Ryan air is cheaper because it usually goes not to the main airport of the city, but to close ones, the only problem is that besides the plane ticket, you'll have to pay for transportation to get to the city. Besides in our case, when we were about to purchase 6 tickets from Madrid-Barcelona, it started as 60 euros total, and somehow at the end they wanted to charge as 140 euros, and we didn't know why.
If you want take a look at the page I'm about to buy my euro pass tickets une http://www.railpass.com they have an special now that if you buy 5 days the 6 one is free. And they also have a phone number 1877Rail Pass, maybe they can help you with some questions.
A good thing about the train is that you can travel whenever you want, if you buy an airplane ticket, you HAVE to leave in a certain day, and maybe you decided to stay more days because you couldn't see the whole city, the europass is more flexible in that sence because you can go whenever you want, wherever you want.
Hope it helps, and enjoy your trip :D!
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March 21st, 2008 at 10:24 am
Try this site, you can preplan and compare and even buy them here,. Rick steves is reputable.
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/rail_menu.htm
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March 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I've heard that there are surcharges on the more popular lines in many places, and you have always had to pay extra for a reserved seat, though some trains now expect you to buy one, because if you don't have a seat, they don't want you standing in the aisles like we/they did in my day. If you figure that in (I don't know if there is any way to check that online, but there should be) and then check the individual ticket prices, using the national railway sites (don't remember the name for Italy, but France is SNCF) you can then make a more educated decision. I think it all boils down to what will work best for your own situation.
When I was a kid, the norm was just to get the pass, and go! There was only one country where you had to pay extra, unless you wanted to reserve a seat or a bed. And there was little thought, and no comparison invloved. Nowadays, it just isn't that simple. Lost of people use those little jump flights, too, like ryanair, to do all their travelling, as it comes up less expensive for them.
It's more thinking…
But you'll have a BLAST once you get the logistics figured out. Get a copy of Let's Go Europe, or one for each of the countries…they are the backpackers/train traveller's bibles…even today.
Here: this didn't take long.
http://www.trenitalia.com/
http://www.sncf.fr/index.php?LANG=en_EN
http://gofrance.about.com/cs/trains/ht/surviverails.htm
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March 21st, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Well, the train from Venice to Paris is about $167, and from Rome to Venice about $94.
I'd get the France/Italy pass, 4 days, 2nd class for $331, but know that you'll have to pay extra for a couchette, maybe a little fee for reserving the train from Rome to Venice. And you'll still have to pay quite a bit for the Eurostar, even with the railpass discount.
Europe's not cheap anymore, but it's fantastic, so do it.
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March 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Depends on how much the pass costs, but it's worth trying to price out what "full fare" is. I've taken a look at the Italian Railways website, http://www.trenitalia.it, and while it's too early to book a ticket for the summer, I tried a date in April between Roma and Venezia/Venice, and got a standard adult fare of €41.50 2nd class, €56 1st class on a morning Eurostar Italia train (4.5 hours) or on an ordinary Intercity train (just under 6 hours), though quite a bit more expensive in the afternoon.
A couchette on the overnight "Stendahl" from Venice to Paris-Bercy appears to cost €80.
Versailles and Chartres are basically suburban trips from Paris - Versailles in particular; if I remember rightly from when I did it in the 80s, Chartres' less than an hour on a suburban train, so it's hardly economic to use a pass just for those trips.
The Eurostar passholder fare is £50 in 2nd class, so you'll be paying that even if you have a Eurail pass. If you commit to a particular train far enough in advance, you can get 2nd class fares between €67 - €199.
References :