Whether 'tis nobler in the train to suffer...

April 24, 2007 10:40 AM

To Eurorail or not to Eurorail, that is the question.

I will be taking the old post college trip to Europe for three weeks. I am planning on flying by the seat of my dirty pants the entire time, changing my shirt or changing the city. The only thing I will have with me is my lightly filled 5600 backpack.
I am going to be in six or seven different cities total, in 4 or 5 countries. Mostly traveling to major cities along the Mediterranean coast until I get to Italy where then I will head north. However much I like the city will determine how long I stay. From what Rick Stevens’s Europe through the back door says, the Railpass is not right for me, since it’ll cost me less than 300 USD total to get my tickets at the counter. Yet, I am unsure of how often I will be traveling outside of the city and how much that will cost. I also understand that there could be other fees and hassles included in the Railpass. It sounds convenient…but cost effective? I’ve gone through many of the old questions about this but didn’t see any thing that really fit, since everyone's trip is a little different.

So Mefi’s, if you experiences should I bother with the Railpass? Or are there other opportunities that I am missing here? Suggestions about riding the trains are welcome too.

(Bonus Q: What is your favorite cheap food to eat while in Western Europe?)

posted by thetenthstory to travel & transportation (21 comments total)

Others might be better able to advise you on the Eurailpass question--I've had one but am not sure if it was really cost effective. Although it IS convenient not to have to buy tickets, so that may be worth something to you.

As for cheap food in Western Europe, shawarma stands are ubiquitous and cheap but not that delicious or healthy. Street sandwiches are usually quite good and cheap. But your most delicious and cheapest option will be to buy bread at a bakery, and cheese, tomatoes, sausages, ham, and fruits at an outdoor market (or, failing that, at a grocery store), and picnic. Preferably with a bottle of wine. You also get to try all the local specialties this way, and shop like the locals do. Have fun!
posted by agent99 at 10:49 AM on April 24, 2007

I did that at 24 (You can only do a 2nd class Eurail until you're 26 I believe). And y'know, for me the thing about the Eurailpass that was great was not having to ever buy a ticket or think about where I was going. You don't need to worry about fares, waiting in lines, communicating in another language when you're exhausted. Just hop on a train, any train. And best of all... let's say we were heading through Germany & we liked the name of a place... we could stop, have lunch, and then get back on the train at our leisure. The freedom to explore made it worth it for me. Not many times in life do you have that kind of freedom & energy to randomly explore the world for cheap. Have fun! :D
posted by miss lynnster at 10:59 AM on April 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

A friend of mine did what you are doing, and used his pass in lieu of hostels half the time. When they were tired, they'd hop the eurorail to someplace a few hours away and sleep on the way there.
posted by Loto at 11:06 AM on April 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

My husband and I bought eurailpasses for italy-france last summer. They were a complete and total ripoff. And don't buy it about not having to stand in line - you are REQUIRED to have a reservation to travel on most of the train lines (especially the TGV in France, which is sometimes the only train line available, like from Bordeaux to Paris). Tickets on the slow trains in Italy and France were very, very affordable and we should have just bought a la carte.

Think seriously about how much you intend to ride the trains, look at their prices online, and figure out if it's going to be worth it to you. I did not do this and I regret it.

I'll second everyone saying find a local supermarket (not one in the touristy areas) and buy bread, fruit, meat, wine, and cheese. We lived like this everywhere we went and it was great. Keep in mind that stores may be closed in the early afternoon for a few hours, so shop early so you don't end up hungry.
posted by some chick at 11:13 AM on April 24, 2007

Oh, and the required reservations often cost extra money that the pass doesn't cover.. In Italy they were 7 to 15 euros each.
posted by some chick at 11:14 AM on April 24, 2007

I would go by whatever Rick Steves says since he's far more up to date on current Eurail charges than I would be. But I will say this, if you are traveling and you are older than 26, the Eurail is a very, very different experience. And somechick is correct that sometimes yes, you do have to have reservations if a train is on a popular route... and in particular if you want a couchette reserved.

Traveling with a 2nd class Eurail a lot of times we would rush to be first to the train & that was key for us. We did almost get booted off of a couple of overbooked trains, but never actually missed one. Often, for overnight trains we would camp out in the first empty compartment we could find, pull the seats together to form a bed & play dead like we were sleeping until the train was on route (classic Rick Steves advice to keep your sleeping compartment from getting overcrowded). We saved a lot of money by traveling on the trains instead of paying for a room. YMMV.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:22 AM on April 24, 2007

I used railpass while traveling in France and it was very hassle free. I loved it. of course, I spent a lot of time in Britain that same summer and therefore got some kind of crazy deal on a BritRail pass, too. So look for stuff like that, if you can or want to plan that much.

Brie, french bread, and a swiss army knife. You will never starve. Other than that, if you are in Paris, try to find a little underground soul food restaurant. It will change your damn life.
posted by Medieval Maven at 11:31 AM on April 24, 2007

I did what you are doing two years ago, and I found that flying was cheaper by far. Check out EasyJet and RyanAir. You could sleep on a train -- but how is that fun? Sleep at hostels, and you can share meals with other fun people, get tips on where to go next, maybe rideshare.
posted by Methylviolet at 11:40 AM on April 24, 2007

Yay, vacation!

First, there isn't just one railpass - it's more like ten or fifteen varieties depending on your nationality, age, how many countries you want to visit, and for how long. This non-commerical page breaks it down really well, and that whole Seat 61 site is an exhaustive source of info.

I went with point-to-point tickets in the summer of 2002 (Madrid-Sevilla-Cordoba-Granada-Barcelona-Milan-Cinque Terra-Florence-Rome) and it turned out to be way cheaper, but I bought the tickets in advance online or at the station when I arrived in a new place (even if that was just two or three days before traveling). This totally saved me at least once - there was a national strike in Spain on the day I was to get my ticket where the "take a number" machine in Barcelona Sants station was dispensing numbers around 800 while they were calling numbers around 350. Lots of unhappy backpackers there!

Another reason to book tickets online is that you can play around with different categories of ticket - sometimes, the "youth discount" fare is more expensive than the normal adult-advance purchase fare!

To book those tickets online, you'll want to use the websites of the individual national rail companies, and you'll find all the relevant links to them here (again at Seat 61).
posted by mdonley at 11:40 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

My favorite cheap food in western europe is bread and cheese, both of the local variety for wherever you happen to be.
posted by jedrek at 11:41 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

More sources for low-cost airlines:

WhichBudget
flylc.com

Additional tip: sometimes the "major" airlines have better deals than the budget ones! Check out ITA Software to hunt.
posted by mdonley at 11:48 AM on April 24, 2007

Oh yeah! Die Bahn is Germany's train system and has the schedule of every train in Europe, from Ireland to Portugal to Greece to Russia.
posted by mdonley at 11:49 AM on April 24, 2007

Ditto what somechick said about reservations, although I liked the Eurail pass and would use it again. Also, be sure to write in the date of use on your pass yourself as the terms and conditions require. Often the conductors will do it for you, but if you slack and rely on them you may end up with a conductor who threatens to throw you off your overnight train from Hungary unless you pay him a bribe.
posted by amber_dale at 12:12 PM on April 24, 2007

When I did it, I wound up getting the Eurail pass with a specific number of "days" that I could travel on and planned my travel schedule around that. It was substantially cheaper than the unlimited-travel Eurail. I loved the pass and would definitely do it again.

For food: you MUST MUST MUST get a döner kebab while in Germany, preferably in Berlin, but you can get them over. So damn good.
posted by kdar at 12:18 PM on April 24, 2007

I also used the limited-day-number pass and it suited my needs exactly. I used it for 5 long legs of my trip and then bought tickets as I went along for shorter excursions. Got me from Paris to Zurich to North Germany, via the Bodensee.

I absolutely think that you are on the right track in planning to travel by train instead of flying. Train travel is, in general, such a joy, and so little hassle--you just stroll into the station, which is usually smack in the middle of the historic center of the city, and hop on the next train for wherever looks good. It really works that way. If the train is delayed, well, go have a peep at downtown Florence! Eat some gelato and watch the passers-by! I would never trade that flexibility for what I have experienced as a nightmare of shuttle-bussing from the out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, soulless airports just to save a few dollars. And I think that not having to plan in advance at all is really, really nice. Plus you get to see the countryside, miles and miles of it, plus it's way more comfortable.

Re snacks, I liked to get yoghurt which is pretty portable and pretty drinkable, and it was endlessly interesting to see how different it was in different countries, and in tons of flavors I never saw in the States (grape, yum). Plus cheese, bread etc. And don't get hung up on having to refrigerate stuff. It'll keep just fine.
posted by bluebird at 12:44 PM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

I was struggling with the same question a few months ago and ended up not getting one in the end. we weren't sure we would be traveling enough to make it worth the money, so my boyfriend and I ended up using overnight buses (usually megabus) for most of the journey. they aren't as comfortable or as fast as trains, but they do save on a night's lodging and are cheaper than buying individual train tickets. (we started using them because they are the way to get around in eastern europe--they don't seem so popular in western europe, though.) It may not be for you, but it is an option.

when we were in germany, my friend arranged rides for us through a sort of organized hitchhiking website where you can type in your destination and find people going your way who want to split the cost of travel. that was great because we met some really nice people and didn't feel so touristy. you can reach cities outside of germany, too--and I wonder if there are similar sites for other countries. the trouble is the website's all in german; if you can figure it out, I think these are the websites:
www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de or www.mfz.de

you didn't ask about lodging, but I highly recommend couchsurfing for free accomodation with locals and people who live in the places you are visiting. we had great experiences using it.

(french bread and nutella! yum. be safe and have fun!)
posted by ialwayscryatendings at 1:10 PM on April 24, 2007

InterRail (the version for EU citizens) claims to have improved their zone system a lot as late as this month. If that's true for Eurail too you can't rely on others' opinions about prices and value for money.
posted by springload at 2:55 PM on April 24, 2007

I was just thinking about something... possibly the reason I didn't have to deal with making as many reservations when we traveled via Eurail is that I've always avoided traveling during peak season. I went either off season or shoulder season.

So keep that in mind... tourist season = far more crowded trains.
posted by miss lynnster at 3:32 PM on April 24, 2007

i loved having a railpass, especially because i always managed to get on the wrong train at least once, and then at least could get back to where i needed to be without paying anything extra.... never worked out how much single tickets would have been, but i enjoyed the spontaneity and the constantly endless possibilities. a lot of it depends on how often you plan on using it, so having an estimate in advance could help you.
posted by bassjump at 5:47 PM on April 24, 2007

Eurorail Pass? NO! I lived in Paris and Rome for a while and did extensive traveling and found that a Eurorail pass was often NOT a good idea. In fact, I filled in the wrong date once in Spain [you have to fill it in yourself] and totally lost that E60 worth of fare that day.

If you are traveling smart [near cities to near cities] fare will already be cheap E15? E40?. I think the fare has to be E45 or E50 to begin any savings. And you are required to purchase reservations on the trains on nearly every trip. That might be a couple euros to 15 or 20, or more for a sleeper car. If your eurorail averages E45/use, and fare is only E30 from Rome to Florence [I'm guessing here], then you are losing E15.

There are a few exceptions.

1) Long Distances: I traveled from Hamburg to Paris overnight and then down to Avignon in the evening, thus making two long distance trips into one.

2) Travel in expensive train countries. Germany has expensive fares so it was always cheaper to use the pass. Spain and Italy have very reasonable fares already.

Also be open to other methods of travel. Airfares are cheap on EasyJets and Ryan Air. I took a rideshare from Berlin to Hamburg for E20, saving E30 over the train. Buses too aren't all that bad.
posted by yeti at 8:07 AM on April 25, 2007

Oh. And favorite cheap food? Un sandwich grec.
posted by yeti at 8:10 AM on April 25, 2007