The research continues. Should I get a rail pass or buy individual train tickets?From the last planning session, many questions stand unanswered:
- Is it cheaper to buy a rail pass?
- If I do get one, do I go for the Global or Select pass?
- Should I buy it from a Singapore tour agent or direct from Eurail.com?
I decided to stop mucking around. I printed my itinerary and headed straight to STA Travel, a local authorised agent for Eurail.
Travel Advisor Ian Sin spent half an hour going through the various options and recommended the Global Pass.
The Eurail Pass will cost close to my air ticket to Europe. So I need time to consider my options.
Look out for my next post to find out if I do buy a rail pass!
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Work out the number of rail trips you will make and check out which is the cheapest option. :) The ticket maybe expensive based on the price you see now but be rest assured that when you are there, each rail trip costs alot more.
ReplyDeleteI have worked out the exact rail trips down to the dates and time. The strange thing is when I checked the individual rail web sites for fares, and add those up together, the rail pass is still more expensive. STA said I might have gotten the wrong fares. I need to relook at the fares and see how I arrived at them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! :) If you have more advice, feel free to post them!
Don't be surprised that fares you checked individually may appear as cheaper because it's possible. It was one of the main reasons why I didn't go for a pass. You must know, in case you haven't, that even with a pass, you still have to pay a supplementary fee each time for trains where seat reservation is compulsory and the night trains, especially where bed is required. So, it's not like you don't have to pay a single cent after having the pass. Were you informed of this?
ReplyDeleteCheaper rail tickets are possible if you're willing to take the slower or indirect local trains, where it involves more connections change. If you can live with that, then you don't really need the pass. The pass is good for direct journeys between 2 places where time is more of a priority, I would say.
The other trick is to plan your route in a way that your immediate next destination is always nearest to your current location. Then, your journeys can always be short and cheap moving forward. Know what I mean? :)
Thanks Wai!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I figured that we need to pay reservation fees for each trip and as you said additional for sleepers.
One of the issues now is that the Eurail Global Pass doesn't cover Poland. So I'll need to take a train to Austria and then buy a ticket to Krakow. The alternative then is to buy an air ticket for that leg. And if I'm flying for some legs, it will make the pass less worthwhile.
Sighz, so many things to consider. It's tough to calculate. :) But this is fun.
Hi there! Personally i really think its much more worth it NOT getting a rail pass! Especially if you do not take sleepers, day trains are really not that expensive and more likely then not, the fares u got from the sites are valid. Bahn.de is a pretty decent site to get the info
ReplyDelete