Do I need a Eurail pass for these countries?

Question

I am going to amsterdam, then paris, san sabastian, barcelona then back to amsterdam.(note that I am doing this for a month) i am having a hard time trying to pick a pass for this. please help where should i start?

Answer 1

It sounds like four days one a train out of a month. You probably would do better with point to point tickets.

Answer 2

Paco is right; you need to determine whether a pass is better than just getting point-to-point tickets. You can check schedules and prices on the various national train websites:

To book trains within the Netherlands:

http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/ns2007/en/...

To book international trains from the Netherlands:

http://www.nshispeed.nl/en

France: http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvH...

Spain: http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html

Note that with the Eurail pass, you will still need to make reservations and pay supplements on some trains - typically, the higher speed trains and night trains. Here in Italy, the supplements range from 5 euro for an intercity train to 20 euro for some Alta velocità trains. This is a per train fee. To avoid supplements, you would need to take local trains and potentially make a lot of train changes on the routes you're considering.

For point-to-point, be sure to check the promotions. There are sometimes return tickets from Amsterdam to Paris for as low as 50 euro.

There are still some reasonable deals on airfares - you can check this site: http://www.whichbudget.com/en/. I just did a check on the train from Rome to Budapest for someone - the cheapest fare for an 18 hour trip was around 85 euro requireing sitting in 2nd class overnight. The hour and a half flight is available for between 49 and 82 euro on one of the budget airlines.

Answer 3

You might consider a Eurail selectpass with 3 countries:

Spain, France, & Benelux.  You need to figure out how many days you need, and if you're under 26, get the youth pass.  If you're traveling with someone, get the Select Saver Pass with 3 countries.  

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes...

Another option is to get a France/Spain pass.  You can get a 2nd class in those two countries and just pay the difference to the French border from Amsterdam.

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes...

Also check the youth fares (if under 26) and Saver passes (if going with someone).