Euro-Rail passes?

Question

I have been looking into buying eurorail passes fto tavel in EUrope for my upcoming vacation. I have fond that you have to buy the passes and then still pay a fee (sometimes substantial) each time you take the train. What I am confused about is when I was at te raileurope websie tying to make some reservations, if I put in I have railpass it said there were no seats, but if I didn't check off railpassthere were lots of avalable seats. Does anyone know obut the passes to explain this to me?

Answer 1

This all depends on where your travelling and what services you will need to be taking. a TGV in France or an ICE in Germany will need an extra fee to be able to travel (they require a reservation). Try and get a TEE alliance pass, which will allow you to travel for free in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, however ICE trains will reuqire a small supplement to be abel to travel. Otherwise try to book with your travel agency (Americain Express, Carlson Wagonlits, BCD Travel etc.). For other train services book ticket. Visit:

http://www.tgv.com/UK/index.php for TGV services

http://www.rail.ch for Swiss Rail services, however the website will cover a great deal of Continental Europe, Scandinavia to Stockholm and  England only Eurostar services - Very Clear and consices and tickets can be bought online

http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/start.html German Railways Site

http://www.ns.nl/ for the Dutch national railways

http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html for the Spanish Railways

http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnex... Above link for Portuguese Railways

Hope this has helped,

S.O.

Answer 2

Well, if you buy a eurorail pass, most of your trains should be free (it depends on the train that you take...i think its the TGV's that cost a lot). Also, the eurorail doesn't apply everywhere; so it depends on where you are traveling. The eurorail doesn't work in England, czech republic, etc.

Some of the trains don't even have reservations, so you should get the reservations when you get to Europe.

Good luck!