International trains in europe

Question

i heard that you can get a ticket that lets you have unlimited train use in europe for a short time. something that can get you from say italy to paris to berlin, on one ticket

is there any true to this or is it too good to be real?

Answer 1

I believe it is called the Euro Pass. And you buy it for an alloted amount of time like one month. It grants you unlimited train rides all across Western Europe and possibly Eastern Europe as well.

Answer 2

The EuRail or InterRail ticket is only benificial if using the trains in an excessive manner. Furthermore, and that is often hidden in advertises, ýou have to pay supplements to use the fast trains, like TGV or ICE. When really calculating benefits agains expensions, you finally get the result that it would have been cheaper to book individual routes. Nowadays it often happenes, that you get an airplane transfer, for example from Rome to Nice,.France at a cheaper price than the all-day train travel would cost. I therefore really advise you to check your travelling preference before booking at ticket, which coveres you to a certain mode of travel, regardless of alternatives existing.

Answer 3

Before you buy any tickets or passes, best check the conditions and compare the prices against buying individual tickets.

InterRail is for Europeans only: http://www.interrailnet.com/

It can be a good deal, but you need to buy the right ticket for your needs.

Eurail is for people from the rest of the world and more expensive and valid in less places:

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

If you are non European you might be able to buy an InterRail pass, but unless you have lived in Europe for 6 months it is not valid.

(And yes, your passport will be checked a few times when you travel on a pass.)

Besides traveling on a pass, you can also get train tickets for international travel that are valid for two months and allow you to stop off as often you want, but you are restricted to the route you bought the ticket for.

In case of the sample you by a ticket from your departure town in Italy, via Paris to Berlin. Can be a good deal, specially if you are not yet 26.

You can find timetable and train information on:

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/... the site of the German rail in English, (or one of the many other train planners in Europe.)

Or on a site that works a little different:

http://www.seat61.com/

Answer 4

Where are you from?  And where have you been?  That ticket has existed since, at LEAST the 1970s.  There are actually two different companies.  Eurorail, which is for non Europeans, and Interrail, which was originally created FOR Europeans, (both originally for youth - under 26 or so, but extended),  the Interrail can be bought by non Europeans in any participating country.

You REALLY need to go online, and compare, though, the unlimited* tickets with regular, pay by the leg tickets, because they really are NOT the bargain that they used to be.

* unlimited fares, BUT you must pay for reservations, and many trains insist on reservations, the days of sitting fifteen people on five seats with another twenty in the aisles seem to be gone. AND you have to pay surcharges for the faster and newer trains and the most popular routes, so when you add it all up, it's close to the same in many cases.

Do your research.