022 – Review: Eurail Pass
July 13, 2007 in Preparing to Travel
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Travelling extensively in Europe? Thinking about using trains?
An option to consider is the Eurail Pass and, in this episode, Craig and Linda do a brief review of the Eurail Global Pass drawing on their experiences and those of other travellers they have met. Click the play button above or click here to subscribe (for free) and listen in iTunes.
We suggest who might want to use it and who might not, concluding that a consecutive pass is great for a whistlestop tour and making some other suggestions for those with a bit more time.
Eurorail and Eurail Pass
The Eurorail pass has changed its name and is now the Eurail pass, however many people are still looking under the old name. The best way to look into Eurail (…OK, Eurorail!) passes is to decide how many days you want to travel; how much distance you want to cover; and the amount of days you’re spreading that travel over. Craig writes more about this and Rail Europe in the Travelling Europe guide book.
Links:
Transcript (pdf, 256kb)
Eurail website (official)
Seat 61 on Eurail – one of the best European train resources on the internet
Check out Episode 23: Eurail Tips.
This article was written by Craig and Linda
Craig and Linda Martin have been living on the road since February 2006. Both born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand they are ... somewhere in the world! Craig and Linda host the Indie Travel Podcast - you can get in touch with them here.
Since November 2006 the Indie Travel Podcast has evolved into an independent travel hub with regular audio and video podcasts along with articles by travellers from all over the world. 
Hosts Craig and Linda Martin started travelling in February 2006 and have been to over 50 countries. They were 
Todd said on July 19, 2007
the eurail global pass is one of the best options out there!
Craig and Linda said on September 17, 2008
For those interested in more information on Eurail passes, I’d recommend the new site Eurail Stories. It’s a good, personal start; nice tips and the forums seem a great place to ask questions.
Keyvan said on July 20, 2010
Hi Craig, hi Linda
In coming September I’m going to visit Germany-Switzerland-France for about 2 weeks. Just in Germany I will travel (cannot say a lot) which I will use train in Frankfurt-Braunschweig, Braunschweig-Berlin, Braunschweig-Hamburg, and finally Braunschweig-Lausanne.
Sine I just have two weeks for travelling, do you recommend me to use eurorail pass or not? I’m 30.
Here 1 week JR (Japan Rail) pass costs about 28000Y roughly 280 USD, so in my opinion euro railpass is a bit expensive.
Craig and Linda said on July 21, 2010
Hi Keyvan,
You’ll need to figure out the price of all the individual journey’s you’ll do. I’d recommend using http://jizdenka.idos.cz/NT.aspx or the individual rail sites.
Keyvan said on July 22, 2010
Thanks for the comment.
It seems for my case eurorail pass is about 30% cheaper.
Craig and Linda said on July 23, 2010
Glad to have helped!
Rail travel in this part of Europe is quite expensive, while countries like Italy and Greece are considerably cheaper. It always helps to do the maths first!
Som said on September 17, 2010
I have an EUrail pass for travelling in Switzerland. I want to travel on following routes:
1. Interlaken to Zermat via Spiez & Visp on 16.10.2010
2. Zermatt to Zurich via Visp & Bern on 17.10.2010
I heard that fare for travel on these routes is not completely waived off for EUrail pass holders.
Can someone please tell me, how much discount on fare will I get on these routes because of the EUrail pass.
Craig and Linda said on September 18, 2010
Hey Som, We did something similar in 2006 – actually, we jumped on the train thinking that we were covered when actually we weren’t. Only part of your route isn’t covered by the Eurail pass, so you can just buy a ticket for that leg, and use your pass for the rest of it. Have a look at sbb.ch for prices – sadly, it isn’t cheap.
Linda
Craig and Linda said on September 18, 2010
Just found this information, looks like the Goldenpass part of your trip is covered by the pass too: http://www.eurail.com/eurail-scenic-golden-pass.
Linda
Som said on September 18, 2010
Hey Linda, Thanks for quick response. Actually i found a Eurail map for switzerland on eurail website:
http://www.eurail.com/eurail-railway-switzerland (Search Swiss Eurail map pdf)
It shows that on few routes example Visp to Zermatt some discount is available for Eupass but how much discount and how to avail that discount is not mentioned. Please let me know if have some info on this.
- Thanks, Som