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mirevolver · 01-23-2005, 09:35 PM

Ok, Here's how the Eurail pass works.

Buy it before you leave the country. Plan your trip by train so you know how many days you will be on a train. Then buy it for that many days. You may also want to consider buying for an extra day so you have some insurance against poorly planning how many days it will take. Also determine which countries you will be travelling through. In your case you would need to get the pass for Germany, Austria, and Italy OR Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.

Once you are in Germany and BEFORE you board any train. Have your pass validated at the train station. If you do not validate it before you board a train, you will have to buy at ticket at a premium rate and possibly pay a fine as well on the train. You only need to validate it once.

Once validated, it will be good until the expiration date which is written when you validate it (You usually have a month, sometimes longer). It will also be good on most trains. The only exception I've run into are the commuter trains within cities, such as a U-Bahn in Germany. Once on the train, when the conductor comes around to check for tickets, show the pass and your passport.

The Eurail pass is far cheaper than buying tickets as you go. The money I spent on a Eurail pass would have only bought me train tickets for round trip between Frankfurt and Osnabrück. But by going with the pass, I traveled all over Northern Germany, from Osnabrück to Berlin.

You should also be knowledgable on the train precedures of the countries you will be travelling in. In Germany you will not be guranteed a seat on the train unless you pay a few Euros in advance for a reservation (I spent many trips on the floor between train cars). And another example is that in France, you must buy a reservation even with the pass before boarding a train.

You may only be there for 9 days, but it seems with the amount of travel you will be doing, a Eurail pass would be to your benefit.

01-23-2005, 09:35 PM	#6 (permalink)
mirevolver Inspired by the mind's eye. Location: Between the darkness and the light.	Ok, Here's how the Eurail pass works. Buy it before you leave the country. Plan your trip by train so you know how many days you will be on a train. Then buy it for that many days. You may also want to consider buying for an extra day so you have some insurance against poorly planning how many days it will take. Also determine which countries you will be travelling through. In your case you would need to get the pass for Germany, Austria, and Italy OR Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Once you are in Germany and BEFORE you board any train. Have your pass validated at the train station. If you do not validate it before you board a train, you will have to buy at ticket at a premium rate and possibly pay a fine as well on the train. You only need to validate it once. Once validated, it will be good until the expiration date which is written when you validate it (You usually have a month, sometimes longer). It will also be good on most trains. The only exception I've run into are the commuter trains within cities, such as a U-Bahn in Germany. Once on the train, when the conductor comes around to check for tickets, show the pass and your passport. The Eurail pass is far cheaper than buying tickets as you go. The money I spent on a Eurail pass would have only bought me train tickets for round trip between Frankfurt and Osnabrück. But by going with the pass, I traveled all over Northern Germany, from Osnabrück to Berlin. You should also be knowledgable on the train precedures of the countries you will be travelling in. In Germany you will not be guranteed a seat on the train unless you pay a few Euros in advance for a reservation (I spent many trips on the floor between train cars). And another example is that in France, you must buy a reservation even with the pass before boarding a train. You may only be there for 9 days, but it seems with the amount of travel you will be doing, a Eurail pass would be to your benefit. __________________ Aside from my great plans to become the future dictator of the moon, I have little interest in political discussions.