Hi Community,
Im Vijay from India, planning a trip with my spouse in April - its our first trip to Europe. Wanted to get feedback/input from you all on my travel schedule, especially on train tips. Does Euro global pass for 10days works better or buying individual tickets makes sense?
12 Apr- Rome airport to hotel and local sight seeing
13 Apr - FB8606 to Pisa and later RV4046-FR9428 to Venice same day
There is a mandatory seat reservation for long distance trains (FB and FE) for pass holders. 4046 is reservation-free.
14 Apr - Plan to take EC42-EC334 to Zurich (do i need reservation in advance for any of the above trains, even after buying Euro pass?)
There's a mandatory reservation for both trains (did you mean EC44?), but there's also a direct train to Zürich in the afternoon that may cost less (you'd have to pay the reservation fee for each train). You don't need a reservation for trains in Switzerland (without crossing the border).
vijay wrote:
15-18 Apr - wanted to rent a car and roam around
Personal opinion: Don't do it. Switzerland has one of the best public transport systems in the world (you may find all public transport at sbb.ch where it is also possible to search for an adress), it's frequent, you don't need any reservations when holding a rail pass and to buy just more travel days when buying a railpass anyway might be much more cheaper than going by car.
18 Apr - Initially i planned to take Zurich-Amsterdam flight, but would love to explore the overnight train 'Nightjet - 402', but unable to book the sleeper. Have they stopped sleeper in this leg? And with Euro pass can i get to book sleeper?
Directly from Zürich, there's no private sleeper left (sold out), just single beds in 3 person compartments or couchette beds (both not private). There is availability for a private compartment from Basel SBB (one hour from Zurich).
19 Apr- Amsterdam to Lille in morning
19-21 Apr- Keeping Lille as base, wanted to explore Brussels and around (not decided yet)
21 Apr- evening from Lille to Paris
23 Apr- Back to India via Dubai
Im confused and unable to figure out:
- Does Euro rail pass works cheaper for my itinerary?
You need to check all prices to be sure. And it depends. There are no fixed prices so prices are just true for the given momentan and may be different tomorrow.
- How difficult is it to buy individual tickets at train stations if i donot opt for Rail pass? I only know English and am worried on communication to buying tickets etc (looking more for convenience)
It's no problem at all. But it will be much more expensive doing it that way as prices are dynamic. There may be no cheap fare available when buying late.
- Does train ticket vary as the date nears? (like flight tickets, is it dynamic)
It does. You should buy normal tickets ASAP.
- Are there any options of buying open ticket and pay difference on train as we hop on in Europe? :)
If you'd like to have flexibility, then a global pass might be the way to go. You'll need reservations but they have a fixed price and are much easier to get (of course when a train is sold out it's sold out). Only exception is the sleeper train that should be booked ASAP. When buying a cheap advance fare ticket, you get a fixed train. Compared to open tickets you should opt for a rail pass.
