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Advice needed for soon-to-be new Eurail traveler

  • 19 July 2023
  • 1 reply
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My husband and I are trying to plan a big anniversary trip in July 2024 to Europe. We will also have our youngest child with us (9 yrs old at time of travel). We are planning to spend between 21-30 days there using Eurail as our primary source of transportation. Our anticipated destinations include Dublin, London, Paris, Versailles, Venice, Rome, Portofino, Barcelona, and Madrid. We mostly want to experience ancient architecture, landscapes, culture, and cuisine, but will also concede to popular tourists attractions. We have a rough agenda, but hope to have more of a laissez faire sort of vibe for flexibility.

Is Eurail user friendly? Child friendly? How easy are seat reservations to make? Must they be made very far in advance? Is the first class ticket worth the extra $$? What roadblocks or challenges do seasoned Eurail travelers see for us? Are there any must-do child/family activities at either of these locations? Is our timeline realistic? What advice would you have for first-time-to-Europe travelers? First time rail travelers? Traveling to Europe with a young child?

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Userlevel 7
Badge +7

You’re probably very new to train travel (in Europe).

Best read these webpages, as it’ll answer a lot of your questions:

https://www.seat61.com/european-train-travel.htm

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

July 2024 is very far off in railway terms, timetables won’t be available until 2-3 months before july (a bit longer in advance in countries like, Germany, Austria,...)

Biggest advice, don’t stuff too much in one trip, especially with a young child. 20-30 days is not much, for all the destinations you mentioned. You can easily spend a whole week in cities as Paris and London, when you want to do a lot of musea, discover some different neighbourhoods,...

Now you’re doing a lot with a lot of distances, in rather difficult interrail/eurail countries (France, Spain) in a relatively short timeframe. You’ll probably see more of the inside of trains, than effectively visiting things.

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