Help for the right train ticket

Age? This bcse BE offers quite cheap lower fares for ju+senior.

@3: this should be 2 different returns out of BRU-they are in opposite directions.

No need to go back from Züri to AMS-or reverse?

I get the idea you should post much more clearly what trips you intend to make spread out over whta days.

Also indicate for roughly what time-those form over the oceans tend to think they have to book it all years ahead, which is complete nonsense and not even possible. 

Mas, selamet hari dari disini. Berapa umur untuk karcis?

My Age 52 years old ( 2 persons )

Itinerary : 

15/4  Schipol - Amsterdam.
16/4  Amsterdam - Keukenhoff  
17/4  Amsterdam  by Train to Giethorn 
18/4  Amsterdam -Zaansee Schans - Volendam - Zaandam - ( by train ) - Amsterdam 
19/4 Amsterdam - Rotterdam. by train
20/4 Thalys from  Rotterdam  - Antwerp -
Hasselt. 
21/4 Hasselt - Mastricht 
22/4 Hasselt - Brussel 
23/4 Brussel -Bruges -Ghent
24/4 Brussel - Paris  
25/4 Paris - Versailles
26/4 Paris - St Michel
27/4 Paris - Strasbourgh - Colmar.
28/4 Colmar - Zurich
29/4 Zurich - Innsbruck - Zurich
30/4 Zurich - Lugano-Locarno - Zurich 

1/5  Zurich - (  by Plane )  go home.

regards,

yulius

My initial instinct would be that it would probably be cheaper to individually book in advance the long distance trips and use local tickets for the rest.

Possibly a short Interrail for the Swiss leg of your trip due to the cost of regular Swiss fares would work out better.

Thalys is expensive with interrail as is International TGV services so you need to factor in these costs  or your willingness to avoid these services and use slower connections.

I don’t think there is any clear answer, it would need all the options costed and also be very much a case of what is your priority; getting the travel for as little as possible or convenience, flexibility and cost.

Thank you for your advice I will consider my itinerary and try to calculate the cheapest rail pass cost

The logical choice for that itinerary would be either the 15 days in 2 months or the slightly cheaper continuous 15 day pass, starting the latter 15 days before your last day.

Then you could have a great level of flexibility and only need 2 non-pass days where you either don’t travel or use local tickets, something like the AMS - Keukenhof day.

Remember that your pass is effectively a fully flexible ticket that allows you to change plans or travel at peak times. All prepurchased saver type tickets come with very limited changes and refunds and even a small hiccup in your timings can prove very expensive - very similar to low cost airlines.

IMO even if the pass is slightly more expensive the benefits are well worth having.

I do though understand the maths involved sometimes suggest a few days of local trains could allow a reduction in Pass travel days, but the difference between a 10 day and 15 day flexi pass is only 70 euro.

Remember to add reservation fees for any express and cross border trains that require mandatory reservations.

I would not trust that tool too much as it has given some people strange advice. I recommend you to double check the advice give by the tool with the Community.

Aaaah, didn’t know that. I only used it once, and it showed something logical. A bit too overzealous 😊

Anyway, I still figuring out what to do best @yulius . For intra-Belgian trains you have Standard Multi passes, great value for the distances you plan (84 or 87 EUR for 10 single rides, no matter the distance, you can share it among multiple people without any problem, but you cannot use it to cross borders. https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/tickets-and-railcards/railpass). A lot of locals combine it with a short local ticket across the border. The combo is always cheaper than a full-fare ticket.

The distances in the Netherlands (Amsterdam - Zaandam, Volendam, Keukenhof...) seem also quite small. A lot of it is really not far from Amsterdam, so perhaps also not worth pass days. Dutch community people might be able to help you better with that.

If you stick to your plan firmly, and plan/book well ahead you’ll be cheaper with a shorter pass and loose tickets and local flexible offers.(Like the standard mutli in Belgium). Maybe even less (5 day pass, just using the pass for the longest distances and Switserland) if you’re early enough you to buy.

For example ordinary thalys tickets, bought well in advance can be cheaper than eurail seat reservations + pass day cost between Amsterdam/Rotterdam and Antwerp/Brussels/Paris).

Unless you want a super flexible schedule, and do alterations last minute. Then you should do a 15 days continuous pass I think.

Thankyou BrendanDB  ,AnnaB, for the advice , I will considered to re arrange my Itinerary.

regards.