How to space Eurail pass?

  • 19 January 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 122 views
Leslie Davis

I will be travelling UK and Europe this coming summer (July 11 - Aug. 23), and I don’t need the pass in the middle of this schedule. 

  1. I’ll be visiting London - Axminster - Crediton - Birmingham. Then flight Birmingham - Dublin - London, where I’ll spend 5 nights. I need to save money on trains and the tube, so I need some kind of pass during these 17 days.
  1. I fly to Geneva, where I don’t need public transport since I will be visiting friends.
  1. Finally, I will need a eurail pass for the next leg: Geneva - Paris - Vimy/Courcelette - D Day beaches area - up to Bruges - Amsterdam.

I could use some advice about the eurail pass and how to split it up. Would it be cheaper/better to do a Britrail pass in UK and Eurail pass in Europe, or should I split up the Eurail globla pass?

Thank you in advance!

7 replies

M
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This is a matter of doing homework: checking yourself what is chepaest-as such the pass is only a thing that reduces total cost to pay IF you do a fair lot of train trips. Local transit, like TPG in Gnv is never included, nor in LON for LOndon Transport.

MY impression-but again: the checks you have to do yourself, complicated by fact that NOw you cannot check online fares for that time-so use those for fixed advance booking in 1 month from now as rough indication.

I would say: in UK book online normal advance-distance is not overly big and you may, if really aiming to save every penny, also look into railcards, that you pay for but then offer discounts. You could also consider BUS (coach in GB) for as they offer lower fares but longer triptimes.

I now count 4 trips to do from Gnv to AMS and in fact I highly doubt if here a pass would save much-mainly becse you still then have to pay + nasty extra efforts to do these pesky RES for most trains. You can cut the extra a lot by not boarding TGV train in Gnv but 15 mins onward in 1st FR stop.

I have no idea how easy these beaches are to reach by train-I guess  also local buses will be needed and these tend to be sparse but very cheap in FR, but very hard to find about.

You also did not state age, but from 60 in FR (as long as they can hold that, strikes enough) or 65 or 67 in BE and NL may give you also discounts or access to very cheap local tickets.

Bru-AMS-IF using the hourly local trains, without even any RES, you can book for low fares till 7 days before travel (only after 9.00 am on mo-fr) via b-europe or nsinternational.

All in all, I tend to think: forget pass, certainly if you are willing to tie you in to these fixed bookings weeks before (which you likely also do with HTL etc), be open to also bus.

On a well known worldwide touristy forum like tripadvisor or simply with dr google you can in secs find info on what type of local touristy/ride-at-will tix are available in cities and if these are worthwhile-or not.

BrendanDB
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Hmmmm. Good questions.

  1. If you have a pass, wether it be a Britrail/One country pass UK or a EUrail pass, you don’t have to pay anything extra in the UK on trains for seat reservations. (London overground and the Elizabeth line is included, but not the tube). Am I right that Axminster-Crediton are situated in Devon? I count 4 travel days on your first leg. But if your schedule is hard set, I think you might be cheaper buy buying advance tickets. For London Birmingham I can find prices ranging from €3 to €20, sometimes a €100. Usually if you travel off peak and buy in advance, you can make good deals in the UK. But you lack flexibility. For London-Devon It’s something like 20-25 EUR/ single journey. It’s up to you :)
  1. For the second part it’s a bit less clear for me how many travel days you want and where you want to stay. Can you specify this a bit more? Cimitèere Courcelette seems close to Albert, that has a station. And the Normandy beaches are close to Caen. Both can be done for about €20 single journey. It’s quite okay, since you can avoid TGVs and be mostly using TERs (cheaper local trains).

If you’re okay with not being flexible, you might be cheaper buying ordinary tickets.

A site like https://www.thetrainline.com/ gives good insights. Best compare prices there yourself with the prices of passes and trade-off makes most sense to you. :)

M
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Myself never too old to learn, so never heard about this Vimy dr google helped my quickly-there was even an item´ how to get there by train from Paris´-where it was noted there is NO transit at all nearby-its 10 KM from Arras, which is a minor town on the old main line Paris-North to Lille-where you change to Brugge anyway. All in all I assume you are a Canuck veteran or family of those?

So it would be more economic to make a stop there when going from the beaches toward Brugge. OR there might be some day-excursion in a tourbus on certain days for people like you from Paris- info on that would be more aimed at Canadians.

IF you happen to be >60, you get 25% OFF FR rail fares when travelling off-peak.

IF >65, you can buy IN BE day returns for just 7,20, also after 9.00 am mo-fr.

Y
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Userlevel 7
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I will be travelling UK and Europe this coming summer (July 11 - Aug. 23), and I don’t need the pass in the middle of this schedule. 

  1. I’ll be visiting London - Axminster - Crediton - Birmingham. Then flight Birmingham - Dublin - London, where I’ll spend 5 nights. I need to save money on trains and the tube, so I need some kind of pass during these 17 days.
  1. I fly to Geneva, where I don’t need public transport since I will be visiting friends.
  1. Finally, I will need a eurail pass for the next leg: Geneva - Paris - Vimy/Courcelette - D Day beaches area - up to Bruges - Amsterdam.

I could use some advice about the eurail pass and how to split it up. Would it be cheaper/better to do a Britrail pass in UK and Eurail pass in Europe, or should I split up the Eurail globla pass?

Thank you in advance!

To keep things simple you could simply buy a 2 month continuous pass or a 15 day in 2 months. This allows you to travel as many days as you like on trains across Europe during that 2 months in a totally flexible way, with the only extra cost being some reservations. For 2 5 day passes in a month it will cost about 600 euros whereas an unlimited 2 month pass would cost 700 euro, or a 15 days in 2 months at 518 euros. These will let you travel freely at any time during your time in Europe, either on up to 15 days of your choice or on all days in the 2 months.
I advise everybody on complex trips to be cautious with pre-buying tickets at saver fares - these are notoriously difficult to get refunds or exchanges, certainly in the UK, and buying an emergency or replacement ticket on the day is very expensive. The net saving is usually very small for the loss of flexibility of a pass that allows unlimited changes at no cost, other than any lost reservations.

In London you could use the visitors Oyster Card or a zone 1-6 travel card.
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card

 

A
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To keep things simple you could simply buy a 2 month continuous pass or a 15 day in 2 months. This allows you to travel as many days as you like on trains across Europe during that 2 months in a totally flexible way, with the only extra cost being some reservations. For 2 5 day passes in a month it will cost about 600 euros whereas an unlimited 2 month pass would cost 700 euro, or a 15 days in 2 months at 518 euros. These will let you travel freely at any time during your time in Europe, either on up to 15 days of your choice or on all days in the 2 months.
I advise everybody on complex trips to be cautious with pre-buying tickets at saver fares - these are notoriously difficult to get refunds or exchanges, certainly in the UK, and buying an emergency or replacement ticket on the day is very expensive. The net saving is usually very small for the loss of flexibility of a pass that allows unlimited changes at no cost, other than any lost reservations.

In London you could use the visitors Oyster Card or a zone 1-6 travel card.
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card

 

I have explained to you before why your use of the term “Saver” is inaccurate and liable to mislead people. Stop doing this.

 

As usual, you are scaremongering about regular fares in UK, based entirely on your travel rather than that which the person asking is planning on taking.

 

A walk-up fare for London - Birmingham with no requirement to buy in advance or any quotas can be as low as £34.40 which considerably undercuts pass day rates and is not the “very expensive” 

 

Suggesting a 15 day or 2 month continuous pass for someone who may only be making 3-4 long trips and is asking about saving money is just ridiculous.

A
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +3

I will be travelling UK and Europe this coming summer (July 11 - Aug. 23), and I don’t need the pass in the middle of this schedule. 

  1. I’ll be visiting London - Axminster - Crediton - Birmingham. Then flight Birmingham - Dublin - London, where I’ll spend 5 nights. I need to save money on trains and the tube, so I need some kind of pass during these 17 days.
  1. I fly to Geneva, where I don’t need public transport since I will be visiting friends.
  1. Finally, I will need a eurail pass for the next leg: Geneva - Paris - Vimy/Courcelette - D Day beaches area - up to Bruges - Amsterdam.

I could use some advice about the eurail pass and how to split it up. Would it be cheaper/better to do a Britrail pass in UK and Eurail pass in Europe, or should I split up the Eurail globla pass?

Thank you in advance!

 

If you give a more detailed itinerary I’m sure we can find you some ways to make your travel as cheap as possible. From what you have put here a eurail pass may be the best option for some of that but it will depend on the journeys and days.

 

I can say for certain buying both a Britrail and Eurail pass would be a bad idea, it is always cheaper per day to have a longer duration pass, but only if you are using those days, 2 short passes will not be cheaper.

Y
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +10
 

To keep things simple you could simply buy a 2 month continuous pass or a 15 day in 2 months. This allows you to travel as many days as you like on trains across Europe during that 2 months in a totally flexible way, with the only extra cost being some reservations. For 2 5 day passes in a month it will cost about 600 euros whereas an unlimited 2 month pass would cost 700 euro, or a 15 days in 2 months at 518 euros. These will let you travel freely at any time during your time in Europe, either on up to 15 days of your choice or on all days in the 2 months.
I advise everybody on complex trips to be cautious with pre-buying tickets at saver fares - these are notoriously difficult to get refunds or exchanges, certainly in the UK, and buying an emergency or replacement ticket on the day is very expensive. The net saving is usually very small for the loss of flexibility of a pass that allows unlimited changes at no cost, other than any lost reservations.

In London you could use the visitors Oyster Card or a zone 1-6 travel card.
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card

 

I have explained to you before why your use of the term “Saver” is inaccurate and liable to mislead people. Stop doing this.

 

As usual, you are scaremongering about regular fares in UK, based entirely on your travel rather than that which the person asking is planning on taking.

 

A walk-up fare for London - Birmingham with no requirement to buy in advance or any quotas can be as low as £34.40 which considerably undercuts pass day rates and is not the “very expensive” 

 

Suggesting a 15 day or 2 month continuous pass for someone who may only be making 3-4 long trips and is asking about saving money is just ridiculous.

I am sure most people realise that the term Saver in this context is a generic term for pre-purchased tickets at reduced prices. Each operator across Europe has a different name for them.
I am sure you agree that these tickets are generally non-refundable and non exchangeable, compared to a fully flexible ticket.
A quick check on the internet does show a single to Birmingham is available from £30 to £50, but you have to add the “saver” ticket you have lost as well, whereas a pass has no additional cost when you change trains in the UK. 


On the continent there are some trains to make a loss allowance if you are unable to exchange the reservation for a journe.

I am sure the flexible price in the UK per Km is considerably more than in many countries, especially at peak times.

In the UK the options when you miss a train, or have a change forced on you, are limited and most strangers simply go to the ticket office (or nowadays the Internet) and pay the asking fare for the fastest/soonest which for a 100 Km 

As for suggesting either a continuous pass or a X days in 2 months IMHO these may be options that the original poster hadn’t considered. I respect their ability to do their own sums. I used a 10 day in 2 months pass in 2022 for 2 distinct excursions within the 2 months and saved considerably against both advance fares and turn up and go/flexible fares.

Again IMHO a continuous pass was merely pointing out that you could have a totally worry free pass that allowed you on any day to have a day excursion on top of the front and back end passes a X days in 2 months would give.

By the way the difference between a 10 in 2 months and a 15 in 2 months is relatively small for 5 extra days of travel, again competing with advance or local fares when factoring in flexibility. 

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