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Please advice on when to activate our Global Pass

  • 5 April 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 87 views
BeaSan

Hello everyone!

My husband and I will be traveling for 3 and a half months in Europe arriving by cruise on August 4th to Southampton UK. We'll travel all around the UK for 3 weeks and then we are planning on taking the Eurostar to Amsterdam and spend the next 3 months visiting the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and back to Southampton by mid November.
 
We bought the 3 months in a row Eurail Global pass but since it doesn't cover the whole time we are going to be there, I'm wondering when would be more convenient to activate it? Right after getting there and using it in the UK? (We bought first class and I read that UK is the best country to take advantage of it) or use it on time to take advantage of the 2 Eurostar trips (back and forth) I'm trying to make numbers and it seems that going from Italy to London it's going to be expensive so probably it’s wiser to use the Global pass for that trip?
 
This will be our first time in Europe so we’d really appreciate any advice! Thanks in advance!
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Best answer by ralderton 5 April 2024, 10:36

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T
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Well it depends on which journeys you do in each country but I'd probably use it starting in the UK.

For the last 3 weeks you can always buy a short pass if it's cheaper than advance tickets.

(Slightly off-topic but note that you can spend max 90 days in the Schengen area every 180 days. Better to leave a day or two margin in case of delays/cancellations. You really don't want to overstay.)

ralderton
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Userlevel 7
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UK tends to be a good place to use a pass because tickets are expensive, and there’s mostly no need for reservations. Same with Switzerland.

It depends on your exact itinerary, but Spain and Italy come across as places for your three weeks without a pass. Prices are much cheaper, and you’d need reservations with the pass anyway.

For reference, you can buy second class tickets from Milan to London for about €110 if you’re lucky.

As @thibcabe says, a second pass might make sense if you’ll do a lot of travel

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