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Trains - Passes - Transfers - Is Eurail right for us?


Doug Virden

Hello. We are nubes to European travel. We are arriving in London, traveling to Paris, Disneyland Paris, Flying out of Paris to Barcelona, and then home. Curious about airport transfers to and from hotels. Are any of these covered by the Eurail pass? Or maybe the better question is, are there better ways? Main concerns…

Heathrow to hotel in London (Westminster) -

London to Paris

Paris to Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport

Barcelona Airport to hotel (City Center) and back to airport

 

Thanks for any insight from the well traveled here!

2 replies

Schelte
Full steam ahead
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  • Full steam ahead
  • 393 replies
  • March 7, 2023

For these trips it's not really worth to get a pass, and many local public transport routes aren't even covered by the pass. The pass really mostly covers trains, which in Europe can be used for longer distances.

Doug Virden wrote:

Heathrow to hotel in London (Westminster) -

A ticket for the tube/Elisabeth line costs about £13. Not worth to use your pass, and the pass does not cover the tube anyway.

Doug Virden wrote:

London to Paris

The only long distance train you seem to be taking. You're probably cheaper of buying a ticket directly with eurostar.com for the day you need it, instead of buying a pass and the necessary €34-reservation for Eurostar.

Doug Virden wrote:

Paris to Disneyland Paris

RER is not covered by Eurail. Tickets cost about €10 iirc.

Doug Virden wrote:

Disneyland Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport

Use local public transport or a shuttle service. 

Doug Virden wrote:

Barcelona Airport to hotel (City Center) and back to airport

Metro and Aerobús are not covered by Eurail. Rodalies is but is fairly impractical from T1 and otherwise also cheap (~€5), so a waste to use a pass for this.

Doug Virden wrote:

Thanks for any insight from the well traveled here!

You could use a pass to get from Paris to Barcelona, a 6h40 journey by TGV high speed train. You'd need a €35 seat reservation for that on top of your pass but it's pretty scenic. You could also buy a separate ticket for this, probably better as a pass is still probably not worth it.

Overall, don't think an Eurail pass is suited for your trip. It is in general not worth it just for airport transfers (only very few are covered and these don't exceed €15 per trip)


Doug Virden
  • Author
  • Rail rookie
  • 1 reply
  • March 8, 2023

Schelte, thank you so much for the detailed response. I had a feeling this was the case. But good to hear it direct from people that have real life experience. Keeping it simple sounds fine to me.


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