When students imagine spending a semester studying in Europe, one of the most exciting thoughts they have are of all the exciting trips they can do between countries -- spending a weekend on a train and trekking across several different countries is almost a rite of passage for the European-bound study abroad student. Despite the fact that Rome is almost as far from Paris as New York is from Chicago, most American students imagine that somehow everything in Europe is "closer together" and therefore easily accessible for short excursions. The Eurail Pass has helped perpetuate this myth by reducing many of the complications in traveling by train across the continent, and although its rules are somewhat complicated for the uninitiated, it is beloved by all students for facilitating cheap travel within Europe.
Eurail's website offers four different kinds of passes for sale -- the global pass, select pass, regional pass, or single-country pass. The price depends on both the number of countries a student wishes to visit with the pass and the number of days he or she wishes to travel within a given amount of time. For example, the global pass is Eurail's most flexible option, allowing travel through 22 European countries for as few as 10 days at $589 or as much as 3 months for $1385. (Note: prices are for youth travel, which is permitted for anyone between the ages of 12 and 26; prices for the over-26 crowd are slightly higher.) The select pass allows you to choose between 3, 4, or 5 contiguous countries for your rail journey, while the regional pass removes some of the guesswork by offering popular options (like France and Italy, or Germany and Austria) together in one pass. The single-country pass is valid for travel on all trains within one country, which is useful for the student who wants to explore her host country a bit more!
The amount of time covered by the Eurail Pass is also somewhat tricky for first-timers, as the days they count refer merely to days of travel, typically within a 2-month period. If a student were to buy the 10-day global pass, for example, he would be able to spend 10 nonconsecutive days on a train to get through all the hot spots on his itinerary. He could spend one day traveling from Lisbon to Madrid, then after a week in Madrid hop back on a train to Paris for his second day of travel. To make things even more complicated, a "travel day" refers to the date of arrival if your train leaves after 7:00 PM and terminates after 4:00 AM -- in other words, if you take a night train from Bucharest to Budapest which leaves at 7:10 PM and arrives at 10 AM, you could hop straight back on the train later that same day and head to a new destination without that counting as a second "travel day". Confused yet?!
Because the price increases proportionately to the number of countries visited and number of days of travel required, it is well worth planning an approximate itinerary before grabbing that backpack and hitting the tracks. Nobody wants to discover at the Austrian border that they have run out of days to use on their pass and must pay full price for tickets for the rest of the journey; nobody wants to be left behind, either, because they have not chosen a pass that will allow them to travel through Austria. Luckily for all backpackers, Eurail's website has excellent links to maps of train routes and timetables. Once you have purchased your pass, Eurail will send hard copies of their map and timetables for popular routes along with your pass and a variety of other helpful offers for planning your travels.
The number of options Eurail presents to students -- in terms of destinations and length of travel -- may seem overwhelming, but once the pass has been purchased the rules for using the pass are even more complicated. In Part 2 of this series I will discuss some of the tips and tricks for using a Eurail pass to get around Europe, and hopefully by providing examples will help new travelers maximize their use of the pass! As always, please leave comments or questions for me. What have been some of your favorite Eurail destinations? Any particular insights into which passes to buy? I'd love to hear your stories!
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