Ticketless Travel: Railpasses

Railpasses—Eurail, Europass, country train passes—are one of the original budget tools for European travel and remain one of the best.

High-speed trains in Europe, like this Thalys Express, cost a bit more (even with a railpass), but can be worth it for shaving hours off your travel time.

A railpass is basically a single ticket good for unlimited travel or a certain number of days within a set period of time on almost all trains—except in the U.K. (for that, you need a BritRail pass).

Once the greatest value in Europe, railpasses have become merely a decent tool in these days of cheap no-frills airline flights and pricey train tickets.

That means you have to know when is the right time to use a railpass, and when to mix-and-match regular old train tickets with low-cost flights.

On trips where you cover countless kilometers on the rails, a pass will end up costing you considerably less than buying individual tickets. Plus, it gives you the freedom to hop on a train whenever you feel like it, making a day trip out of town easy and cheap. There's no waiting in ticket lines either.

There are three decisions to make when buying a railpass:

Style—Do you want to be able to travel every day? For that you pay a premium. Or do you just need to ride the rails for a few days here and there? That costs less.
Type—Do you want access to all 17 countries of Western Europe for a D.I.Y. Grand Tour, or will your trip focus on a handful of countries in just one region (that option costs less)?
Flavor—Adult traveling alone, adult traveling with others, married filing seperately (just kidding), youth under 26, senior over 60? The price you pay varies with age and number of traveling companions.

Style: Passes Good for Both Everyday Wear or Occasional Travel

Railpasses come in two main styles: The regular, consecutive day version gives you, say, one month in which you can ride the rails as often as you darn well please.

The cheaper flexipass version grants you a certain number of unlimited-ride days you can use, one-by-one, at any time within a set time period, usually two months.

Luckily, a "day" starts the evening before so you can take advantage of overnight trains (so if you board one after 7pm, you write the next day's date on the pass).

Type: This Train Is My Rail, This Train Is Eurail

EURAIL COUNTRIES
Austria, Croatia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

* Note the glaring exception of the U.K.

Whether you're going consecutive day or the flexipass route, you have to pick a type of rail pass. (Note: All prices are current for 2008.)

The granddaddy of them all is the famed Eurailpass, the whirlwind, pan-European tour's single best investment. It covers 20 countries (NOT including Great Britain; see sidebar) for 15 days ($744), 21 days ($965), one month ($1,198), two months ($1,691), or three months ($2,087).

The Eurailpass flexipass is good for 10 days ($878) or 15 days ($1,154) of travel within a two-month period.

Eurail's Selectpass (only style available is flexi) allows you to choose of any three, four, or five adjoining Eurail countries (Italy and Greece count as "adjoining" because of the ferry connection; ditto for Norway and Denmark).

It covers 23 countries versus Eurail's 20. The extras are Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Serbia, which atually count as one "country" so far as the Selectpass is concerned. Similarly, Croatia and Slovenia count as one "country," as do the Benelux countries (Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium).

If you choose the three country version of the Selectpass, you can get it for five ($471), six ($520), eight ($617), or ten ($715) days of unlimited rail travel within a two month period. For four countries, add $56 to any of those prices; for five countries add $110 (or, if you choose five countries, you can also plump $1,043 for a 15-day version).

Regional, Country, and Rail N' Drive Passes

Fancy a trip behind the old Iron Curtain? For $213, The European East Pass buys you fives days within one month (up to five additional days cost $28 each) to travel between Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

The Balkan Flexipass is a month-long flexipass covering Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, and Montenegro for five days ($262), 10 days ($456), or 15 days ($549).

Or perhaps its chilly climes and fjordlands you crave. The Scanrail Pass covers Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and comes in a two-month, flexipass version: 4 days ($343), 5 days ($381), 6 days ($433), 8 days ($482), and 10 days ($534).

Want to explore the United Kindgom? Great Britain is famously not included on any of the Eurail passes, but there is a seperate BritRail Pass good for travel in England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as the BritRail Pass + Ireland (because, if you look really closely on the map, Ireland is actually on the British Isles).

The BritRail Pass comes in both consecutive-day versions ($259 for four days, $371 for 8 days, $559 for 15 days, $707 for 22 days, and $838 for one month) and the two-month flexi style ($329 for 4 days, $476 for 8 days, $721 for 15 days). The BritRail Pass + Ireland flexipass is good for either 5 days ($407) or 10 days ($711) in a one-month period.

There are also passes for a slew of two- and three-country combos, including:

Plus each country also has its own versions of railpasses—France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Croatia, and more—usually smaller variants on the Eurail concept, but occasionally a bit different (say, a pass that's good for a certain number of kilometers).

For even more flexibility, look into the rail-and-drive versions of all these passes (which gets you 2-4 unlimited rail days plus 2-3 days with a rental car; you can add both rail and car days for a fee).

Flavor: Save by Traveling with a Friend (or by Being under 26)

Once you've picked a style (consecutive or flexi) and a type (Eurial, Selectpass, Europass), you have to pick a pricing flavor: adult (over 26), youth (under 26), or Saver (for two or more people traveling together).

Adult Railpasses are sold only for first-class travel (except for the European East Pass and the BrtiRail Pass, which are available in both classes, so I cited second class rates).

Youthpasses —which cost about 20 to 30 percent less for those under 26-are for second class.

There are also "SaverPass" versions of the adult passes that allow from two to five people to travel together on one pass for about 15 percent less each.

Rail Travel

Fast, Flexible & Fun! Choose...

Seniors (over 60, in this case) aren't for in as many savings as the kiddies, because only a limited number of passes are available in discounted versions for seniors. These currently include most of the Britrail family of passes covering the UK (15% discount on first class version—though a regular second class pass is still cheaper), passes for France and for Norway (28% off), as well as the multi-country Balkan (20% off) and Scanrail (11% off) passes.

I've put a drop-down box to the right, above that'll let you pick a railpass and then it will whisk you right to the details on that particular pass on Rail Europe's Website. (Technology is so cool.)