Exploring Europe - Our Eu Rail Pass selection and helping you pick the right train pass for your trip

Exploring Europe - Our Eu Rail Pass selection and
helping you pick the right train pass for your Europe trip

TAKEN FROM A TRAIN IN FRANCE USING OUR EU RAIL PASS // IMAGE FOR MEETYOUTHERE.ME

CLICK HERE TO NAVIGATE TO THE EU RAIL PASS -
SELECT PASS PAGE AND CHOOSE YOUR COUNTRIES

I briefly went into our Eu Rail pass for our Exploring Berlin - The Berlin Wall (click here for that post) but I wanted to take some more time explaining how much we enjoy train travel with the Eu Rail pass.  We purchased a ten-stop rail pass which cost around ~€1082 (or about $1200 USD) €600 Emily's cost €482 (as she is 25 and applied for the YOUTH pass) and mine was €600 - they offer a discount if your under the age of 25 for the youth pass and also offer student discounts.    Eu rail is great about helping you pick the right pass, but also make a calculated decision based on the regions you will be visiting.  We picked the ten stop pass because it fit out itinerary pretty well - the countries we visit with our pass: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic (our pass didn't cover here but the train tickets were inexpensive), France, Spain, Portugal (not covered by pass but cheap connecting train).  You'll notice a couple of the countries list above weren't covered by our pass because they weren't in our original itinerary - the train pass will get you to the border of these countries where you will be asked to buy a ticket for the remaining distance (not very expensive).  We also called Eu Rail a couple times to discuss different options and ideas with them - their staff and customer support is excellent, top notch and will help you make a smart decision and get the best price. 

IMAGE TAKEN FROM EU RAIL SITE // CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO SELECT PASS PAGE

Since we had a tentative itinerary built it made it slightly easier to pick out which pass fit our trip.  We were torn between an unlimited train pass and the ten stop pass but because we thought we might leave Europe (for instance for our upcoming trip to India) and then come back to finish Italy for about a month.  Our ten day pass enabled us:
-Ten travel train days (within these selected countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain)
-All within a 60 day period (unlimited would have been unlimited train travel for 90 days entire EU region)
-First class when reservations are available + made / this is at an additional cost (certain countries trains only offer second class, also hotel train cabins will cost additional) there is a fee when making a reservation but this keeps travel smooth, organized and easy knowing where your seats are, car number, etc.
-Free transportation on Germany's SBahn train systems (we took advantage of this)
-Discounts at any Hard Rock Cafe within these countries list above

We really enjoy our train travel days (minus carrying our massive packs) it's been unique and vibrant to watch Europe's vast ancient farm lands and country sides roll by the train car windows.  This gives us time to write blogs (many trains have outlets to plug and charge from), edit images, reminisce about the last country or beautiful place we have been, angry birds of course, train snacks (that we pack along), movies, a beer or two and most importantly catching up on rest.  Some tips for planning and selecting the right pass:

-Call Eu Rail representative and chat about your travel plans - but don't make any immediate purchase
-Build a tentative itinerary or make a list of the countries you plan to visit and check out (you can always throw in some extra places while you're out on the road)
-Save your money (like we did) and purchase this pass before you leave for your trip - don't activate your pass until that first train travel day
-Compare the price of buying a single train ticket (preserve the full day tickets for longer duration of travel) or using a travel day on your pass.
-We highly recommend using Eu Rail passes - click here for their direct site and pass descriptions
 

Have any questions about selecting the right pass? Feel free to leave us a comment below or contact us via email: m33tyouthere@gmail.com
Thanks for reading and until next time... ~MYT