Rail Europe Global pass and other tips

[braumeister]

a Swiss local tried her best to help my husband and I buy the local bus for 50% off. It’s not in English, only in German.

That's cruel and unusual punishment. Swiss German is to German German as Romanian is to Spanish.

But I have to agree that people in the street were incredibly kind and helpful when we have been in Switzerland.

 

[neihn]

Folks,

Thanks so much for your valuable tips. It seems I need to do lot more research regarding train pass vs tickets.

I am looking at Euro Pass at this url https://www.raileurope.com/pass/eurail-global-pass-5880

 

[Fedup]

That's cruel and unusual punishment. Swiss German is to German German as Romanian is to Spanish.

But I have to agree that people in the street were incredibly kind and helpful when we have been in Switzerland.

My husband did some googling on this. The official language in Switzerland is German.

I have a very high opinion of people from Switzerland. Not just people on the street. Everywhere we went, we encountered very helpful people.

 

[Freedom56]

Folks,

Thanks so much for your valuable tips. It seems I need to do lot more research regarding train pass vs tickets.

I am looking at Euro Pass at this url https://www.raileurope.com/pass/eurail-global-pass-5880

I have purchased TGV tickets in the past from Paris to Lausanne using that site. But be aware of rail strikes in France and Italy. We got so fed up with strikes that we fly and drive 95% of the time.

 

[braumeister]

My husband did some googling on this. The official language in Switzerland is German.

Sorry, but there are four official languages in Switzerland.

And the variety of German spoken in, for example, Zurich has very little in common with what you would hear over the border in Munich. When children who have grown up speaking Swiss German are sent to school, the first thing they are taught is what "real" German is like. It's a bit of a shock to them.

 

[Freedom56]

My husband did some googling on this. The official language in Switzerland is German.

I have a very high opinion of people from Switzerland. Not just people on the street. Everywhere we went, we encountered very helpful people.

It's also French, Italian, and Romansh. It depends on the Canton you live. My wife is from Canton Vaud and they speak predominantly French over there. The areas around Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and Lac Neuchatel are predominantly French speaking. Ticino is Italian speaking.

 

[brett]

If you plan to travel by train, then packing light with carry on only a great piece of advice.

We met a retired banker from Seattle and his wife in a laundromat in Florence. They had been on the rail for a month and were going to buy another month.

He told us that prior to doing so they did a practice run on the Seattle-LA Amtrak route. They each had a 25 inch case and a carry on. When they returned home they decided that they could not travel like that. Too much hassle. They both switched to carry on and never regretted the decision. I guess that is why we met them in a laundromat. We do the same. Over the years we have got lots of great travel tips in places like this. Most often from Australians.

 

[Nemo2]

Ten days in Toulouse I wore the same T-shirt every day......hand washed it at night, hung it on the studio drying rack.....clean & dry next morning.

 

[NW-Bound]

Cities we would like to visit:
Salzburg, Vienna - Austria
Lucerne, Zurich, Geneva - Switzerland
Paris, Orleans, Normandy - France
Brussel, Louvain - Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich - Germany
Prague - Czechia

15 cities in 4 weeks? All you get to see are the train stations and the hotels or Airbnb's where you stay.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

+1 for Man in Seat 61.

Careful staying near some train stations as some are located in sketchy areas of town. On the flip side, the advantage is that they are typically transportation hubs.
Check out Eurocheapo.com for hotel ideas.

We use a combination of items for navigation. We normally bring with us a Rick Steves book. You either love or hate the sketch maps in his books. I love them as I like just getting the general direction with a few landmarks. For key destinations, I think his instructions provide enough detail too.
Google Maps is great in that you can pin points of interest before you go. It also provides great info on public transport. We also like to visit the local Tourist Info centre to try to snag a free tourist map that typically highlights most of the key sights, shopping areas, etc. And sometimes it's just as easy as keeping an eye out for street signs that point you in the right direction.

Keep an eye out (various websites) for potential labour strikes in Europe that can throw your transportation and hotel timing off the rails.

A car can be both a blessing and a curse depending on the situation of course. Generally poor use in town but opens up so much between towns.

 

[neihn]

15 cities in 4 weeks? All you get to see are the train stations and the hotels or Airbnb's where you stay.

I hear you . My 1st cousin lives in Duisburg Germany, it is close to Belgium and Netherlands. It is going to be our base. I think we could do a quick visit for those two countries with the guide of cousin.

I am not sure if it makes sense to set up other bases (ie Orleans France, Basel Switzerland, Munich Germany) and doing day trip to cities/places that I want to visit. Probably rental car works better for this scenario, I need to man up

 

[RunningBum]

15 cities in 4 weeks? All you get to see are the train stations and the hotels or Airbnb's where you stay.

Disagree.

In 3 weeks we went to:
Prague (3)
Hallstatt (1)
Salzburg (3)
Munich (2)
*Fussen
Zurich (1)
Luzern (1)
*Bern
Strasbourg (2)
*Paris
*Luxembourg City
overnight train (1)
*Hamburg
Bacharach (3)
Rothenburg (1)
*Nurnburg
Frankfurt (1)

(#) is number of nights spent there.
* = stopover during the day on our way elsewhere, or a day trip (Paris). To Hamburg was an overnight train.

Of course we didn't get much depth, but we got breadth and enjoyed seeing highlights everywhere we went. A lot like doing a cruise, except that trains cut a bit into our early mornings or evenings instead of sailing overnight. We couldn't have predicted where we wanted to stay longer and where we didn't. We were definitely ready to leave Prague. Would have enjoyed more time in Salzburg. Rothenburg was fantastic but I'm not sure another day would've been the same. Likewise Luxembourg. Had we pared down the trip in advance and spend more time in fewer places, we'd have might've dumped those last two and spent more time in the Swiss cities that we enjoyed less.

A day trip to Paris sounds ridiculous, but it wasn't even in our plan, but rather an adjustment when we saw the Swiss Alps would be rained out, so we took a high speed train and I showed my son some highlights. Paris isn't my kind of city anyway. Hamburg was the other replacement for the Alps, to see the model trains. Far out of the way but it worked. Other than Paris and Hamburg, we stayed in a fairly tight area but saw a lot of variety. The OP is going a little further out but not that much more.

It was tiring, but my son was 19 and I'm an endurance athlete. We didn't get exhausted. We were still enjoying our last day and not just looking for it to be over so we could get home and relax, which is something for me because I'm more of a stay at home kind of person. It helps a lot to go with a compatible person. My son and I have similar interests, and there were a few times we went to a museum and within 1/2 hour looked at each other and realized it wasn't that interesting to us and we bolted and found something better.

The smartest thing I did was to change our strategy to lock in to places and book in advance rather than hop around spontaneously. I think we would've burned too much of our time finding places to stay and it would've been stressful.

I'm sure some here couldn't imagine hopping around this much, but it was perfect for us. The OP needs to figure out what kind of travelers they are.

 

[neihn]

Disagree.

In 3 weeks we went to:
Prague (3)
Hallstatt (1)
Salzburg (3)
Munich (2)
*Fussen
Zurich (1)
Luzern (1)
*Bern
Strasbourg (2)
*Paris
*Luxembourg City
overnight train (1)
*Hamburg
Bacharach (3)
Rothenburg (1)
*Nurnburg
Frankfurt (1)

(#) is number of nights spent there.
* = stopover during the day on our way elsewhere, or a day trip (Paris). To Hamburg was an overnight train.

....

I'm sure some here couldn't imagine hopping around this much, but it was perfect for us. The OP needs to figure out what kind of travelers they are.

Wow, whats an inspiration. Thanks.

 

[RunningBum]

In case anyone wonders what you can possibly see on such a busy schedule, here's what I recall, recorded, or have pictures of. It's fun to recall the trip.

In 3 weeks we went to:
Prague (3)
- Old Town (hung out and admired the big clock), Wenceslas Square, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Communism museum, and on the first day hung out in some local park and people watched while recovering from jet lag.
7.5 hr train ride ate up a morning and part of an afternoon.

Hallstatt (1)
- Funicular above town, salt mine tour, strolled back down appreciating the views. Saw the bone house, walked around town. Storm rolled in so we couldn't canoe on the lake as planned, but we did take the boat to/from the train station, the only way over from that direction.
2+ hr train

Salzburg (3)
- Day trip to Berchtesgaden/Eagle's Nest (hour train each way). Sound of Music tour, including Luge Ride and Mirabell gardens. Burned one evening doing laundry. There was a classic car show and they were driving around a loop in town and we really enjoyed watching that, giving up some Mozart stuff we hoped to see.
1.5 hr train


Munich (2)
- Deutches Museum, which we bailed on before too long. Hofbrauhaus beer garden. Dachau. Had to spend some time figuring out plans to replace the rainy Swiss Alps days we were skipping.
2 hr train

*Fussen
- Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau castles. We took a nice countryside walk back to the train station on a hike/bike trail and this may have been the only time we rushed since we weren't sure just how far it was and didn't want to miss the next planned train.
5.5 hr train

Zurich (1)
- I think we just walked around the river for an hour or so and caught an early train out.
<1 hr train

Luzern (1)
- Walked along the lake, saw the lion, went to some street market.
1.5 hr train

*Bern
- Walked around, looked for the bear but the pits were closed as they were building a new environment.
2.5 hr train

Strasbourg (2)
< 2 hr train each way to/from Paris
*Paris
- Strasbourg was mostly a place to stay though I did go for a run around the old town the 2nd morning. We took an express train for a day trip to Paris. I had been once before. We went to the Louvre, it was too crowded and dry and not our thing. Went to the Eiffel Tower, and after had time to watch the indie vendors avoid the police and come back and set up again. Maybe went to the Arc de Triomphe and a cathedral? Can't remember this trip vs. my other one.
2 hr train

*Luxembourg City
- Saw a big limo leaving the PM's residence, so maybe we got a glimpse of the PM? Was going do the Wenzel Walk 1000 year tour but my son muttered something about "more old building" so instead we switched to walking down to the nice green valley down by the Peitruss river and enjoyed some gardens and woods, and played minigolf. Very pleasant break from the cities.

overnight train (1) ~ 8-10 hr
*Hamburg
- Minatur Wunderland largest train layout in the world, then back on the train.
5-6 hr train

Bacharach (3)
- Went to Berg Eltz on Mosel River, which included a nice wooded hike from the train station. The next day we hopped on and off a Rhine River boat to see a few castles.
4 hr train

Rothenburg (1)
- Got there for the closing parade of a festival. Wish we had known because it looked like a blast and we'd have come earlier. Night watchman's tour. Walked the top of the wall around the town, and just enjoyed strolling a well-preserved old city. Bought a cuckoo clock.
1+ hr train

*Nurnburg
- Nazi Documentation center
1+hr train

Frankfurt (1)
- just dinner, sleep, and flight home.

I think we spent about 38 hours on trains in 3 weeks, not counting the one overnight train where we'd have been sleeping anyway. The nice thing is they were almost always on time or within 15 minutes, no security to clear or baggage to wait for as with flying, and they were almost all right in the middle of where we wanted to be. We used the train time to catch up on sleep, for reviewing/planning what do do at the next stop, and just downtime. On longer trains we usually took a meal of some kind.

 

[Fedup]

I often laughed when people in my bridge club said they have been to all the places that we’ve been. Now I know how it’s possible.

 

[neihn]

In case anyone wonders what you can possibly see on such a busy schedule, here's what I recall, recorded, or have pictures of. It's fun to recall the trip.

.....

I think we spent about 38 hours on trains in 3 weeks, not counting the one overnight train where we'd have been sleeping anyway. The nice thing is they were almost always on time or within 15 minutes, no security to clear or baggage to wait for as with flying, and they were almost all right in the middle of where we wanted to be. We used the train time to catch up on sleep, for reviewing/planning what do do at the next stop, and just downtime. On longer trains we usually took a meal of some kind.

Wow. Great details of your itinerary, many cities that are on my list. I think I just need to modify it a little to finalize my route.

Thanks again RM - also big thanks to everyone here.

 

[Nemo2]

I often laughed when people in my bridge club said they have been to all the places that we’ve been. Now I know how it’s possible.

As far as I can tell, predominant among the relatively wide variety of travelers are hummingbirds and chameleons; hummingbirds flit from place to place with a predetermined checklist of 'must sees', while chameleons are slower, and attempt to blend into their surroundings.

We are of the latter group and try to absorb the atmosphere and character of a locale rather than keep score - we have friends who would likely fall into the hummingbird category; nice folks, but we wouldn't travel with them for long.

 

[RunningBum]

As far as I can tell, predominant among the relatively wide variety of travelers are hummingbirds and chameleons; hummingbirds flit from place to place with a predetermined checklist of 'must sees', while chameleons are slower, and attempt to blend into their surroundings.

We are of the latter group and try to absorb the atmosphere and character of a locale rather than keep score - we have friends who would likely fall into the hummingbird category; nice folks, but we wouldn't travel with them for long.

I agree that incompatible types like that shouldn't travel together, but I think you are mis-characterizing people not like you.

I guess you think listing places you've been as keeping score. I only did that to refute the poster who said you'd only see train stations and where you're staying if you travel that much. As I look at my itinerary plan, I see that in most places we didn't get to everything on the list of each city, unless it was very small and targeted, like the castles near Fussen so I'll dispute that checklist notion.

It's totally true that we had a list of places we wanted to see--not what others say we "must see" but what we wanted to see. Certainly if we're going to the Rhine Valley, for example, we're going to see castles, and focus on the popular ones because they are popular for the reason of being well preserved or bigger or more historic. A checklist? No, an organized list of what we'd like to do, in order of preference and convenience.

If a place didn't really grab our attention, we'd leave. Why burn limited time when it doesn't interest us? Do we have to stay and hope something interesting will happen? Most common were places that were interesting enough to go through them, but not to spend extra time. And a few really did get our attention to spend extended time. I don't ever recall saying that we needed to leave a place to have time to see other things on our list; but I would say that if we wanted to see this other place we'd have to leave, but we have the choice to stay where we are and skip the other. It's not a checklist or keeping score as you say; I'd just rather see more things and get exposed to different things than try to absorb everything I could out of a few places. There were definitely times when we got to a new place and commented on how we were so glad we bailed on the previous place so we'd have time to enjoy this. And we didn't always have to go to a "place". A few times we just sat in a square or a sidewalk cafe having ice cream, a beer, or tea, and enjoyed the atmosphere, but an hour of that was plenty for us, not a whole afternoon, and not every day.

Sure, you could say that if we didn't keep moving around so much we would've had time to see everything we wanted, relax in a square every day, and also hang longer at places to give them a chance, but then we would've missed some places that we liked a lot more than we thought.

I like Rick Steves books and videos for travel advice, but one thing that bugs me is that he tends to shun the popular for the obscure. I remember a show on the Swiss Alps, where he featured a mountain dairy farm. I grew up in the midwest. Why in the world would I spend time and money to go to the Swiss Alps and look at cows? I want to go see the drop-dead views, even if it's a tourist site and I won't soak up the local culture nearly as much.

I understand people who want to do this; it's not for us. But I'm not going to characterize them with some semi-derogatory terms. Maybe you don't think you are doing this, but "flit" and "checklist" are pretty unflattering terms to use for a style you don't like.

 

[Freedom56]

As far as I can tell, predominant among the relatively wide variety of travelers are hummingbirds and chameleons; hummingbirds flit from place to place with a predetermined checklist of 'must sees', while chameleons are slower, and attempt to blend into their surroundings.

We are of the latter group and try to absorb the atmosphere and character of a locale rather than keep score - we have friends who would likely fall into the hummingbird category; nice folks, but we wouldn't travel with them for long.

"Hummingbirds" or whatever you want to call them, miss the best parts of a country buy "buzzing" from major city to major city. In the case of Switzerland, there are far better places to visit than Zurich, Luzerne, Bern, or Geneva (which are all nice cities). Places like Gruyere, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Iseltwald Montreux, Zermatt and Lugano are often missed and are some of the best places to visit. The same can be said about Italy. Most people visit Milan, Rome, Florence, and Venice. Some of the nicest places in Italy are in the north near the Swiss border. Stresa and the Borromean Islands are considered by the locals (in the north) to be one of the nicest regions in Italy. After multiple visits there, I would have to agree.

 

[Nemo2]

. But I'm not going to characterize them with some semi-derogatory terms. Maybe you don't think you are doing this, but "flit" and "checklist" are pretty unflattering terms to use for a style you don't like.

Sorry that you appear to have taken it personally, but it really wasn't about you, but rather observations of people in general, (as to semi-derogatory I'd posit that self describing as a chameleon might be more unflattering than calling some others 'hummingbirds' ), and I have encountered both types.....plus offshoots of both.

(As to Rick Steves, DW & I have seen a couple/few of his vids and we don't get the attraction/adulation either.)

Again...sorry for any offence.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I agree that incompatible types like that shouldn't travel together, but I think you are mis-characterizing people not like you.

I guess you think listing places you've been as keeping score. I only did that to refute the poster who said you'd only see train stations and where you're staying if you travel that much. As I look at my itinerary plan, I see that in most places we didn't get to everything on the list of each city, unless it was very small and targeted, like the castles near Fussen so I'll dispute that checklist notion.

It's totally true that we had a list of places we wanted to see--not what others say we "must see" but what we wanted to see. Certainly if we're going to the Rhine Valley, for example, we're going to see castles, and focus on the popular ones because they are popular for the reason of being well preserved or bigger or more historic. A checklist? No, an organized list of what we'd like to do, in order of preference and convenience.

If a place didn't really grab our attention, we'd leave. Why burn limited time when it doesn't interest us? Do we have to stay and hope something interesting will happen? Most common were places that were interesting enough to go through them, but not to spend extra time. And a few really did get our attention to spend extended time. I don't ever recall saying that we needed to leave a place to have time to see other things on our list; but I would say that if we wanted to see this other place we'd have to leave, but we have the choice to stay where we are and skip the other. It's not a checklist or keeping score as you say; I'd just rather see more things and get exposed to different things than try to absorb everything I could out of a few places. There were definitely times when we got to a new place and commented on how we were so glad we bailed on the previous place so we'd have time to enjoy this. And we didn't always have to go to a "place". A few times we just sat in a square or a sidewalk cafe having ice cream, a beer, or tea, and enjoyed the atmosphere, but an hour of that was plenty for us, not a whole afternoon, and not every day.

Sure, you could say that if we didn't keep moving around so much we would've had time to see everything we wanted, relax in a square every day, and also hang longer at places to give them a chance, but then we would've missed some places that we liked a lot more than we thought.

I like Rick Steves books and videos for travel advice, but one thing that bugs me is that he tends to shun the popular for the obscure. I remember a show on the Swiss Alps, where he featured a mountain dairy farm. I grew up in the midwest. Why in the world would I spend time and money to go to the Swiss Alps and look at cows? I want to go see the drop-dead views, even if it's a tourist site and I won't soak up the local culture nearly as much.

I understand people who want to do this; it's not for us. But I'm not going to characterize them with some semi-derogatory terms. Maybe you don't think you are doing this, but "flit" and "checklist" are pretty unflattering terms to use for a style you don't like.

I guess we are hummingbirds if there is a need to create stereotypes, but I think of myself more as having travel attention deficit disorder. More than three nights in one place is usually too much for me—I’m ready to move on to the next one. I’ve never ever minded being perceived as a tourist because duh. We really are tourists, respectful and friendly, but still tourists, and truthfully that has added to our enjoyment, to share both ways. I don’t mind seeing the places a country is historically famous for—there is so much to see and for most of us our travel time is finite, so focusing on what makes a country or region special surely can’t be a bad thing. Do I want to be the person who eschewed Edinburgh Castle because everyone goes there, and miss having young Mary almost come to life for me as we toured it?

I notice just a bit here but mainly among some of our real life friends there is a certain competitiveness about traveling that gets tiresome. Different styles for travel and everything else for different people, but if I tell my travel competitive friend when asked that we went to this restaurant in this particular city, for example, I would rather talk about that for at least a minute before they tell me all about a different restaurant in a different city that they know we’ve not been to but they have. They seem to need to be the discoverers of new places sometimes.

I love reading everyone’s posts here and seeing the sights vicariously—the different styles are most interesting, and keep those photos coming!

 

[RunningBum]

Sorry that you appear to have taken it personally, but it really wasn't about you, but rather observations of people in general, (as to semi-derogatory I'd posit that self describing as a chameleon might be more unflattering than calling some others 'hummingbirds' ), and I have encountered both types.....plus offshoots of both.

(As to Rick Steves, DW & I have seen a couple/few of his vids and we don't get the attraction/adulation either.)

Again...sorry for any offence.

It's not the animal you assign, if's how you describe them. Hummingbirds flit with a checklist in hand, keeping score...chameleons absorb the atmosphere and character of a locale. That's a pretty biased observation, complimentary to your type and not very flattering to the hummingbird types--though I know there are a few exactly like that. I could come up with equally unflattering observations of the type you call chameleons, but I won't, because I know they don't apply to most.

Relating this to the OP, my point is that there have been a lot of people stating in absolute terms that their agenda is way too busy, and I'm saying for some types of people, it is not. I'm using myself as an example, cautioning that my style may not work for everyone, but that trip has very pleasant memories for us. But the OP doesn't need to fit in with what seems to be the majority view here if that's not for them, and judging by their plan it sounds like they're more like me. I'm not taking what you're saying personally (maybe a little), but I'm not letting your (and other's) biases influence the OP without challenging them. That's all.

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, I admit that I made the comment about 15 cities in 3 weeks without putting the OP's list on a map to see how one can plan an itinerary to see them all. It may be reasonable, if they are in groups that one can make easy daily excursions from a base to nearby towns.

I will have to sit down to list out the places that we visited in our 6-week auto trip last year. There were only about 6 main stops where we rented Airbnb's. But we made day trips which were easy with the leased car, and in fact I planned the itinerary with the car in mind to visit the French and Italian countrysides. On the way, we also had some freebies when stopping to visit towns along the route. We needed to stop to stretch our legs, and to have lunch anyway.

So, if I sat down and counted these stops and daily excursions, the list can get quite long.

By the way, the car trip was very enjoyable, as we had done several trips using public transport and saw the large cities. Out in the countryside, having a car makes it a lot easier, and takes much less time than sitting out by the side of the road with your luggage to wait for a country bus. The real trouble is finding a place to park, which can be tough even in small towns, not just major cities.

 

[Nemo2]

As an example of what I was alluding to earlier, when we announced we were visiting Bulgaria prior to catching a ship for a transatlantic cruise, I exchanged a couple posts on another site with someone who thought going there was 'exotic'.

Reading the entire thread it became apparent that the majority of contributors flew into the city closest to the point of departure, arranged for private transportation airport - hotel, (where the rest of them were staying), and then they all went en masse to the ship.

No thank you.

 

[Fedup]

"Hummingbirds" or whatever you want to call them, miss the best parts of a country buy "buzzing" from major city to major city. In the case of Switzerland, there are far better places to visit than Zurich, Luzerne, Bern, or Geneva (which are all nice cities). Places like Gruyere, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Iseltwald Montreux, Zermatt and Lugano are often missed and are some of the best places to visit. The same can be said about Italy. Most people visit Milan, Rome, Florence, and Venice. Some of the nicest places in Italy are in the north near the Swiss border. Stresa and the Borromean Islands are considered by the locals (in the north) to be one of the nicest regions in Italy. After multiple visits there, I would have to agree.

I save a little bit of every country that I’ve been to so I have an incentive to go back. I stay mostly to the one side of Switzerland because of convenience. Next time if I do another country within close distance to the other side of Switzerland, then I visit those places you mention.

Even for the UK, which is like my adopted country through marriage, I’ve been there more than 10 times but less than 20 times, I have not visited Stonehenge and York. I might do that next time.