European Rail Pass vs. Point-to-Point Tickets

A part of the trip planning process that stumps many rail travelers is determining whether it’s cheaper to buy a rail pass or purchase individual city-to-city tickets. In order to make that call you must first know the cost of both. Prices for the myriad rail passes now sold are easy to find; just go to Gemut.com and click “Buy a European Rail Pass.” Even though it’s getting easier all the time, figuring the price of point-to-point tickets, especially if the trip will cross an international border, can involve a fair amount of research. I say getting easier because you won't find a price for all city pairs and, until recently, the websites of European railroads simply did not quote prices for international journeys. But now that they have started to do so, there is such a wide variety of fares and it’s hard to know exactly what you will pay until you’re actually ready to purchase a ticket. Let’s say you and a traveling companion want to compare the cost of the Germany-Switzerland Eurail Saver Pass ($371 per person, first-class only, five days travel within a two-month period) with point-to-point tickets. At the heart of your travel is a round-trip between Frankfurt and Interlaken. Rail Europe’s lowest fare for second-class travel on that route for two persons is $698. Their best first-class deal is $1052. Moving on to the German rail website you find the normal second-class roundtrip fare for two adults for two adults is 402 EUR or about $591. However, the site also offers a second-class “Savings” fare of 164 EUR or about $241 for two persons, or a special first-class fare of 266 EUR ($391). The normal first-class fare for two is 650 EUR ($955). The question is, what do you have to do to get those lower fares? Give up a lot of flexibility, that’s what. Germany’s discounted fares have advance purchase restrictions, are limited to certain trains, and are usually nonrefundable and cannot be changed. One advantage, however, is that you can purchase them with a credit card at the German rail website and print your own tickets. Whether point-to-point tickets—even if you get the lowest fares—will save you money over the pass in this case depends on what other rail travel you have planned in addition to the Frankfurt-Interlaken trip. At Switzerland's rail website you’ll find that the 51-minute Interlaken-Bern fare for one person, roundtrip, is CH 52 ($47) second-class or CH 86 ($77) first-class. As you can see, it won’t take many trips of this duration for the pass to be the better deal.

Since you won’t be able to find a price for every city pair and some rail websites (France and Austria, for example), seem to require knowledge of a foreign language to get an international fare quote, I suggest Rick Steve’s Time and Cost Map. It’s a bit crude, and doesn’t take into account any discounts offered by European railroads, but will provide a rough estimate of the cost between most European cities.

An important note for buying point-to-point tickets through France Rail. This confusing website continually tries to link North American users to its partner site with Rail Europe where point-to-point prices are much higher. Do not click links marked “USA” or “Canada.” Instead do directly to http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/home/.

For rail prices within one country it’s best to go to the rail company website of that country. In some cases you can purchase tickets you can print yourself or pick up at the rail station, thereby getting the lowest prices and avoiding shipping charges. You can also buy point-to-point tickets at Gemut.com.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not direct you to what may be the best English-language website for European rail travel, The Man in Seat 61.

Here are key rail websites to research fares and, in some cases, actually book point-to-point rail ticket prices:

Gemut.com
Austria Rail
France Rail
Germany Rail
Italy Rail