If you are 25 years old or younger, use BIJ discount rail tickets for European travel. You will save 25-30% off the normal 2nd class fare, a much better deal than Eurailpasses for most itineraries.

These tickets can only be purchased in Europe, at train stations (for travel within that country) or budget travel agencies (for inter or intra country travel). There is no information available on these tickets in the USA.

These tickets include unlimited stopovers, so buy the longest ticket possible for the best deal. Travelling to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, and Frankfurt? Purchase one BIJ ticket from Vienna to Frankfurt, then make stopovers in the other cities (the stopover cities must be on the main route between the starting and ending cities). Its cheaper that way.

Naturally, BIJ tickets do not cover reservations or supplements. Both must be paid separately.

I found that it is generally cheaper to use BIJ tickets than Eurail if your journey is 4 hours or less each day (although this depends a bit on the country you are in).

You should be able to get the youth discount wherever you buy the tickets (travel agencies, train stations, etc) IN Europe. Each may call the discount something different, but all the discounts are based on the BIJ discount code which you will probably see stamped on the ticket.

We bought the discount tickets using our passports as ID and proof of age. I don’t know if other forms of ID are OK.

You can use the following web sites to determine whether these discounted youth tickets will be cheaper than rail passes:
http://www.railsaver.com

This website calls the BIJ tickets "Youth Discount Tickets".

BIJ (or any point to point) tickets do not cover supplements, so add those back in for EC/IC/special trains (figure 5 USA dollars).

Again, buy the longest ticket possible for your journey. With all European rail tickets, the first 50 Kilometers are the most expensive. Purchasing a 100 Kilometer journey ticket is cheaper than purchasing two 50 kilometer journey tickets.

Post any questions here and I will attempt to answer them.

[This message has been edited by PohlDan (edited 12 May 2001).]