Check out www.railsaver.com
Any particular reasons for Bern, Milan, and Zurich?

Don’s got the overall answer, but I’ll add my usual. Follow the “I have a good idea of my itinerary route” and click “I prefer purchasing railpasses (to point to point tickets) ‘only when it saves money.’”

Trains will definitely get you to all these places and you can buy a pass that will cover the base train fare (reservations are extra) to all these places. Which type of Global pass (consecutive day or a flexi-pass for certain number of travel days in a two month period) are you considering? IMO a consecutive day pass is rarely the best financial option, but others, including Rick Steves, disagree. Since you are wisely spending several days in each city, look at a flexi pass. A select pass covering Spain, France, Italy and Germany with point to point tickets for the bits it won’t cover may be a better financial deal.

More to consider… Do other forms of transportation make more sense than the train for some legs. Have you looked for cheap flights to/from Spain? You can sometimes find flights that are cheaper than the train. Since it looks like Nice (better choice for a tourist than Marseilles) is really just a stop on the way from Spain to Italy for you, consider skipping it if you find a cheap flight from Spain to Italy.

I agree with Don’s question about Milan, Zurich and Berne — there’s nothing wrong with any of the cities, but unless you have a particular reason to want to visit them there are other places nearby that are, IMO, better visits.

Hey Don I tried the website but it just wouldn’t show me the prices, so ill have to look at them with someone elses computer, but thanks for the link. Well I chosed Milan because it seemed like one of the only Big city’s in North Italy and it’s closer to Switzerland. I choose Bern and Zurich for no particular reason really. My friend wants to visit Switzerland and its closer to our destination in Germany.If you have any other city’s that are better ill sure look into it, because were probably gonna change the plan. Were still in the beginning stages of planning it, so any improvements will be thanked.

Old Lady thanks also for answering. For some reason I cant plan my eurotrip and itinerary on this website. I think its just my laptop but this website has been very helpful. I was gonna get the youth one for 30 days on this website http://www.eurorailw…
Should I still get this or something else like the flexi pass? whatever is more convenient and cost less. Im just confussed with whats the difference between a consecutive day and flxi pass is. Yeah I looked at some tickets from leaving the states to barcelona for 792 and from prague to the states for 799 and these were the cheapest I could find. The rest were in the 1000’s. I dont want to skip France I just dont want to spend that much days in South France, cause theirs not really any city’s that are a must see on the coast line that ive heard of. So Nice is better than Marseilles? Were all looking for city’s that have awesome night life like drinking, clubing, etc. History/Culture, Beautiful women, Beautiful scenery’s, things to do, and cheapnest. If you have any better citys in the country’s I said earlier, it will be much appreciated. Thanks

http://www.eurorailw… is one of hundreds of travel agency websites that sell railpasses. It’s a competitor to the people who kindly sponsor this website. The price is the same no matter where you buy the pass. While you can get most of the information from any of the travel agencies, I’d look at several sites as each one features certain bits of information. Check www.railpass.com, the bookings tab on this page, www.eurail.com and www.raileurope.com as well as www.ricksteves.com Buy your pass from the site with the best deal on shipping and that offers freebies (other than the bonuses that come with every railpass) that matter to you. If everything else is equal, buying under the “bookings” tab on this website supports the folks who kindly sponsor this site.

I do not think the 30 consecutive day pass is the best deal for your itinerary. Why do you think it is?

Some city information: Milan is a big, bustling business city — business suits and cell phones. There are a couple of interesting sights, but Florence, Venice and Rome are much better choices, IMO for places to visit in Italy. Cities are not the reason to visit Switzerland. Bern is the capital — busy and bureaucratic. Zurich has a bit of alpine view, but you really have to get out of any city to experience Switzerland. You’ll find clubs and parties in Zurich but they have a certain “edge” to them. Marseilles is one of the world’s busiest ports, not a tourist destination. Nice is an expensive riviera resort. You’ll find awesome clubs and party atmosphere (I like it for other reasons) if you can afford it.

Well I know that the Consecutive passes provide unlimited rail travel every day for the duration of the pass. So will the Flexi pass be better for me? I know the trip will be for 30 days. But I dont understand how the Flexi pass actually works. So if I were to buy a Flexi pass for 6-8 days with a period of 2 months, would that work better for me? For example if I travel from Spain to Nice and go to a hostel and stay there for 2 days is that considered a day used on my pass? So what im trying to say is what counts as a day on the Flexi pass?

Do you think it’s better for us to travel from Nice to Venice? It just seemed farther out of the way and more time on the train. I looked at Interlaken and might subsitute that for Bern. Is that a good move? So what city in South France that is by the coast seems better than the rest?

For a flexi pass a rail day is midnight to midnight. You can take as many trains as you like during that 24 hour period and it counts as 1 day. The “7:00 PM rule” means that overnight trains usually count as only 1 day — the day you arrive in the next city. You just have to make sure you take a train that leaves after 7:00 PM with no connections before midnight. It looks like you’ve got 6 potential rail days in your itinerary.

A select pass is limited to countries that border each other and will be cheaper than a global flexipass. Plot your trip on a map to see if one will work, remembering that buying a point to point ticket for a short leg in one country may allow you to use a cheaper pass.

Only if you want to visit Nice and you want to visit Venice. It looks like this part of the trip is to buy the “I’ve been to France” and “I’ve been to Italy” T-shirt. Why do you want to visit Southern France and Northern Italy? Any city along the Riviera will be expensive. Cannes probably has the best beach although even that bit of opinion depends on what kind of beach you’re looking for. Nice has better museums and a different old time feel. If partying is your goal, any city will have night life.

I looked at the Select pass youth-2nd class in 6 days in 2 months for $437 so that’s deffently cheaper. Thanks a lot with that, cause I would of paid $850 for the 30 consecutive Global pass. Well me personally I want to visit as much as countrys as I can within 30 days but still be able to spend a couple days in them. Im not to big on France, I would love to go to Paris but its to far out of the way and I would love to go see Rome and Naples but its too far south and I just want to spend a couple days in Italy not a lot of time. Well I think I just might go to Nice and maybe take a bus or something to a smaller town north of it to check it out. Im just trying to figure out the more convenient and money saving for the trip. Because I want to find a route thats easier from barcelona to munich that lets me have fun and enjoy my time by traveling as much countries as possible.

Paris to Barcelona or vice versa is easily doable by overnight train or cheap flight, as is Barcelona or Paris to Rome if you decided to rethink your itinerary. With the availability of cheap flights these days distance is less of an issue. If booked early enough many flights cost little more than the cost of a railpass day, so you just buy a pass with one less day on it. I understand the desire to see as many places as you can during your time, but I’d emphasize seeing the places you really want to see. If you want to do Paris, Barcelona, and Rome you can make it happen.

This is an excellent suggestion. Just don’t overdo the overnight train and intra-Europe flight thing as it can be tiring and stressful. I try to limit the total of flights and overnight trains to an average of 1 a week (4 or 5 in your case) with an absolute rule of no more than 2 in any 7 day period.

I looked into the flights and I found flights fro Barcelona to Paris for $33.61. Paris to Rome for $43.85. Rome to Basel for $42.38 and ill just take a train Zurich or Interlaken. From zurich to Munich is $84. So flying is acctually cheaper. So all my flights and train rides are around $260. I just have to find a way to Prague from Munich. So I guess im going to Paris and Rome Thanks alot for the tips, u guys are saving me a lot of money and better places to go. With all my transportation paid off how much money will I need to bring/have for 30 days. Will spending $100 $150 USD a day be good for the trip? I averaged it out to be between $2800-4200 USD.

Train Basel > Interlaken > Zurich could easily set you back $200. Swiss train prices are very high. See sbb.ch for Swiss Rail prices and itineraries. I was a bit disappointed in Berne and Zurich. Interlaken as a base for daily trips up into the mountains is much better idea for Switzerland, IMHO.

you can get to prague from munich for about 39 E. check the bahn.de website for this fare on your dates. I think the fare involves taking a bus from nuremburg to prague after the train from munich to nuremburg (if i remember correctly).

Don, so is it worth it to go to Interlaken? I really wanna go there cause theirs a lot of stuff I want to do there. Berne and Zurich also dont have mountains, which is another reason I want to go to Interlaken.

Tigrouflip, thanks a lot for that. I was expecting to pay more.

I like Interlaken a lot, but I’ve only been twice, both times in summers (second time spent mostly in Grindelwald). There’s a lot to do all around there. I also stopped in Lucerne for several hours and thought it was worth a bit more time if I ever get back.

When I think Switzerland, I don’t really think of Zurich and Berne — I think of Alpine scenery and adventure! For that, you need to get up into the mountains, and Interlaken is very well situated as a base for all that kind of stuff.