One of the best things about visiting Europe is that you don’t need to stick to visiting just one city, or even one country. Traveling throughout the continent is incredibly accessible, with tons of convenient and affordable ways to get from one place to the next. For many Americans, this is a completely new concept. Traveling domestically throughout America tends to be expensive, even for short distances. For example, my trips to visit my family from New York City to New Jersey cost as much as a recent flight I took from London to Amsterdam. So, if you are heading to Europe anytime soon, you’re going to want to take advantage.
One thing that can feel a little mystifying is train tickets throughout Europe. Most tourists show up to the train station, find a kiosk and pay for their train pass before boarding. What you might not know is that these train tickets fluctuate in price, can sell out ahead of time, and you may not be getting the best bang for your buck by buying a ticket the day of. As someone who has traveled to over 40 countries, I’ve definitely learned this lesson the hard way.
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Don’t Buy Each Ticket Individually, Get The Eurail Pass
@sightsofsara Traveling Europe with a Eurail Global Pass 🚈🫶🏻 @Eurail #Eurail #EurailRailAdventure #goonestopfurther #worldtravel #traveler #nomad #europetravel #solofemaletraveler #train #europe #adventure Eurail Partner
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In a TikTok made by creator Sights of Sara, a solo traveler who shares her tips and tricks on all things travel, she introduces the Eurail Pass. She explains that she has been using the Eurail Pass to travel Europe for six weeks, and urges fellow travelers to do the same. She shares that the pass allows her to travel to 33 different countries across 33,000 destinations in Europe. The pass is flexible, allowing her to change her train reservations at the last minute, which is especially important for people who enjoy a spontaneous moment within their travels.
One of the biggest perks that Sara shares is that the Eurail Pass app makes the process of booking train tickets incredibly easy. Users don’t have to worry about downloading separate train ticket apps for the various countries that they’re visiting. Plus, everything in the app is in English, so there’s no chance of misunderstanding or misinterpreting something when buying a ticket. After visiting over nine countries over six weeks, Sara says that she will never travel throughout Europe without purchasing a Eurail Pass.
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How Does The Eurail Pass Actually Work?
The Eurail Pass is basically a pass that you pay one set fee for, and it allows you a certain amount of train trips. There are multiple passes to choose from, so you can customize your experience depending on how long you’re visiting for and what your plans are. There are two main types of passes: Flexi Passes and Continuous Passes. Flexi Passes can get you a certain amount of days of travel, and they must be used within one or two months, depending on the pass you get. A Continuous Pass gets you a certain number of days of traveling in a row, which is better for people who are taking more trains in a concentrated amount of time.
Let’s take the 7-day Flexi Pass for example. This pass allows you to take train trips for 7 different days, and you have one month to do so. This particular pass currently costs $337. Of course, knowing whether this is cost effective for you depends on how far you are traveling. For example, if you’re hopping from country to country, this pass will be worth it. Most tickets that bring you from one country to another (like London to Paris, or Paris to Munich, or Munich to Venice) cost $100 or more. So, if you’re taking more than three of those types of trips–the Eurail Pass is definitely worth it.
Once you pick the pass that’s right for you, you can go ahead in the Eurail Pass app and reserve the trains that you’d like to take. It’s important to remember that in Europe, train tickets tend to require seat reservations (especially traveling between countries) so securing that reservation is important. Even with the Eurail Pass, you may have to pay a fee for a seat reservation. Even then, the Eurail Pass will allow you to travel at a much lower cost than if you bought each train trip individually. So, next time you visit Europe, definitely take advantage of this train-ticket trick.
Sources:
www.eurail.com
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/cost-maps
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