Eurail pass or purchase train tickets individually?

My girlfriend and I traveling to Europe September 7-22. Our itinerary is:

Munich-2 nights
bus to Karlovy Vary, Czechia- 2 nights
bus or train to Prague-4 nights
train to Bratislava, maybe with a stopping to visit the Ossuary in Brno on the way-1 night
train to Budapest-3 nights
train to Vienna- 2 nights
train to Munich, maybe a stop for lunch in Salzburg- last night
fly out of Munich

So that's 5-8 train rides over 15 days. Would you recommend buying a Eurail pass or just purchasing train tickets individually? Any help is appreciated, thank you!

I'd skip the Eurail Pass and buy tickets individually.

Check this Web site: https://www.oebb.at/en/tickets-kundenkarten/oesterreich-europa/sparschiene

I've used it frequently and have been able to purchase discounted tickets online with a U.S. credit card, particularly in the region you plan to travel.

Also check this Web site: https://int.bahn.de/en

>Would you recommend buying a Eurail pass or just purchasing train tickets individually?

Despite the marketing, Eurail passes have very, very rarely been the better financial option. In the vast majority of cases the cost of a pass far outweighs the cost of individual tickets. The primary function of a pass is the convenience of not needing to buy tickets.

That's even more the case nowadays when online access is so widespread and online ticket purchase the norm. Plus you are travelling in several countries where train travel is very reasonably priced (Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary).

It's only the high-speed trains (no standing) which can, in theory, become 'full'..but a Eurail pass has never guaranteed a space on those trains. The vast majority of European trains can't get 'full up' because standing is allowed.

It's always best to use the official railway website for each country (see below for links) for train times, details and...in some case but not all...online ticket purchase. All have English language versions. Personally, with your itinerary thed only train I'd bother with online purchase is Vienna>Munich. I'd just buy the rest at the station, either on arrival, the day before travel or on the day of travel.

Oebb (linked in post above) is the official Austrian railway website.

https://int.bahn.de/en is the official German railway website.

https://www.cd.cz/en/ is the official Czechia railway website.

https://www.mavcsoport.hu/en is the official Hungarian railway website.

https://www.zssk.sk/en/ is the official Slovakian railway website.

NB Unlike trains, long-distance buses can and very often do get full up. For that reason it's a good idea to buy tickets online in advance or at the bus station a day or so beforehand.

Thank you both! This is hugely helpful! Trying to google what my best options were just gave me a bunch of ads, so this helped me cut through all the noise. Really appreciate your responses.

Also consider this useful Web site:

https://www.seat61.com/index.html

[ Edit: Edited on 15 Aug 2024, 11:05 GMT by berner256 ]

Ah, The Man in Seat 61! He's a very nice chap...I've met him...and his website has spot-on info (& lots of photos) about train travel all over the world.

Sadly, the very useful conglomeration website formed by many/most long-distance bus operators no longer exists. It's now a matter of checking for bus travel websites for each country and/or just asking at bus stations (NB long-distance buses don't always use the same bus station as local buses). I know of one larger operator:

Flixbus https://www.flixbus.com/ (but don't book train tickets through them!)

but most are smaller and based in a specific European country.

I had a Eurail pass in 1964 and I think it might have been a good deal back then. I paid $130 for it and it was good for a month. I still had to get a seat reservation, but I used the Eurail pass plus a couchette resevation in place of a hotel.

Keep in mind that at that time a sandwich and a drink would cost about 50 cents US$. And a coke from a machine was about 5 cents

I started in Cologne and took the train to Frankfurt - had a hamburger, fries and a drink in a restaurant for less than $1. Couchette to Paris - day in Paris - train to Madrid overnight.

Then I met my sister and we took an overnight (Wagon-lit) to Lisbon for a few days, and then back to Madrid. I took the train to Valencia where I had a Wagon-Lit for less than $6.00. Met my husband there for several days. We had full room and board at a 2nd class hotel for 2 people for less than $8/day.

Then took a day train to Granada. The next day to a train back to Madrid. It was now the end of July and I couldn't get a seat on a train out of Madrid, so I flew to Barcelona - night flight for $15.00 and then took the train to Marseille. Met my husband there and we rented a Citroen 2CV and drove all over the south of France.

From Marseille I had a couchette to Paris - day in Paris and the couchette to Nuremberg to stay with my sister for a couple of days. Then a train to Naples to meet my husband for the third time. By this time I had used up my month and had to buy tickets to get back to Frankfort for my plane home.

Was it worth it? I don't know