Europe Travel Forum

Can someone tell me any alternative way of travelling Europe on a cheaper scale?Euro Rail is very expensive for transportation between countries and I'm trying to find an alternative form of transportation.
Anyone?
Jacob

Eurail is not a railway company. It is an agency. If you use their website you will be paying an agency premium.

Look at the country's individual railway sites for train times and fares. If you let us know where you want to travel we can suggest relevant sites, otherwise you can just google. In many/most European countries (though not the UK) train travel is reasonably-priced, effective and convenient.


http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/englisch/international_guests.shtml

is an excellent site in English which will give you train times for journeys throughout Europe, though fares only for journeys originating in Germany.

Coach travel frequently offers a cheaper option, but journey times are generally (much)longer than by train. www.eurolines.com is a portal to many major European carriers.

Depends on how far you are travelling. You can always check easyjet to see if they fly from the city you are in to the city you want to go to. If your destinations are near each other then purchase your tickets when you are at the train station they are much cheaper there than online.

Flying with a budget carrier can be cheap, but only if you book well in advance (usually). Be aware of hold baggage limits and strict check-in times. I think the train will probably be cheaper anyway.

www.whichbudget.com and www.harefares.com list budget carriers throughout Europe.

If your major consideration is cost and time doesn't matter, then coach is the way to go.

It's quite a bit of work to work it all out, but using local trains is usually much cheaper. If you like, have a look at my list of national train companies in Europe: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/2bf0c/1/9/

Wow! Great response people, thanks.

I didn't know Euro Rail was an agency so thats a big plus of info.
I will list the cities I plan on visiting below and if you have any suggestions throw it in please.

Prior to that, unfortunately time is an issue. I'm doing a speed backpacking endeavor through central Europe. As you will shortly see flying is probably not the best option.
I will have approx. 20 days to travel the following cities and I plan on doing so on avg. of 2 nights per city.
Starting in:
Frankfurt
Munich
Zurich
Geneva
Vienna
Prague
Berlin
finally back to Frankfurt.

Is it a lot cheaper to buy individual passes through individual countries as appose to one pass through Euro Rail?

Thanks in advance for your responses, it's greatly appreciated.

Not even necessarily passes. Buy individual tickets.

ATLC - I clicked through your links to the German and Austrian websites and noticed that the tickets from one city to the other were on average 85€ one-way in June.
Does that sound right to you?
My trip is actually in October but b/c it will not provide me with a quote that far in the year I had to pick a closer date.

Yes, best to make reservations 3 months ahead, then you get the lowest prices. Usually, longer than 3 months isn't possible (at bahn.de it's 89 days).
If you picked a route like Berlin-Munich, which is near to 600 kms (which is quite a long way in Europe!), the normal price is 109 euro (one-way) which is expensive. However, you can also get the same for 49 euro (plus 2 euro seat reservation). And even for 29 euro, although that one is momentarily not available 3 months ahead.
Also, Frankfurt-Munich (400 kms) has a normal price of 85 euro, but a special offer also of 29 euro for 3 months ahead is still available.

That's why I said: it's a bit of a hassle to work out all the individual connections and then compare it to companies like Eurail.

Did you try the seat61.com website? It has lots of advice for train travelers.

Although it takes time it really is worth totalling your point-to-point fares before buying any sort of pass. In many cases, even buying tickets at 'ordinary' prices will still work out more cheaply.

Eurail passes were once automatically good value. this is not now the case.

Seat61 is an excellent website.

For journeys originating in Germany use:

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/englisch/international_guests.shtml

For Austria:

http://www.oebb.at/en/index.jsp

For Czech Republic:

http://www.cd.cz/static/eng/

http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

for Switzerland.

Other bits of info:

Not all trains everywhere can be pre-booked online. Don't assume that because you cannot do so there is no availability.

Trains do not get 'full' unless they are reservation-only (or you want a sleeper). If no seats are available one simply stands until a seat becomes free.

You don't, therefore, necesarily have to buy tickets online before you come (depending on whether the train you want to catch is reservation-only or not). You can buy them (even reservation-only) whilst you are in the place itself (maybe for your onward journey when you first arrive at the station?). Reservation-only tickets can be brought right up to 5 minutes before the train departs, if there is availability, but at least a couple of days ahead makes sense (especially on popular routes or at busy times).

Online booking is good for those trains which give cheaper advance fares, or for your convenience/peace of mind. Don't feel you absolutely have to do this. Most people (assuming no special offers/reservation-only train) just buy tickets for most journeys on the day. Larger stations usually have ticket machines, with English options.

I agree with leics.
Additionally: there are different kinds of trains. For smaller distances, local trains are not always slower (more stations) but usually much cheaper. In your case (with your itinerary) it's probably not the best option, but you might want to know this.

there is buses which is cheap...

you could check out www.busabout.com

this is a flexible form of hop on - hop off bus transport & is quite cheap... I did this last year & you meet heaps of backpackers from englamd, australia, new zealand & USA, canada etc...

check out their site... I think you can get a flexi trip pass which gives you 5/6 stops for $500 US which is very cheap & they also have accomodation hotel & hostel options (if you want to use their accom - you dont have to)

- i think that busabout goes to 4/5 places that you mentioned...

I planned my whole holiday around busabouts loops & then booked trains & planes that busabout didnt stop at...

hope my info helps!!!

Great suggestion! Wasn't aware that this was available. I took a look through the website and discovered that they went through 4 cities of my preference.
It seems to be a lot cheaper of an alternative.

If I decided to go with this option of transportation I need to figure out how I will go about the other cities. Train is probably my best option but that will definitely increase my trans. cost.
Time also plays a factor. I'm slightly limited.
Nevertheless, thanks for the tip.
Ja

I looked up the routs and prices for the Czech trains but I couldn't locate the rates.

All the sites seem to lack in English and direction in one place or the other.
Regardless, thanks for the tips. I'll just continue sorting through the web pages and eventually I'll figure it out.

Good luck JAO.
I hope you get the schedules that you wish. Buses may take a lot longer but if budget is your main objective, it might indeed be better for you.
Don't underestimate traffic jams in Germany, which you surely won't have if you take trains.

I did not take traffic into consideration. Thank you for that ATLC!
You see, this is why I look to VT members for advice.

YMA, how was traffic to Berlin and Prague via bus? Or anyone else that can tell me.

The thing to be aware of when considering busabout is theire very limited schedule. They sometimes only offer a departure every other day on routes where the railways offer a departure every half hour...

A few more tips:
The Swiss railwaily website is at www.sbb.ch.
www.sbb.ch has timetables and prices for trips within Switzerland. You'll notice that trains can be quite expensive. However, you can use the "click and buy" last minute tickets. These you order via internet (find yourself a internet cafe in Zürich) and go on sale three days prior to departure.
http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/billette/clickrail.htm. Prices are low, but you are limited to the booked train. When going from Zürich to Geneva get of in Bern and spend a few hours there.
On www.sbb.ch you can also book Munich - Zürich and Geneva - Vienna. There is a nightrain to Zürich, which saves you a night.


Frankfurt - Munich, Prague Berlin and Berlin Frankfurt you can book on www.bahn.de
Vienna - Prague you could probably book on www.oebb.at, but I'm not sure they have the prices.

Thanks KVB, good advice.
I don't think I'm going to the I'm going to Geneva any more. It seems to be out of the way for my route.
I don't think I can purchase single trips from the busabout.com but what other companies provide similar service?

www.eurolines.com

The Eurolines portal will link you to long-distance coach providers in many European countries (certainly those you intend to visit), many providing online booking. Coach (bus) travel is often cheaper than rail, but takes longer. Journeys are point-to-point, so you won't have the flexibility of the Busabout routes.

I would still very much recommend train travel. Especially since you have time to book 3 months ahead and get the lowest fares.

Me too.

If you have time to book ahead than you can do the following:
Online:
On www.bahn.de
- Buy Frankfurt - München for 29,-
- Buy München - Zürich for 39,-
- Buy Berlin - Frankfurt for 29,-
On www.sbb.ch
- Buy Zürich - Wien incl. reservation for night train. Price depends a lot on the level of accomodation you want. This is the longest trip, so you might want to look in to flying this leg.

Remains Wien - Praha and Praha - Berlin:
-> OeBB appears to have a special at 29,- bu you can't buy that online. The normal price at the ticket counter appears to be 33,30-
-> Praha - Berlin would be 50,40. You could probably save a little by buying a through ticket Wien - Berlin via Praha in Wien. Standard international tickets allow stopovers as long as you finish your trip within two months.

yes! Those prices were what I found too. Added up, a rail or bus pass must have a pretty good price to weigh against the individual tickets. :-)

those prices seem very affordable.
I think every search i did was a return trip which is why the results i got were 85 EUR (avg).
i need to re-do the searches.
thank you for doing them for me. i might have ended up buying all return rail trips. you just saved me lots of money.
thanks ladies and gentlemen

sorry about the late reply!!!

no traffic jams... there might of been an accident here and there but it didnt stop busabout getting through... most bus rides were 5-8hrs long but you stop every 2-3hrs and this includes 1hr for lunch most times & they usaully stop in a nice city that has some attractions to visit...

crossing the border from Germany into Cheq Rep I think took the longest.. but nothing too drastic!! -

ofcourse trains are more comfortable but the busabout buses are cheap and if you are on a budget id recommend it for sure...

email me if you like & I can give you further info!!!

I looked up flights like you suggested and I was shocked to find flights from Zurich to Vienna for 29€. Thats ridiculous!
I tried the other cities as well and discovered that none were as good. The German flights were descent but not the others.
Thanks for the advice

No Jao, those were not return trips. You did look at single trips (train). I did the same searches for you a few days ago.
The way you book those train tickets is you select the trip TO and FROM separately. So yes, 85 euro single trip it was.

I did the searches after KVB and I also got the same numbers as him. 29 EUR and 39EUR