What railpass should I use for Europe and Great Britain?
Now that the lads and I have a decent idea of where I am travelling, what passes will I use to get there and around?
For a four-month trip with stops in just about every country in Europe, this is what the answer used to look like: a Eurail Youth Flexipass for the west, a European East Pass for the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, a Balkan Flexipass for the south-east, and a BritRail pass on top for England, Scotland and Wales. Four passes, four sets of rules, four things to lose.
You do not have to do that any more.
One pass covers nearly all of it
The Global Pass now covers 33 countries in one product, and it swallows almost everything those four used to do separately. East and west, the Nordics, most of the Balkans. You buy days rather than regions.
Two shapes to choose between:
- Continuous. Every day inside the window is a travel day. Right if you are moving constantly.
- Flexi. A set number of travel days to spend when you choose, inside a longer window. Five days in a month and seven days in a month are the usual ones. Right if you are staying put for stretches, which you should be.
One thing that has not changed: a travel day is a calendar day, so a long hop that starts at eleven at night and lands the next morning can be worth planning around.
Britain is still separate
Great Britain is not in the Global Pass. If you want England, Scotland and Wales on rails you buy a BritRail pass on top, exactly as you did before. Ireland is in the Global Pass; the north of it is not.
The under-26 discount is now under-28
I wrote originally that this was a good year to send me because next year I would not qualify for the under-26 rates. That deadline moved: the youth price now runs to under 28, and there is a senior rate at the other end that did not used to exist. Everyone in between pays the adult fare.
It is still amazing what combinations you can pull off. It is just that the combination is usually one pass and a few point-to-point tickets now, rather than four passes and a headache. Want to have a crack at building your own route?
Posted 24 March 2003 by Ant in Eurail Blog Archives · updated by Chris