May 16, 2003 -- Summer's coming -- time for thousands of young Americans to head across the Atlantic, rail passes in hand, on voyages of self-discovery. Those who buy their passes soon will have even more money left over for self-discovery, thanks to a sizzling sale on passes from Rail Europe.
The operator is discounting all of its passes that normally cost $400 or more. That means you can now get more countries for less money: a 5-day, 5-country pass costs $378, where a 4-country pass costs $398.
Other pleasant pass savings include:
- Three countries, 10 days for $462, down from $542
- 17 countries, 21 days, $632, down from $762
- 17 countries, 10 travel days over a 2-month period, $614, down from $694
- 17 countries, 15 travel days over a 2-month period for youth, $562, down from $642
To get a discounted pass, you have to buy it before you leave, and buy it between May 19 and June 15 for travel ending no later than August 20 (September 20 for a three-month pass.)
Taking a Pass on Passes?
The discounts don't change the basic economy of railpasses, which make more sense the farther and faster you travel -- but may not make any sense at all if your journeys are short or cheap.
Take a 5-day, 5-country pass, with that marked-down $378 pricetag. That means, on average, you'll have to take $75 worth of travel on each of your travel days. If your planned itinerary is, say, Amsterdam-Bruges-Paris-Dijon-Bern-Frankfurt-Amsterdam, you only break even, as individual tickets cost $388 and passholders have to pay an $11 supplement on the Dijon-Bern train, making the pass price $389.
But if your itinerary is, say, Paris-Dijon-Nice-Florence-Rome-Paris over five travel days, you save big by getting a five-day France and Italy Pass -- you'd pay $379 for the individual tickets, but you only pay $264 for the pass.
And if you're doing a wild careen across Europe, rip-roaring through a dozen countries in a three-week period, the pass will usually save you a huge amount.
The pass also allows you flexibility to change your itinerary on a whim -- something you can't do with individual, often non-refundable tickets.
If you know enough about your itinerary in advance, price out the individual tickets for your route at www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm before settling on a pass. Or give the helpful folks at RailEurope a call at 877-257-2887.
Eurostar Cuts Prices For Those Who Plan Ahead
Both passholders and non-passholders should also take note of a price break on Eurostar tickets between Paris and London. The zippy Chunnel train, which connects the two capital cities at speeds up to 180 miles per hour, may be Europe's most expensive three-hour ride. Even passholders normally have to pay $150 roundtrip if they don't buy their tickets well in advance.
Roundtrips between Paris and London are now $90, down from $130 -- provided you buy 60 days in advance from Rail Europe, while you're still in the US. The tickets can be used any time. You can buy them through our site here, https://frommers.raileurope.com/us or by calling Rail Europe at the number above.