Rail Pass worth it? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

JIMBO · 04-08-2005, 05:00 AM

Hi all, I'm planning on travelling Eastern Europe this summer and was considering getting a rail pass which gives 1 month to anywhere for £285. However, I'm not sure how many train journeys I'm going to make and I'd probably like to travel for longer than a month. Countries I would like to visit include, Czech Rep, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and perhaps some of the following-Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, greece and Italy.

I'm not really set in my plans though and if I enjoyed I country a lot I would probably like to stay for a few weeks, however if I had a rail pass I would feel I have to keep moving.

Therefore I was wondering if anyone knew or could tell me the average fares of train journeys within and between these countries, so I could weigh up the costs and decide whether I can afford not to take the pass.

Cheers

PS- Any thoughts on where to begin- I was thinking maybe Prague??

**beergal** · 04-08-2005, 08:02 AM

ok well i know you can get a return to krakow from budapest for £50 and a return to bratislava from budapest for £13 eurolines buses are also pretty cheap aswell

JIMBO · 04-10-2005, 06:57 AM

Thanks for that beergal, if that's the case I think I'll just pass on the railpass as it seems quite cheap and affordable.

**Esterina** · 04-10-2005, 09:35 AM

Right decision Jimbo. The Railpass in Eastern Europe will not really save you money plus it lacks flexibility. I don't know for Greece, Italy, and Austria though.

Three years ago I paid :
-one way Kosice (Slovakia)-Eger (Hungary) $3
-return Budapest-Bucharest $45
-one way Bucharest-Varna (Bulgaria) $18
-one way Budapest-Bratislava (Slovakia) $18

And I travelled by bus from Krakow to Slovakia (North East zone), and Bratislava to Vienna. Slow but so inexpensive.

**tumblezweedz** · 04-11-2005, 06:31 AM

We got the passes last summer for simplicity's sake, (travelling with four little kids you tend to simplify as much as possible!) but financially it's not worth it, especially if you're not sure how much you'll use it. Probably the only place where the pass was cheaper than the point to point fare was in Austria.