Should I buy Eurail pass in advance?

You have to buy passes in advance.  If you are in the US, you can work with a travel agent or use http://RailEurope.com.  The "right" pass depends on your specific travel plans: how many countries, how many days, etc.  There are pan-Europe, regional, and individual country passes.  If you buy a student rail pass, then you are in second class and the trains can be crowded at peak times.  Regular Eurail passes are first-class travel, and you can almost always get a seat.  You can always reserve a seat in the train stations or online.  Some of the highspeed and long distance trains require reservations, and you must pay the additional reservation fee for these trains.  Look up the schedules and trains requiring reservations on http://bahn.de or http://rail.ch

Yes definitely! http://budgetinterrail.blogspot.co.uk

No, the Eurail pass is not worth it for such a short trip. If you buy the tickets on the spot they will cost no more than: Vienna – Innsbruck: €77 Innsbruck – Budapest: €103 Budapest – Prague: €60.60 (source: http://jizdenka.idos.cz) Total €240.60. Bear in mind these are the most expensive prices for purchasing the tickets on the spot. If you have your itinerary planned you can book Sparscheine tickets a few weeks in advance at massive discounts, which is what I would recommend. These tickets are restricted to one particular train and can be bought with seat reservations for an extra fee of €3.50. You should be able to get the Vienna – Innsbruck leg down to around 29 euros and Innsbruck – Budapest to at least 59. Both of those tickets can be bought in advance from http://www.oebb.at/en/Tickets/Online-Ticket/. The Sparscheine ticket from Budapest to Prague is quite tricky to buy online because the Hungarian railways website is not very good. But there's a step by step guide here if you want to give it a go. It should cost 19 euros. http://europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/Hungary-MAV.html So if you don't mind having a fixed itinerary, get the tickets bought in advance and all your travel expenses will come to around 125 euros. Bargain. The Eurail pass seems to be only available in first class for adults over 26 and the cheapest one (the Eurail Select Pass for Austria – Hungary – Slovakia – Czech Republic) costs over 400 euros and lasts for two months, so it's absolutely not worth it for such a short trip. If you're under 26 you can get the same pass in second class for 266 euros, so it's still not really worth it unless you might be retracing your steps or adding more destinations (which I wouldn't recommend, a week for those four cities is a tight schedule).

Hi there, as already explained by the previous answers, this trip sounds too short for a Eurail pass - these passes are usually cost effective when traveling for many days along possibly compound/complicated routes. A trip of one week or less, even if you traveled every day, would still be more expensive through Eurail. Keep it in mind for future trips that involve 8 days or more of train rides, and/or 4 or more countries. For train providers other than Eurail and different transportation means such as flights, general trains, cars, buses, ferries, etc., you can use this useful tool! Enter your departure and arrival destinations and wait for full routes that include prices, schedules, travel time. Here you can find transfers, both private and public, from point A to point B while offering a wide range of commuting options to fit every pocket and every type of traveler. http://transportation.routeperfect.com/s/

You can http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes, but as the pass itself is a travel document, it will be delivered to you by post.Be sure to order it in advance! Mine were delivered to Romania (that is where I was at the moment) it took just day to deliver, fantastic! But the one for my sister was sent to Moscow and for some reason did not reach her from the first attempt, we had to contact the supplier and they reissued it for her again, it took about 5 days to receive.That is why, ask for the tracking number just in case to track your pass.Alternatively, you can order to deliver it to the hotel of your first stay.If you are from Europe http://tidd.ly/aca8a97!If you are NOT from Europe http://tidd.ly/fde5744f! In terms of your other question about reservation - it is a bit tricky, http://misstourist.com/interrail-eurail-pass-is-it-really-worth-it/ and to see my calculation if it was worth the money for my trip!Hope that helps!Goof luck! :)