Which Eurail pass can I buy?

Is it better to buy a Eurail Select Pass or Global Pass?

• I'm planning to travel through Europe this summer, going through five countries of Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and Benelux. The 5 country, 10 day Select Pass ($512) would work well and get me city to city, but it is only $100 cheaper than the Global Pass ($612), which gives "unlimited access in all 20 countries". Does the Global pass provide unlimited train access to all the subways, etc. within each city? And if so, which do you think is a better deal? Thank you so much!! -european rails confuse me

• Answer:

  No, you don't get subway or local transportation with the Eurail pass unless you're going on the train from one station to another within a city. To answer what you asked - if you do go with the Eurail pass and the select pass is cheaper and gets you everywhere you want to go, then it's the better deal. What's the point of paying for additional flexibility if you know you won't use it? If you're open to going anywhere on a whim, then the Global Pass would open more possibilities. However, the first thing you need to find out is rather the Eurail pass is the best option for you at all. It is often cheaper to get point-to-point tickets. Eurail is most advantageous if you stick to the slower regional trains that may require a lot of train changes. Note that with the pass, you can't just hop on any train and take off other than the regional trains. The higher speed trains often require an extra fee: http://www.eurail.com/1_reservations_supplements_domestic, http://www.eurail.com/1_reservations_supplements_international_trains for each train you take. Here in Italy, you would have to go to a ticket window in the station and pay this before getting on the train or face a substantial fine. The slower regional trains do not require any extra reservation/supplement; the supplement for an Intercity train is 5 euro, Eurostar 15 euro, and Alta Velocità is 20 euro. There are fewer options for long distance travel here in Italy using solely regional trains than there were a few years ago. Using the regional trains now requires several train changes. You need to plan a rough itinerary. The German train website is a good resource for checking the train schedules throughout Europe: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. When you've got an idea of what your schedule will look like, go to the individual country train websites to price the point-to-point tickets. You can find the sites by searching for "train" and the name of the country. Here in Italy, the site is: http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=3fdbe14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD. You need to be aware that there are often discounted fares available for buying the ticket at least one day in advance. Here in Italy, the Amica fare is available on the higher speed domestic trains which is worth up to 20% off the standard fare. There are promotions and "Smart" fares on the international trains that you can take advantage of. Check the train types and add up the extra fees to find the total cost of travel with the pass and compare that to the individual ticket cost.