Getting Around Europe

March 15, 2003

When it comes to transportation in Europe, there is no better method to get around than by rail. Although travel by rail in the United States is very limited, you can go almost anywhere in Europe on a train. This area will provide you with some reference material about train travel in Europe. The whole of our voyage was accomplished on the train.

The Eurail Pass is your key to seeing Europe by train. Years ago a Eurail pass had few options and was very inexpensive. Times have changed. Today there are numerous different pre-set packages for the traveler, and you even have the ability to create your own. Varying types of Eurail passes are accepted in 17 countries in Europe. Take the time to do the adequate research to find a pass that suits the travel you want to do.

While the Eurail site is an excellent resource for exploring all of your EurailPass options, you cannot purchase your pass from their site. Check out Rail Europe, a United States Railpass broker, to buy your pass.

You have purchased your railpass. Now what? I have found a couple of very helpful little utilities to aid in planning rail itineraries. These sites (in english) offer searchable rail time tables to find trains between two points. These sites will help you plan your route by allowing you to calculate travel times between different cities. In addition, it allows you to evaluate all of your options. For example, you might expect that the journey between Paris and Marseille will take 8 hours by rail, but, after checking these sites, you find that the route is serviced by a TGV(high speed train) and the journey will only take a little over 3 hours. With the research done at home, you have gained an extra 5 hours of useful touring time on your vacation. Time well spent! The SNCF site is specific to travel in France, the SBB services the Swiss train system, and Trenitalia covers Italy.