Eurail Pass for Paris-Amsterdam-Switzerland-Paris?

Hello,

My sister and I are planning a 14 days trip with rough itinerary given below:

• 4 days in Paris
• 4 days in Amsterdam (2 days trip to see the tulip gardens and the windmills)
• 2 days Lucerne
• 3 days in Interlaken: We also want to cover Jungfrau and Zermatt.
• 1 day in Paris

Question 1: Will the current Euro rail offer for 3/4 countries for 6-8 days at 400-500 Euros cover all our local travels within Switzerland also? The amount seems a bit high to me, so wasn’t sure if it really is such an attractive deal.

Question 2: Would it be economical to instead book individual legs of train journeys if we book a month in advance? Paris to Amsterdam seems to be only around 40 Euros one way

Question 3: Can we do Jungfrau as a day trip from Interlaken? Also, will Zermatt be worth a day trip from Interlaken?

Thanks!

Neha

Thanks for your first post Neha!

1) At first glance I would also say a Eurail Select Pass is not the best choice. To be sure you'd have to do the math though. Please follow the instructions on myswissalps.com/train/ ticketspasses/practica l/ chooserailpass. A Eurail Select Pass covers less than a Swiss Travel Pass, for example. You'll find details if you follow the instructions.

2) Point to point tickets can indeed be very cheap if you book well in advance (3 months rather than 1 month): myswissalps.com/ traintickets/france. If you have a Swiss Travel Pass for Switzerland you will only need tickets from Paris to Basel (the border).

3) Sure: myswissalps.com/ jungfraujoch. Zermatt is a bit far (2 - 2.5 hours one way). With only 3 days in Interlaken you won't have enough time to see everything nearby, so for that matter there's no need to travel that far. But if this is a once in a lifetime chance to see Zermatt, it can certainly be done. Make sure you only do so if the weather is good.

Does this help you out?

Hi Arno,

Thanks for the quick reply! It did help!

If the EuroPass will not cover travel in Netherland and Switzerland, then here’s what I am thinking

Paris to Amsterdam: 52 Euros (point to point)

Amsterdam to Basel: 82 Euros (point to point - overnight train)

Switzerland travel: 363 Euros (8 days Swiss Pass)

Interlaken (or Basel) to Paris: 145 Euros (point to point)

Makes sense?

Thanks,

Neha

Hi Neha,

You're welcome! I'm not sure if we're talking about the same pass. You're calling it "EuroPass", and in the other post you talked about "Euro rail". The pass I mean is the Eurail Select Pass, and it does cover Switzerland. But the Swiss Travel Pass (not Swiss Pass, that's something else) includes more free traveling than the Eurail Select Pass. Please see the links in my previous post to make sure we're on the same page here. The first link explains how to do the math. International point to point ticket prices often vary by date, time and booking date, so I can't verify your numbers, but I do think it may make sense to get a pass for Switzerland and tickets for the remaining trips. You may need a pass for Paris too, but that's not my area of expertise.

Hi Arno,

Sorry to have confused you. I meant Euro Select Pass. I will go through the links you have shared in more detail to understand if Euro Select Pass covers local travel within countries also (France, Netherland and Switzerland) or is it only inter-country travel. And I had given the above numbers after checking the prices for my travel dates to see if point to point bookings along with a Swiss Travel Pass (with discounts on cable cars, etc.) work out better than a Euro Select Pass.

I clearly have a lot more homework to do :)

Thanks for your inputs,

Neha

Hi Neha,

It's a Eurail Select Pass, not Euro, but I'm sure we're talking about the same thing now ;-) Basically the pass does not provide transportation within cities, no buses either, and no museums. It does cover most trains within countries and country to country as well. But indeed do check the details. Just let us know if any doubts remain after your research.