• 1
• 2

Everything you need to know before contemplating a trans-Europe adventure by train, including saving money on the most appropriate passes.

Here a few things you should know when planning a family train tour of Europe, a great way to travel if you have limited amounts of luggage. We want to thank Rick Steves, author of "Rick Steves' Guide to European Railpasses" and many other travel guides, Travel Weekly and DER Travel Services for their helpful tips as well.

Understanding Rail Passes

Visit Rail Europe for detailed information on a variety of passes and plans depending on your itinerary and the length of your trip.

Rail schedules are free with your rail pass at many European train stations. Schedules can also be obtained at most newsstands.

Master the 24-hour clock used in European train timetables. Conversions to the 12-hour clock involve subtracting 12 from the 24-hour time and adding p.m. to all times after noon (for example 17:00 is 5:00 pm).

Differences between the Eurailpass and the Europass: The Eurailpass can be bought as a consecutive pass or flexipass, and covers 25 countries. The Europass covers only the five most central and popular countries and is only available as a flexipass. The newer Eurail Selectpass provides unlimited train travel in any three to five adjoining Eurail countries by rail or ship.

Differences between the consecutive and flexipass: The consecutive pass is valid for a set number of days in a row (for example a 21-day pass is valid July 1-21 and then expires). A flexipass allows the purchaser a number of rail days to be used within a certain time frame (depending on the pass, the time frame can consist of a number of days or 1-2 months).

Europass and Eurail Saverpasses: The Eurail Saverpass and Eurail Saver Flexipass are valid for 2-5 people, provided they travel together at all times. The Europass Saverpass, also valid for 2-5 passengers traveling together at all times, provides a 15% group discount plus the flexibility to add two more countries to your itinerary.

Purchasing "associated" countries to your rail pass does not afford you additional days of rail travel, only additional countries that your rail pass allows travel through.

Free Britrail Family Pass: Parents receive one free pass for an accompanying child (ages 5-15) with the purchase of one adult or senior pass. Any additional children purchase the appropriate pass at half the price of an adult. All children under 5 travel for free.