One of the easiest ways to get around Europe is by riding trains, as they cover a large portion of Europe.
Mentioned in the podcast is a website and youtube channel that we highly recommend for more information about traveling in Europe:
Wolters World
Wolters World is not only a great website for information but also a great youtube channel.
A great source of train travel is:
The Man in Seat Sixty-One
The big question is, do you need a rail pass or not? The best way to answer this question is to figure out where you want to go on your trip.
Will you be staying in a major city such as Paris or Amsterdam and only make a couple of train trips during the trip? Then probably just buying individual tickets will make the best bet.
A good source for individual tickets is:
Rail Europe
Please note that they do charge a fee for each ticket bought, which is not refundable, so if you can purchase directly from the operator, that is the best bet, but some sites, such as the SNCF (French) website, has so many issues trying to buy tickets it might just be easier to pay the fee depending on the price of the ticket (You can also buy tickets from ticket machines or ticket counters at the rail stations).
However, if you plan to go to multiple cities or even use a place as a hub and go every day to someplace different, this most likely a rail pass will be your best option.
Figure out the cost of the rail tickets individually and see if a pass will be a better value which usually starts at a pass for 3 days and can go up a month at a time. You will also want to determine if you will be staying in one country or traveling to multiple countries.
If you are going to be primarily in one country, you will want to explore if the country has a country pass, such as the Swiss Pass. However, maybe you want to do a couple of side trips, say into Germany or Austria. You can buy individual tickets for those trips but still have a country rail pass for the majority of your travels.
Some country-specific rail passes can also have other benefits, such as the Swiss Pass, which offers not only rail travel but also most transit lines, bus lines, and admissions to more than 500 museums.
Also, be sure to see if you can afford 1st class tickets, as the 1st class section of the train will often be quieter than the 2nd class section. There were times when the 2nd class section would be completely full, but the 1st class was not that packed.
Be sure to check out rail maps to see the best way to get where you are going. The Swiss Rail Network has a great map that is in PDF format; however, you want to do a good search to find the map as it is only available on the Swiss Rail website by buying a wall map
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