5 new rules of European rail travel

Eurail passes these days aren’t what we baby boomers remember from back in the ’60s and ’70s and even the ’80s. I fondly remember when travelers could get on and off trains at will and the biggest decision was whether to buy a 1st-class or 2nd-class pass. Not any more. The world of rail travel in Europe has become much more complicated. Spontaneity has been squashed.

In Switzerland, this spring, the Swiss Rail Pass worked like a charm. It seemed to function just like rail passes of yore. I had a 1st-class pass and simply got on trains and postbuses whenever and wherever I pleased. I thought that was how all rail passes functioned. I was wrong.

My niece and a friend headed to Europe and I arranged a two-week Eurail pass and sent them on their way. They had problems at every stage of their rail journey. In Italy with a normally-purchased ticket getting on and off trains is playing a game of reservation roulette. Some trains require reservations. Some don’t. Heaven forbid if I could figure it out. Neither could the ticket sellers without their computers.

Here are five lessons about European rail travel I wish I had known before having to deal with the rail systems that can make airline ticketing seem simple and straightforward.

1. 1st-class and 2nd-class are the same.
Once upon a time the differences between 1st-class and 2nd-class were dramatic. 2nd-class trains, especially in southern Europe, meant packed compartments, crates of oranges and maybe an animal or two. After traveling on trains in Spain and Italy this summer, that is no longer the case. The amenities seem to be far more uniform and the biggest difference is between the amount of space — and peace and quiet — individuals have while traveling.

2. All trains are not the same.
In Italy, for example there are Regional, InterCity, EuroCity and EuroStar trains that I discovered on the simple route from Venice to Verona. Except for the “Regional,” the rest may or may not require a reservation. The EuroStar seems to always need a reservation.

Ask an Italian traveler and they will say that they never buy reservations. Ask a conductor checking tickets and they will claim that everyone needs a reservation and pull out a machine to charge you on the spot. Ask the ticket window person and they will tell you that some InterCity and EuroCity trains need reservations and some don’t. Maddeningly, the public schedules don’t have much information that will help.

3. Reservations are needed everywhere.
From Venice to Verona, reservations were required on more than half of the trains. From Pamplona to Madrid and Barcelona earlier this summer, reservations were required on all of the trains. And after the Running of the Bulls, the trains were full. Some travelers had to wait days to leave or pay to take a bus to Zaragoza or up to San Sebastian.

There was no hopping on and off trains at will. No looking out the window and thinking to yourself, “This town looks interesting — Let me get off the train and explore it a bit.”

In some cases a bit of spontaneity is possible if the trains are not fully booked. Italian tickets have a 6-hour validity period. Eurail passes have validity ranging from a day to a month. Travelers can get on and off a train during that time. However — and this is a big however — every time travelers get on and off a train, they have to be aware of whether or not a reservation is required. A reservation on one train is useless on another train.

4. Get ready to stand in line and pay.
The result of reservation roulette is that the lines for purchasing tickets are long (especially at main tourists centers like Rome, Venice, Madrid and Barcelona) and even rail pass holders need to stand in line and buy reservations.

Travelers must make a reservation for most long-distance trains. They have to check to see if reservations are necessary when they change their plans. The rigidity of conductors collecting supplements and reservations fees combined with the randomness of the reservation requirements can make traveling trying.

All these reservations cost money. The Eurail and other rail passes are by no means all-inclusive. That hundreds-of-dollars pass is only the start. Some reservations are only €1, others are €3, yet another is €5.50. I paid €10 for reservations from Zaragoza to Barcelona for pass holders and the reservation from Verona to Venice (for a pass holder) on the EuroStar costs €15!

5. Couchettes are expensive.
My advice to my niece when I purchased her European rail pass this summer was to sleep in a couchette for long journeys. That way she could save the money for a hotel room and travel overnight and not lose a day of sightseeing.

I reconsidered when I found out that a couchette from Barcelona to Milan cost €72 ($115). I went online to check again and found that on her trip back she would have to pay €82 ($131) from Milan back to Barcelona. Gads. I almost choked.

When staying in hostels and inexpensive pensions costs at the most around €60 a night for two traveling together, couchettes don’t seem to make much sense except from a time-saving point of view.

Travelers who need to save time should fly on one of Europe’s low cost carriers.

Once upon a time, a Eurail or European country pass was a relatively boundless ticket to adventure. These passes provided the maximum freedom and flexibility. That is not the case in many countries. Switzerland is the big exception (and I’m sure there are some limitations). The price travelers pay for their Eurail pass or other country passes is only the beginning. Reservation costs will be added to most of the rail travel.

My advice for young students these days who can not rent automobiles is to look at a mix of a rail pass and Europe’s low cost carriers.

Here is an example of cost comparisons. A couchette from Milan to Barcelona and then a connecting train to Madrid will take a day and a half and costs €90 or more for the bed and reservation. A flight from Milan to Madrid can cost between €30 and €130 depending on when reservations are made. It makes taking the train seem silly.