DeltaMD90 From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 5372 posts, RR: 47 Posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2306 times:
Hey, I've been doing a lot of research on inter-Europe travel. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I haven't been able to find a good site for all my needs. For about a week, I am travelling within Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and am leaning towards Eurail's Benelux-Germany Pass which gives me unlimited travel between these 4 countries. Are there better alternatives? I'm going with my gf and we are both considered "youth" (25 and younger.) Thanks for the help!
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2953 posts, RR: 7 Reply 1, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 2261 times:
If you can plan your itinery a few months in advance, it may work out significantly cheaper to pre-book tickets on the trains you want to use - the German Railways website (in English) will show you rough prices if the actual dates' tickets are not yet available. One advantage of this is that DB offers etickets, where you print out a pdf, so if you loose it, you can re-print another one. http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml
This site lists almost every possible rail pass available, from time-passes to X-days-in-Y passes, etc. http://www.seat61.com/Railpass.htm#overseas%20visitors
Hope this helps, and good luck with the trip!
signol
Severnaya From Russia, joined Jan 2009, 1390 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2242 times:
It depends when you are going, in the period March-October the trains in the Netherlands are reliable, however in the other months even the slightest amount of snow can cause the whole network to fail and lead to massive disruptions.
petertenthije From Netherlands, joined Jul 2001, 3239 posts, RR: 13 Reply 3, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2230 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 2): however in the other months even the slightest amount of snow can cause the whole network to fail and lead to massive disruptions.
Oooh, don't be harsh. Have you not seen the latest NS commercials? They have now turned on the heating on their points and switches! Something the idiots forgot last year until after the first snow.
(probably explains why Utrecht rail traffic control burned down a few days ago, caused widespread disruption)
Whatever the cause may be, Dutch rail service can be unreliable during winter. But then, last winter several boroughs ran out of grit for the roads, and the highway autority came very close to running out as well. So cars and busses where having a bad time as well. Mind you, last year´s winter was worse then normal, although this years winter is forecasted to be quite bad as well. The stockpile for grit is apparantly twice as much as previous years so at least the roads should be in fair condition.
Severnaya From Russia, joined Jan 2009, 1390 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 2220 times:
Quoting petertenthije (Reply 3): Oooh, don't be harsh. Have you not seen the latest NS commercials? They have now turned on the heating on their points and switches! Something the idiots forgot last year until after the first snow.
Yes i've seen them, especially the one with the girl & rabbit is disgusting. It's one thing to install those things, but they shouldn't be proud of that. They were stupid not to have them before installed.
But as Peter said, the roads probably aren't much better, so the train is the recommended mean of travel actually.
Revelation From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 10564 posts, RR: 21 Reply 5, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2201 times:
Quoting Severnaya (Reply 4): Yes i've seen them, especially the one with the girl & rabbit is disgusting.
NoUFO From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 7802 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 2142 times:
Hmm, the German lowlands, the Netherlands and Belgium look pretty much the same, and if you don't travel much, booking individual (and restricted) tickets might actually be cheaper - at the expense of flexibility.
An alternative to Eurail would be the German Rail Pass which is valid in Basel ((CH) and Salzburg (Austria) as well. So you would see three countries - or one country and two cities outside of Germany, with Salzburg being the more attractive one.
Besides being a little cheaper than Eurail, this rail pass comes with some bonuses, such as a free Rhine river cruise.
DeltaMD90 From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 5372 posts, RR: 47 Reply 9, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 2112 times:
Thanks for all the replies. Can't wait to see more of the European culture!
rlwynn From Germany, joined Dec 2000, 996 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 2079 times:
If it is only for a week then rent a car. It would probably be cheaper than two rail passes. And you will get to see tons more than just where the rail lines go.
Wolverine From Germany, joined Aug 2006, 409 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (2 years 6 months 3 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 2068 times:
To be honest, I would take the Eurail tickets. If you rent a car, and you visit a city, you will always have the proble, where to park the car. Who cares, where the train parks
I'm a frequent train traveller, because it is less stress, and with Eurail, you can hop off and on as you like, you're not bound on specific time schedules. Sure, the train is sometimes late, and you may find a car, where the heater is not working ( I had it, once), but on the other hand, you will meet far more people on a train, than by travelling by car.
DeltaMD90 From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 5372 posts, RR: 47 Reply 12, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 1989 times:
I am not even sure if I can rent a car. I'm only 20, I know you gotta be 25 or something to do that in America. I think I might go with Eurail. I am making a lot of hops, and those fares are adding up. Stuttart, Luxembourg, Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam, Frankfort, Munich, something like that. The biggest problem is starting in Stuttgart of all places, but that was beyond my control. I do have an important question though: what is it like at border crossings via train? They are all EU countries, but surely they have to keep track of who's coming and going, don't they? (We both have US passports)
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2953 posts, RR: 7 Reply 13, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 1985 times:
Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 12): I do have an important question though: what is it like at border crossings via train?
From your proposed routing, the most you will notice is the station signs change. Germany, Netherlands and Belgium (along with some others - not the UK though) signed an open border treaty called Schengen so you will only see a passport control point at your arrival into the zone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6475 posts, RR: 26 Reply 14, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 days ago) and read 1984 times:
Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 12): I do have an important question though: what is it like at border crossings via train? They are all EU countries, but surely they have to keep track of who's coming and going, don't they?
Your travel (the countries you listed) will be within the Schengen Zone, which means free travel across national borders without any controls. Your only time you will see some immigration officer is during your initial arrival to the Schengen Zone (= STR in case you fly nonstop from the U.S. on DL).
The only thing you might experience is a change of the train's engine at the border, taking a couple of minutes, but even this is rare nowadays.
Definitely you will see a new conductor and will have to show your ticket again.
That's all, apart from a new official language spoken - but then this will happen to you even when travelling within Belgium.
The nearest country not within the Schengen Zone would be the U.K.
OTOH, although not part of the EU, Switzerland has become part of the Schengen Zone.
And, oh, police and/or customs might patrol through a train, looking out for contraband:
Some stuff to make you high legally in The Netherland, but which is illegal in other countries.
Travelling into Switzerland, there are spotchecks for Swiss nationals importing dutiable goods from the EU as well as spotcheks for EU-national trying to transport bigger sums of money across the border with the intention to store them in some secret bank account in Switzerland.
-HT
Carpe diem ! Life is too short to waste your time ! Keep in mind, that today is the first day of the rest of your life !
AustrianZRH From Austria, joined Aug 2007, 1265 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1965 times:
I would consider taking a rental car if it's you two. Something like a Golf would be enough for two people. If you search some portals like drivefti.de, you'll find offers for around 300 EUR per week plus 12 EUR per day underage fee, totaling out something under 400 EUR. The 4-country-eurail pass for 6 days in a month comes out at 257 EUR per person. Of course, you'd have to pay for fuel but you'd be more flexible. But be aware, fuel in Germany and neighbouring countries is around 1.10 EUR to 1.60 EUR per liter or 4.16 EUR/gal to 6.06 EUR/gal. Let's calculate with around 300 km per day/2100 km in total and a fuel consumption of around 7 l/100 km, fuel would end up around 220 EUR additionally (110 EUR per person).
WARNING! The post above should be taken with a grain of salt! Furthermore, it may be slightly biased towards A.
NoUFO From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 7802 posts, RR: 13 Reply 16, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1934 times:
Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 12): I am not even sure if I can rent a car. I'm only 20, I know you gotta be 25 or something to do that in America.
That could indeed be a problem as some car rentals expect some years - 3 if I remember correctly - of driving experience.
Quoting HT (Reply 14): Your travel (the countries you listed) will be within the Schengen Zone, which means free travel across national borders without any controls. Your only time you will see some immigration officer is during your initial arrival to the Schengen Zone (= STR in case you fly nonstop from the U.S. on DL).
Right. If DeltaMD90 and his travel mate are Americans, they do not need a Schengen Visa. If one of the two of you needs a visa and you don't have a main destination within the Schengen Area, you'd have to apply for a visa at the German consulate, as Germany would be the point of entry. If you have a main destination, say you are going to spend most of your time in the Netherland, the Dutch consulate would be the rigth place to apply for a visa. The point of entry would be irrelevant in this case. Changes are, that no one will really bother as border controls are pretty much inexistent, but it would still be against the law. I only wanted to let you know ...
Another thing: Many Americans who visit Munich, make a day trip to Salzburg, Austria using the Bayern/Bavaria Ticket. If (that's a very, very big if, but still ...) police - for whatever reason - want to see their passports, the travelers are in for some trouble if they left their passports in the hotel safe in Germany "so they won't get stolen". Just saying ...
Quoting HT (Reply 14): Some stuff to make you high legally in The Netherland, but which is illegal in other countries.
Precisely speaking it is *not* legal in the Netherland either. Marijuana is only decriminalized(!) if you possess a limited amount which you purchased at a registered "Coffee Shop". Right now this goes for foreigners as well, but the new government wants to ban foreigners from Coffee Shops allowing only local residents to shop there to limit "drug tourism".
rwSEA From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 3024 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 1885 times:
Quoting DeltaMD90 (Thread starter): Hey, I've been doing a lot of research on inter-Europe travel. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I haven't been able to find a good site for all my needs. For about a week, I am travelling within Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and am leaning towards Eurail's Benelux-Germany Pass which gives me unlimited travel between these 4 countries. Are there better alternatives? I'm going with my gf and we are both considered "youth" (25 and younger.) Thanks for the help!
You might pay a bit more for a Eurail pass, but it's probably worth it in your case just for the flexibility, and so you don't have to constantly be worrying about buying tickets and planning your strategy.
I would absolutely not rent a car in your case. It's significantly more expensive than in the US, and in any of the cities you mention, you'll have to plan your entire trip around which hotels have parking, etc. Driving in a European city can be a nightmare if you have not done it before, especially in Amsterdam. Even if you don't mind the driving, you'll be paying upwards of €30 a day for parking. Unless you're doing a detailed trip to small and out of the way towns and castles, a car is a worthless headache.
Travelling by train or by car, there are no border checks at any of the countries you mention. From a practical standpoint, it's no different than travelling from one US state to another.
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