Buying eurail passes from overseas

Generally speaking, a pass is only cost effective for long routes and/or you're taking multiple rides on the same day. You may find that a combination of a pass plus point-to-point tickets will work best.

If you haven't already done so, read the Railpasses sections at www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com. You may find all the answers you need there--or those sites will prompt you to ask more questions on this board.

Thanks Timothy,

The man in seat 61 website is brilliant and one of the sites that I've been consulting on a regular basis.

I guess what I need to know is if I'm allowed to buy my Eurail pass from an American website and have it sent out to me (which will cost around $AU2150) or do I have to buy it in Australia (which will cost $AU2600)? As you can see that's a massive price difference. It would also have a large bearing on whether a 3 month global pass is cost effective. I'm sure a lot of Aussies and New Zealanders in particular would be interested in the answer for the planning of their own trips.

I plan on flying into London at the end of the June and then joining one of the one way coach tours to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. Once that finishes I intend to validate my Eurail ticket and start my travels from there, before travelling through France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy and Greece which I don't think is too much for 3 months of travel but enough to warrant the purchase of the global pass. But I guess at this stage I'm more interested in whether I can buy my pass and have it sent out from America.

Thanks

Best thing to do is email the US Eurail Pass seller and ask if it's possible for you to buy. I'm sure someone on TT mentioned this a few months ago, but unfortunately I can't find the post. Do be aware though that two of the countries you want to travel to, Poland and the Czech Republic, are not covered by the Eurail Global Pass. Don't know how much time you want to spend in these countries, but it might affect whether you need a 2 or 3 month pass.

MUCH more likely though is this:
the prices you saw were from 2007. As you may know, the US$ has fallen some 15/20 % against EURO last year.
NEW prices are in froce since 1/1/2008.
Most likely the published price cannot be honore anymore- as its old.
thus: emial, it never hurts, you may even get an answer, with the new price.
and suddenly the gains are not that big anymore..........
But as such: it IS possible to buy from anohter country as long as you can find someone willing to & acept the ''shipping lost'risk!

{quote:title=Crouchzinho wrote:}{quote}As I'm planning to travel for an initial 3 months

No-one mentioned a little thing called "Schengen" to you as you are restricted to a total of 90 days in a consecutive 180 days from initial entry, after which you have to leave

As the following article shows there are few places you can go in Europe that are outside Schengen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

I live in Australia and saved money by buying my Eurail Pass from the USA on the web. No problems. Even had a tracking number.

Thanks for all of your help everybody.

The cheapest site I've found to buy them from is the eurail.com site which includes free delivery and they deliver it within 5 days so I'll go with that option when I'm ready to buy it.

I suppose before I do that I'll have to plan my itinerary and work out what the best pass is.

#5 - Does having a UK passport allow me to travel freely or am I still restricted to the 90 days within 180 in the Schengen states?

Lucky you, having a UK passport means the Schengen time limits do not apply to you.

Just remember to depart and reenter Australia on your Australian passport, and use the UK one to enter and depart Europe.

Thanks Germander!