Family Eurail travel

[Amira]

Has anyone recently (well, in the last decade or so) done Eurail travel with children?  Not a trip here and there when you were living in Europe, but getting the Eurail Global pass for two weeks and visiting lots of different cities?   This would be in July when it's hotter and more crowded.  

 

How it is traveling with children?  Can we book sleeper cars?  Do we need to book ahead?  Are there extra fees after you get the pass?  Do you recommend it?  What do we need to know?

 

TIA. :)

[FriedClams]

I would love to know, too!! I'm looking into this fall when it's quieter.

 

The only advice I got from a friend in Wales was that planning to sleep on the train is generally a waste (I was thinking of being cheap and sleeping on trains to save on hotels). I didn't realize that everything is (relative to our geography) so close that the rides aren't very long. She also said first class wasn't really worth it. Her suggestion was the Orient Express to the East in one swoop, and then working our way back slowly (or vice versa). I'm still planning. I think I'll be chilling with Rick Steves this summer while I plan. :-)

[Amira]

It looks like we'd have to use first class if we're travelling with children and want them to ride free.  So I suppose it's a good tradeoff.

 

There are longer sleeper routes but they'd cost about $120 per night for four of us in additional to the Eurail pass if we want beds, which we do, so it wouldn't necessarily save anything.  But it would be fun to sleep on the train instead.  Maybe we could crisscross Europe on long sleeper trains and skip hotels.

 

I searched for the Orient Express, but it looks like doesn't really exist anymore.  Going to Istanbul from Paris would be perfect for what we need.  

[Stacia]

Sounds exciting & fun.

 

I know when we did sleeper cars (Paris to Venice, as well as a return trip a week later) only 3 people were allowed in first class sleeper cars. (This was about ten years ago.) So, it doesn't work for a family of four. Second class sleeper cars have 6 people in them, so you may have others in with you. And, be careful, our booking was supposed to have us all together, but we were in two cars & they had us in the highest bunks (which are super high up in second class, a concern for me at the time as my ds was really young & it was a looooooong drop to the floor from that top bunk. Nobody would trade seats or bunks either.). Anyway, we had a bit of a fiasco & it wasn't what we expected (in either direction).

 

If you are eating meals on sleeper trains, go immediately after boarding to the dining car & book your eating time. Otherwise you may end up with a very late seating for dinner, for example.

[Amira]

Thanks for letting me know about being booked in separate compartments.  I've found 4-bed couchettes on a lot of routes, but it hadn't occurred to me that we might not be able to book an entire one for ourselves.

[Pam in CT]

I'm looking forward to y'all figuring this out and doing a nice comprehensive report for me, lol.  We took the Andean Express (modeled on the Orient) from Puno to Cusco when we were in Peru two years ago.  It.was.divine..... and I've been fantasizing about a longer term trip ever since!

[Amira]

Pam, that sounds AMAZING.  I would love to travel by train to so many places.  I did get to go on a sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor once, but that's it.

[Maela]

Dh and I traveled around Europe using a Eurail pass ten years ago, but this was before we had kids.  We're hoping to visit Germany and Austria with the kids in two years.  I'll be following this thread, as I have the same questions.

[idnib]

:lurk5:

[Amira]

I really hope someone comes along who's done this to satisfy everyone's curiosity. :)

[idnib]

Here's a good blog post from someone who's done it.

[diplomum]

We're hoping to do it this summer from Turkey to the UK. Six kids. The plan currently is Athens, ferry to Brindisi in Italy, then north via Austria and France where my brother is vacationing then on the ferry not Chunnel to the UK. Our only major city stops are Athens, possibly Naples/Pompeii because we have friends stationed there, and Rome. We may do a few days on a Greek island before heading away from Greece. We'll avoid Paris, Prague, Vienna etc due to the crowds in the summer. Rome will be enough! We are looking at small towns to stop at that have something to offer and hopefully cheaper accommodation. One example is the small town in Austria where we met.

 

So no practical advice yet. I printed out the Eurail map and downloaded the train timetable app to my phone. We're booking airbnb in the big cities. We're packing super light with everyone, even my 5yo, carrying a backpack with much of what they need. I notice myself replacing summer clothing with really lightweight things in preparation! 20 odd years ago we just packed our sleeping bags and slept on the trains in the regular compartments. We also deliberately crisscrossed so we were on overnight trains in order to save on hotels ie Paris to Budapest, Budapest to Barcelona, Barcelona to Kraków etc.

[Amira]

Thanks! I'll ask you this fall about how it went since you're going in the opposite direction. We're going to try to go from London to Istanbul if the employer can work with flights from Istanbul to our final destination.

 

If we weren't going with kids we'd sleep in the compartments, but 15 days in Europe with tired children doesn't like much fun to me. Thanks for the idea about sleeping in less expensive towns.

[Seasons]

I've spent a month in Europe every summer for the past 20 years. The last 4 trips included my son.  He was 4 on his first adventure.  All of the trips were self-planned and booked.  If you have specific questions go ahead and drop me an email - I love travel - adventure - cuisine  and experiencing foreign cultures.  Would love to help. 

[Amira]

I've spent a month in Europe every summer for the past 20 years. The last 4 trips included my son. He was 4 on his first adventure. All of the trips were self-planned and booked. If you have specific questions go ahead and drop me an email - I love travel - adventure - cuisine and experiencing foreign cultures. Would love to help.

Thanks! I'll message you later today.

[Bootsie]

The trains tend to be more crowded in the summer with college students traveling across Europe.  However, they are usually in second class.  If you are traveling first class with a family pass, that won't be so much of an issue.  Some of the trains require a reservation (which will be an additional expense).  These usually apply to the higher speed trains.  You would need to look at your specific route and preferred train times to see if you needed a reservation.  

 

We have usually found that it is cheaper to stay in a pension or other low-cost family friendly accommodations rather than booking a sleeping car.  You will need reservations for a sleeping car.  Those make sense when you are trying to cover a long distance at one time.  

 

Airfare within Europe is much cheaper than it used to be.  I just had a friend book a flight from Athens to Rome for $50.   For long distances, from major city to major city, this can now be more economical than taking a train.  (I had another friend recently fly from Paris to London, finding this was cheaper than the train.)

 

This can be a great way to see the major sites in places across Europe.  My children, however, seemed to prefer when we went fewer places, and saw more of the smaller, local places.  They enjoyed us renting an apartment, shopping at the local grocery store, playing in the park with the locals, etc. more than going to major sites in city after city.  I don't recommend staying in a place less for less than two nights.  We found that once we arrived at lodging, got the kids settled, and learned our way around we needed at least one full day the next day to enjoy the city without having to pack up and leave our accommodations.

[Pam in CT]

Amira, your post refueled my armchair traveler fantasies, and I spent WAAAAAYYY too much time last night digging into this train-obsessed fellow's website.  His general feedback appears to be that Eurail passes generally aren't cheaper than booking point-to-point, though they give you more flexibility/spontaneity over booking (lower) nonrefundable segments in advance.

 

Here is his London-Istanbul advice.  Looks like they're rehabilitating the tracks on the last leg, so you have to do that bit by bus.

 

I'm also eyeing Amsterdam-Cologne-Warsaw on the Jan Kiepura sleeper.  Flights to Amsterdam get very cheap and that train looks excellent!

[FriedClams]

Amira, your post refueled my armchair traveler fantasies, and I spent WAAAAAYYY too much time last night digging into this train-obsessed fellow's website.  His general feedback appears to be that Eurail passes generally aren't cheaper than booking point-to-point, though they give you more flexibility/spontaneity over booking (lower) nonrefundable segments in advance.

 

Here is his London-Istanbul advice.  Looks like they're rehabilitating the tracks on the last leg, so you have to do that bit by bus.

 

I'm also eyeing Amsterdam-Cologne-Warsaw on the Jan Kiepura sleeper.  Flights to Amsterdam get very cheap and that train looks excellent!

Oh my. I feel the time being sucked from life as I read and drool. Thank you so much for sharing!! I think the Amsterdam trip may be on the agenda soon!!! Love it!!

[Amira]

Yeah, I don't want to have to pre-book everything and go on a schedule.  As long as we don't miss our flight at the end, I'm good with whatever we do.

 

What I really wish is that it were possible to rent a car in the UK and drop it off in Istanbul.  

[Pam in CT]

Yeah, I don't want to have to pre-book everything and go on a schedule.  As long as we don't miss our flight at the end, I'm good with whatever we do.

 

What I really wish is that it were possible to rent a car in the UK and drop it off in Istanbul.  

 

I bet you can do most of it by car if you look around.  We've done one-way drops within the EU and although there's been a fee it's been less than I feared (certainly less than 4 or 5 people flying or even taking trains, and so much more flexible).  Personally I wouldn't want to drive through the tunnel (shudder)-- so I'd start by train, but you could definitely drive London or Paris->Vienna -- maybe as far as Budapest? in one car, and then take trains from there, or just train over the border into Romania and drive south and drop in Bucharest.

 

So jealous!

[Amira]

We looked in the car option, but we'd have to rent one in at least three different segments, and with the one-way drop-off fees, it's way more expensive thatn the Eurail pass.  Car rental companies seem a lot happier with international rentals including Germany and Switzerland, not Serbia and Bulgaria. Combining car and rail didn't do much for us either.  And honestly, dh and I have done so much driving in new places that it sounds nice for someone else to be running the transportation. :)