Eurail

eurail
I was wondering if a Eurail select pass is worth it, or if simply buying tickets as I go be cheaper?

My friends and I are going on a trip to Europe, and we were trying to find the cheapest travel method possible. We heard the Eurail pass was a good option, but we didn’t know if it was worth the $370, compared to just buying tickets as we go. We’re planning on going through Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France.

It is often cheape to get point-to-point tickets, particularly if you have a known itinerary and can purchase tickets in advance to take advantage of discounts. You need to be aware that with the Eurail passes you still need to make reservations and pay a additional amount for most high speed, international, and night trains. See: http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-domestic , http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-international-trains , http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-international-trains .

This site is one of the best for train travel including information on passes: http://www.seat61.com/

You’ll need to compare the overall cost of a pass to the point-to-point prices which you can find on the individual country train sites. For example:
http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml (Germany) , http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD , http://www.oebb.at/en/index.jsp (Austria), http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/ (France), http://www.dsb.dk/cs/Satellite?pagename=DSBUK/Forside (Denmark)

Be sure to check for applicable promotions for point-to-point tickets like the “smart” fares to/from Italy.