Euro Rail

while traveling europe, is it cheaper to book flights? or take the euro rail?

It depends on exactly where you’re going, how much traveling you want to do, when you’ll be travelling, and how flexible you want to be.

There are still many budget airlines here and some have very cheap flights on occassion. A couple of good resources for finding budget flights are: http://www.whichbudget.com/en/ , and http://www.skyscanner.net/

Train travel is often an excellent and economical way to go. However, a Eurail pass is not necessarily cheaper than buying individual tickets. With the pass, you still need to pay reservations or supplements on the higher speed trains and night trains. http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-domestic , http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-supplements-international-trains , http://www.eurail.com/eurail-reservations-night-trains . There are often discounts on individual tickets for these same trains if you buy the ticket in advance. For example, right now you can get a 60% discount on an Alta Velocità train here in Italy if you buy the ticket at least 30 days before you travel. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=052a89d7de740210VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD There are other discounted rates for early purchase of 15 or 7 days. Some trains offer an Amica ticket that needs to be bought 1 day in advance and gives you up to a 20% discount. On these same trains, you have to pay a supplement of 5 to 25 euro per train in addition to the pass.

The night trains can be a good option for long distance travel. You can sleep through the night in a berth and won’t have to pay for a hotel for the night. Generally you arrive early in the morning in or close to the center of the city you’re going to and can maximize your sightseeing time.

In order to find out what’s best for you, you need to put together an idea of your itinerary and then do some research on the relative travel options and costs. The question is too generic to answer precisely.