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In my most recent review about Provence I mentioned we traveled on that trip through two countries, Switzerland and France, utilizing a Eurail/Drive Pass. This is our favorite way to travel in Europe if we are going to be in more than one country, or have destinations that are further apart then just a couple of hours drive time.

It's a terrific time saver and gives the opportunity to explore as many countries as you wish with little stress and most importantly,less time and money than regular train travel or car rentals.
When you buy this pass, the price combines both, and the pass is always more economical, regardless of which pass you purchase.

You do have to plan your itinerary a lot more than if you just traveled on a whim since all reservations have to be made in advance for the car portion and now, for most of the rail, since train travel is so popular overseas especially in the summer. If you are a bit obsessive like me about travel, that's no problem, for planning is so much part of the fun.

You can purchase many different passes. If traveling though more than one country the Eurail/Drive Pass gives you the opportunity to explore as many as 17 countries, traveling from big cities to small villages in the countryside... Just hop on the train for the long distances and upon arrival at your destination, pick up your car at the train station to travel around that area, drop off the car and hop back on the train. Or, you can take the car to another region or country, do some more exploring, then drop the car off wherever there is another train station and hop on another train. It's that's simple.

With the The Eurail/Drive Pass you get 4 days of train travel in or between, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Any 2 days car rental with unlimited mileage. More days are available for an additional cost, with your choice of car options. Each upgrade for the car is a bit more, but is usually cheaper than a car rental alone. Hertz and Avis are the two rental companies you deal with. You can call their 800 numbers to make your reservation.

The pass includes or provides:

All 1st class rail travel

2 months to complete your travel

Choice of 3 car categories with manual transmission, and 1 car category with automatic transmission.

Free drop-off at most locations within country of rental, or a small fee in other countries. This fee was wavered on two of our trips so you have to ask about that on time of reserving.

Local taxes are included in price.

Bonuses are included, they are, discounted fares of Eurostar, (the Chunnel tunnel between Paris and London), and other international high speed services such as Thalys in Belgium.

Free or discounted travel on selected ferries, lake steamers, boats and buses, such as the Brindisi in (Italy) and the Patras in (Greece) and ferries from Ireland to France and Sweden to Finland.

You also get a complimentary Eurail map with the pass and a time schedule so you can figure out just when you will need to reserve your car. If we travel at night I usually wait until the next morning to pick up the car and spend the night not having to worry about parking.

Some of the options:
Add up to 5 additional rail days.
Add as many car days as you like, for an additional cost.
and special prices for 3rd and 4th passengers sharing car.

The prices range depending on which car category you choose. These prices include everything..
Economy for 2 people, $363, I person, $410 additional day car $46

Compact for 2 people, $376, 1 person $436 additional day car $59

Intermediate for 2, $388, 1 person $460 additional day car $71

Automatic for 2, $405, 1 person $494 additional day car $87

Additional rail day $41

If you are traveling in only one country, there are individual country passes available to all the countries listed above, except for the Britrail/drive which includes all the the United Kingdom, so England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are included on that one pass. These passes are substantially less money then the combined country pass and actually a lot cheaper than buying point to point train tickets and separate car rental within that one country. For instance,
In France, you get:

Any 3 days unlimited train travel,
2 days car rental, with unlimited mileage in France
1 month to complete travel,
Choice of first or second class train travel,
Choice of 6 car categories, 5 manual and 1 automatic
free drop-off at any of 520 Avis locations in France, and more travel bonuses.

The prices are also according to car categories:
Economy for two, 1st class $199 2nd class $169

Compact for two 1st class $209 2nd class $179

Intermediate for two 1st class $219 2nd class $189

Full size, mini vans and compact automatics are available for slightly more, as are additional rail days for $29 and additional car day prices according to the category of car. I don't know why, but traveling alone also adds an additional cost....I never could understand that. There are also discounted passes for seniors and students.

We purchased the first class, compact France/Car pass for $209, for the two of us, and traveled from Paris to the Riviera, in less than 6 hours, by TGV, (reservations required), picked up our car in Nice and used it to drive to Menton where we stayed. During that following week we visited the nearby villages, perched in the hills, above the larger more famous, beach resorts and coastal towns which we visited also. We even drove into Italy for a day, to have lunch and visit the largest open-air market I've ever seen...Then, when our week was up, we went back to Paris by rail. We then used the rail portion of the pass to visit some of the small towns around the Ile de France. All this for less then the cost of just round trip tickets to Monte Carlo, Cannes or Nice would have been.

In Great Britain, the Britrail Pass and Drive is available and when we traveled using that pass, we went from the very Southwestern tip of England all the way to Edinborough. We stopped in many fascinating cities along the way, drove around the Cotswalds, then on to Bath, then by train to Stratford on Avon, York, and then, into Scotland , each time taking the train from the big towns to the next destination, picking up a car during our stay in each city or town, then dropping it off and proceeded North.

In Edinborough, after a few fascinating days, we dropped the car off and took the high speed train back,(I think it was called the "Royal Scotsman") to London in just 4 hours, taking advantage of the great dining car on board and watching the scenic English countryside pass before our eyes.

This is really an ideal way to see much more than you would normally see if just traveling by train or car..So much ground can be covered in a shorter time but, as I wrote earlier, you do have to reserve the cars in advance so planning and a pretty strict itinerary are needed, at least for your travel days........ But, have fun with it and your trip will be a memorable one. You'll be amazed at how much you will see and experience, traveling in Europe.

One more hint, pack light, not like I do, someday I hope to learn how to do that!

To get further information, the website, https://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/rail_drive.htm
is the place to go, you can even book your tickets on line.

Happy and safe travels!