European Trains Offer a Range of Good Deals

Mature travelers planning to take advantage of Europe’s excellent rail service on a vacation face the same basic decisions as other age groups.

Eurailpass, the fine, old workhorse for trainaholics has been serving thousands of visitors to Western Europe for more than 30 years.

Still going strong in 1990, additions and refinements have kept it the basic money- and time-saving tool for vacationers planning extensive travel within Europe.

There is no senior discount on any Eurailpass. The reason, as one senior representative said: “We cannot discount an already-discounted fare.”

(BritRail, independent of Eurailpass, offers a senior discount of about 15% for people 60 years and over for travel within England, Scotland and Wales.)

At present, Eurailpass offers unlimited first-class travel in 17 countries (with the exception of Great Britain). Greece is joined to the rail system through free ferry service from Italy.

With a united Germany, East Germany will be in the system soon. And with the completion of the cross-channel tunnel, Great Britain may join as well.

Until that time, Britrail has its own 5-, 15-, 22- or 30-day pass (with a senior discount) and offers, with the French, a five- or 10-day BritFrance Railpass. This one has no senior discount.

The basic Eurailpass is available in five time periods; 15 or 21 days, and one, two or three months. These cost from $340 for 15 days to $930 for three months. All offer unlimited first-class rail travel, plus numerous ferry trips and other extras.

It will only take a few minutes for a travel agent who knows your itinerary and travel style to determine which, if any, of the time periods is best for your trip. Or you can get a good train-travel guide and check your itinerary with rail routes and rates.

A few sample first-class fares in Europe are: Amsterdam-Frankfurt, $90; Frankfurt-Vienna, $135; Vienna-Zurich, $139; Zurich-Rome, $127; Rome-Nice, $90; Nice-Barcelona, $102, and Barcelona-Paris, $151. That’s a total $834, without even getting into side trips and excursions.

Also, Eurailpass offers a Flexipass ticket with first-class rail. The Flexipass allows any five days unlimited first-class travel within a 15-day period for $198; nine days within a 21-day period for $360, or 14-days within a month for $458.

As the name implies, it’s more flexible. For example, you might arrive in Paris, stay a few days, then use one of the travel days to go to Frankfurt for another several days. Then you might take trains to your next destinations, staying for several days each time without fretting you are wasting travel-train days.

For those not planning a wide-ranging tour, all European countries offer local versions of the Eurailpass. Most have a Flexipass (or something like it) as well.

These are good within individual countries only for five- to 30-day periods. Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg combine under a Benelux Tourrail Pass. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland unite with a Scanrail Pass. None of these offer a senior discount.

So where are they?

There are many senior discounts among the Western European rail systems, from 25% to 50% off regular fares. But almost all have restrictions that limit them to the average mature traveler touring Europe.

Although these senior discounts were started for permanent residents of the country issuing the pass, they are now available for tourists (each country will ask for proof of age). Mature traveler’s must buy a year’s pass valid only in the country in which they are issued and they are not applicable to multicountry itineraries.

Senior (60 years and over) discount passes for one year are inexpensive in Spain and Portugal, but go to a high of $68 for discount travel on any day in West Germany.

In Scandinavia, senior discounts start at age 65, except Norway, where it’s 67. In most other countries, the starting age for women is either 60 or 62 and 65 for men.

One of the most popular and best known is the French Carte Vermeil , commonly known as the “Green Card,” which is offered to anyone age 60 and older.

Its conditions are typical of other nation’s fares. Available for one year (purchased only in France), it costs about $23 and provides about a 50% discount off first- or second-class travel--but only for travel from noon on Monday to 3 p.m. Friday and noon on Saturday to 3 p.m. Sunday. The discount is not always available on holidays.

West Germany’s Senioren Pass also starts at age 60 and costs $47 for a year’s travel within similar time periods. But for $68 a year, there are no time restrictions.

Switzerland has a Senior Half-Fare Card for about $55 a year for women over 62 and men 65 or over. It probably works out well if you plan to stay a month or so. It also offers about 10% discounts on hotel stays for part of the year.

For shorter stays, the regular Eurail-style Swiss Pass or Swiss Flexipass offered at any age is the better deal.

There’s also a one-month Swiss Card for $80 that provides half-fare on trains, including private mountain rail lines, plus postal motor coaches and lake steamers. This is the best bet for those staying at least several weeks and planning extensive sightseeing excursions.

It would be best to leave the yearlong pass discounts to the European seniors, unless you plan to stay at least a month or more in one country.