Railpass roundup 2006

by Jay Brunhouse

European railpasses continued their creeping inflation in 2006. New passes added to your plethora of options, and choosing the pass ideal for you became more and more complex. With the vast selection of passes now available, you need to study carefully to select the pass best suiting your plans. As many as seven different passes may cover your country or countries of choice. Your options include. . .

• single-country passes for Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic (as well as the Prague Excursion pass), Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. (as well as separate passes for England and Scotland);

• two-country passes for Austria-Czech Republic, Austria-Germany, Austria-Slovenia/Croatia, Austria-Switzerland, Benelux-France, Benelux-Germany, Denmark-Germany, France-Germany, France-Italy, France-Spain, France-Switzerland, Germany-Switzerland, Greece-Italy, Hungary-Romania, Hungary-Slovenia/Croatia and Portugal-Spain;

• passes for three or more countries: the Eurail Selectpass for Austria, Benelux (counts as one), Bulgaria/Serbia & Montenegro (counts as one), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia/Croatia (counts as one), Spain, Sweden and Switzerland… the Balkan Flexipass for Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Serbia & Montenegro… the Benelux Tourrailpass for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg… the European East Pass for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Austria… the ScanRail Pass for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden… and the BritRail Pass+Ireland for England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland… and the

• Eurailpass for 18 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Ireland.

Passes are available from Rail Europe (phone 888/382-7245 or log onto www.raileurope.com), BritRail (877/677-1066 or www.britrail.net), CIT Tours (800/387-0711 or www.cittours-canada.com), ACP Marketing (866/938-RAIL or www.acprail.com), Italia Rail (www.italiarail.com) and Eurail (www.eurail.com).