Customer Reviews

Europe by Eurail: How to Tour Europe by Train (Serial)

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

you probably just bought a Eurail pass and are looking for more info how to coordinate your european vacation as far as rail traveling goes. stick to your pass and a basic guide. you do not need this. the timetables are completely off. not one even matched. european train stations are so organized and easy to follow that you don't need a guide to tell you where to find an atm machine, an exchange office or a travel agency. as soon as you step out of the trains you'll clearly see signs directing you to the right places. i never thought it would be so useless, esp. if you are doing a backpacking trip. those day excursions that are sudgested from the "base" cities only direct you to tourist traps. i would avoid buying this book if i had the choice again. stick with a Lonely Planet guide. in my opinion the only publisher that tells like it is. Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring or Let's Go Europe give you most of the info that is provided in this book and way more on top of it. stick to your pass and the timetable that they give you with it. you don't need this book.

Without pretending to be a universal guide, this book enables you to plan long and short trips to Europe using the Eurail system and making convenient stays in major cities to use as bases for traveling to sites around the cities. If you want an experience of European cities, and want to cover other places inexpensively, this book will help you plan the days. We found it precise and well thought out, and with a good sense of what is a worthwhile experience for the traveler, and excellent judgement about timing train connections and some bus and boat connections for maximum enjoyment. It provides a strong base on which to add your own adventures and additional attractions, once you have gotten to the cities and other sites. And it will take you step by step through some marvelous days if you just want to follow its lead.

Europe by Eurail 2000 is a great book to have handy while travelling the railways of Europe! It offers great tips and advice for anyone travelling. However, I would suggest that you simply stick with the book's big brother....Let's Go Europe 2000. They offer much of the same advice that you will find invaluable!

Europe by Eurail 1999 seems to me to be a most welcome addition to the field of travel books.

As we all know, the train has all but disappeared from the travel scene in the USA; in Europe, however, the train is alive and well. In using this book, you come away with the impression that not only is the train a viable alternative to other forms of intra-European travel, but it the preferred way to go in many instances.

Following an introductory chapter giving lots of valuable information on train travel in Europe, the rest of the book is divided into chapters by country. The author has set up a certain number of Òbase citiesÓ (at least one in each country). For each base city reachable by nonstop flights from the USA, the book provides some very useful information about the airport of arrival, including the location and hours of things like the banks or foreign exchange counters, baggage storage facilities, and most importantly, the different means of transportation between the airport and the center of town (time, cost, etc.) In point of fact, the entire cost of the book can well be amortised by using public transit, rail link, or shuttle service rather than taxis.

The heart of the book is found in the sections about rail travel, and the rail stations which the tourist is likely to use. If one is the type of traveler who needs very precise and specific directions to find things, this book does it all for you. Detailed information for each station is provided, including the location of the tourist office (if there is one), the currency exchange facilities, the location of baggage lockers and/or baggage check room, where to have oneÕs Eurailpass validated, etc.

Furthermore, the author suggests, for each base city, a brief description of the major places to be visited, as well as a certain number of one-day sidetrips to points of interest easily reachable by train from the base city.

Finally, the book provides train schedules for trains between different base cities. While these are, of course, subject to change over time, they do provide useful information for the traveler, in particular the length of any given trip (in hours and minutes).

A useful book for anyone planning a European trip including train travel.

I bought this book because I had the 1990-91 Edition and wanted updated information. I found the 2001 material to be so similar it was laughable. The base cities are the same, the excursions were the same, the 'how to' information was identical to the edition ten years earlier. I found little if anything to be new, fresh, or informative. The book was a huge disappointment.

I recommend you not buy it unless your interested on only the major cities and express travel (and you're too busy to get the same information from [a website]).
A disappointment in that it has no local train schedules. Earlier Eurail books (1980' and 90's) had much more data on train stations along the way. The fun for me is in staying in a smaller village and catching a 15 -20 minute train to city center to see its churches, museums and architecture. Other than the travel times, this book tells us nothing we don't already know; i.e., for sight seers there are frequent trains(usually every hour-sometimes two)to all major citys....

The Europe by Eurail guidebooks have been the essential rail planning and travel companion for the novice through the advanced traveler for over 2 decades. Ferguson takes you step by step from rail station to tourist office to offering wonderful suggested lodgings, sites, restaurants and events in the 17 Eurail countries.

Her Base City-Day Excursion (tm) eases travel by getting the maximum benefit of the rail passes by staying in major cities or even smaller villages as a base and utilizing the pass for day excursions out and back. No hassles with heavy luggage! Just pure enjoyment of how Europe is meant to be seen! Europe by Eurail is undoubtedly the BEST guidebook out there for rail travel.

My girlfriend and I got the pass and the free book. We could not have made it through five countries in two weeks without it. It is the Bible of Europen rail travel. Money well spent! And a great bargain! KUDOS

This book was a total disappointment for me; there are NO maps (0), no route reviews (just day excursions from a base city), mostly old pictures. If you are looking for a real train guide to Europe (as I was) this is not the one. Try "On the Rails around Europe" from Thomas Cook. It hits the spot.

This book tries to be a tour book and a rail schedule. Buy a good tour book for the countries or regions you want to visit and use the train schedule you get with your Eurail pass to plan your travel itinerary.

The book gives tips on how to travel in Europe. It think that the tips are generally not useful.

The author's base city philosophy is sound, but in several instances, I would stay in smaller villages outside the large cities. You can easily commute to the center of the large city, but you will have a more "native" experience in the smaller towns. Trains run so frequently in Western Europe that you will have no trouble getting around.