How Far In Advance Should You Buy Your Train Ticket When Traveling In Europe?

[MULTIZ321]

How Far In Advance Should You Buy Your Train Ticket When Traveling In
Europe?

How Far In Advance Should You Buy Your Train Ticket When Traveling In Europe? - Explore

Once you've planned a flight to Europe, you should probably book local transportation too. But how far in advance should you book train tickets?

www.explore.com

Richard

 

[Talent312]

In 2020, I bought a series of non-refundable tickets tres cheap.
It was 90 days in advance... Just before Covid scuttled those plans.

I thought going thru the painstaking process of asking for relief,
but it wasn't worth the effort.

I rebooked the eggact same tickets two years later, still tres cheap.

 

[PigsDad]

In 2020, I bought a series of non-refundable tickets tres cheap.
It was 90 days in advance... Just before Covid scuttled those plans.

I thought going thru the painstaking process of asking for relief,
but it wasn't worth the effort.

I rebooked the eggact same tickets two years later, still tres cheap.

What site did you use to book your train tix? We're heading there in June and are planning some train passages.

Kurt

 

[Ken555]

What site did you use to book your train tix? We're heading there in June and are planning some train passages.

Kurt

I always book direct with the National rail website.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Talent312]

Austria: www.oebb.at/en/
France: www.sncf-connect.com/en-en
Germany: www.bahn.com/en
Italy: www.italiarail.com - affiliate of Trenitalia
Switzerland: www.sbb.ch/en

For country specific or city-to-city advice:
"The Man in Seat 61" - www.seat61.com

 

[jehb2]

I literally booked the minute they became available Which was usually 3-4 months out. We got the best deals. It’s like booking Southwest Wanna get away tickets. Depending on the date and route the best prices can go really fast. I believe a few countries like Switzerland (?) have fixed prices so a ticket book 3 months in advanced is the same as a ticket booked that day. (But you should double check this. I practiced buying tickets (doing everything up to putting in my credit card information) to figure out what was a good price and how soon I could actually buy. Seat61.com is your best friend. Almost all tickets I booked directly. But there were a couple of tickets where this was just to difficult to navigate the website and I used a 3rd party agent. There were two really good sites and they only tacked on a €3 fee which was well worth it. But definitely use seat61.com

Warning: all of our tickets were non-refundable so I would definitely get travel insurance.

 

[ScoopKona]

Rail Pass.

It's good until validated at the first station. Except for the limited number of reservation-only trains, just hop on. It's flexible for when plans change. No waiting in line for tickets (except the first day at the first station for validation, and for any reservation-only trains).

Spend the little extra for a first-class pass -- there are usually many more empty seats in the first class cars.

And if you're taking a short trip, there's always the option to buy a ticket at the station and save the train-pass for something more expensive. There is no down side.

 

[Talent312]

I've used rail passes when my plans were uncertain,
and then used websites to book seat reservations.
But nowadays, I find point-to-point advance tickets cheaper.

 

[ScoopKona]

I've used rail passes when my plans were uncertain,
and then used websites to book seat reservations.
But nowadays, I find point-to-point advance tickets cheaper.

There's always enough uncertainty when it comes to travel.

My wife's first trip to Europe was our honeymoon. She never was able to travel growing up. And didn't really start until she met me. We had a big long trip planned. We would see the highlights of France (which she was denied from seeing as a teen, because racism). And then my favorite parts of Germany, ending in Berlin -- where I once lived. We were riding up the slow train on the Rhine, her taking pictures like she owned a photo processing business back home. We got out in some random burg for lunch. "I want to go back down the Rhine and see all that again."

So much for Berlin. We ended up going down into Bavaria, Salzburg and finally Italy. It wasn't the trip we originally planned. But it was her trip. I won't go anywhere if I can't have that level of flexibility. The following year, she wanted to see Italy. The ENTIRE COUNTRY. So that's what we did. Started in Sicily and flew home when we got to the area where they start speaking German. Again, no itinerary. We'd travel until we were done for the day and then disembark someplace small and use our hotel trick. Discovered "our favorite place in Italy" on that trip -- which isn't on any visitors itinerary. Just happened to be one of the small cities we stopped at. And we spent a week there and have been back five times since. (My only regret is that we stopped at some small town with a nice waterfall near the station in order to telephone a friend and hopped back on the train. I didn't get the name of the town and I've never had the chance to return. I can still picture the place.)

I've been in Europe for general strikes, pension riots, IRA bombings and all sorts of other troubles. I refuse to be a slave to an arbitrary itinerary. (All itineraries are arbitrary. And when they're made never having seen a place, they usually make very little sense at all.) Rail passes make situations like everything above easy to about-face and head elsewhere.

 

[jehb2]

Rail Pass.

It's good until validated at the first station. Except for the limited number of reservation-only trains, just hop on. It's flexible for when plans change. No waiting in line for tickets (except the first day at the first station for validation, and for any reservation-only trains).

Many times the Eurail rail pass requires you to make a reservation and requires an additional fee. Sometimes that reservation fee can be more than a cheap point-to-point ticket.

 

[jehb2]

In 2020, I bought a series of non-refundable tickets tres cheap.
It was 90 days in advance... Just before Covid scuttled those plans.

Yep! We had a beautiful European trip planned In 2020. Fortunately, I had purchased “cancel for any reason“ trip insurance and we got our money back with no problem.

 

[ScoopKona]

Many times the Eurail rail pass requires you to make a reservation and requires an additional fee. Sometimes that reservation fee can be more than a cheap point-to-point ticket.

And when that's the case, just buy the ticket. Rail passes are worth it just for convenience. Except for a select few, "the train station" isn't someplace I want to spend any more time than necessary.

There really aren't all that many reservation only trains -- and it's easy to know which ones. The fast trains moving people between major cities. And the historic trains traveling on ultra-scenic routes. Those are destinations in and of themselves.

 

[Ken555]

Many times the Eurail rail pass requires you to make a reservation and requires an additional fee. Sometimes that reservation fee can be more than a cheap point-to-point ticket.

I believe seat reservations are mandatory on IC, EC, ICE, Railjet, and other fast trains. I haven’t bought a rail pass of any kind since I was a student, since I always knew where and when I wanted to go. If you can’t plan, then a rail pass works well. If you can plan, the early discount tickets are quite affordable. In fact, I need to buy a few for later this year today.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Ken555]

There really aren't all that many reservation only trains -- and it's easy to know which ones. The fast trains moving people between major cities.

Unless you’re traveling in a single region, it would take hours longer to take a regional train vs a fast train. I often take the regionals between close cities in Germany, for instance, but I would never take one from Cologne to Berlin, for example.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ScoopKona]

Unless you’re traveling in a single region, it would take hours longer to take a regional train vs a fast train. I often take the regionals between close cities in Germany, for instance, but I would never take one from Cologne to Berlin, for example.

I'm not suggesting anyone try that.

The pass isn't going to work for 100% of all rail trips, in all places, all the time. But where it does work -- it's better than any other alternative. And it allows for maximum flexibility. (So long as the pass covers those countries.)

The Benelux pass is an absolute steal, for instance, compared to buying endless tickets between capital cities that would fit inside the state of Indiana. And it allows for my favorite kind of explorational travel. If I'm going someplace new, there is absolutely no way I'm writing down a plan and sticking to it. If a place appeals to us, we stay longer. If not, we head to someplace more suitable. And if we want to revisit some place we saw a few days ago, that's always an option.

 

[Ken555]

I'm not suggesting anyone try that.

The pass isn't going to work for 100% of all rail trips, in all places, all the time. But where it does work -- it's better than any other alternative. And it allows for maximum flexibility. (So long as the pass covers those countries.)

The Benelux pass is an absolute steal, for instance, compared to buying endless tickets between capital cities that would fit inside the state of Indiana. And it allows for my favorite kind of explorational travel. If I'm going someplace new, there is absolutely no way I'm writing down a plan and sticking to it. If a place appeals to us, we stay longer. If not, we head to someplace more suitable. And if we want to revisit some place we saw a few days ago, that's always an option.

Eh, whenever I need local trains they’re so cheap I’m surprised a rail pass would save much money. I think you’re making this into a bigger issue than it needs to be.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ScoopKona]

Eh, whenever I need local trains they’re so cheap I’m surprised a rail pass would save much money. I think you’re making this into a bigger issue than it needs to be.

When we take a month-long trip to Europe, there will usually be several train-days which if we didn't have the pass, would be seriously expensive. On other days, we just buy the 8-Euro commuter ticket into the city. The least expensive rail passes are good for a full month. Five first-class travel days in that month is running appx. $700 last I checked. The Salzburg/Venice train is running 200 Euros (first class) last I checked. Doesn't take long to pay for itself.

We always buy the first-class pass because there's always more room in those cars. And there's far fewer restrictions. One time we boarded a reservation-only train without reservations -- just our passes. The conductor sent us to first class and told us to find an empty seat and move if anyone showed up. "Lots of people reserve for business and then don't travel. You'll probably be fine." We were.

 

[Ken555]

When we take a month-long trip to Europe, there will usually be several train-days which if we didn't have the pass, would be seriously expensive. On other days, we just buy the 8-Euro commuter ticket into the city. The least expensive rail passes are good for a full month. Five first-class travel days in that month is running appx. $700 last I checked. The Salzburg/Venice train is running 200 Euros (first class) last I checked. Doesn't take long to pay for itself.

We always buy the first-class pass because there's always more room in those cars. And there's far fewer restrictions. One time we boarded a reservation-only train without reservations -- just our passes. The conductor sent us to first class and told us to find an empty seat and move if anyone showed up. "Lots of people reserve for business and then don't travel. You'll probably be fine." We were.

Glad this works out for you.

A few clarifications.

Regional trains are cheap day of travel. Salzburg to Venice is not cheap because it’s not considered to be in the same region, at least last I looked. It’s also a ~6 hour trip, which isn’t the same as the hour or so most people who take regionals will go - after all, these are primarily for people going to work, etc. When I went by train from Venice to Salzburg we had to go DB and there was only one or two trains a day. We could have changed trains en route for a longer travel day, but that’s not what we wanted. €200 first class for a ~6 hour train isn’t horrible. I usually pay ~€40-120 for first class in advance for most tickets, though they are non refundable non changeable ticket (I’m ok with that since I know my schedule). I paid €74 for first class Vienna-Bonn (9-11 hrs) earlier this year. Since you can’t plan, and don’t want to plan, and need flexibility, then the rail pass works for you.

You know the risk when you board a seat reservation required train - not many others on TUG would assume that risk…I certainly won’t. Seat reservations are typically ~€5 and can be bought on the various national railway websites and apps, even day of travel if available, so you probably should do that next time just to make it easy on yourself and if there aren’t any seats… well, you can always stand in first class by the doors until the conductor tells you to get off if there aren’t any empty seats.

Since I know my schedule, I can buy tickets in first class in advance and save significantly compared to the rail passes. That works for me. I’m willing to take the risk my schedule might change outside my control, and so I’m good self-insuring.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ScoopKona]

You know the risk when you board a seat reservation required train - not many others on TUG would assume that risk…I certainly won’t. Seat reservations are typically ~€5 and can be bought on the various national railway websites and apps, even day of travel if available, so you probably should do that next time just to make it easy on yourself and if there aren’t any seats… well, you can always stand in first class by the doors until the conductor tells you to get off if there aren’t any empty seats.

I didn't brazen my way onto that train. I had no idea it was reservation only. It's not a big deal because the reservation typically is not a large part of the ticket price -- pay the extra and good to go. It's easy when you have both first and second class available thanks to the pass. And in many cases, the fee is waived with the first-class pass.

Our typical trip is to fly someplace and then take inexpensive regional trains until we have seen and done what we want to see and do. Then move to a new region on a fast train, using the pass and repeat. Finally, at the end, train back to starting area and fly home. A five-day pass is usually the best bang for the Euro. And we have never once decided that we lost money compared to what we can do online.

It's like having a Costco executive membership card. You get more than 100% back compared to the price of the card. And there are loads of extra benefits on top of that. (Like the ferry from Messina to San Giovanni.) For the way we travel, it is absolutely silly not to take advantage of these perks and discounts.

 

[dagger1]

Wow!