audreyh1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I'm just finishing up booking of train tickets for our upcoming trip in France, and a leg from Paris to Amsterdam. I thought I'd share some of the resources I have used over the past three years for train travel in various European countries.
I'm currently using the capitainetrain.com site - an excellent site. They've made the process super easy and the tickets can be printed at home or shown on an iPhone or tablet type device. You just need your photo IDs with you (and the names had better match your tickets). I also love that they will hold the seat reservation for you but you don't have to pay immediately, making some planning a little easier. The semi-flex tickets I have been buying hold my reservation for up 7 days before I have to complete the payment.
Deutsche Bahn (bahn.de), the Austrian Railway ÖBB (oebb.at), and the Netherlands Railway NS (ns.nl) all have great English language websites and you can buy tickets directly. I have done it with Deutsche Bahn. I printed out the ticket and had to also have the credit card with me that was used to buy the ticket. So you have to be sure to take that credit card with you and not lose it!
France is a little trickier. The French Railway, SNCF, sends you over to their Rail Europe site if you are buying from the US. This site also doesn't show all the options or all the better prices. The easiest way to deal with this is to book through capitainetrain.com (which also handles Germany). They email you print-at-home tickets or give you a code to use when you arrive in France to print your tickets at a station or SNCF boutique there. They handle US credit cards just fine, another thing that is a problem when attempting to buy directly from SNCF.
Unlike most European countries, France requires reserved seating for all the high speed TGV trains that serve between major cities. The good new is, that if you book early enough you get considerable discounts on fares. This makes a rail pass particularly frustrating for France because reservation seating is limited for rail pass holders, plus you have to pay to make the reservation! In some countries certain high speed trains may have compulsory reservation.
Thalys is a high speed French (and Belgian) international line that has compulsory reservations. Like TGV, you can get good prices on tickets if you book ahead. Super deals on non-refundable tickets, but the semi-flex tickets are still a considerable (>50%) discount from the full fare you would have to pay if you waited until close to your travel date. You can get from Paris to Amsterdam in only 3 hours and 20 mins!! We reserved first class semi-flex tickets for two people for only €158 total. Full fare would have been almost €400.
Germany is really easy for train travel because many of the states have a special deal for unlimited all-day after 9am travel on regional trains within a given state, and you don't have to make a reservation. These tickets can be bought at the station the day of departure. There are also some great prices for cross Germany travel especially for 2 or more people, and no need to book ahead, but you are limited to the slower trains and after 9am journeys and 2nd class. Austria has a similar regional ticket system.
Given the online discounts for pre-booking tickets (even discounts for flexible tickets), and the low-cost options in some countries, especially for regional travel, a rail pass often does not pay off for Europe. Especially if reservations are required for a given train - those will be an extra charge on top of your rail pass cost, and they may be limited for rail pass customers. You don't pay reservation fees when you buy tickets without a pass. For regional/local trains in many countries (including the France TER line) you don't need a reservation and you get the same price even if you show up the day of the trip. It's good to check out the prices before buying a pass. And try to check it out from the rail company or a service like capitainetrain.com. Rail Europe doesn't necessarily show the best deals or all the available trips.
A great thorough reference for train travel in Europe and a bunch of other places too, is The Man in Seat 61 - The Man in Seat Sixty-One - the train travel guide.... He travels from the UK, but covers travel within Europe very completely. Lots of photos of different trains, lots of tips for how to get the best deals on tickets. You can get many of your "how to" questions answered here.
In general - train travel info becomes available around 90 days in advance. You can't see or book a train trip more than about 90 days ahead.
We're looking forward to the train trip east from Paris, because that area is rated up to 320km/hr, and we might break our prior landslide record of 300km/hr!
I'm currently using the capitainetrain.com site - an excellent site. They've made the process super easy and the tickets can be printed at home or shown on an iPhone or tablet type device. You just need your photo IDs with you (and the names had better match your tickets). I also love that they will hold the seat reservation for you but you don't have to pay immediately, making some planning a little easier. The semi-flex tickets I have been buying hold my reservation for up 7 days before I have to complete the payment.
Deutsche Bahn (bahn.de), the Austrian Railway ÖBB (oebb.at), and the Netherlands Railway NS (ns.nl) all have great English language websites and you can buy tickets directly. I have done it with Deutsche Bahn. I printed out the ticket and had to also have the credit card with me that was used to buy the ticket. So you have to be sure to take that credit card with you and not lose it!
France is a little trickier. The French Railway, SNCF, sends you over to their Rail Europe site if you are buying from the US. This site also doesn't show all the options or all the better prices. The easiest way to deal with this is to book through capitainetrain.com (which also handles Germany). They email you print-at-home tickets or give you a code to use when you arrive in France to print your tickets at a station or SNCF boutique there. They handle US credit cards just fine, another thing that is a problem when attempting to buy directly from SNCF.
Unlike most European countries, France requires reserved seating for all the high speed TGV trains that serve between major cities. The good new is, that if you book early enough you get considerable discounts on fares. This makes a rail pass particularly frustrating for France because reservation seating is limited for rail pass holders, plus you have to pay to make the reservation! In some countries certain high speed trains may have compulsory reservation.
Thalys is a high speed French (and Belgian) international line that has compulsory reservations. Like TGV, you can get good prices on tickets if you book ahead. Super deals on non-refundable tickets, but the semi-flex tickets are still a considerable (>50%) discount from the full fare you would have to pay if you waited until close to your travel date. You can get from Paris to Amsterdam in only 3 hours and 20 mins!! We reserved first class semi-flex tickets for two people for only €158 total. Full fare would have been almost €400.
Germany is really easy for train travel because many of the states have a special deal for unlimited all-day after 9am travel on regional trains within a given state, and you don't have to make a reservation. These tickets can be bought at the station the day of departure. There are also some great prices for cross Germany travel especially for 2 or more people, and no need to book ahead, but you are limited to the slower trains and after 9am journeys and 2nd class. Austria has a similar regional ticket system.
Given the online discounts for pre-booking tickets (even discounts for flexible tickets), and the low-cost options in some countries, especially for regional travel, a rail pass often does not pay off for Europe. Especially if reservations are required for a given train - those will be an extra charge on top of your rail pass cost, and they may be limited for rail pass customers. You don't pay reservation fees when you buy tickets without a pass. For regional/local trains in many countries (including the France TER line) you don't need a reservation and you get the same price even if you show up the day of the trip. It's good to check out the prices before buying a pass. And try to check it out from the rail company or a service like capitainetrain.com. Rail Europe doesn't necessarily show the best deals or all the available trips.
A great thorough reference for train travel in Europe and a bunch of other places too, is The Man in Seat 61 - The Man in Seat Sixty-One - the train travel guide.... He travels from the UK, but covers travel within Europe very completely. Lots of photos of different trains, lots of tips for how to get the best deals on tickets. You can get many of your "how to" questions answered here.
In general - train travel info becomes available around 90 days in advance. You can't see or book a train trip more than about 90 days ahead.
We're looking forward to the train trip east from Paris, because that area is rated up to 320km/hr, and we might break our prior landslide record of 300km/hr!