You really don’t need to buy train tickets more than a few days in advance. You don’t even need to buy them in advance at all. But don’t show up 5 mins before your train leaves either, you may have to queue to buy a ticket for half an hour or more. Unless you want to book a couchette on a night train or something like that, trains are rarely full – and it’s only possible for a train to be "full" when it has mandatory seat reservation anyway. Don’t worry.

Thanks.

The only reason I was concerned about this is because I will be travelling these routes in August and I thought that it would be a busy time, making it harder to get tickets.

Italy has automated kiosks where you can buy your tickets, either just a ticket or ticket and reservation. Reservations are probably a good idea in Italy in august and most fast trains in Italy require a reservation. The kiosks are wonderful as the lines at the ticket windows at most stations in Italy are miles long. You can usually find a kiosk with no line. They’re touch screen and the English version is very user friendly.

Thanks oldlady,

Do you know if there will be similar kiosks in other countries, mainly Switzerland and Germany?

Do you think that travelling this way in August will be worth saving a bit of money by not getting a Eurail pass and instead buying all these point to point tickets? If it is gonna cause me more trouble, I think that I would rather pay the bit extra for a 5 day 3 country pass.

There are kiosks in Germany, but I’ve never used them. Search old posts by member "abalada" as he/she posted some good news/bad news about changes in Germany’s rail system a few months ago that had some info on the kiosks. Other members commented about using them.

Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice will be easy to purchase from the kiosks or, if you’re sure of your itinerary you can buy them in advance from trenitalia.com and then either go "ticketless" or use the confirmation # to print out your tickets at the kiosks. You MIGHT be able to buy the ticket to Gryon from a kiosk or at trenitalia.com. If you can’t, then just plan to buy that ticket when you arrive in Venice — before you leave the train station so you don’t have to make a special trip. BTW, that’s about an 8 hour trip with 3 or 4 connections. Use
http://reiseauskunft… to find virtually any train schedule in Europe.

Lines are much less a problem in Switzerland and Germany, so I wouldn’t worry about those tickets too much. Again, buying tickets for your next journey when you arrive saves a trip back to the train station.

Actually, reservations are usually as big a pain to buy as tickets, so a railpass won’t necessarily save you hassle if you take a train that requires a reservation — a fairly likely situation in Italy. The lines to buy reservations are usually long in Italy. I THINK you can buy "just the reservation" from the kiosks in Germany, but I don’t think you can buy just reservations from the Kiosks in Italy.

Thanks oldlady,

Since my last post I think I have decided to stick to somewhere in the Eastern part of Switzerland to cut down on travel time. I am thinking of also going to Austria for day since it seems to be a halfway point between Switz. and Munich.

I was thinking of buying my tickets for my next leg of the trip as I arrived in a new city, so I was happy to hear you suggest this.

If you happen to know a general price of what each of these tickets might cost, could you please let me know? I have looked up all the routes on that site and looked at the duration of each trip. They don’t list any prices. When I had my itinerary into Railsaver, it suggested all the routes and all of the tickets were between 22-64 USD. I just want to make sure that this is correct so I can budget enough to pay for all these tickets. Also how much in general are the reservations?

I have heard that you should definitly make a reservation when using a eurail pass cause your seat is never guaranteed. But, if I am actually buying tickets, shoulnd’nt that make my seat guaranteed. I realize that I will still have to make one when in Italy.

My route I think will be something like this:

Rome-Florence-Venice-Luzern-Innsbruck-Munich-Prague

Thanks again for all your help.

For trips within a country try the official website for that country’s rail system. Use trenitalia.com for prices in Italy and possibly for journeys starting in Italy — click on "buy" to get prices. That option is only available certain hours, so you may have to visit the site at different times.

http://reiseauskunft… For prices in Germany and trips to major cities outside Germany.

It’s tough to find accurate prices for international tickets. You can check point to point prices at raileurope.com and railpass.com In both cases the prices are inflated (as much as 20 to 35%) as they’re the prices to buy tickets from the US — usually cheaper at railpass.com. The maps at ricksteves.com are more accurate for trips between major cities. I’ve found the estimates that railsaver.com uses in calculations are generally pretty accurate — just remember to add on the cost of a reservation.

Thanks again for your response.

Im just wondering if it is possible to book any of those trenitalia tickets this far in advance. I don’t need them now, i’m just curious. I think that I will go for the point to point tickets over the eurail pass for sure, especially if I can buy tickets online. My itinerary is pretty well set and won’t allow for any major changes, so I think that I will be ok.

I think trenitalia.com will sell tickets up to 60 days in advance. You have to register on their website and they e-mail you a password — my spam blocker didn’t let the e-mail through. I think your registration allows you to charge up to about $500 worth of tickets to your credit card over a period of about 6 months.

Hi Oldlady,

I just wanted to clarify something. If I get a eurail pass and use it on a certain day, is it then valid for the entire day that is signed on my pass. For example, if I use one of the days of the pass, does this give me unlimited use of all of the trains for that entire day ( I realize that I will probably still need a reservation). If I have to connect to another train at some station or if I just decide to leave and go somewhere else, will the pass be valid. If this is possible, I may be better of with a pass afterall. Flexibility would be nice to have. This may be a stupid question and I think that I already know the answer, but hopefully you can clarify it for me.

Just another quick question also. If I have a pass with me, I still need to make reservations on some trains. Can I do this a few days before my train ride and even on the day of? Also is a eurail pass good on the fast trains in most places? Some of the routes I plan on taking are quite long and it would be nice to spend as little time on trains as possible.

Thanks.

A rail day is midnight to midnight — you can take as many trains as you can manage in that period. If you get on a direct (no connections), overnight train that leaves after 7:00 PM (and arrives after midnight) you can invoke the "7:00 PM rule" and count only one day (arrival day) on your railpass.

The pass is "good" on virtually all trains, except some specialty trains (some scenic routes in Switzerland, narrow gauge in Provence, etc — most of those give a discount to railpass holders). Fast trains honor the pass, but usually require a reservation — costing from about 4 euros up to nearly 20 on the Thalys trains between Paris and Amsterdam or Brussels. 24 hours in advance is plenty of time for most reservations (3 days for sleeping accomodations). You can get them up to about an hour before departure — plan on arriving at the station at least 2 hours early if you’re taking a train that requires a reservation and you don’t already have it.

I’d suggest snooping around the "info center" at railpass.com/new. There are articles from "Europe by Eurail" and lots of other information. If you click on "using your railpass" and then "supplements" you’ll find a complete list, by country, of the trains that require reservations or supplements and the approximate cost. Also, take a deep breath and RELAX — it isn’t that difficult. You’ll be an expert after about 2 days of rail travel. See if you can find "Europe by Eurail" at the library — it’s updated every year, but only for things like rail pass prices, so an old copy is fine.

Thanks for the Information, it is exactly what I wanted to hear. Im not worried about the whole train system, just unsure of how it works. I want to figure out as much as I can now to save myself the trouble later. Well I can now put the whole train tickets thing to rest as the savings of point to point tickets is not enough to put all the extra work into. The eurail pass is much more conveinient. Thanks also for listing those other websites.