Try punching in some dates for October.  Prices are unlikely to change that much.

If you want to save $ try the Eurolines bus pages as well.  They offer up a lot of special deals. You can get from Munich to Paris for around 30 Euros on tickets bought 45 days in advance, and from Paris to Canterbury for less than 15 Euros on the French Eurolines site.  Buses only offer 1 or 2 departures per day, usually, but the price is usually pretty competitive.  Again, they may not have their winter schedules posted yet.

www.eurolines.fr
www.touring.de

Thanks for that.  But is say 90 euros the norm for a train ticket from Munich to Paris?  and is it generally advisable to book well in advance?

Most trains don’t sell out and on a popular route there’s usually another train in an hour or so if the one you want is full.  Unless you’re
trying to travel on the day before the Eurocup final or some other huge event you should have not have a problem.  Standard advice is as day in advance for day trains and 3 days in advance for overnight trains.  If you’re worried, book a couple of days in advance — several days or a week in advance if it’s an overnight train.

ok thanks!  One more question, Christmas and New Years – from where I’m from (China) trains are packed around Chinese New Year etc, is it similar in Europe?  Or is it actually quite quiet?  So really do the holidays count as part of your mentioned ‘huge event’?

cheers

I’ve had a decent look around (at the expense of my university course work…)

But I’m now thinking this:

Munich to Paris – Train
Paris to London – Train
London – Amsterdam – Train+Ferry (saw this on a site for around 30 pounds)
Amsterdam to Berlin – Train
Berlin to Munich – Train

The Eurail site recommends that I get a youth select pass 5 days in 2 months and I think the Paris – London way is Eurostar only?

Any advice on this itenary?  Bearing in mind that This all happens from Dec 19 to Jan 6, and I’m not sure how everything works on and around Christmas in Europe.

How long will the trip from Amsterdam – Berlin and Berlin to Munich take approximately?

The advice is probably pretty good.  However, I’d check flights for your Paris/London and London/Amsterdam trips.  You may find flights that are cheaper than Eurostar, the chunnel train. You might find a flight as cheap as as your train/ferry combination which will save you time, if not money. If you take Eurostar for either of these legs, check for fares at www.eurostar.com and book as early as possible to get the best fares.

Well, actually Germain Railways website shows regular priced tickets from Munich to Paris for around 140 Euro. That’s for September, but as Russ pointed out regular ticket prices aren’t going to change much, if at all. German Railways occasionally have very good promotional fares, but those are impossible to predict.

For this route, it makes perfect sense to look at budget airlines.

As for the trains being packed, yes, European trains are rather full around holidays, at least by the standard of respective countries. However, you normally have an option to obtain (for a small fee) seat reservation for most of long-distance trains.

Thanks for all the advice!

The reason I’m not really looking at budget airlines is that I want to see the European country side etc so I guess on that front I’m willing to spend a few more dollars on trains. 

I’m thinking of a 3 country select 8 day Eurail pass, since this will give me the options of doing day trips, say from munich to salzburg or paris to other parts of france etc.

I’m thinking for taking the eurostar from Paris to London, then back from London to Brussels from Brussels I can use my Eurail pass again on my circle somehow back to Munich.  Probably isnt the cheapest option, but my frame of mind has somewhat changed since i wrote ‘budget’….  And from hearing about all the hassels of flying etc. 

Any thoughts on that? 

cheers,

Just on the select rail pass, I read somewhere that I can choose Beneleux, France, Germany and still use it for Salzburg since its a border city?  Is that true?

Your plan is fine.  I definitely prefer Eurostar to flying, but it’s a little bit like flying.  You have to check-in in advance (45 minutes?) not just “hop on at the last minute” like your typical train in Europe. 
 
Here’s the link to the English page at bahn.de, the German rail website.  Use it for schedules anywhere in Europe:  http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en 
 
I&nbsprefer the train to flying, but IMO “seeing the countryside” after the 1st couple of trains is overrated — with a few exceptions like some routes through the alps.