What kind of pass did you get?

Flexpass…

6 days in 3 zones…

I don’t know about the specifics of your railpass, but usually with a pass you are allowed to get on any train that goes to yoru destination, unless you need a reservation (on timetables, these trains usually have a boxed R next to them, with a circled R meaning a reservation is recommended but not required) or a supplement (this depends on your railpass, but e.g. you’ll probably have to pay this for TGV trains in France or ICE trains in Germany).

To find out rail schedules, check out http://reiseauskunft… They also mention when you need a reservation, and you have the option to exclude fast or IC trains (in some countries you may have to pay a supplement for these too). This site is often more useful than asking at the train station, they may not know anything about international connections if you have to change trains (at least they never do at my local train station), or they may not speak English or any other language you understand.

"zones"????? or "countries" Do you have an interrail pass (available to European residents) or a Eurail pass (those of us who don’t reside in Europe)? A Eurail flexipass would be for 3 countries (although Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg count as 1 country called Benelux) not 3 "zones."

You’re unlikely to have to pay a supplement with a eurail pass unless you take overnight trains or travel on some of the specialty trains in Switzerland. TGV and ICE trains require a reservation, but not a supplement.

You will have to pay for required reservations on some highspeed trains. The cost for these varies from 3 or 4 euros up to nearly 20 euros (on the Thalys trains between Amsterdam or Brussels and Paris). You can buy reservations at most major train stations — look for an "R" or a pictograph of a seat or automated kiosks in some stations. You can buy reservations for most trains at the larger stations — so you could buy your reservation from Paris to Amsterdam at the station in Munich.

Assuming you have a eurail pass go to railpass.com/new Click on "info center" then "using your pass" then "supplements." There’s a chart with a complete list (by country) of trains that require supplements or reservations and the approximate cost to buy them in Europe — you can buy reservations before you leave home from most of the web sites that sell railpasses, but they’ll end up costing more than twice as much as buying them in Europe.

I had just one other quick question about the reservations. How early should I make a reservation. If I am going to take a major route (ie: Paris-Rome, Madrid-Geneva, etc.), then can I make a night train reservation that morning? Or should I arrange my way out of town a couple of days earlier? Should I make reservations sooner for less important routes (ie: Bilbao-Granada, Avignon-Grindelweld, etc.)

I never made reservations more than a day in advance and I was always fine. But I did hear some stories of trains being booked full in France and Spain, so you might wanna reserve earlier for the popular routes if you’re sure when you want to travel.

I read in a book somewhere (so take this with a grain of salt) that you should be okay if when you take a train into a city, while your at the train station – to go ahead and make your reservations while your there for your outbound train. If you have a general idea of how long you’ll be staying in the city. Once again, just something I read. Let me know if this is a good or bad theory to go by.

Generally, 24 hours in advance is fine for reservations — often you can get them up to an hour or so before train time. For overnight trains or popular destinations at the height of tourist season, I’d try to get reservations a couple of days in advance.

Sometimes there are fairly long lines or a "take a number" system for reservations. That’s a bigger problem than not being able to get a seat. I’ve had several situations where I waited in line nearly an hour to buy reservations but had no problem getting a seat — the train was nearly empty. You can save some time standing in line by buying several reservations at once. Larnold’s idea of buying your outbound reservation when you arrive in town works quite well if you know where you’ll be going and when you’ll be leaving.

Only time I would make my reservation as soon as possible would be for night trains(since sleepers tend to sell out quicker than couchette’s).Otherwise the method proposed here is perfect.
-howie

I was just wondering if you take an overnight train that is only 6 hours or so, and you just plan on getting a seat, not a sleeper, do you still neeed to make a reservation.

I would strongly recomend on an overnight train to spend the few euro’s more and go for the couchete…However at busy times ie holiday’s and some routes durning the summer I would bet seats can even book up quickly?
-howie

Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don’t. But frankly, if it’s only 6 hours, why are you taking a night train?

I havent decided to take the night train, I was just curious. It would save paying to stay in a hostel for 1 night, and if I was to leave on the 6 hour train early morning, I would not arrive to my destination unitl the middle of the afternoon. When you only have a limited time in Europe, you want to make the most of your time.

In my experience, night trains don’t save you time. It may seem like that when you are planning your itinerary, but you forget that you won’t get a decent night’s sleep (regardless of wether you get a couchette or just a seat), especially not when the journey includes border crossings, so you’ll feel really tired and worn out the next day, so you’ll either take a nap as soon as you get to the hostel and waste half the day anyway, or feel icky all day and go to bed early, missing out on the nightlife you’d wanted to experience.