When to buy rail tickets

I agree with Sasha. The discounts of buying early in some cases are huge, buying all your tickets day of could cost you hundreds of dollars more per person for your trip. I also find that unless you're cool with potentially standing or having to constantly reshuffle seats, when seat reservations are affordable it makes sense to go ahead and spend the extra few euros, particularly if you are with a group bigger than two, or feel at all insecure or nervous about train travel. it's true that trains rarely "sell out" but I have been in plenty of standing-room only trains. A few people on here will tell you that doesn't happen ever, but that has not been my experience. 90 days out from your trip I'd recommend just buying all the tickets in advance that you can (should be possible for all your legs).

The only advantage to purchasing tickets in advance is the availability of discounts. But that locks you into a schedule and are generally not refundable or changeable. However, some discounts are significant. So if absolutely locked into a schedule, then buy those tickets on the national rail line sites. Some discounts are limited but if still available you can buy as late as 24 hrs prior to departure time. As to reservations in general, trains in Europe rarely, if ever sell out. And trains are frequent enough if you could not get on one train, then there will be another in an hour or so. We never buy tickets more than a day or two in advance.

Barbara - Some of your train tickets like London to Paris and Paris to Florence you should buy as early as possible. For the London to Paris use eurostar.com. Currently fares are as low as £69 per person round trip if you book far enough in advance. For Paris to Florence use TGV-Europe.com for ticket collection country specify Great Britian otherwise you'll be transfered to the Rail Europe and your ticket prices may increase. Currently fares are as low as 93.00 € per person one way if you book far enough in advance. I'm not very familiar with the other European train web sites, but others on the helpline are. Also to see most train scheduless in Europe go to the bahn.de web site.

Actually, for London to Paris there is a HUGE advantage to purchasing in advance. The earlier you buy tickets for the Eurostar, the better price you get. For other tickets, such as TGV trains in France and ES in Italy (like between Venice and Florence) there is also a significant price advantage to buying in advance on the websites (TGV and Trenitalia). To me, saving 20 euros or more greatly outweighs any advantage of "flexibility," We have our itinerary set well before we go, hotels reserved, etc., so why not also buy train tickets when we can save money. Also, we get our besst selection of trains. Generally we like to depart one city around 11:00, giving us a fairly leisurely morning at our hotel but we leave before check-out and arrive at the next one usually around check-in time so don't have to stash luggage iin between. It is of course up to you, but if you want to save money, especially between Paris and London, buy well ahead (especially with a round trip fare).

Trains in Europe may rarely sell out but you may find yourself standing instead of sitting if you don't buy a reservation. I know! Concerning intercity trains, if you buy the tickets at least three days ahead you will get a big discount, sometimes more than fifty per cent. When we arrive at a destination we will already have planned where we are going next. In the station we buy the ticket for the next leg of the journey. The three day rule begins at midnight so it you are in a city for two full days and have bought the next ticket when you arrived you should be able to get a discount. We always do this, and purched reserved seats.

Buying ticket in Europe is cheaper than buying them from here from an agency like RailEurope, but as Frank says, if you buy them in advance from here, online from the national rail companies, like German Rail, you can get good discounts. The 24 hour pre-purchase discounts he was referring to are mini fares in Italy. In Germany, the advance purchase has to be 3 days. With German discount ticket you can get a refund, less €15, up to the day before travel, but then you would have to pay full price for the replacement tickets. In Germany, the discounted fares are limited in quantity and tiered. When the lowest price discount tickets sell out, the price goes up. If you wait until you are in Germany, three days in advance, you'll pay a higher price, or maybe the discounted tickets will all be gone.

This is a bit confusing..Thanks for all the response. I did not plan to buy day of but did not want to buy all our tickets here in the US before we go because I did not want to have to worry about losing them just more things to keep track of. I thought to buy what I had to before we went like the chunnel tickets as I heard they are cheaper if we buy them early and then once in London? Buy for the rest of the trip? The timing is what I am trying to figure out Can I buy them a week in advance wherever we are? I could buy the tickets to Paris from London here and then buy Paris to Florence when we get to London since we would not be doing that trip for 10 day after we arrive... and then Florence to Venice when we are in Paris... ect.. Any thoughts on this,,, Someone mentioned Germany but we are not going there London to paris (buy before we leave) Paris to Florence (buy in London) Florence to Venice (buy in London) Venice back to Florence (buy in London) Florence to Lauterbrunnenhere there are about 4 connections and we really need to make most of them as there are not one every hour (buy in London or Florence?) Lauterbrunnen to Bern (buy in Florence?) Bern to Paris and then to London (same day) (buy before we leave NY for Paris to London) This is what I am thinking How can I find out about discounts or will that be when i get to Europe.. the only two websites I know about are Eurail which is costly I hear and de baun Someone mentioned another which I will check out, When you buy a ticket does the reservation come with it? Also, if I buy a ticket online do I just print it out?
Sorry for all the questions ..this part is still confusing to me

"Someone mentioned Germany but we are not going there". Yep, someone did and who knows why. It doesn't have to be difficult. You can get discounts for advance purchase, but you have buy tickets on each country's own website, like TGV for France, Trenitalia for Italy, etc. There are no discounts for travel wholly within Switzerland, and as for Germany, you are not going there so ignore what Lee said. The most important one for you to buy in advance is the London-Paris-London round trip, as this is much cheaper in advance. The rest, if you feel it is too much trouble to work out in advance, just buy when you get there, but you will pay a bit more. I am sorry some people here have confused you. The point is to be helpful, and some have not been.

To answer specific questions, if you don't want to buy on the websites in advance apart from the London Paris Eurostar tickets, you should buParis to Florence in Paris, then buy all your Italy tickets once you get to Italy. Why are you going Florence to Venice then back to Florence before you go to Switzerland? This is backtracking. From Venice, you should head to Milan to go to Switzerland.

The French Open-wow! We have wanted to see that. It should be terrific to watch. Are you going for the early rounds, or later? Laura has an excellent suggestion-fly from paris to Venice. EasyJet has one-way flights from CDG to Venice (Marco Polo) starting around 52 euros in mid-May. Some days are more like 71 euros, but that is still a lot better than the train fare.

If you are new to Europe rail travel I HIGHLY recommend a rail pass. I didn't see how long your trip is but a SAVER pass will get you first class seating. Also if you miss a train or just change your mind you have flexibility. The first class seating is nice in that some trains are very crowded and yet are never full in first class so it ensures you will have a seat and not be standing in the aisles as it looks like you are going in early summer. Just not having to stand in lines at stations is a bonus. Its nice to be able to hop off and see something and hop back on. Also to go to a place and find that you want to stay later or leave earlier. I've also missed a stop and had to get on another train to go back.
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Barbara, If you buy tickets in advance, most agencies either give you the option of printing out the ticket at home, or in the case of the Italian railway they have "ticketless" option where they can send you a code to your phone or email that you then give the ticket collector on board. Fear of losing your tickets/information is valid (I did this one for a mandatory reservation TGV train and it was a hassle) but if you organize your ticket printouts well in a folder and keep it where you'd keep other valuable travel documents (in your carry on bag on the plane, in your hotel safe with your passport etc at hotels, and so forth) the risk is minimal. You can also write down copies of your booking codes and keep them separately from your tickets, so if you do end up losing the tickets, you can go to a ticket counter at the trainstation, give them your booking code, and explain the situation. They should be able to print out new tickets for you without a problem. Of course everyone has a different travel style. I prefer to plan in advance and book as much as possible in advance, because it cuts down on my personal anxiety and I don't have to worry about potentially waiting in lines at train stations or giving myself extra time at stations to purchase tickets as I go. But some people prefer to interact with a human when purchasing tickets, for instance. At the very least starting 90 days out from your travel dates, walk yourself through the purchasing of the tickets on the various national rail websites for all the legs of your trip. seat61.com is a good overall guide to various websites, it can walk you through some of the trickier websites. Even if you chose not to purchase tickets ahead of time in the US, going through the process will help you better understand the train systems and how it works.

and when you buy a ticket, whether it is online back in the US, at a ticket machine in Europe, or at a ticket counter with an agent, you will be asked if you want a seat reservation in addition to the ticket. if reservations are mandatory (as they are on the high speed trains in most of the routes you're doing) they will just go ahead and assign you seats, since you cannot purchase the tickets without reservations. Again, please spend some time on seat61.com, it is very comprehensive and will answer a lot of your questions as they come up!

I am afraid Diane's advice to get a rail pass is misplaced. It will not cover the cost of the Eurostar between London and Paris. For the rest of the travel Barbara listed, they will be on intercity trains like TGv and ES in Italy, all of which require supplements and/ or reservations for pass holders. You cannot just jump on the train and take a seat.

While advance booking is possible up to 90 days in advance on many national rail sites, you can book Eurostar tickets at eurostar.com up to 120 days in advance. So book your London-Paris RT tickets 120 days before your Paris-London ride. Here is one example of why you'll save money if you book your other trips from home. To travel from Paris to Florence you'll need to make a connection in Turin. The standard 2nd class fares are €110 for Paris-Turin and €68 for Turin-Florence. If you book up to 90 days in advance at tgv-europe.com, you can get a Mini fare of €25 for Paris-Turin. If you book up to 90 days in advance at trenitalia.com, you can get a Mini fare of €41 for Turin-Florence. That's a savings of €112. If you want to know how much you can save on your other rides by booking in advance from home, just ask.

Barbara, Is your itinerary fixed (e.g. have you already made all your hotel reservations?). If not, even without an open jaws ticket, I think you could make your itinerary much more efficient to avoid backtracking and lower your costs. For example, a cheap one-way flight between London and Venice can be found for about $100 and will only take about half of a day. I'd suggest that you consider doing one direction by a quick flight. You could do: London Eurostar to Paris Train to Switzerland (Lauterbrunnen, Bern) Train to Florence Train to Venice
Fly back to London

I like Laura's proposed itinerary.

You are all so terrific and I appreciate all the suggestions To answer some questions. Yes our trip plan is solid and there are reasons for everything:) We are going to the French open so need to be there right after London so london to Paris is solid--we already have an apartment booked for our time there. I am doing Paris to Florence and an overnight in Florence simply because the place we are staying at in Venice is very expensive and we would arrive rather late to Venice anyway so if we stop in Florence we have a cheap place to stay by the station.. can relax a bit before continuing on to Venice the next AM and since is a short hop to Venice we will be there with enough time to have two full days there (I will look at the ticket costs doing it this way and see if there is a price difference then it may be worth staying in venice the night before so I will check that out) So then back to Florence to be there for a few days and explore the city and perhaps a half day in Pisa but maybe not.
Then we will rent a car and spend three days in Tuscany and then start heading back... that is why the stop in Switzerland on the way back as it breaks up the way back so we are not traveling sooo much the day before we have to fly home. Need to split this post..sorry

Continuing my post.. Do you recommend getting the eurostar tickets from the eurostar site itself - is Rail Europe more expensive? I checked out the rail pass and it is not economical, I have to worry if I lose it as its not refundable, you still need to buy and make reservations for many of the trains which is an added cost. I was back and forth on that but from what I have read and what others have said it seems like I can do better with discounts.
How do I know if something is discounted.. is it automatically discounted if you are buying far ahead of time?

Laura
i will check out your suggestion just to see what that would do but I have booked pretty much all my hotels.. some may be flexible .. I will look into it.. thanks

I must be doing something wrong:( I just went on the French site and entered Paris to Florence and it brought up a second class price for two of 359 euros one way When I go to the rail europe site it costs 312 US dollars one way.. which is close to 500 US. wow.. WHat am i missing here??? Same dates..i did it twice and was sure to put that i was in a country other than US since the info site suggested here says do not put US as they reroute you to rail europe
So much for cheaper.. I don't get it.

I'll let someone else comment on the train prices as others know better the tricks on getting discount tickets. However, are you sure you want to take the train from Paris to Florence? That trip is going to take you 12 hours or more. You can get a cheap flight from Paris to Florence for around $100. Better yet, if you could adjust your schedule, you could fly from Paris to Venice and then after your stay there train to Florence. That would avoid a round-trip between Venice and Florence. The cost savings might justify the extra night at the more expensive Venice hotel.

Thanks Laura I will explore your suggestion I had looked at prices via de baun site (not sure on the spelling) and rail europe several months ago and the price from Paris to Florence was only 129 dollars... so either it went up or something is strange.. I need to investigate further, we did look at some flights but not Paris to Venice or Florence We noticed that in the time you save its not as much as you think as you need to get from the airport and to the airport into the cities anyway..but if the cost is what I am currently seeing then I am seriously going to consider your suggestion French open Yes we are soooo excited to just be there.. plan on going to the first two days --walk around and see what is on the outer courts.. we do that here in NY for the US open,
It is one of my Hs dream to do this and he just retired... we have never been to Europe so part of our bucket list Thanks for all your support and suggestions. I may be back on site over the weekend with more questions as the European sites seem to confuse me

Book your Eurostar tickets at eurostar.com, not the Rail Europe site. No budget airline currently has direct flights between Paris and Florence. Vueling will begin direct flights at the end of March, but they won't be offered every day of the week. EasyJet has daily flights from Paris to Pisa. Take the train from the airport station to Florence. EasyJet has daily flights from both CDG and Orly to Venice Marco Polo. As I said in a previous post, to get the cheapest fares for Paris-Florence by train you'll need to book Paris-Turin on tgv-europe.com and Turin-Florence on trenitalia.com. (Note: The best site to see detailed timetables for the whole route is bahn.de, the German Rail site.) To keep the tgv-europe site in English and to avoid being bumped to either the US or UK Rail Europe site, first say that you live in Great Britain but don't let yourself to transferred to raileurope.co.uk. Choose to stay with tgv-europe.com. Then choose Great Britain as your ticket retrieval country. Don't worry. You'll still be able to either print your own tickets or pick them up at any SNCF station in France.

Ok now I am totally undone:) Laura I checked out flights to Venice and wow is all I can say soooo much cheaper than the train..now I have to see how much hassle it will be to get back and forth to the airports.. it would make the add night in venice worth it so might just do that. Easy Jet has a fare for 56 euros which is about 80 dollars vrs almost 200 by train and it is at a decent hour. Do these fares go up as well as you get closer does anyone know...
I feel like once I book something there are all these ramifications if I am not totally certain. I also need to see if I can get an extra night at the place in Venice.

"Do these fares go up as well as you get closer does anyone know... " Yes they do - Just like fares in the US. Look at the EasyJet fares close to now to see how much they can go up. By the way, according to EasyJet, the lowest fare to Rome (the closest to Florence by EasyJet) in May is €38.99 (essentially €39), but there is an €11 administration fee and €14 Euro to check one bag (bags are free on the train), so the total they showed was €64 with a debit card (€70) with a credit card. To the train fare you have to add overnight at one of the ends. So although probably still cheaper, you're not saving a much as it looks like at first view. Plus flying takes about 6 hours right out of the middle of the day, whereas the train takes time that would otherwise not be used for sightseeing. ETA: I forgot about EasyJet to Pisa. That's closer to Florence than Rome. But I don't see many great fares to Pisa, either.

Easyjet prices do go up. The y sell a few seats at one price, then up it a few euros again and again as the plane fills up. Looking at early May, I see flights from Paris to Venice at 59 euros on May 9, 52 on the 10th, 63 on the 11th, and 76 euros on the 12th. I remember one flight the following week that was around 150. Also read their policies carefully to understand the extra fees and avoid surprises. You might was to start a new question about flying on Easyjet and understanding the extra fees. Their flights are a good deal as long as you understand these. As for getting to and from the airport, that is not difficult. And flying into Venice is a real treat, as you see the islands below you. Take the Alilaguna boat across the lagoon to reach Venice properly, by water. Edit: I see someone has asked a question about Easyjet from Paris to Venice in the Transportation section. You might check the responses there .

For what it's worth; A person can get a berth on the night train from Paris to Venice (or any of the stops along the way like Milan or Verona, Vicenza or Padua) for 35euro or $46 if bought early enough - up to 120 days. Of course, that' in a 6-person couchette which tends to make some people uncomfortable, but still...it's worth mentioning when Easy Jet charges 20 cents for each inhale and 10 cents for each exhale...

Randy,what website do you use for that 35 euro ticket, and is that the total cost to go from Paris to Venice? Or is it just the cost of the berth and you have to add the regular ticket price?

To the train fare you have to add overnight at one of the ends. So although probably still cheaper, you're not saving a much as it looks like at first view. If we went by train instead of going to venice we planned to stop in Florence and sleep there.. I do not want to overnight on the train..then continue on to Venice the next AM
That was the initial plan i will check all the extra fees as suggested and then see what is most economical but from what I saw of the train fares the plane will beat it out hands down.. Just to Florence from paris the fare was 179 US for one and then we would still have the cost of Florence to Venice we were ok with traveling the 12 hrs to Florence if the price was right as it allowed us to see the countryside and force us to stop and relax after 10 days of sightseeing in Paris and London However, if the price is so much better flying I would not mind having the extra time in Venice to kick back then on that first day. I will check out all the info on easy jet as suggested thanks!