Should I purchase rail tickets online or at the station?

Posted by Daria (Los Angeles, California, USA) on 07/27/10 06:52 PM

Dear wise travelers, I will be traveling to Europe in mid September. The three of us have a set schedule as follows:

Monday 9/20 London-Belgium-Brugge
Wed 9/22 Brugge-Amsterdam; Amsterdam-Munich on overnight train
Thur 9/23 Munich-Fussen
Sat 9/25 Fussen - Munich; Munich - Vienna
Mon 9/27 Vienna-Rome on overnight train
Wed 9/29 Rome to Florence; Florence-Paris (overnight)

Per eurail.com, I can get a euroglobal pass saver for $549 US dollars/person, not including extra for reservations on the overnight trains and from Rome-Florence. Per eurorail.com, if I purchase from them, it comes to about $900 total including reservation on those overnight trains, but I have to reserve each single trip.

Do you think it'd be cheaper to go to individual railway sites to book point-to-point (if they also take reservation), or should I get a pass now from eurail.com, before I go and pay extra?

Thanks for the help!

Posted by Frank

Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA

07/27/10 08:13 PM

23557 posts

First off, your comparison has to price the tickets at the local rail sites. The RailEurope tickets often are substantially marked up and only sells a limited number of tickets. Also, many of the European offer discounts, sometimes substantial, for advance purchases. So you need to take that into consideration with comparing prices. Unfortunately you need to start over with your price comparison.

Posted by Lee

Lakewood, Colorado

07/28/10 08:26 AM

19237 posts

Get the night train reservations as soon as you can commit. Those are popular trains and often sell out months in advance. Whether you get complete tickets or passholder reservations, you need to do it now.

For Amsterdam-Munich, your best source for reservations would be the German Rail website. To see the best point-point fare, click "Check Availability" under savings fares. These are complete prices, transport and accommodations, and are discounted and non-refundable.

Or to see the reservation charge with a rail pass, click where is says "Check availability", then "Book only extra charge", then "Pass offer" to see the accommodations available and the passholder surcharge (reservation fee).

For Munich to Fuessen and Fuessen to Munich, buy a €28 Bayern-Ticket (click the '>' symbol before "Bayern") from an automat at the station. That €28 is for all three of you and gives you unlimited rides for a day (after 9 workdays) on any regional trains. It also covers any conveyances in the Munich metro (MVV) as well as the buses in Fuessen.

For Munich to Vienna (Wien), look for more savings fares on the Bahn website.

For Vienna to Rome, look for advance purchase, discounted, complete (rail and accommodations) tickets on the Austrian Rail website.

Posted by Tim

Minneapolis, MN, USA

07/28/10 09:18 AM

8700 posts

If you book TODAY at www.eurostar.com, you can still get a fare as low as $57 US for London-Brussels on the Eurostar on 20 September. Your ticket will also be good for any IC train from Brussels to Brugge. That fare is gone for some departure times that day so book ASAP.

For Brugge-Amsterdam the simplest thing to do is to buy tickets for IC trains after you get to Belgium. No seat reservations are possible and your tickets will be good on any train. The route is Brugge-Antwerp-Amsterdam.