Rome2Rio and Rail Ninja

My advice about using them is simple: Don't!

I wouldn’t use those third party vendors. It’s been noted multiple times that Rome2Rio’s information is not always correct. Book directly with the train company. It will have current information. Some people have had good luck with consolidator Trainline, but I haven’t used them to have an opinion. Download the apps for all the companies you are traveling on so it’s easy to book and see your tickets.

Rail Ninja has a bad reputation. So bad that they are actually listed on the official railway site for Portugal. So, if Portugal feels the need to warn individuals, I have a feeling other railways in different countries most likely have issues with them.

We inform that "Rail.Ninja" and "Kiwi" are not authorised agents for CP tickets selling and there isn´t any contractual agreement between CP and those companies. CP declines any responsibility for the information disclosed by those entities or for any losses arising from ticket purchases made through them.

https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/train-times/Alerts/unauthorised-sale-tickets

Rome2Rio often has inaccurate information.
With Deutsche Bahn, buying train tickets is easy at www.Bahn.de/en Rail Ninja will rip you off with the prices of a predator.
If you don’t want to buy train tickets directly from the train company issuing them, buy them from a company
that the train company has a contract with to sell their tickets.
The Trainline is the one I use.

GO DIRECT !!! Those are third party vendors with a so so reputation. Trainline is OK if you want to use third party.

GO DIRECT!!!

Seasoned travelers ( those of us who have traveling in Europe since Nixon was President) say NO third parties.

End of story.

Use Deutsche Bahn website directly (inform yourself about special fares).

Only 2 half-acceptable exceptions are Trainline and Omio.

As all the others have (emphatically) said, Deutsche Bahn (DB) is the best site for booking tickets in Germany. The other sites you mentioned will charge a premium and are not nearly as efficient as DB. I used DB exclusively to buy all my train tickets in 2022 for a month long trip to Germany, and had no problems at all. I know there are no trains now because of the strike, but you can still book online and check prices. https://int.bahn.de/en

One thing I would make sure and do is to download the DB Navigator app. Both Apple and Google Play have it. This will hold your account information and your tickets, so that you can easily show the QR code to the conductor. The other advantage to having the app is that you will receive push notifications of train delays, cancellations and track changes. Without the app, you have to rely on the electronic boards (and that will only be at the large stations) or broadcasted announcements (which may or may not be in English).

If you would like to share where you are going to and when, we can give you some help with tickets and other passes that might be relevant to you. For example, there are regional passes available, super saver passes, and also the Deutschland monthly £49 subscription (which can be cancelled after a month). But it really depends on your destinations and how much you will be using the trins.

Agree, it's best to buy your ticket from the primary source. For Germany that's usually the DB.

However, Rome2Rio, as well as it's parent company Omio, can be very useful. They show other travel options, such as by bus or car sharing, that may be faster, more convenient or cheaper. Sometimes rail service isn't available and the above companies identify what is available.

In Germany, for example, the trip from Frankfurt to the Frankfurt-Hahn airport is usually faster, cheaper and more convenient by taking one of the bus options.

While it's good to know about buses when they are a better (or the only) option, the fact is that much of the information on fares, travel times and frequencies displayed by Rome2Rio is out-and-out wrong. I don't use it for anything other than finding the name of the bus company on a route I'm interested in, and even then, it is often just as easy to get the information from Google. If you see something on Rome2Rio that looks like a good option for you, you need to go immediately to the operating company's website to verify it.

My reading of online reviews strongly suggests that Rail Ninja is a crooked company. Do not use it under any circumstances.

I would never use any source for tickets other than the Bahn website.

I usually only use the DB website for planning purposes. I mostly use regional passes and Länder tickets, and those I purchase at the station at the time of travel, or I use local tickets, purchased at the time of travel. The only time I purchase tickets online is for long distance trains, when advance purchase can give me a much better price.

I've looked at the Trainline website, but I can't find a reason to use them. They might be a little easier to use than the Bahn website, but their tickets are always more expensive than purchasing from the Bahn and then they add a service fee. You best prices are from the Bahn.

I spent a good deal of time traveling in Germany in October and November of last year. I researched and bought all my tickets via DB but on their app.

Rome2rio is very unreliable. I use it to research which companies are offering services on a certain route then go to those company's websites to see their schedule and buy tickets.

No third parties for me

You dodged a bullet here.

Rail Ninja is a scam. Avoid.
Rome2Rio is a moderately unsuccessful attempt at providing a one stop shop for all transportation.

If you have no experience regarding train travel in Europe go to this website: www.seat61.com
That site contains everything you wanted to know about train travel but were afraid to ask...

Trainline is a good option in a few cases. But not for Germany.

Germany has good integration beween the different parts of the public transit system. A consequence of that is that you can use the DB app for pretty much everything, also for local transport. You can look up times for local trips, and buy your tickets, all in the app.

Like everyone else book direct or possibly use Trainline. For Germany we always use the DB site.

We use R2R for initial research and nothing else. Use Trainline when traveling multiple countries just to have everything in one place. In that part of the world I also check Flixbus although R2R usually has routes listed.

DB seems to allow only one train ticket purchase at a time when I tried to use it. It doesn’t seem to allow purchase of multiple tickets at a time to put in a basket and pay all at once. Am I wrong?

Tammy, you could be right. When I bought my tickets, I usually bought them as I was planning my itinerary, so it wasn't all at once. Maybe their software doesn't allow that. It's easy enough to buy one ticket right after the other, however, especially once you have created the account and have your payment stored.

Add the DB app to your phone. You can still have paper as a back-up.

Suggest that you get seat reservations. It's worth the money to have the seat you want regardless of how crowded the train becomes.

I use Rome2Rio all the time. I use it for travel times between cities and the maps. Only these because it is so simple.

Yes, it's simple, but those travel times can be howlingly incorrect. Verify everything on the train- or bus-company website before you make an important decision. And be aware that Rome2Rio doesn't know about all the buses everywhere, so you may miss out on critical information. I suspect it may not have full information on all local trains, either.

Thank you all for the information. I have down loaded all the necessary apps.
Karen