Rail Europe tickets

People have issues with Rail Europe all of the time. That's why we recommend buying your train tickets directly from the country's train travel website...not a third party reseller like Rail Europe.

Tim is right. If you tell us exactly which route you want to travel, we can tell you exactly how to buy it direct from the company that runs the train, or if that is a problem, as it is sometimes in Spain, France, and a few other places, which reseller has the best price and simplest procedures (hint: it's rarely Rail Europe).

I don't believe that printing these tickets is a common issue. Are you having a specific printing problem that you can describe?

I recently bought my tickets through RailEurope, but didn't know until after I paid that some of them were "print at station" tickets. The instructions say to print them at a self-service kiosk, but further on there is a notice that Trenitalia kiosks won't print them and you have to go to the ticket window. That negates any advantage in purchasing these tickets before you go. Also, I've heard that at the smaller stations they won't print them. I've read several complaints about this in other forums.

If I had known I was going to have to go to the ticket window and wait in line, I would not have bought the tickets in advance.

Thanks Mike - that is the situation we are in - already purchased before it was clear we would have to print there - and I read where you have to print at the window. I hope it goes smoothly - will know in a week.

Key reasons for advance purchase usually include a) paying a rate lower than full fare, b) securing seats together for groups, and c) printing at home to save time in the station. Rail Europe offers advance discounts and print-at-home for many faster Trenitalia and Italo trains, with that delivery option shown before check-out, where it's available. Correct, until further notice, they have had to switch from kiosk to ticket-window for any print-at-station tickets. (Regional train tickets are not usually a good candidate to buy online due to extra restrictions, or different delivery methods, and not eligible for seat reservation or advance discount.)