train reservations

linda, Which cities are you going to be visiting in those three countries? You can easily make the reservations when in Europe, and there's no price benefit in doing that in advance. In the same situation, I'd simply stop at the ticket office or a Kiosk when arriving in each city, and purchase the reservations for my outgoing journey. The first step will be to use the bahn.de website to determine which of your rail trips will require reservations and which trains you're going to use. In Austria and Germany, I suspect you won't need many reservations. However in Italy the case is much different as not having valid reservations for the train you're riding on will have expensive consequences! When you buy reservations for a particular train and departure time, you MUST verify the train number listed on your reservation with the train you're boarding. If the Conductor finds a "discrepancy", you'll need to have your credit card at hand, as the fines start at about €60 PP (€40-50 PP for the fine and ~€10 PP for the reservation). You will of course need to have the Railpass validated prior to the first use. Happy travels!