Tips for purchasing train tickets in Europe

Usually there are no discounts unless you buy from a selection of eurorail passes. For Dec except around xmas ,& NY you won't need reservations. do a price cost est on www.raileurope.com to find out costs in advance. then make your decision is a pass is worth it.? www.trentalia.com is italian railwebsite but oftenn it does not work well. altho sometimes they have some small discounts.

alice,

If travelling with P-P tickets, I usually just buy tickets at the train stations a day or two before I'll be travelling. Although you're travelling in December, the the rail systems may still be busy. A lot of Europeans are travelling for Christmas, so reservations might be required (depending on which part of Dec. you'll be travelling).

In France you could stop by any SNCF Boutique and buy your tickets to Zurich.

Most countries provide both ticket agents and automated machines for tickets, so you can take your pick on which method to use.

Good luck!

Alice...you can get substantial discounts by booking on the national rail websites. For Paris-Zurich, check tgv-europe.com. If you cannot print these out at home, simply bring your confirmation e-mail and the credit card you used for purchase to the ticket window and get them. For Zurich-Munich, check the German rail network at www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml . You can get print-at-home tickets for 39 Euro. For Vienna-Venice, check the Austrian rail network at http://www.oebb.at/en . Their "SparSchiene" fares can be had for 29 Euro, and I believe you can print them out at home...if not, pick them up in Vienna. As others have noted, booking on the Italian rail website has been problematic, especially with American credit cards. But feel free to give it a try at www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html . If it doesn't work, simply buy your tickets when you first arrive in Venice....you shouldn't have any problems.

An add to my post....most of these sites allow bookings about 90 days out, but some may be 120 days. I noticed the Austrian site was listing days well into December, but anything after 90 days came up as an error.

I agree with Norm and Ken. (Stay away from RailEurope as they overcharge.)

Spend some time seeing what point-point tickets will cost. then compare that to a railpass. Go with whichever way is less expensive.

You are in Melbourne (is that Australia or Florida?).If you are in the U.S., and you go to the specific rail websites and tell them that, they may automatically transfer you to RailEurope. To get around it, put the UK as your home. You can then pick up your tickets at the train stations or some will let you print them out at home.

If you go to the Grafitti Wall on this website there is a section about European train travel and it might help.

Another good site is Seat 61.

I'll add a few more details to Norm's already detailed post.

So long as your last leg is a direct train from any point in France to Zuerich, you can book at tgv-europe.com. Booking is allowed up to three months in advance.

You can book Zuerich-Muenchen up to 90 days in advance on the DB (German Rail) site.

You didn't list Muenchen-Wien (Vienna) as one of your routes, but you should know that you can get discount fares for that route on the DB site.

However, you need to take into account the fact that new European train timetables will go into effect on 13 December. That's why the DB site currently only shows timetables through 12 December. If you're traveling after 12 December, you won't be able to book your tickets, even if you're within the 90-day range, until the various national rail sites have updated their timetables. The new timetables are not likely to vary by more than a few minutes here or there, if at all.

Timetables can be different on Saturdays and/or Sundays as compared to weekdays.

While you have your choice of several departure times (with connections) for Wien-Venezia Santa Lucia day trains, there is only one direct day train--and there is also a direct night train.

If you book a discount fare in advance online, the ticket is non-exchangeable and non-refundable. Be sure you can commit to a specific departure date and time.

Buy your Venezia-Firenze (Florence) and Firenze-Roma tickets when you get to Italy.

Hi, Alice.

Just a word to the wise on the Vienna to Venice run. Most of them route around Slovenia, which is nice. But some route through Ljubljana, and then Trieste. The problem being, the tracks in Trieste were blown up in WWII and never replaced. So you train to the Slov. border, but to Trieste 45mins, then train again Trieste to Venice. The "Trieste Shuffle".

Going around through Switzerland is a more pleasant ride. :)

PS - If you plan on stopping along the way, by all means I recommend a few stop in Slovenia, totally outweighs the Trieste shuffle! ;)

And vote 4 for p2p tickets :)