Buy trains tickests the day of travel

Answers:

1. Yes of course it is.
2. Two reasons. First, in some limited cases availability may be an issue. Second, faster trains typically require them. For example, if you want to take the Eurostar Italia from Venice to Florence you need to make a reservation.

It is definitely possbile in Western Europe to walk into a train station, buy a ticket and get on. There is always the risk that the train could be full. On local trains, there are no seat reservations and no guarantee of a seat. I've stood on some local runs. However, on better train categories, seat reservations are mandatory. You can't escape the seat reservation requirement by showing up on the day of travel. Still, if seats are available, you can walk into the station up to 10-15 minutes before the train departs, buy your ticket and get on. The price of the ticket includes any seat reservation that may be required, so again, you are not escaping the requirement. If you use the self-service machines, they will assign the seats for you. If you have a Eurail pass, and depending on the different countries, you will need to pay extra on the better train categories for reservations no matter when you show up. It's not the reservation you are paying for, it's the seat.

I have only reserved train tickets twice in Europe- once for Thalys the day after Christmas, and once to travel from St. Petersburg to Vilnius (Russian visa and transport laws are rather opaque, so I let a travel agent handle the details). In all other instances, I have never encountered a problem buying tickets on the day of travel. The only instances in which reservations are probably necessary are night trains and traveling during a holiday.

When you look up a connection on German Rail, it will show you some, probably three, and if you can purchase tickets onine it will be indicated by a box saying "Purchase". I you select this box, it will come up with a "purchase page", and one of the three options on the bottom, along with "Ticket for self print" and "Ticket by mail" will be "Reservation only (for self print)".

Can you reserve seats on line? Is there a good web site to do this?
Is this correct, the cost of the seat weather you reserve or just walk into the train station the same cost?

thanks

Stew, there's no such thing as "reserving seats" online. You must buy the ticket. The seat reservation comes with it.

Stew, I've traveled on several hundred trains in Germany in the last 8 years, and I have never bought the ticket earlier than the day of travel. I have also never made a reservation, although you can get them cheap when you buy the ticket. Only once did I have to stand, for half an hour from FRA to Mannheim the day after Christmas (a holiday, Zweiter Weihnachtstag). On that train, all seats were occupied, but few were reserved. Had I made a reservation when I bought the ticket, I would have had a seat.

Larry, on German Rail you can make just a reservation, online, for many trains. It costs more, usually €4, versus buying the reservation with a ticket, €2, but it can be done.

Thanks Lee. I was not aware that you could do this on German trains.