Need help: Confused about European train systems

Post your itinerary and the regulars will suggest clever and cheap ways to get where you're going. Train schedules for all of Europe: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Hey Russ, thanks for your tip...and for that website! Here is my itinerary: Fly to Seville, Spain on Sept. 8, then off to: Granada Barcelona FRANCE: Toulouse Marseille Avignon Lyon SWITZERLAND: Bern Zurich ITALY: Venice Cinque Terre Tuscany area...Florence Rome AUSTRIA: Salzburg Innsbruck GERMANY: Freiburg Munich MOROCCO: Fez & Chefchaouen Thanks a bunch =) Emily

Train redervations do not have the same meaning as you may think. There are some trains on which you MUST make a reservation - TGV, some ICE, etc., but you can buy the ticket and make the reservation the day you travel, it is not necessarily an advance reseration. We usually make the reservation a day or so before we move on. Have you downloaded Rick's rail brochure from this site? If not, do so. It will answer a lot of your questions. Trains generally run between countries, no need to get off at teh border and onto another train. The German Railway website is the best for planning trips as it covers almost all trains all over Europe.

Emily, first of all, have you read the "Rail Skills" chapter in Europe Through The Back Door? That will answer a lot of your questions. You could also download the FREE PDF Rail Guide from this website - click the "Railpasses" tab. To answer some of your questions: (1) All trains that run through Europe are operated by the respective rail systems in each country - Trenitalia, AVE, etc. (2) Yes, train tickets CAN be purchased on the day of travel, but I usually like to "play it safe" and buy them a day or two before I'll be travelling. (3) Reservations are only applicable for specific trains, usually the "fast" trains such as the TGV in France (which travels at speeds as high as 300 kMH) or the EuroStar Italia/Alta Velocita in Italy. As you're only going to be using P-P tickets, the reservations will be included in your ticket price (if applicable). You'll be assigned a Car No. and a Seat No. if you're travelling on a ticket with reservations. (4) To determine which train(s) you'll need to take for each of your trips, use the bahn.de site suggested in another reply. It's the German rail website and is an EXCELLENT resource for planning rail trips in Europe. For example, to get from Barcelona to Toulouse, the trip I'd probably use departs at 08:16, arriving 13:56 - Time 5H:40M, with two changes in Girona and Narbonne (that's just about the right time for check-in at Hotels). Note that there are about NINE stations in Toulouse, and you'll probably want to go to Gare Matabiau (which is about 15 minutes walk from Place Wilson and the city centre). Two of the legs on that trip are via TGV, so there are compulsory reservations. There are other trains available, depending on what time you want to leave Barcelona, and how many changes you want. The travel time varies slightly. Hope this helps. Happy travels!

In relation to whether you need to buy tickets in advance, it's not common for trains to be so full that you can't get one on the day. But for many long-distance trains in Europe you will get much, much cheaper fares if you can buy a few weeks in advance. However, these cheap deals tie you to specific trains, so you must be careful to make sure that you will have enough time to get them (probably not a good idea to get a cheap advance fare if you are getting off a plane which might be delayed).

A ticket on the Thalys high-speed line works like an airline ticket- it gives you a specific seat on a specfic train. The ticket and the reservation are one and the same. For most others, the ticket allows you to board the train, but it doesn't guarantee a seat if the train is packed. So that you don't end up standing, you must buy a seperate seat reservation. Reservations are usually not necessary, unless you plan to travel on a particularly busy train during commuting hours. It is not even possible to reserve a seat on many trains. Unless a train sells out (rare, except for some night trains and high speed lines during a holiday), you can buy both the ticket and reservation at anytime up until the train departs. "there are trains that run throughout Europe, and trains that are country run." Most nation states in Europe run a separate national rail company that operates mostly within the boundaries of that country, with some spill-over across borders. For example, Deutsche Bahn operates predominately in Germany, Nederlands Spoorweg in the Netherlands, etc. There are a few multinationals that are co-owned by a few different national rail companies. The two you will most likely encounter are Thalys, the highspeed line that connects some major cities in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and Eurostar, which connects Great Britain to France and Belgium (and maybe others).

Hi Emily, this is what I did when my daughter and I traveled thru Europe by train. When we arrived to the city/town we were going to, I would go to the ticket window as soon as I got off the train to see about tickets for our next trip..this worked well for us. Enjoy your trip.

Besides Thalys, Eurostar (London-Paris, London-Bruxelles), ICE International, Trenitalia Alta Velocità and RENFE AVE operate pretty much like airlines: a ticket is train- and seat-specific, more expensive tickets have full flexibility, cheaper tickets are less restrictive.

We always use www.seat61.com for all of our rail and ferry boat travels across Europe and North Africa, Asia too. Take a look and you will find out how to get the best, cheapest, and the most hassle-free rail tickets you could possibly need.

Thank you ALL so much for your advice!! I am now no longer confused about the train systems in Europe =) Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Hi, Can anyone provide logistics info for "inside" the Zurich train station? I am going Geneva to Munich via Zurich and have only 38 minutes to change trains. I understand there are multiple levels for trains in Zurich HB depending on destination and type of train (regional, local, international,etc. I can't find any web site showing how to find the most likely level and set of tracks we either come in from Geneva on, OR depart to Munich on! Thanks Jim

http://tinyurl.com/2f36vba You have plenty of time to catch your connecting train, even with 5 minutes between trains. Most all the tracks are on the same level, it's the various shops, and railway offices/services that are on different floors. If you check your train out on rail.ch it will tell you the exact platforms you will be arriving and departing from.

Any particular reason you are going via Zürich? According to the Bahn schedules, the fastest routes look like they go through Basel. The only way I found to get a routing through Zürich was to specify Zürich as a via. At least one of those connections showed trains coming in and out at the same level. Zürich is a "stub" station, ie, trains don't go completely through, but in and out from the same end. There is a cross connecting platform at the from of the tracks. If you're at the front of the train coming in, just go to the front and find your outgoing platform. There is also a connecting tunnel part way back, near the middle of the trains.

JIM, if you decide to use the method suggested by Lee and travel via Basel, be sure to keep a few Swiss Franc coins at hand (SF$2 as I recall). If you need to use the restrooms, there's usually only ONE option in larger Swiss stations (that includes Basel), a franchise called "McClean". They DON'T accept Euros! I transited through Basel (and other Swiss stations) a few times this year, and the pay-for-use seems to be the only option. It was especially inconvenient on a trip from Colmar to the Rhine region of Germany (again through Basel), as I only had Euros at hand. Happy travels!