July 2010 we will be traveling by trains throughout Europe 2 adults and 1 teenager. my concern is, should we buy our night trains before leaveing? Paris to Rome, we will be in Paris 3 days before leaveing. Venice to Munich, we will be in Italy for 6 days before leaveing. or should we buy them on arrival in their countries? we want private compartments. thank you
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Popular night trains can sell out weeks in advance so it's best to book ahead. Doing so also gives you the best chance of getting discount fares.
For Paris-Rome book up to three months in advance at www.tgv-europe.com. As Steve says, choose Great Britain as your country of residence. The reason for doing so is both to keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares.
I'm sorry, but Steve is wrong about the DB site--in this particular case. Because it's a direct train between Italy and Germany you can book the Venice-Munich night train up to 92 days in advance at www.bahn.de. And doing so can get you very good Europa-Spezial Italien discount fares.
Do not try to book the Venice-Munich night train on the Trenitalia site. That site does not accept US credit cards for online booking. (Train stations in Italy do accept US cards.)
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
I can almost guarentee you that if you wait until you get over there to buy your Venice to Munich tickets you'll be lucky to find seat available, let alone a compartment. A few years ago, a young woman on this site found she could not get anything but seats on the Munich to Venice night train - one month in advance!
The best fares on that train often sell out the first day they go on sale.
Posted by
OP
Poway, Ca, USA
24 posts
thank you for all your help and experiance. I'm sure it will all work out, just stressing on getting the schedule I want.