Rail Ticket Specials

Discount fares are for a specific departure date and time and are usually non-exchangeable and non-refundable. This is certainly true for the €25 Thalys fares and for the cheapest night train fares.

If you buy tickets at a station, in most cases you will pay full fare.

Thanks, I suspected as much. Would this be a bad move for a first-time traveller? Any experience with having a hard time sorting things out or sticking to the itinerary once abroad? I tend to "over-plan" things...

If you want flexibility, then a railpass can be a good choice, particularly since you are young enough to get the best price. Since you won't be traveling every day, a 3-5 country flexipass might be better than a global pass--and it's cheaper. You could buy point-to-point tickets for short rides on regional trains and save your pass days for long distance rides on fast trains. However, if you take any night trains, you'll need to buy the supplement for sleeping accommodations well in advance since popular night trains often sell out.

For train travel solely within Italy, point-to-point tickets are less expensive than a pass, particularly if you take regional trains which are dirt cheap. And if you have a pass and take any fast EuroStar Italia trains, you will pay a steep seat reservation fee of 15-20 euro.

If I were your age and traveling alone, I think I would want the flexibility of either extending or shortening a stay in a particular place.

My first trip to Europe was with my wife and my second was with her and our adult daughter. Since we wanted to take advantage of discount fares and we were traveling by a combination of night trains, budget airlines, and rental cars, we booked our transportation and lodging well in advance. Our flexibility was in being able to decide on the spur of the moment what to do each day, knowing we had a bed waiting for us each night so we didn't have to take the time to find lodging on the run.

In your case that shouldn't be much of a problem. Finding a last-minute bed for one person is a lot easier than for three.

Thanks again. I had mostly been looking at the global pass just because it seemed like the best value and max flexibility for price. Can I make reservations for the night trains or TGV using the website? It seems like buying the tickets includes reservation and ticket fare when purchased online, or maybe I am misunderstanding. With a railpass, I imagine advance reservation must be done on the Europe Rail site?

Yes, if you book point-to-point tickets online or buy them at a station and either seat reservations or sleeping accommodations are required, they come with the ticket and are included in the price of the ticket.

If you have a pass, the cheapest way to buy seat reservations on high-speed trains that require them is to buy them at a station in the country of departure. However, train companies limit the number of seats they set aside for passholders. If those seats are gone and you need to travel on that particular train, you would have to buy a standard fare ticket.

You will definitely want to buy sleeping accommodations on night trains as far in advance as possible. If those are the only ones you want to buy ahead of time, you could do it at raileurope.com. They charge more than the in-Europe price and you pay a delivery fee.

If you want to make multiple reservations for all trains that require them, you can get the in-Europe price by buying them through the US office of euraide.com. For one $50 fee you can make as many reservations as you wish.

Or you can make an international phone call to the German Rail call centre and buy all your reservations through them. No fees. Only the cost of the call. Dial 011 (US international access code) + 49 (country code for Germany) + 1805 - 996633. You will probably get an automated message in German. Sorry, I don't know how to get connected with someone who speaks English.

Thanks again, Tim. I'm going to plan on the 6 day, 3 country select pass. I'll make the night train reservations ASAP and reserve other tickets as I get there. I assume that for a Youth Pass I need 2nd class reservations. It's a relief to finally get this all worked out. Thanks!

Thanks again, Tim. I'm going to plan on the 6 day, 3 country select pass. I'll make the night train reservations ASAP and reserve other tickets as I get there. I assume that for a Youth Pass I need 2nd class reservations. It's a relief to finally get this all worked out. Thanks!