Hello. I am traveling to Europe next Thursday for a month with my friend, and we are having some trouble with the reservations for several trains. We purchased the Eurail pass (the global one that covers all the countries for a month.) We are traveling from Paris to Antwerp to Amsterdam to Munich to Innsbruck to Venice to Florence to Interlaken and back to Paris. Several trains require mandatory reservations: Paris to Antwerp, Innsbruck to Venice, Venice to Florence, and Florence to Interlaken. I wanted to order all the reservations online at raileurope.com, but even with a rushed delivery on the ticket reservations, they won't get to my house in US fast enough because I'm leaving in a few days for my trip. If we just reserve the tickets when we get to that particular city or country (which is always 2-3 days before we leave that city or country), what are the odds I'll be able to find seats that are not reserved? It seems like many seats are already booked. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
For daytime trips, you should do fine just making your next reservation when you arrive in a city. If you're taking any night trains, you should make those reservations ASAP. Since all train companies are tied into the same computer system, you might be able to do that at one of the main stations in Paris, even if the night train route is wholly outside of France. Be glad you didn't have enough time to get your reservations through RailEurope. They'll be a lot cheaper in Europe.