Using rail ticket machines on the continent

I don't know if I've ever even seen an automatic rail ticket dispenser in Europe. For the Metro, yes. But not for intercity rail. Just buy your tickets from the ticket window. Your credit card will work there.

There are automatic ticket machines everywhere and our credit card works just fine. That is about all we ever use. If crossing a border that is considered international travel and that does require a visit to a ticket window. We have seen some auto ticket machines in Italy that required the European card but the older style machines were ready available. I doubt if you will have any problem using your credit card.

Tom is right. My wife and I traveled through Belgium and Netherlands a few years ago.

You always want to talk with a RR agent when you buy point2point tickets to learn about your trip. You will need to know times, train numbers and points of train changes where needed.

Ask for a computer print of your itinerary to have as a reference as you travel.

You can easily use your credit card to buy the tickets. Ask the clerk about how to use the machine if you want to use it.

Some of the train stations in the Netherlands have machines that only take cash (bills and/or coins depending on the machine and ticket amount) and maestro cards (European debit cards). However, I don't think this is a problems in Amsterdam or Haarlem. If you choose to use the ticket window you will be charged an extra .50 euros per ticket.

I'm not sure about Belgium and the Netherlands, but in Germany, every station will have at least one ticket automat, a local ticket machine (Metro transit district or DB regional rail). Larger stations will also have a blue/red/white German Rail ticket automat (with a touch screen). Only the larger stations will have a ticket window and it won't always be open.

Many of the local/regional ticket automats don't take plastic, only cash; on the other hand, many of the touch screen automats ONLY take cards, not cash. In my experience, all the machines that accept cash accept both coins and bills. My American credit card has always worked in the machines that take cards.

A word of warning: the machines in Germany won't accept your credit card UNTIL they show you the price for the ticket. If you just walk up and insert your card (like an ATM) it will reject the card.

We were in the Netherlands in April 2008 and discovered that in order to use the kiosk/machines in the RR station (Amsterdam ) we had to have a PIN for the credit card. As we had no PIN, we simply bought at the window which just added a few minutes wait time and maybe a small surcharge. I don't think it was a problem in France. Don't know about Belgium tho, where you will be buying your tickets I guess. When we got home, a quick phone call to the bank arranged a PIN. When we went to Italy this September, we bought train tickets for a month from the kiosks and never had to enter a PIN.

One of my ATM cards charges 1% for currency exchange plus $2 (usually less than 1/2%) for out of system ATM usage, a total of less than 1½%. The other ATM card charges nothing. My credit card charges 3% for currency exchange on a POS transaction.

Bottom line: I'm better off getting cash from an ATM and using it to buy tickets (and that's what I usually do) than I am using my credit card to buy tickets.

Thanks for all the replies, I hope to use cash, minimizing fees and there might be the added bonus of tickets being slightly cheaper from the machine rather than a human attendant. It appears that I'll be able to use cash and I will have my printed itinerary with me, as we schedule our travel days pretty tightly and know in advance the trains we want to take, so need to talk (or try to) converse with a ticket seller. I hate to admit, but I often get confused about which country I am in and which language I should offer the customary pleasantries, before asking if the other person speaks English!!

Capitol One credit card currently does not charge any conversion fees so if you are paying any conversion fees for your debit card, it would be cheaper use the Capitol card.

At one time I considered getting a Capital One credit card until I went online and Googled "capital one complaints". I think the recent consumer "bill of rights" was written with them in mind. But then, maybe this has not solved the problem.

I encountered machines this week alone in the Netherlands that:

-Only accepted coins and not bills

-Did not take American credit cards and the ticket window did not accept American credit cards

-Did not take bills larger than a 10 for a 4.50 Euro train ticket

I would never assume anything or anyone takes a credit card in the Netherlands.