Hello!
My husband and I will be backpacking Europe this June/July and need to start booking our train tickets. In your opinion, should we book them all in advance? Just some of them? Any advice you can give I appreciate!
Here is our overall route:
Rome --> Florence
Florence --> Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore)
Cinque Terre --> Venice
Venice --> Bolzano
Bolzano --> Munich
Munich --> Paris
Paris --> Amsterdam
Amsterdam --> Dublin (We've already booked this flight)
Thanks again!
The first trains that I would book in advance, and quite possibly the only two, would be the longest, most expensive rides from Munich to Paris and Paris to Amsterdam; they're for sale now. Bolzano-Munich is another one that's a bit longer and less frequent than your Italian trains. You can see a full-fare overview of your plan on Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map. Any of your other routes also offer advance-purchase discounts if you're ready to lock in dates and times, except for Florence-Riomaggiore by unreserved, regional trains. RailEurope and CapitaineTrain are two agents who handle all of these countries and should have similar advance-discount rates, passed on from each national railway.
Most connections between Munich and Paris are almost 8 hours or more. That's longer than the 6 hour breaking point where most travelers would prefer to fly.
Book the Paris to Amsterdam ticket directly from Thalys, which operates the high speed trains along the Paris-Brussels-Antwerp-Amsterdam corridor.
"That's longer than the 6 hour breaking point where most travelers would prefer to fly."
The rule of thumb is if it takes more than 6 hours by train, it's faster to fly. That doesn't mean most travelers would prefer to fly. There are a lot of other consideration - like cost. In this case, if you book in advance, you can get a Saver Fare of 49€/P for a 6h21 ICE/TGV connection with a 45 min change in Stuttgart. The cheapest non-stop flight I can find on Expedia for over 2 months in advance is $272/P, and you are looking at over 5 hours for the trip, downtown to downtown. I think I would prefer the train for that difference. The least expensive flight is for $109 (twice the cost of the train), and over 6 hours gate to gate, not counting all the other time (to the airport, check in, security, waiting, boarding, deplaning, finding ground transportation, getting into Paris). And flying today is much more of a hassle than the train.
Hi,
Munich Hbf to Paris Est was doable as a direct CNL night train route. Since that has been abolished, I would suggest booking first the day route when you decide to lock yourself in on a specific date.
Look at Transavia France for flights between Munich and Paris Orly. Flight time is around 1 1/2 hrs. Did quick check mid June. 45-50 E.
