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Which trains to book now or wait till day I'm there

I'll (hopefully) be in Europe the last 2 weeks of May and 1st week of June. Plane and lodging are booked now I just need to get this transportation part booked. Should I book the following tickets now or wait till I'm there? My dates and number of nights are already finalized

London to Amsterdam Eurostar

Amsterdam to Paris Thalys

Paris to Gimmelwald via Basel (TGV Lyria) do I book from Basel to Gimmewald the day of and only worry about pre booking Paris-Basel? Also rome2rio said I ended up at Stechelberg,Schilthornbahn? Kind of confused

Gimmewald to Munich Is my best bet DB or Eurocity train to Zurich via Bern then take 4h45m train from Zurich to Munich? Or is there more direct route? This would be at least 7 hours total. Does booking tickets from Gimmewald to Zurich the day of travel make more sense, and booking Zurich to Munich ahead of time?

Munich to Berlin 4h36m DB Ice sprinter

Posted by
8164 posts

Book London to Amsterdam in advance. It is cheaper.
Book Amsterdam to Paris in advance with Thalys.
Book TGV in advance. Basel to Gimmelwald wait til you get there. Perhaps you want to buy some kind of Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass if you are staying more than one day.

Posted by
375 posts

I'll be in Swizterland for 3 nights/4days still a good deal for half fare card?

Posted by
8164 posts

Absolutely get a pass for 4 days either Half Fare or Swiss Travel Pass (STP). You have to do more research. I bought a 3 day STP it depends on what you want to see; it is a small country excellent train transport. I road all over the place stayed in Murren. The STP covers most museum s also.

And you should only use the sbb swiss train site not Rio2rome to research travel in Switzerland.

Posted by
6113 posts

Check your travel insurance will cover all costs before you start booking tickets in case Coronavirus means your trip gets cancelled/ changed.

London to Amsterdam should have been booked months ago for the best prices, although Coronavirus may have led to demand and therefore fares falling. My company has a ban on any international travel from the U.K. and others will have followed, so demand will be down.

Posted by
8889 posts

you need to buy tickets for all of these ASAP. Prices will only go up if you wait.

For Paris to Mürren (of which Gimmelwald is a part), and Mürren to Munich, you may not be able to do this as a single purchase, because the last leg from Interlaken is a small local company.
1) Buy direct from train operators, not a reseller.
2) Try to buy Paris to Interlaken, and Interlaken to Munich, then buy the last leg separately, either in advance if you can, or at Interlaken station. From Interlaken trains ever 30 minutes to Mürren.

"do I book from Basel to Gimmewald the day of and only worry about pre booking Paris-Basel?" - it makes no sense to buy a ticket at Basel day of, as that involves missing your connection and getting a later train.
"Stechelberg,Schilthornbahn?" is the bottom of the cable car up to Gimmelwald. Rome2rio probably doesn't know the next leg. Look up times on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en

Posted by
650 posts

Trains are often even harder to cancel after booking than planes. Given the coronavirus, I would think twice before reserving too far in advance.

Posted by
8164 posts

You would just pay more for a refundable or flexible train ticket if you buy in advance

Posted by
375 posts

This Coronavirus definitely complicates things. I’m not sure if I should spend more and get refundable tickets.

Posted by
28069 posts

I'm not sure the class of travel affects the refundability of rail tickets. You can buy a second-class ticket that's refundable; it just costs more than the bargain tickets.