Traveling by train in Europe. The intricacies of buying train tickets
An airplane is not the only way for travelers to get around. Europe has an excellent railway system, and trains there are beautiful, clean, modern, and quite inexpensive if you search for tickets correctly. Today we will talk about the intricacies of buying tickets and using railways in Europe.
How to find the lowest prices and where to buy train tickets in Europe?
As with airline tickets, train tickets can be purchased both at the ticket office and online via the internet. The easiest and often the most disadvantageous way is to buy a ticket at the train station. But it’s simple and straightforward.It’s a bit more complicated to book a train ticket online; here, knowledge of English or the language of the country you’ll be traveling through by train will be helpful.The easiest way to book tickets is on >RailEurope, however, they might be more expensive there than on the national railway website.Below are the websites of national railways in some European countries where you can book train tickets online.
- Austrian Railways
- Finnish Railways
- French Railways
- German Railways
- Irish Railways
- Italian Railways
- Spanish Railways
- Dutch Railways
- Polish Railways
- Swedish Railways
- Swiss Railways
- UK Railways
If you are looking for a cheaper ticket, the ideal way to search is to compare prices on Rail Europe and on the website of the railway of the country you are traveling through, or where you board the train if traveling from one country to another.And now for tips on finding cheap train tickets:
- Try to buy tickets in advance. For trains, this rule works even better than for airline tickets. The difference can be more than 2 times. Sales usually open 90 days in advance, in some places 60 days. For the Eurostar train, which runs between London and Paris, sales open 120 days in advance.
- If you are under 26, look for special youth fares; they are cheaper than the full fare. But if you buy far enough in advance, even a regular ticket will likely be cheaper than a youth ticket.
- If you are traveling with a group, check for group offers; such tickets can also be cheaper than regular fares.
What types of train tickets are there?
Globally, all train tickets can be divided into 2 categories: tickets with advance reservation and open-date tickets.Tickets with advance registration, in turn, can also be of two types:
- A single document containing information about the route, train number, time, carriage, and specific seat in the carriage.
- Two documents: an open-date ticket + a reservation specifying the travel date, train details, carriage, seat, etc.
Open-date tickets do not require a reservation. For example, if you bought a ticket for the Paris — Milan train, it means you can board any train at any time that goes in that direction and does not require an advance reservation. In this case, you don’t have a specific carriage or seat; you take any available one.Not all trains require a reservation; in some places, it is recommended, meaning you can book a preferred seat or travel date, but in principle, you can also just board the train and take any available seat.Whether a reservation is needed or not depends solely on the train:
- Reservation is always required (Reservation Required) on high-speed and night trains, i.e., those with an overnight stay. Even if you are traveling with a pass, you need to make an additional reservation for a specific seat on such trains, which is often paid.
- Reservation is recommended (reservation recommended) — in this case, it is not mandatory, but you’ll agree that it’s worth paying a little extra for a reservation so you have your own seat and don’t have to walk through carriages looking for one.
- No reservation needed (Non-Reservable) — in this case, you buy an open-date ticket, which is valid for any train in the specified direction, provided that no reservation is required for it.
How to get a train ticket?
While airline tickets are simple, with everyone having long since switched to the electronic version, many places still use the old system with paper tickets for trains.Regardless of whether you booked online or not, tickets can be:
- Paper tickets — in this case, you book and pay for it online, and then the transport company sends it to you by regular mail.
- Electronic (Print at home e-ticket) — after payment, you print the ticket at home and take it with you. Depending on the train, you might receive a PDF document or a link to it, from which you need to print the document. If there are no attachments, then the email itself is your ticket — print it and take it with you. The last option is that you receive a reservation code; this is the only case where printing a paper version is not mandatory. The system is almost the same as with electronic tickets: you need to show your passport and the reservation code, for example, from your mobile device.
- Paper tickets that must be printed at the station (Print at the station e-ticket) - these tickets must be printed at the ticket office or a special self-service kiosk.
After payment, you will receive an email with a booking number, which you need to enter when printing the ticket from a special machine. On some routes, there is one subtlety to consider. You can only print a ticket at the kiosk at the station from which you originally depart. For example, if you have a round-trip ticket Paris — Rome, you need to print tickets for the Paris — Rome and Rome — Paris segments in Paris; you won’t be able to do it in Rome.
