Advice on Buying Tickets for European HSR Travel

[rrdude]

I'm looking at booking a trip in the next 12-18 months to Europe, primarily France, to ride the TVG and other HS trains in the region.

Anyone have advice as to best, (or only) web sites to visit for options. Also looking for tips on travel, for "rail fans". Probably not super-interested in traditional tourist vistas, just want to log as many unique rail miles on HSR and other interesting lines/branches.

Would have one week on the continent.

Thanks!

 

[MrFSS]

I'm looking at booking a trip in the next 12-18 months to Europe, primarily France, to ride the TVG and other HS trains in the region.

Anyone have advice as to best, (or only) web sites to visit for options. Also looking for tips on travel, for "rail fans". Probably not super-interested in traditional tourist vistas, just want to log as many unique rail miles on HSR and other interesting lines/branches.

Would have one week on the continent.

Thanks!

Link

 

Link

 

 

[Sam31452]

Railway Maps

Timetables (Austrian Railways) covering most of Europe

French Railways

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

You might like to consider an interail pass, available for all ages..Interrail page

You would still have to book your trains, but it might be a cheap option.

Ed

 

[Devil's Advocate]

You might like to consider an interail pass, available for all ages..Interrail page You would still have to book your trains, but it might be a cheap option.

Looked interesting, but then I saw this...

10. Eligibility
An InterRail Pass may only be used by residents of Europe, the Russian Federation or Turkey.

When I dug just a little deeper it pointed me to the Eurail pass. Do you still recommend it?

http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/

 

[jis]

You might like to consider an interail pass, available for all ages..Interrail page You would still have to book your trains, but it might be a cheap option.

Looked interesting, but then I saw this...

10. Eligibility
An InterRail Pass may only be used by residents of Europe, the Russian Federation or Turkey.

When I dug just a little deeper it pointed me to the Eurail pass. Do you still recommend it?

http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/

I usually prefer the Eurail Flexipass if I am traveling in multiple countries. If I am traveling in 2 or 3 countries only I opt for the Europasses limited to the countries that I am actually traveling in. Saves a lot of money.

 

[PerRock]

last time I went to Europe I got the most flexible Eurorail pass (for 3 months) and enjoyed it quite a lot. You can hop on board just about any train in Europe using it and just go. If i recall correctly however TGVs require a reservation (and a small registration fee) to travel on. The trans-channel Eurostar is not covered by the pass, but you can get a discount on tix for it if you have a pass. Trains in the UK are not covered either unless you have an UK-only railpass as well.

Out of all the HSR that I took over there I would highly suggest taking the ICE between Hamburg & Berlin. The Eurostar sets are getting somewhat old now and were a bit of a let down for me, as I had been led to believe they were these cool state-of-the-art train sets and such. Oh another one to try to get on is the OeBB RailJet, which has very nice service as well.

for pics (and a little info) about my trip you can look here:

http://pfreeman008.blogspot.com/

I made a handful of videos on board the various High Speed trains I was on.

peter

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

Sorry about the interrail nationality issues, I haven't used either pass myself, as I tend to try and book discounted "point to point" tickets for Europe.

Although you seem mainly interested in high speed rail, the German DB service offers a network of night sleeper trains between many cities, these can be booked on the internet and tickets printed out at home. Saves an overnight hotel cost each time too. Called City Night Line, it can be found here:City night line

I find these fares are brilliant, E.G. next Thursday, I could travel from Amsterdam all the way to Prague on one sleeper train for only 49 Euro's, in a 6 berth or 59 Euro's in a 4 berth compartment.

Bon Voyage!

Ed

 

[Steve4031]

You can purchase seat reservations on many eropean trains for around 10 dollars iirc. You can specify window, non smoking, etc. Research carefully. Some trains require reservations. If you are traveling in France and Italy reservations are strongly suggested.