Buying Train Tickets While In (Eastern) Europe

quote:

Originally posted by Cristina Dima:
this is true ONLY if you buy at the train station. If you buy at the railway agency in town they will give you seats in international trains

Good point. Some cities have more than one place to buy tickets. So, if the main station is not that convenient, ask the locals about other ticket booths. You may save yourself some time, and maybe gain some added benefits as Christina explains.

In Kiev, I bought tickets at a large government ticket office in the city. This was much easier and less stressful than going to the actual station which is always a madhouse.

one note though...there is ONLY one agency in each city and it's closed on Sun (trust me, i've kind of "burned" myself on this one...). In general they are right smack in the city center while the railway stations...are not. But you can ask around and don't worry abt English, there will be someone speaking the language

excellent advice in this thread, the absolute BEST DEAL you can get is using the countries local website for the trains. Even in the western europe.

Here is an example on my July 5th journey from Valencia to Madrid is $71 on raileurope.com, although, using renfe.com (spains local site) i get a web deal for 17 Euros which is about $25.


And my train from Berlin to Prague on July 21st... Well it is 108 USD on raileurope.com and 29 EUR on bahn.de

Snap I brought a eurail pass for the Benelux countries last year would have saved money just buying them at the station. Learned my lesson brought a ticket from Berlin to Krakow off the net for 29 Euros cheap as.

quote:

Originally posted by SMM:
Snap I brought a eurail pass for the Benelux countries last year would have saved money just buying them at the station. Learned my lesson brought a ticket from Berlin to Krakow off the net for 29 Euros cheap as.

In western Europe a railpass can be well worth your money. Trains in the Netherlands are more expensive than in Belgium and Luxembourg (especially if you're under 26), so if you have some long stretches there, an Interrail or Eurail is probably your best option. Again, you should always ask yourself if you will be traveling enough for a railpass to be good value.

quote:

Originally posted by MaxPowers:
excellent advice in this thread, the absolute BEST DEAL you can get is using the countries local website for the trains. Even in the western europe.

This is not always true for international tickets. When traveling from/to smaller train stations, websites often can not show you the price for cross-border travel. Also, for trains that require reservation, prices heavily depend on availability (book early!).

http://www.jizdenka.cz/it.aspx (also in English) has a good calculator to see what a ticket for a certain distance will probably cost you. Again, prices can depend on when you book.

WHAT! if you cannot provide specific examples like i did then its all hear-say evidence and worth NOTHING!

I am correct on this topic as the harbringer of truth and justice and the american way.