We’ve taken dozens of train trips across Europe. From the Swiss Alps to the Spanish countryside and beyond.
Train travel is our favorite way to explore Europe.
It’s scenic, fast, and, when booked smart, can be surprisingly affordable.
Here’s exactly how we consistently book trains in Europe without paying a premium.
Avoid Third-Party Sites for Final Booking
We often start our search on aggregators like Omio or Trainline to compare routes.
They’re useful for seeing your options quickly. But they often charge extra fees or mark up prices.
We always compare afterward with the national railway site to make sure we’re not overpaying.
Book Direct with the National Rail Company
Once we know the train and time we want, we book straight from the official railway. Examples we’ve used:
- ÖBB in Austria
- Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany
- Trenitalia or Italo in Italy
- SNCF in France
- Renfe in Spain
We’ve seen tickets saved for as much as 30 percent by booking direct.
Booking directly with the railway is also the key to being able to choose the right seat on European trains.
Book Early for High-Speed Trains, Wait for Regional Ones
One of the easiest ways to waste money in Europe is by waiting until the last minute to book a high-speed train. These tickets usually work like airline tickets: the earlier you buy, the cheaper they are.
We’ve scored Rome to Florence on Trenitalia for €19 just by booking a month out. That same seat would have been over €60 if we waited until the day of travel.
On the other hand, regional trains usually have fixed prices. Buying a ticket from Munich to Füssen or Florence to Pisa costs the same whether you buy it three months in advance or right before boarding.
In fact, sometimes it’s easier to wait. Especially if you’re not locked into a set schedule. This is especially important if you are connecting to a train from an airplane flight. If your plane is delayed you can just buy a ticket after you land instead of dealing with a missed train.
Our rule of thumb:
- If it’s a high-speed route (like Paris to Lyon, Madrid to Barcelona, or Vienna to Salzburg), we book 2–3 months in advance to get the lowest fare.
- If it’s a slower regional line, we don’t stress. We just buy tickets at the station or online the day we travel.
That simple strategy has saved us hundreds of euros across Europe.
Use Rail Passes and Split Tickets When They Save You Money
Eurail and Interrail passes can pay off if you’re covering a lot of ground in a short time.
Euail passes can be a great deal in Europe. But only if you’re actually going to use them enough!
When we do fast-travel and covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time, a Eurail or Interrail pass has saved us hundreds of euros.
For example, when we did back-to-back travel days through France, Switzerland, and Italy, the pass easily paid for itself after just three long-distance rides.
But passes aren’t always cheaper. If we’re staying in one country or only taking a couple of train trips, individual tickets are usually the better option.
That’s why we always price it both ways before we book.
Another trick is split ticketing. Instead of buying one direct ticket from Point A to Point B, sometimes breaking it into two or three smaller tickets along the same route can be dramatically cheaper.
We’ve done this in the UK more than once. Like splitting London to Edinburgh into two shorter tickets, which shaved more than £40 off the fare for the exact same train.
Our approach:
- Compare the total cost of a pass versus individual tickets for your full itinerary.
- Look for split ticketing options online (especially in the UK and Germany) before paying full price for a long route.
We don’t use these hacks on every trip, but when the math works out, the savings are huge.
Validate Tickets, Save Screenshots, Plan Stations
This might sound like boring logistics. But it’s the little details that can make or break a smooth train trip in Europe. We’ve learned the hard way.
Validate your ticket
On regional trains especially, you can’t just hop on with a paper ticket. You often have to validate it at a small machine before boarding.
We’ve seen tourists get fined on the spot for forgetting. In Italy, we almost made the same mistake boarding in Florence. Thankfully a kind local pointed us toward the tiny yellow box on the platform where we had to stamp our tickets before getting on.
Always check if your ticket requires validation.
Save screenshots
Even if you’re using mobile tickets, do not rely on station Wi-Fi or your phone signal when the conductor comes around.
We’ve had more than one ticket inspector roll their eyes while passengers frantically tried to pull up an railway app or website ticket with no service.
Now we always screenshot the QR codes and confirmations before we leave the hotel or Airbnb.
Plan your train station
Big cities often have multiple train stations, and they are not always close to each other.
In Paris, for example, trains to the south leave from Gare de Lyon, while trains to the north leave from Gare du Nord.
We once booked a train from Munich to Salzburg and didn’t realize it departed from a smaller station across town, not Hauptbahnhof. Cue a frantic taxi ride!
Always double-check which station you’re leaving from and arriving at and how long it will take to get there.
You can also save time and money by planning your arrival train station. For example, our Airbnb in Cologne, Germany was on the south side of the city. So we chose a train that stopped at the ‘Sud’ (south) train station instead of the main station.
These are the small steps that cost nothing but can save you money, time, and stress when traveling Europe by train.
Final Thought
Knowing how to book trains in Europe can save you both money and headaches.
Skip the third-party markups, book high-speed lines early, and let the national rail systems save you cash. Train travel is one of Europe’s best experiences and it doesn’t have to break your budget.
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