juleslove

Hi
Travelling Europe in all of May and two weeks of June, 2017 from Australia, I have finalised my itinerary starting at Athens 2 nights, ferry to Santorini 4 nights, fly to Rome 5 nights, train and bus to Positano 4 nights, bus/train to Venice 3 nights, train to Luzerne 4 nights, train to Lauterbrunnen 3 nights, train to Paris, 5 nights, train to Munich 5 nights, train to Prague 4 nights then home. Looking at train schedules even though it's too early to book, i cant see problems with travelling between these places so is it ok to book hotels now, hotels can sell out well in advance particularly in some places, I have booked some with free cancellation but it is cheaper to book them in place with no free cancel or am I chancing it, should I wait to book trains first which it seems won't be for another 6 months or so. Any advice will be much appreciated...thank you.

sparkchaser

I would book the hotels now that way you get what you want but get them refundable just in case. Get the train tickets when they become available.

Dukey1

I agree totally with Spark and do the same whenever we travel to Europe.

nytraveler

There are a ton of trains to most of these places while hotel choices in your price range that you like may be strictly limited. Definitely book hotels first (and have trip insurance if any are not cancelable) and worry about trains when the discounted rates go on sale.

juleslove

Thank you all, I guess I am just worried I have overlooked something and not realising trains not leaving everyday between one of these places etc or just not possible for what ever reason, it's our first trip to Europe.

thursdaysd

If you haven't used European trains before I highly recommend reading seat61.com. And definitely, no issues with booking hotels first. Hotel rooms are a limited resource, train seats much less so.

Christina

I always book hotels first, as there are always lots of train choices. I've never planned on the train in any place where there weren't some on certain days, although times may change.

But you can easily check that in advance, which I gather you have. The places you plan to take a train should not present any problems that there won't be any on certain days.

Besides, you can't even book trains in some cases until 3 days before the trip, lots of people book hotels much farther in advance than train tickets.

FuryFluffy

Definitely book hotels as soon as possible, the refundable the better. For the destinations that you listed (Lauterbrunnen, Paris, Munich,...), hotel need from travellers is much higher than the city's capacity, so the prices would go up quick by days.

In Lauterbrunnen, book rooms in a wood chalet with view of the waterfalls. It's not more expensive than normal hotels, and you'll understand the charm of a Swiss holiday

bvlenci

I don't see any need to book hotels a year in advance, unless you have a very special and much-requested hotel in mind. Many hotels don't even have their prices established that far in advance, and you won't find them listed on booking websites until closer to the date.

Just yesterday I booked a hotel for a 3-night stay in Rome next month. I restricted my search on www.booking.com to "Rome city center" and got over 3000 structures to choose from. Many of these were apartments or B&Bs; limiting it further to just hotels, there were still over 600 to choose from. I just went back to see what exactly was on offer for the dates I chose. 35 of the hotels for my dates had guest ratings over 9 (out of 10) and of those 35, prices ranged from €150 to over €400 per night, and 2 were running big discount offers. 35 centrally located and highly rated hotels in all price ranges, in the center of Rome, and in one of the busiest months of the tourist season, booked five weeks in advance, doesn't seem to me to be a poor selection.

In the list, I saw several well-known hotels, such as the Viminale View (which had 33% off), the Artemide (in the heart of the popular Monti district), the much-requested Hotel Campo dei Fiori (with a roof terrace), and La Lunetta (a boutique hotel on a charming little piazza, where I used to stay before it was totally restructured and priced out of my range).

The advantage of waiting is that you're much more likely to find sales. Of course, if you choose a no-penalty cancellation rate, you can always rebook it at a lower rate if you find a sale, but to me, that's just a lot of extra work.

thursdaysd

I wouldn't say 150 to 400 euro was a good range. I aim for under 100 euro.

juleslove

Yes, ive been onto seat61.com its great, was recommenedeď to me.
A swiss Chalet is a must for us with views of waterfalls mountains etc, spot on FuryFluffy, i have come across a couple of them, cant wait!
Thanks everyone, Im feeling comfortable about going ahead and booking my preferences with free cancellations and closer to the time will look out for better deals. I have also learnt to contact hotel directly if say booking.com has no more available.

rbciao47

We always book in advance and only with the free cancelation. Any number of things can happen to disrupt your plans, so my advice would be to consider the hotel prices reflecting the free cancelation policy.

We generally use venere.com for our bookings. However, we do look at travago.com for the best prices.

Buon viaggio,

Dukey1

Yes, there are times when you really, really WANT a specific hotel on a specific date and their booking system, or the associated systems used to move room inventory such as Booking.com are not working so what to do?

You E-mail them and ask when their rates will be "up" or if they will quote you and that has worked more than once for us and made stays more satisfying.

kleeblatt

Hotels in Switzerland are striving to offer lower rates than those of booking.com when booked directly. Give them a call.

juleslove

I have emailed a couple of hotels, chalets in Lauterbrunnen, they have offered good deals but no free cancellation,perhaps if i email back and ask for it, they may consider, inform them that im happy to reserve with them if its offered, which I am.

jubilada

If they don't offer it at the quoted rate ask if they have another rate that includes free cancellation up to some certain point.

fuzzbucket

If you can only purchase a train ticket in the early morning, any hotel will be happy to hold your luggage and let you freshen up in the communal toilets, if your room is not ready yet.

And the same goes if you only have the option of leaving on a late train - the hotel will hold your luggage until you leave.

bvlenci

I think Thompson River opened up this old thread to plug a booking website.

Since it's been reopened, I'll add that if you want good discounts, in many countries you have to book trains well in advance. In Italy, the tickets go on sale 120 days in advance, and the best discounts on popular routes get snapped up pretty quickly. No discounts at all are offered to people who buy on the day of travel. If you don't want to buy online, you should at least try to buy all your tickets at a train station as soon as you arrive in Italy. Some discounts are usually still available a few days in advance, especially if you travel at odd times of the day (very early, very late, or at lunchtime).

I almost always buy my train tickets before the hotels. I don't have any loyalty to particular hotels, and I usually find very good discounts buying close to travel time. An exception might be in a town with very few hotels.

Sue81

HI, I have hotels booked for next July 17, and most have cancellation 24 to 48 hours before, and they are very nice hotels. Most in Switzerland/Holland. I think is it a bit risky to book with no refund, just in case there was some unforeseen glitch. It might be a little bit more expensive to get the refund, but could be well worth it. If you have the Best Western or some other hotel type card, many of those are free cards and offer guaranteed refund if notified within 24 hours, so consider that as you have time to get some hotel type card. Sue

Sue81

I did contact the hotels directly though. Sue