lindseyjdavis

Hello Forum!

I'm heading to Europe in a few weeks, and am terribly overwhelmed with the amount of options for train travel. Everywhere I turn I hear more suggestions about how I can go somewhere cheaper, quicker, easier... and I'm hopelessly lost. I was hoping to post my itinerary below and get some help with getting from point A to point B, and finding the cheapest train tickets to do so!
With thanks,
lindsey

Paris - Aix En Provence ( I can find tickets for $150...is that right?!)
Aix En Provence - Torino, Italy
Torino - Geneva
Geneva - Strasbourg
Strasbourg-Paris

MmePerdu

Start here: http://seat61.com

He explains it all, for your purposes, starting in Paris:
http://seat61.com/Europe-train-ticke...s%20&%20France

kybourbon

When are you traveling? How many people? Ages?

Mimar

Picking a date in early May, at www.tgv-europe.com there are Prem tickets that you can print at home for E35 (about $46). Just don't identify yourself as residing in the US. That will transfer you to RailEurope, which doesn't have all the trains nor the all the lower prices. Pick another English-speaking country to be your temporary residence.

As a rule, look at the train site for the country where you start a train trip. For Italy, www.trenitalia.com; for Switzerland, www.sbb.ch.

But you will get all this advice and much more at www.seat61.com.

lindseyjdavis

Hey ALL!

thanks so much for your responses- we are 30years old and 2 of us are traveling together. I've done a good bit of research on seat61 - but unfortunately still wanted some advice

Anything is appreciated!!
Thank you guys again,
l.

Loco2

The main thing to remember is that booking opens 92 days in advance of travel or 120 days in the case of Eurostar. Depending on the flexibility of the ticket, this is when you'll get the cheapest fares (the cheapest will be a specific train, you pay more for time flexible tickets and of course first class). I wrote a longer post about it here:

http://loco2.co.uk/blog/2011/08/how-...train-tickets/

For France look out for PREM fares and for Italy, MINI fares. The other posters have already given some great tips too!

PalenQ

IMO the Eurail Select 3-country railpass could be a great deal for you - valid on trains in France, Switzerland and Italy - you are doing enough days for it to pay off and keep in mind that with the pass you need not spend hours online trying to book some discounted fare that typically cannot be changed nor refunded - you must cement yourself into a specific train weeks in advance - the pass can be used on any train anytime - in Switzerland you just hop on any train, except for a handful of private railways your itinerary does not involved - keep in mind if over 25 this pass is first class only and that IME of decades of incessant European rail travel offers a much much more relaxed journey - often many empty seats IME - I always can put my bags on a seat next to me and seats of bigger - much more relaxed travel for the trip of a lifetime - so when comparing pass prices keep in mind the first class of the pass if you compare to discounted 2nd class tickets - like comparing apples to oranges IME. Do not judge the efficacy of a railpass by price alone - full flexibility it offers is priceless to me - decide in Europe what train you will want to take and then if you miss that train at least the pass can be used on other trains - the discounted tickets are train specific and often impossible to change.

Great sources for planning a European train trip - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

PalenQ

5 day pass $418 p.p. on a Saverpass or about $85 or about 59 euros a day for unlimited first class trains in those countries - so IMO compare the 59 euros a long train ride to fares in Europe - and these are fully flexible use on any train anytime fares!