How long should we arrive at the train station before out train leaves? I know when you travel internationally, they say 2 hours, please tell me we'll be in better shape than that.
thanks.

If you have your ticket, 15 minutes. If not, and outside rush times, 30 minutes. it is always nicer to buy the tockets beforeehand, so you do not join a line with your luggage.

I expect you know than in any big station of the European Union,including Switzerland and Tirkey but excluding Britain and Gtreece, you can buy tickets for journeys from anywhere in that great area, and can book seats and sleepers from anywhere in Europe except the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia.

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20 minutes should be plenty. It depends on the size of the station - if it's very small with only a few platforms, it will be easy for you to locate your train very quickly. If it's a bigger station, it may take a little longer.

For most stations, about 1 minute. The overwhelming majority of journeys are on trains that are coming from somewhere else, and they rarely stop for more than 2 minutes. So there really is little point getting to the station more than a couple of minutes early.

If you're unfamiliar with a station, you might want to allow a little longer. But 10-15 mins will usually be the most you need, unless you just like railway stations.

As far as I'm aware, only Eurostars to and from the UK have airline-style check in and security: on most fares, checkin closes 30 mins before departure, though it's less in the expensive seats.

For Paris I find Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse to be bewildering. So I suggest 30 minutes until you get to know the station.

If you take a TGV, they sometimes run a double section with two engines.
The train probably divides somewhere down the line and parts of it go to different destinations.

I know the TGV to Lausanne and Bern leave together, but at Frasne they separate and go their separate ways.

The cars are numbered and seat reservations are required, so that the chances of riding in the wrong car are minimal. The conductor will send you to the right seat if you are in the wrong place.

In Munich once, the first class cars were at either end of the train, and both had the same car number. Even the conductor did not know which was which.
Talk about confusion. Fortunately first class was hardly full. I don't think the new style coach is worth the extra money.

We will br traveling from Rome to Florence to Venice then back to Rome on an overnight train. We are going to book all our tickets once we get there at the airport.

In my note, for Turkey read Norway. Sorry.

Ben Haines

Danak, although we found both the Florence and Venice train stations easy to navigate, we showed up about 30 minutes prior to our train departure....just to be on the safe side. There was plenty of people watching to do, so we definitely weren't bored and the time passed by quickly.

Thanks for the reply Statia. Did you sit in 1st or 2nd class seats? Is there a differnce? If so, what would you recomend?