Best site/app for train schedules and tickets?
 

Hi everyone,

Ive been using Rome2Rio to look at train schedules, but it’s gotten a bit clunky.

Is there another trusted app/site to use for rail transport around Europe that will also direct me to a safe place to buy tickets?

Some sites are better for certain countries . . . I'm not sure if seat61 has been mentioned on any of your other threads - it is pretty much the bible for train travel https://www.seat61.com

It was, but I wasn’t aware it was all encompassing. Thanks!

Loads of good info at seat61. For European schedules use: https://www.bahn.com/en

Rome2Rio is OK as a starting point, but any info must be checked with the relevant company.

Each train company has it's own site. They do not necessarily give you the best information with regard to cross border travel, but do give you the best, and most up to date information for their own area/country. Some countries have multiple train companies.
Bahn.de, the site of the German company is pretty good but to be certain you do need to check the site of the company offering the service.
It is a shame there isn't a more joined up offering for trains in Europe, and it is a common complaint.

I’m about willing to thank someone with an Amazon gift card if they’ll coordinate rail travel for us. :)

What is your itinerary?

This site is aimed at hose using an Interrail/Eurail pass but the planner may be of use to you. You don't have to buy a pass to use it. Just put in where you are from and your start date and play away.

https://eurailplanner.com/

still sussing that out

What about Omio?

Rome>Florence
Florence>Venice
Venice>Milan (stop to see Last Supper)>Weggis, Switzerland
Weggis>Paris
Paris>London (via Eurostar)

What countries are you traveling to?

I always use the country's rail site, such as SBB for Switzerland, DBB for Germany, ÖBB for Austria, Renfe for Spain, Comboios de Portugal for Portugal....

We were cross posting.

I used the Trenitalia app for my travel in Italy and it worked great. I also used the Rail Europe app for my travel from Milan to Switzerland. They charge a small fee but it was worth it for the ease of use.

Lost my message, grrr.

Briefly, I used https://www.thetrainline.com/ for all train tickets in a four week trip to France. Worked well, I think I got on to that site from the wonderful Seat61 website.

With Eurostar, I always used to book directly on their website. You can save a lot by booking ahead (pre-covid you could anyway).

It's a bit of a mess, really.
Trainline, Omio (current trading name of GoEuro, which now owns Rome2Rio), Rail Europe, and Rail Ninja have widespread geographical coverage and sell you the tickets directly, also for international journeys across multiple carriers, but their connection options are far from comprehensive and they charge a bit extra over buying the tickets from the individual carriers (train companies). Also, if anything goes wrong (missed connection, ticket change needed) you're stuck dealing with them and not with the ticket offices on the ground.
Deutsche Bahn/DB (and ÖBB) have extensive train schedules across all of Europe, but they only sell tickets for trains they operate at least in part (see below), and their schedules don't include TGV InOui, Italo, Trenitalia's foreign branches (for the Paris-Milan Frecciarossa 1000 service, for instance) and possibly others.
Seat61 is great for travel between main cities, quite thorough and informative, but at the end of the day you need to go some place else (pointed out by it, but still) to check the current schedules and buy tickets. Also, it obviously doesn't cover all stations and all possible connections, far from it.
Google Maps can be surprisingly useful. It's not comprehensive (it definitely doesn't show all possible options) and doesn't sell tickets, but it covers a lot of companies (including some missing from the DB schedules, like Italo) and countries and actually suggests journeys that mix different companies, and directs you to the right companies' websites to buy tickets.
The websites of individual companies are your best option if they cover the connection you want; this includes many international connections, for the cross-borders trains they (co-)operate, but it's quite hard to know in advance which ones. I think DB and ÖBB generally sell tickets for each other's trains, ÖBB (and DB, too, I guess) sells all Nightjet tickets inluding for trains that don't touch Austria, Trenitalia sells EuroCity tickets to/from Italy, SBB sells EuroCity tickets to/from Switzerland, NS International sells a variety of tickets to/from the Netherlands (Thalys, ICEs, I think also Eurostar and maybe some TGVs and Nightjets?)...

Rome>Florence: search schedule and buy ticket at https://www.trenitalia.com/en . You must enter the station name in its Italian spelling, and choose the correct station if a city has more than one station.
- assume you will get on a high speed train at Rome's main train station, search FROM "Roma Termini", TO "Firenze S. M. Novella", which is Florence's Santa Maria Novella station.

Florence>Venice (again, search schedule and buy ticket at https://www.trenitalia.com/en)
- FROM "Firenze S. M. Novella" station
- TO "Venezia S. Lucia" if you want to go to the train station on the island,
- or TO "Venezia Mestre" if you want to go to the station on the mainland.

Venice>Milan ( https://www.trenitalia.com/en )
FROM: either "Venezia S. Lucia" or "Venezia Mestre", depending on if you are starting from the station on the island or on the mainland.
TO: "Milano Centrale".

There is another train company in Italy called Italo. But to make matters simple, let's just stick with the government's railway company, Trenitalia. At this point, you need something easy and straightforward.

For trains crossing country borders to and out of Weggis, I'd check schedule on www.bahn.com/en, but buy tickets at www.thetrainline.com

Do you mean the Weggis near Lucerne? If so, it's not on a main rail line. Any Swiss guidebook will tell you how to get there from Lucerne. A quick look suggests it involves a boat, a cable car and a cog railway, but it was only a quick look.

For Milan to Lucerne see: https://www.seat61.com/international...an-Switzerland

For Lucerne to Paris see: https://www.seat61.com/international...tzerland-Paris

From Paris to London see: https://www.seat61.com/international...m#Paris-London

SBB can show connections and sell tickets from Milan to Weggis, actually. (With the caveat that it can't group all Milan stations together like Trenitalia, but I'm moderately sure that all the direct trains to Switzerland leave from Centrale.) Apparently the quickest way is by train to Arth-Goldau, then train to Küssnacht and bus to Weggis. Taking the cog railway up Rigi from Arth-Goldau and down the other side to Weggis (with a cable car or bus for the last bit) takes 2 hours longer, although it seems a lot of fun. Going through Lucerne and taking the ferry takes an hour longer than going via Arth-Goldau.

Google Maps.
"Directions" pick origin, destination, "Transit" "Details".
"Tickets and Information" links will show at the bottom.

As others have said, the German bahn.de website is generally the most comprehensive for a schedule overview and international services, but the dedicated site for each country is usually best for buying tickets, as well as for most detailed listing of both schedules and fares, especially for regional trains.

But be aware that if you are looking at schedules months ahead of time it is possible that major international services will be loaded well in advance, but there may well be trains (mostly regional options) that are not yet listed in the system, but will be loaded closer to time. If you are searching for summer schedules in winter and the listing looks sketchy, you can get an impression of the sorts of services that may not yet be listed by pulling up schedules between your cities of interest within the next month (though sometimes there are quite a few more summer services, so a sample winter schedule might not reflect increased services that will be shown once the summer schedule is loaded).

We'll be arriving at night, so I think we're just going to get a cab from Arth Goldhau to Weggis since we'll be dragging luggage. :)

I use Trainline for trains - haven't seen anything better than that so far. Agreed on Rome to Rio delivering worse experience recently

Is there any kind of travel pass that would discount multiple trips in Rome? We'll also be taking the train from Florence to Pisa and then Cinque Terre.

Would this work for Trenitalia? https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-pas...try-pass/italy

The more I pour through the Seat61 Blog (it's brilliant), it looks like a Eurail Pass might work for us, now to just figure out which one.

I just use Rome2rio or even Google maps to find general options and the Google the name of the company and find its own website for booking. That is mainly for buses, etc. National rail systems are always easy to find. I always buy tickets directly from any source, bus or train.

Seat61 has a lot of good info but it's not a blog. It's a business and a regular website with ads, etc. that is that guy's fulltime job and source of income.

Been reading a ton more and it SEEMS like a Eurail global pass would be best to cover all of these; if anyone with experience can confirm, I'd appreciate it!

Rome: getting around when needed to sightsee
Rome>Florence
Florence>Pisa>Florence
Florence>La Spezia>Florence
Florence>Venice
Venice>Milan
Milan>Arth Goldhau
Arth Goldhau>Bern>Arth Goldhau
Weggis>Lucerne.Weggis (by boat)
Arth Goldhau>Val d'Europe
Val d'Europe>Disneyland (4 days)
Val d'Europe>Central Paris (Rue Ruhmkorff)
Paris>London (Eurostar)
London: Sightseeing, but it only works on Overground lines

Yup, I have no issues with that; if his expertise is doing legwork and offering experience I don't have when it comes to knowing if Eurail is a wise buy or not; I'm good with that.

Update: It looks like we can get a 3-day Swiss travel pass for around 625CHF that would cover our boat rides from Weggis>Lucerne, and our cable car rides to/from Mt Rigi. As a result, it would also cover Arth-Goldhau>Bern>Arth Goldhau.

Passes can be good for two reasons: one, if they cover the cost of multiple trips and make them cheaper, and two, even if they don't cover the cost, but increase the convenience. It's usually a better deal to buy point-to-point tickets, though, so it depends on your own orientation. Do your sums and work out why you want to buy one. If it's just to avoid the ticket window in Italy, well, to me that's part of the fun of the trip. But if it's to get out of having to work out costings, that's maybe not so good. You can use www.bahn.com (German rail site) to plan everything out as they have all the European timetables, but you should purchase from the national sites (SBB, Trenitalia, SNCF).

I sometimes buy passes: I have bought them often for Germany when I was staying for a couple of months at a time for my studies, and sometimes some cities offer a three-day pass for local transport. That can also be a good deal, especially if combined with museum discounts and just stops you having to count trips on public transport.

Lavandula

I love passes for cities - metros and buses. I have very rarely found them worthwhile for trains.

I'm thinking the only Eurail pass that might be worth it would be in Italy.

Here's my question: Does this pass only work when both stops are in Italy?

For example: we're leaving Milan (I forgot we were headed there after Venice) and headed to Arth-Goldhau.

Would the Italy Eurail pass work since we start in Italy? Or not because we're not ending in Italy?

I believe it works until you reach the border, but not beyond. Doesn't seat61 address that?

For your planned train rides in Italy, I do not think a rail pass would offer the benefits you are seeking. For most of your planned rides you will still have to book separate seat reservations. You cannot just hop onto any train you want. So for me since I would have to reserve a seat anyway on most of those trains, I might as well buy a ticket. You can get some savings by purchasing your tickets ahead, even just a few days.

https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-...to-buy-tickets

I didn't see it, but my eyes are dizzy reading all of his stuff. :)

This is where my confusion is coming from: Since we have kids in our party (and 11 and 15 year old), those offer discounts with the Eurail Italy Pass, so I thought that it would be a savings even with the $10 per person seat reservation fee, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding things.

I hope this helps…

Italy-
I see 3 train trips in Italy from your itinerary. This is all from the TrentItalia site. Your 11 y/o is free. So you need three passes. I have also included screen shots of random days for train travel in the three places mentioned. It looks like you would save money by just getting the tickets ahead of time and not getting a pass.



https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...43289a861.jpegr purchase in order to start using the Pass the client must activate it.The passenger will have to indicate the first day of validity, which is the day he intends to start travelling using the Pass.

The maximum Pass validity is of 11 months from the date of purchase. Within this time frame it is mandatory to activate it. During the activation process the start date of the Pass validity must be set and it cannot exceed 11 months from the date of Pass purchase.

Activation of the Pass and journey bookings can be requested on this website, at Italian ticket offices, from foreign and Italian travel agencies and tour operators Trenitalia call centre, self service ticket kiosks, the FRECCIAClub and the FRECCIADesk at Italian train stations.

The pass is personal, non-transferable and nominative.

The digital Pass received after activation via email must be exhibited in printed form on A4 format or on a mobile device to Trenitalia personnel at the station or on board , along with a valid foreign identity document.

Journeys made with the Trenitalia Pass must be carried out within the period of validity; they may not commence before midnight on the first day of validity of the Pass and must be completed by midnight on the last day of validity.

Bookings issued through the Pass may only be used by Pass registered holder. Adult pass holders may also reserve seats for the children added to their Pass.

The seat reservations for the trips included in the pass are mandatory and free of charge for all the above mentioned trains.

These are the screen shots from random days …the cost is less than the three trip pass.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...dd8b6fab2.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...712333334.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f62e13bdc.jpeg

For TrentItalia there is no seat reservation fee.

No, you usually can hop on any train you want, but you won't be able to sit down anywhere unless you can find an unreserved seat, but chances are that if you do find one from A to B, then B to C might be reserved and you will have to get up again. A drag if you don't have seats for your whole family. So even with Eurail there are some extra costs, the reservations. I have risked in the past not getting a reservation for a short distance (on one occasion still a 3 hr trip) and the nice conductors from Deutsche Bahn shooed me out of the way from the aisle in first class and moved me on from my 'spot' in the second class corridors because I was blocking the way. But you can get on board any train, there's no problem there.

Unless Switzerland is one of the nominated countries on your Eurail pass (some variants you nominate countries), you would need to buy a ticket from the last stop in Italy at the border to your Swiss destination.

Lavandula

From seat61: "The first thing you learn is that passholders must make a €10 reservation for all high-speed & intercity trains in Italy, on top of the cost of the pass. This must be factored into the cost of a pass when comparing with the cost of point-to-point tickets. All point-to-point prices include a reservation."

Caveat: I don't know this location at all, but taxis in small locations are often not just queued up at the station and you might find it prudent to pre-arrange for a taxi to meet you at the station when your train arrives. Let them tell you if it's of no concern and there will be lots of taxis awaiting you, you will at least have goof-proofed your late-night arrival that way. The hotel might be able to make some suggestions as to the best way to arrive if it's late at night.

Lavandula