Buy train tickets from the US?
 

I have heard it's less expensive to buy here before you go but is that true of only the eurail pass?

Sue

What countries? What routes?

You can buy a Eurrail pass ONLY in the USA.

<<< You can buy a Eurrail pass ONLY in the USA. >>>

You can buy Eurail passes in many countries of the world - including European countries BUT if you buy it in Europe it will cost substantially more

See the railpass section of www.seat61.com to see if it's even likely a railpass (generally not) will be a better buy than point to point

Other than the Eurail pass, it's usually MORE expensive to buy train tickets here before you go. The only reason to do that is if you plan to get on a train as soon as you get off the plane and would it consider it worth it not to have to figure out the ticket windows, agents, and ticketing on the spot with jetlag.

RailEurope can issue the tickets, but you WILL pay more. Look into the rail passes but be aware that you may often still have to check in to get a seat reservation and also that sometimes they really don't save you much unless you're on a LOT of trains in a short period of time.

Otherwise, it depends partly on the length and popularity of your route. Short commuter-length hops don't really require early purchase -- you probably couldn't anyway. If you are planning a longer trip (Paris-Marseille, Madrid-Sevilla) and/or it's a special, high-speed train, you can go to the station or a travel agent beforehand and pick it up. We liked arriving in a city where we were going to stay for 3-7 days, purchasing the ticket for our departure soon thereafter, and then not sweating it for the rest of the stay -- takes a little pressure off checking-out on day of departure, too.

Hi sj,

Sometimes you can find discount tickets online beforehand.

What's your itinerary?

((I))

How far in advance should you buy TVG Est tickets? We have always bought train tickets a few days prior to the trip from a train station ticket window but I read that 2 weeks is recommended for TVG Est.

Depending where you are going, you can get 17-22 Euro tickets to various points in France if you buy the TGV tickets that leave from Paris Est far in advance from voyages-sncf.com . The earliest possible time to buy is either 89 or 90 days, and then the supply of tickets diminishes. You will likely have to pay a lot more if you buy the tickets several days in advance only.

JJ495 - It's not more expensive to purchase in advance and many times you can get discounts IF you buy from the train web site for each individual country. If you choose to buy from a ticket broker/reseller (RailEurope, etc.) instead, then you will pay a mark-up.

Right- I forgot about buying ahead of time on line, possibly because I got into a little trouble using the trenitalia website. But you're right, they have some discounts worth noting. It's just RailEurope you don't want to mess with.

If you need a Eurail pass - and most people don;t do enough travel to justify one- you MUST buy it in the US. Not available in europe.

But - if you're just taking a few trains you will pay less buying the tickets in europe. Tickets for most trains (with the exception of a few popular overnight trips) can be bought a couple of days in advance.

If you want overnight DO buy in advance (but Eurail pass doesn't cover overnight compartments anyway).