This is our first train travel in Europe. We will be buying train tickets in Zurich,Murren,Varenna, and Manarola, and would like to Mastercard them. Do train stations take credit cards? Also can we upgrade to 1st class on a part of our leg or must the whole leg be the same class?
Thanks!

> Zurich,Murren
Yes, the do take mastercard.

> can we upgrade to 1st class on a part of our leg

in Switzerland, yes. You can pay Surclassement (in French)either at a station or on the train for the desired leg.

For Italy part, I suppose yes for both but I can't tell for sure.

Why not buy all your tickets at the same time? And yes, I have upgraded from 2nd to 1st class in Switzerland.
Reason: We were going from Zürich to Munich and I was told that all seats in 2nd class non smoking were taken. So I opted for 1st class non smoking, only to find that my supposed non smoking seat was next to a smoking seat, separated by a 3/4 glass partition!

Mastercard and Visa are the cc's most accepted in Europe. Some people notify their cc company before they leave that they will be traveling in Europe so charges won't be questioned/rejected.

Good idea to let the credit card folks know you are going to be out of your normal spending area.

Ok, just confirming. I can buy all our train travel tickets in Zurich for Switzerland and Italy and charge them. Do we just exchange in Italy if there is a train strike that day for another day?

I am working on my practically first trip to Europe, most likely it will be Germany, Austria, Switzerland - is Master Card accepted where credit cards are accepted, or should I get a Visa just for this trip? (I don't have a Visa now, only MC).

This is not a question of a bank charge, I will have an ATM card with a 4-digit pin, hey, I don't hang out here for nothing Just want to make sure MasterCard is enough. Will be visiting usual tourist destinations without a car.

Faina, my partner's Citibank Card is a Visa. Mine is a Mastercard. Several times (maybe 6 or 7 in 10 years, we've been refused to charge on MasterCard, but they would take Visa. We have never been told "no" to Visa but they would take Master Card. Twice we were told "no" to both -- they'd only take American Express. Once was in Stockholm, I forget the other -- Budapest or Prague I think. Very weird!!

snorklefanatic,

Just in case you didn't know already...

I posted here recently looking for advice on train travel from Varenna & was advised that the station is unmanned.

Apparently the ticket machine at the station can be unreliable & it was recommended that tickets should be bought at a nearby travel agents.

Jim

Thank you, Patrick! Then MC it is, with the backup of ATM.

Faina - I used my MC to buy train tickets in Italy - no problem. I am currently having a problem with Delta/mc - they won't let me charge because they have not signed a current address verification with my mc bank. Don't know if that could be a future problem. Delta blames my card and my card blames Delta.

KY, call the bank and tell if they don't solve it, you'll close the credit card account, this may work.

Check your credit slip before you sign if you are using the ticket agent at the train station. I was in a hurry and just signed and jumped on the train only to find out I bought 2 tickets instead of the 6 I thought I purchased.

Oh, it was not me to ask about trains, it was the OP, I am only trying to hijack the thread for Germany, Switzerland, Austria for all kind of payments

Well then I have used my mc in all those countries - no problem!

having been at the train station in Varenna recently, i would like to tell you that the station is --unmanned---and a word of caution about the ONLY travel agency there. it is at the foot of the hill, where the Varenna train "stops". the 2 clerks that are there, sold us 1st class tickets to Milan central.
there were NO 1st class seats offered on the train that arrived and the train actually did NOT stop at Milan central, but at another station and we had to run and get a cab to get to Milan central to make our connection.
Also, that travel agency -------only takes CASH-- my advice ---buy any tickets you need before you get to Varenna. It would have saved us tons of problems and saved us extra monies.
FYI--we used that travel agency because it was sugggested in Rick Steves Italy 2004 book--big mistake.

I hope my post wasn't misleading. I can't imagine any train station NOT taking Master Card. My reference to places refusing Master Card but taking Visa were all restaurants.

We recently spent a month (hurray) in Italy. We had the most difficult time ever--using credit cards ( been to europe 7 or 8 times).
a number of places had that little plastic "logo" of Visa or Mastercard,etc, but when it came time to pay for a meal/gifts/HOTEL/, etc they refused the credit cards, and wanted cash---only---it created a number of problems. we ended up having to get more cash advances than we ever had planned on doing.

As someone mentioned the other day, if you tell them that your ATM card was stolen and the only way you can pay is with credit card, it is amazing how quickly they manage to "fix" the machine, or figure out a way to take the credit card. One trick is never to ask if they take it, or hand the card to them with a questioning look. Of course, they want to save their two or three percent or whatever they are charged, but if pressed (and not very hard) they'll take it in most cases.

>...would like to Mastercard them.<

An interesting new verb.