drake456

How do I make reservations on the EuroNight network of trains?
Is it possible to do online?

cigalechanta

ttt for drake

bratsandbeer

We made our reservations on www.raileurope.com I wanted to have the reservation before we left home and we wanted to go overnight on a specific date so we made the reservation early. The cost was the same with rail europe as with other websites for this reservation but sometimes rail europe is higher in their prices.

They overnighted our tickets at no additional cost. Not sure they always do this.

Palenque

Are you talking in general or about specific trains

I have traveled with railpasses for years and rarely have not been able to make my overnight train reservation once inside the country from which your train will depart -same with regular tickets of course.

Fridays and Sundays on overnight trains going between the south and north of Europe during summer can be the most problematic but mid-week or Saturdays are less a problem.

In the U.S. as brats says raileurope.com is the main company that books these trains - and many agents who work thru RE. for any RE product i suggest calling the folks at www.budgeteuropetravel.com, who i have bought passes from for years and there you can talk to some who knows everything IME - to talk to an agent at RailEurope i believe adds 10% to your order as they want folks to order online. And if you know exactly what you want online is fine - but to talk over the various sleeping options, etc. better to talk to some expert. www.seat61.com has a good rundown on make ups of many overnight trains and what sleeping accommodations on them are like. www.ricksteves.com has lots of train info (as does the budgeteuropetravel.com site) with good info on overnight trains (but Steves will not book individual trains i believe only sell railpasses last i checked.

But again IME you should be able to book once in a country but i guess if being on one train is the linchpin of your itinerary then for peace of mind pay the bit more and book here.

If it is a night train involving Germany then go to www.bahn.de as you can often get deep discounted fares that Rail Europe and their agents do not generally offer so savings there can be huge. Ditto for France at www.voyages-sncf.com.

bratsandbeer

Palenque You have a lot of good info here. I am copying it for further reference.

Palenque

thanks for the comments, brats - studying and writing about European trains was my life's work for decades - i count myself very lucky and i still have a certain thrill everytime i board an overnight train - such trains have been in decline due to discount airlines and also the speeding up of daytime connections - like Paris to Amsterdam now in about 3 hours or so - i used to take overnight trains between Paris and Amsterdam but those are a thing of the past.

Hopefully Europe's still rather dense system of overnight trains can continue - at least that is my hope.

Cheers

spaarne

No reservations for sale but http://tinyurl.com/y57vft is a primer on night trains in Europe.

I do as Palenque -- go to the station on the morning I want to leave town and make my bunk reservation for that night. I travel off season so this is never a problem.

nytraveler

Usually you can wait and make reservations for train in europe - but the overnight trains can sell out - esp if you want a specific type of compartment. You don;t say where you are leaving from.

I would start by going to the train web site of each of the appropriate countries involved and see if you can get the tickets that way (you do know that passes aren;t good on overnight compartments don;t you?).


If that doesn;t work you can try Eurail - but will pay a lot extra.

bratsandbeer

Palenque I usually hesitate to say too much about trains cause I know you will give a good answer. We have enjoyed traveling Europe via train and plane and automobile. All have their good points but I like train and auto best cause you feel more connected to where you have been and where you are going. By plane you go up and you come down and you are somewhere different.

The best train rides was one to Stavanger from Oslo and also the Flam Railway. The worst was overnight Budapest to Venice but it got us there and more exciting than flying to London and then to Venice and wasting a day.

It is sad that the trains aren't as good as they used to be in the USA. We traveled a lot by train back in the good old days.

Palenque

brats - ditto about auto or train vs plane - flying around Europe has become more popular since deregulation has produced some absurdly cheap fares - one reason i theorize overnight trains are in decline. But all airports to me look alike and you simply do not see the Europe in between airports - just airports and mega-touristed cities.

I prefer trains for many reasons - always been a train buff but also because i travel solo - no fun driving around by yourself to me at least and costly too for just one person.

Anyway i too lament the lack of decent inter-city train system in the U.S. California is building a high-speed train network and we'll see if it is a success in knocking airlines out of the San Diego 0 LA - Sac'to-SF market - hoepfully!