hi. please give me an honest suggestion. is it better to buy eurail tickets once we get to the destination or buy online. a lot of my friends told me that it is very cheap there than online. what about the availablity and where should we buy them? we wish to travel by train to the foll places:
paris- frankfurt
munich-salzburg
salzburg-prague
prague-budapest
budapest-vienna
please suggest the prices ,where to buy and if possible time too. if long distances i would prefer an overnight train. what is this youth saver ticket? how much % reduction is there? thank you so much and appreciate your replies.

FYI, Eurail is the name of a railpass brand name, not the name of a railway in Europe. There aren't any Eurail tickets in Europe.

yes, it is usually cheaper in Europe and I would think all of your tickets will be cheaper to buy on site than from Raileurope. I might be wrong, but I suspect so, especially since some of those countries have very cheap rail fares (ie, CR, Hungary for sure).

I don't know the prices of those tickets, it would be a wild guess for me and depends on all kinds of things, such as dates, time of day, whether a holiday, etc. Unless you must hve one specific train time and want to travel on a holiday or its proximity, I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble buying them in Europe. Overnight trains don't exist that much anymore due to high-speed trains, and I doubt if any of those would have such a thing. Maybe Paris-Frankfurt, you can easily check that yourself on raileurope, even if you don't buy there, or www.bahn.de

You can buy tickets for German trains from the site above. It's cheaper the earlier you buy the tickets.

For French trains, the cheapest rates are from 90 days before your journey. To get an estimate of the price enter a date that is 90 days or less from today.

French train site: sncf.com

<< if possible time too >> what does this mean? When to buy the tickets??? Time of day to take the trip???

Go to seat61.com to get lots of info on train travel in Europe?

There is also a site that compares point-to-point ticket prices with train pass prices. Search on this forum for that site.

I buy my tickets for Germany on the DB site. They post their discount fares 92 days prior to travel. I just purchased two first class tickets to Frankfurt to Berlin on the first day they became available for 92E total and the regular fares are about 4x as much.

The site is easy to use - just set up an account.

I prefer to buy my rail tickets from Raileurope. They have the same low prices 90 days out. You do pay a 15.00 fee but that is still less than walking up to the ticket counter on the day you travel and paying a higher price

There is no such thing as Eurail tickets. Eurail is a company that sells train tickets sort of like Expedia can sell you airline tickets. You want to buy train tickets for the German rail company bahn.de unless you are talking about buying a train pass.
http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

And IMO you should be strongly thinking about a Eurail Select Youth Pass that would cover virtually all of your trains and most importantly let you hop on them any ole time you want - just show up - such fully flexible tickets cost a ton in places like Germany - now for domestic tickets in countries like Germany yes you can score some online discounts if you want to lock yourself into a specific train that cannot be changed nor refunded i believe months in advance (these tickets can sell out their alloted numbers quickly at times)

fodorites are notoriously for saying a railpass is never a good deal and IMO this is from ignorance rather than a bias - but for your trip involving many trains that getting a discount on may be problematic or just not possible look at some kind of Eurail Youthpass, that is if you are under 26 - if you are doing this all in say 15 or 21 days then sometimes the Global Eurail Youthpass for those consecutive day periods may be the ticket to ride - here are some great info-laden sites to help plan your rail journey and have various passes explained: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com. And yes for train schedules all over Europe i always use the Wunderbar www.bahn.de or German Rail web site as it is very easy to use after you use it a few times.

>>>Eurail Select Youth Pass that would cover virtually all of your trains<<<

That's misleading as the OP was inquiring about night trains where you can't just hop any old train and must pay supplements in addition to the cost of a pass.

Often it's cheaper to fly a budget airline than to use the trains.
www.whichbudget.com

In our fairly limited experience (4 or 5 trips), we've found Raileurope a good site if you're booking the really fast trains (e.g., Madrid/Barcelona, Dijon/Paris in about 2.5-3 hours) where reservations are usually required along with the tickets, at least in high season. Compared to the money you'll spend in Europe, including just getting there, the $15 mailing fee is a small expenditure. Our first trip (2000) involved us (even with Eurail passes) having to visit rail stations in Florence and Venice to buy reservations for actual seats on the trains (Eurail passes don't guarantee you a seat). We found that we wasted a lot of valubale touring time traveling to the stations and waiting in line for reservations (just as we wasted similar time looking for, and hanging around, laundromats for the every three or four day laundry exercise--but that's another story), because travel to Europe is costly but we eventually learned a bit better where to economize by spending a bit more money but freeing up time to do and see the things for which we'd come to Europe in the first place. Many, many years ago I was an economics major but I'd forgotten how to value my own time, and learned much on that first trip about priorities.

Actually, you can buy tickets any travel agency in Italy displaying the Trenitalia logo, along with seat reservations, so there is no need to make a trip to the station.

I book all my seat reservations at one time so no need to make repeat visits.

That's misleading as the OP was inquiring about night trains where you can't just hop any old train and must pay supplements in addition to the cost of a pass.>

"Misleading" my rear! You can hop on ordinary overnight trains just like day trains - albeit more and more overnight trains are now 'hotel trains' where there are no open seating like on day trains and you must pay a supplement to cover the cost of the sleeping accommodation.

As you totally misleading bias expressed against railpasses in the past - like in Italy saying they are always a waste of money - which i proved totally false - i would expect such tactics here.

the way the OP listed the trains i considered to be day trains and yes a railpass valid in all those countries would cover all those trains and for the most if not all you could just hop on. she/he did not say those trains were overnight trains but casually mentioned the possibility - if she had said those trains listed were overnight trains then i would have said the railpass pays for the basic train fare but not optional or mandatory sleeping options.

For detailed timetables for all your routes go to the German Rail site listed by Christina and kybourbon. After you get summary timetables for point A to point B, click on "Show details for all" to see the connecting points, if any.

If you can commit well in advance (up to 90 days) to specific departure dates and times, you often can get discount fare tickets that will be cheaper than a railpass. For example, the standard 2nd class fare for Paris-Frankfurt is 106 EUR. Booked on the German Rail site, the cheapest Europa-Spezial Frankreich fare is 39 EUR.

You didn't include Frankfurt-Munich, but the cheapest Sparpreis fare booked on the German Rail iste is 29 EUR.

2-5 people can travel from Munich to Salzburg on one Bayern-Ticket for 28 EUR. No advance purchase necessary.

Book well in advance on the Austrian Rail site to get a SparSchiene fare as low as 39 EUR for Salzburg-Prague.

A 5-day Flexipass for Youths valid in all five countries the OP is traveling in by train costs $338 total

It would cover all the five train ride previewed (but not sleeping costs on overnight trains - just the basic train fare)

thus each ride would be about $66/day or about 47 euros a day - so for what it gives - totally flexible travel at will anytime on day trains at least the added cost over say 39 euro discounts and 29 euro discounts is not all that much - and that is IF you can get 29 or 39 euro online discounts for all five train trips - how much time do you spend doing the online things for five different trains - and you must decide weeks in advance often...

And on that 5-country Eurail Select Youthpass if you wanted a 6th day the added cost is only about 27 $ for a 6th day over the base of 5 - what is that about 15 euros for totally unrestricted travel on a whole calendar day? and for 8 days what do you pay for the extra 3 - about $55 - or perhaps 35 euros for two more unlimited days.

Cheap online discounts can save lots of money for folks traveling a few times and for adults over 25 who have to pay much more (but then they get first class - much much nicer IME than in 2nd class and well worth the money for the average traveler taking a trip of a lifetime)

So the online discounted fares are great for some profiles - those who do not want any flexibility but for someone like the OP - especially if he/she were say traveling six days or 8 days on trains could actually be more expensive and not give total sponteneity.

The Fodor mantra a pass is always a waste of money is just a fallacy that if you repeat it enough others will blindly repeat it without say even looking at pass prices. And indeed a railpass can be a waste of money for many - just do not say always as some want to do.

While I listed a few discout fares just for the record, I agree that a railpass can be a good choice, especially for people young enough to qualify for a youth pass.

thanks for the info..i am traveling 10 days from now so i guess booking online is ruled out!i know eurail is company n it involves the passes i just used the term in short..thats all!!!i checked online for the dates we are traveling,its very very expensive!!!so i guess i'll just get there n buy it n cross my fingers that it wont cost me so much!!!

You say, "I'll just get there and buy it." Places where you can buy railpasses in Europe are quite limited--and they'll cost you 20% more than if you buy them at home. You can buy them now from a US distributor like raileurope.com or ricksteves.com. Or you can buy then at either Gare du Nord or Gare de Lyon in Paris.

You'll need to buy a seat reservation for Paris-Frankfurt. Buy it as soon as you get to Paris. SNCF (French National Rail) limits the number of seats it allocates for passholders. People have reported being told that the passholder seats are gone for the train of their choice, leaving them with having to either pick another train or pay full fare for the train they wanted to take.

If you buy a railpass at Eurail Aide offices in Europe - in a few dozen key train stations in Europe then IME the price is adjusted about 20% above the dollar price you would pay in the U.S. This has been true each of the zillions of times i have checked at Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris - International Ticketing Bureau - there was never one at Gare du Nord before but makes sense that there is now (TimS is never wrong!).

TimS- could you give me details of where in Gare du Nord? I know in Saint-Lazare it is a very separate office and not at regular ticket windows.

PalenQ I hope with your zillions of times you are not overstaying your Schengen visa, would be really upset not to see your 'valuable' contribution. By the way, are you an agent
for Raileurope? Because no respectable European would buy those passes.
Over and out.
Wobbers

I don't think Europeans are allowed to buy those passes, respectable or not. Which is exactly why there are only a few places where you can buy them in Europe, they are specifically for tourists and foreigners. I think you have to show your residency or citizenship to buy one.

PalenQ,

I only listed two of them, but the Eurail site shows three Eurail Aid offices in Paris (Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord, and Gare Saint-Lazare) plus one at the Terminal 1 RER Station Bureau SNCF at CDG. The site doesn't give specific locations in the train stations.