I am trying to find out if we will need to make the reservations for the trains we will take using our Eurail pass - can anyone clarify? I checked their site but couldn't find the answer and it was too late to call and speak to someone at the railpass 800 number, so thought I would ask all you wonderfully knowledgeable people if anyone knows or wll share their experiences w/the pass. Thanking all in advance....
Leslie

It all depends on the particular train. Generally speaking, you only need to reserve seats on the longer distance top of the line trains, particularly those that cross national borders.

Don't know where you got your railpass - but budget travel europe will help you make some of those decisions and give you great input on which trains make sense to reserve ahead...
www.budgeteuropetravel.com

Hi L,

Before you buy a railpass, enter your itinerary at www.railsaver.com and click "only if it saves money".

If you do get a railpass, you will have to get reservations for the high-speed trains, eg, ES* in Italy, TGV in France.

You will have to pay extra for THALYS and the Eurostar between London and Paris.

What's your itinerary?

As Ira has indicated, some trains require seat reservations and others do not.

The next thing you need to decide is whether or not to buy those seat reservations before you leave of get them all once you arrive in Europe.

As a general rule, seat reservations are cheaper to purchase once you arrive in Europe as opposed to buying them from an agency in another country.

Agencies will typically mark up the price of a seat reservation and may also tack on shipping and handling fees.

Thanks so much, I am buying the rail pass this weekend, so I will check out the budget site first. We will travel from Amsterdam to Paris, Nice, Cinque Terre, Rome, Florence, Venice and Milano. Thanks, ira, you gave out that website before and I used it to determine that a railpass would save money, so thanks, that is most helpful. i will keep researching and hopefully make all (some?) of the right moves - haha - have a lovely day and thanks for the time.
Leslie

Hi L,

www.voyages-sncf.com has 55E 2cl and 60E 1cl PREMS fares for Paris to Nice.

Reservations are compulsory for some trains, including TGVs. However, if the train is not busy, you can just buy the reservation at the station ticket office.
The big problem is in deciding which trains you might need to book in advance because the train might be full. This is a difficult decision, but you should consider whether there are alternative trains. If you can be flexible, then it's generally easy to find unreserved seats.
From Amsterdam to Paris, for example, there are direct Thalys trains, or you can get an hourly Intercity train to Brussels from where Thalys trains to Paris are usually every half hour. So, whether you've booked in advance or not, it will always be possible to get from Amsterdam to Paris, even if it takes a little longer.
Whether trains are busy or not depends mainly on the time and day of the week. They are most likely to be crowded around weekends and public holidays. Trains used by businessmen will be busy in the morning and evening.
Overnight trains are complex because of the variety of sleepers and couchettes

Reservations are required on Thalys trains Amsterdam-Rome, TGV Paris-Nice, some of your Italian trains. that said most reservations should be easy enough to make in Europe, especially with a first-class pass. the only one that you may well have a problem with is the Paris-Nice TGV trains as TGVs on this line are often full and there is an allotment for passholder reservations. I've had several folks tell me, including some relatives, that they went to get a railpass reservation and were told none available but they could buy a full fare ticket on that same train. So this one you may want to reserve when you buy your pass.. and i echo VeeBee's recommendation of Budget Europe (800-441-2387) for their expertise and access to experts who will patiently answer all your questions. On their web site you should request their free European Planning & Rail Guide which will answer questions like yours and is a great primer on trains. I recommend BETS often because it is so hard to talk to someone who knows anything - before and after you buy a pass. A most unusual operation in this day and age. The Thalys train will require a reservation and a supplement of about $15 or so in 2nd class and about $38 in 1st class, 1st class includes a full meal with wine, etc. i believe at your seat. To ride the fastest Italian trains - EuroStar Italia trains you must pay a flat fee supplement of 15 euros or about $21 - often you can ride IC trains over the same route with just a reservation fee. With your pass be sure you get the free Eurail Timetable which lists most of the trains you'll be taking and if there is an R in a box by the train that means reservations are required before boarding. The best timetable site is www.bahn.de - German railways schedules for all of your. To access the English schedule page and get tips on using it go to the budget europe site VeeBee notes.

And the railpass pays for train fare, not for reservations, which typically cost 3 euros or so in Europe with exceptions of the few trains requiring supplements like AVE and high-speed trains in Spain, Eurostars and ICplus trains in Italy, etc. At times you can make reservations for trains in other countries from another country but often they will balk at doing so - just like budget europe or rail europe can make them here - all the same Euronet computer but i've found station staff in Europe often either doesn't want to bother if the train is not part domestic or simply won't do - but often can. So you can make your reservations as you go ahead of time. Certainly at any train station in the country.

Thanks so much for the wealth of information, I apprecaite your time, efforts and knowledge - gazie mille
Leslie

Let us know how it worked out and how you found reservations were easy to make in Europe or not. thanks

Buying a railpass used to almost always be the most convenient option and usually the most cost effective as well, however that is now not always the case. More and more, high speed trains in each country now require a reservation and a suppliment of some sort. While the amount is usually nominal, some reservation fees can be quite steep. Thalys trains, for example, cost railpass holders 25 EUR per seat reservations, which is more than many discount fares you can purchase without a rail pass that include the reservation. Not to mention that some operators are limiting the number of reservations available to passholders, even when there are still seats available on the train.

The need to reserve seats reduces both the cost and time efficiency of rail passes. You need to add in all the fees for each high speed train you will take to the cost of the rail pass. If you plan on taking any TGV, Thalys, Eurostar Italia, AVE, any overnight and some German ICE trains, plan on paying a suppliment. In addition, even with a pass you still have to carve out time to stop at the ticket window to purchase a seat reservation.

Granted most fees are small and usually it is quite easy to make the reservation, but if you think about it, what then is the advantage of having a rail pass since you are in essence doing the same thing as you would without one? Unless you are taking several <i>very</i> long distance trains, you are probably not saving money, especially adding in reservation fee considering the many discount fares you can get if you book ahead. And since you have to stop at the ticket window anyway, it would be just as easy to buy your ticket as it is to purchase a reservation, so you are not saving time either.

Again, there are times when a pass can make sense, but I am finding it harder and harder to justify the high cost of most Eurail passes available in the US.

okayyyyyyy, good and I'm sure very valid points there, ripit, what now? I have not bought the passes yet, still studying, and now this, I am going to try to speak with someone at RailPass and see if it will in fact be cost effective -thtnaks to all
Leslie

If you know your itinerary, it is pretty easy really. Do what Ira suggested above. Go to:
http://www.railsaver.com/railsaver.asp
and plug in your itinerary. Choose the option &quot;only if it saves me money&quot;. If it suggests to buy point to point tickets, you can believe it since the company behind the site is in the business of selling rail passes. Plus, they base their calculations on full fare and they do not factor the cost of supplimental fees into the rail pass (I don't think).

If it suggests to get a pass, it may or may not be the cheapest route. It will likely be close, so you can probably be fairly safe buying whichever pass the site suggests.

If you want to be certain you are choosing the best option, what you can do then is go to:
www.voyages.sncf.com
click on the Union Jack at the bottom left side of the page for the English version. Plug in the dates, times &amp; number of travellers for your Amsterdam - Paris, Paris - Nice and Nice - C.T. journeys. You will get a price for each voyage. Then go to:
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
and do the same for all of your Italian journeys.

Add up the total cost for all legs of your journey. Compare this to the cost of all the passes you would need. Some trains will not give you a price if you are travelling more than 30, 60 or 90 days from today, depending on the train. If this is the case just plug in dummy dates within this window to get a price for the journey.

Leslie Mom of 6 - what is your tentative itinerary? It could be fairly easy to look at it and quickly see whether you should investigate a pass or not.

Thanks for all the great advise, so, yeah, it seemed to be the better deal so I bought the railpass - now as to reservations, I just cannot figure that out - our departure times in each of the 8 different cities in Amsterdam, Frnace &amp; Italy are flexible, so can we (in the first 3 weeks of June) assume that we won't need reservations? If need be, could we call once we are in these cities and make reservations a day or so ahead of time - thanks for all the aid - 3 weeks and 3 days, I am so excited!
Leslie

Most express trains in France and Italy demand reservations before boarding, even if they half full.

As does the Thalys train Amsterdam-Paris

and you can usually get these within a few days of departure or even right up until the train, but not always.

TGV lines in France most noticeably have a quota for railpass reservations - at times go to make one and say no railpass places but can buy a full fare ticket. This seems mainly a problem on the Paris-Avignon-Nice line and to a lesser extent Paris-Bordeaux. so make your reservations when you get into the city as soon as possible just to be sure.

And you need not be in the city but at any train station in the country, or even in Europe if they want to do (often seem to not want to)