Is it possible to get train reservations as little as 2 days in advance?

You may want to give the others a bit more info.

Depending upon where you're starting, ending and time of year the answer is yes or no.

Example.
We were in Rome in May of 2002 and bought Eurostar reservations to Naples at the Spanish Steps a couple of days ahead.

Several years earleier we met some people on a train who said they were having difficulty getting reservation as they were booked up well in advance.

As I wrote. . .

Our plans are:

marseille-santa margherita/tue june1
sml-venice/ fri june4
venice-munich/tue june8
munich-bremen/thu june10
bremen-amsterdam/sun june13

how's that sound for reservations....thanks!

Hi jc


You can buy your munich/Bremen tickets on line from http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
If you are willing to go through the registration process.

You can also get them from www.euraide.de for the same price as in Germany + $35 S&H per order.

Your SML/Venice ticketcan also be bought online through Trenitalia. See
Trenitalia Tickets Online

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34465647

Your international tickets: France/Italy, Italy/Germany and Germany/Holland can't be bought online.

You can buy your tickets from Italy to Germany as soon as you arrive in Santa Margherita and from Bremento Amsterdam as soon as you arrive in Munich.

Finally,you might want to purchase all of your tickets through www.euraide.com.

Go to www.railsaver.com to find the prices for each leg of your trip as well as if a railpass might be worthwhile. Remember that reservations are extra.

Hope this helps.

best way to get train reservations is to go to the lacal travel agency worth the few euros that you pay and no lines to contend with. we spent a month in rome travelling all over on the train and had no problem

You probably should get reservations for your Friday and Sunday travels, and probably not for your midweek trips.

You can probably (notice that I like to use that qualifier) buy your reservations up to 2 hours before departure. I would suggest that you do it as soon as possible after you have made up your mind as to which train you want to take. One day in advance is probably sufficient, except maybe for the Friday and Sunday trains in the summer. Reservations cost a few bucks.

However, most trains do not require reservations. The exceptions are TGV, Thalys, and other premium trains.

And, as has been said on this forum for years, reservations are significantly more expensive when made in the USA.

I have seen where reservations were not required, but will I be standing for a 6 hour train ride?? That would bite! Thanks, Jcat.

You will probably not have to stand for 6 hours.

Even on a train jammed to the rafters, within any one hour period the train will (usually) make a stop and some people will get off. If you are standing, move toward seats as people get up to move to the door. You have the advantage over the ones boarding because they (usually) wait until the departing passengers get off.

The only exception I've seen to this was an Italian train going to Rome two days before Christmas. The aisles were full of people and luggage for hours. Fortunately I had a seat.

As I wrote, you should probably get a reservation for Friday and Sunday travel in the summer, for your own comfort and peace of mind. Reservations only cost a few dollars. And if any of your trains require a reservation then, of course, you must have one.

If you travel in the summer, you will be standing for a longtime if you dont have a reservation..

t for jc