rmoore926

Hello and thanks for the help. It's been 20 years since I've been to Europe and when we were there last we just kind of winged it. This July I'll be traveling with my wife and two daughters (19 and turning 16 during our trip). I don't want the stress of buying tickets the day of travel, but I'm not sure the best websites and times to buy. I want to make sure sites are legit and we're getting decent prices. I'll give you a brief list of train journeys we plan to take.

July 13 London-Amsterdam
July 17 Amsterdam to Bruges
July 20 (approx) Bruges-Loire Valley (not sure where we're staying here)
July 24 (approx) Loire-Paris

It looks like I can book Eurostar tickets now from Lon-Ams for about $90-95 USD. Are trainline and raileurope good sites to use? I assume it's easiest to have tickets on my phone (this wasn't an option in 2003!). Can you recommend a certain app I need?

If I left something out let me know. Thanks in advance for the help.
~Robert

twk

I have used Trainline in Spain (2018) and France (2022) and it worked fine both times. For the France trip, I downloaded the app and used digital tickets. In 2018, I think I printed off PDF tickets.

thursdaysd

This site will tell you everything you need to know about train travel and how to buy tickets:

https://www.seat61.com/index.html

apersuader65

I've used trainline several times. I've always ordered the tickets from my phone as well and have only used the digital tickets. In 2019, I kept tickets for 9 of us on the phone as well.

lavandula

I think Rail Europe is a reseller and places a premium on top of the cost of the ticket, so I would advise you to go to the websites of each country's rail system. For the leg Brugge - (Loire Valley) I recommend using Belgian Rail's international website, www.b-international.be . Train seats from Brugge to Brussels cannot be reserved and there is usually no advantage to buying them in advance as this system is mass transit, but if you are buying them as part of a bigger ticket it makes sense, just know that there is no seat number. You will have to change in Brussels for the Thalys to Paris, and then the train will take you to Paris Nord. If you were going say to Orleans (Loire Valley) you would have to transfer to Gare Austerlitz for the onward train. There is also another routing into France, taking small local trains from Brugge to Lille, but with luggage if it were me I would prefer a route with fewer changes and better trains.

For the leg Amsterdam to Brugge use https://www.nsinternational.com/en?utm_source=ns.nl&utm_medium=referral&utm_campai gn=&utm_content=nsmenu&utm_term=home (Nederlandse Spoorwegen). You don't have to take the Thalys, you can just take an IC train - cheaper and not appreciably slower.

Lavandula

rmoore926

Thank you all for the help and suggestions. Should I start buying our tickets now? This is a more organized trip and a less let's see what we feel like doing trip, so I don't think we'll be making changes to the itinerary once accommodations are booked.
Thanks again

kerouac

The best long distance fares will become available in April for a trip in July, so you have plenty of time to secure your accommodations before getting the train tickets. For things like an IC train, there is absolutely no reason to buy the ticket ahead of time because the fare will remain the same.

lavandula

Agree with Kerouac, fares become available 3 months out, so you could check out what a trip on the Thalys looks like in three months from now to get an idea of pricing. You can buy the IC fares ahead of time if you want to for planning reasons, it won't make a difference because the price won't change, but it might give you peace of mind

Lavandula

rmoore926

Thank you. I appreciate the help