Train travel to

   Europe:

   General info

A beginner's guide to buying cheap

European train tickets . . .

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London to Paris for £39?  Paris to Geneva for £25?  London to Berlin for 49 euros?

Paris to Rome for 40 euros?  Amsterdam to Prague for 49 euros?

If you know where to look and book in advance, there are some amazingly cheap train fares out there for travel to and within Europe.  There are no airport taxes to add, no baggage fees or weight limits, the trains run centre-to-centre with no extra costs getting to and from remote airports, and infants go free.  Sleeper trains can save a hotel bill, too!

It would be lovely if there was a single website that sold tickets for any European train journey at the cheapest price, but there isn't - you need to use different websites depending on the journey you're trying to book.  But don't worry, I'm going to explain which website to use or agency to call for any given European train journey, to get the cheapest prices and appropriate ticket delivery options, wherever you live in the world. 

Buy tickets online...

The best way to buy European train tickets is online direct from the relevant European train operator.  This way, you'll pay the cheap European prices, with no middle-man, no booking fees, no postage costs or agency mark-ups.  There are often cheap deals available if you book in advance, and you can browse availability & prices for different dates at your leisure.  The website you need to use depends on which journey you want to book, so click on the links below and I'll explain which website or websites to use:

How to buy European train tickets online if you live in the UK, Ireland or other European country

How to buy European train tickets online if you live in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa or worldwide

Buy tickets by phone...

If it online booking seems too daunting, you may prefer to buy tickets by phone from a specialist booking agency.  This usually costs a bit more than booking online as agencies normally charge a booking fee, which in the UK varies between £8 & £35.  Some agencies are better than others for particular journeys because of the reservation system they use, so click on the links below for a list of recommended agencies in the UK and worldwide, and read the advice before picking up the phone:

How to buy European train tickets by phone in the UK

How to buy European train tickets by phone in the Republic of Ireland

How to buy European train tickets by phone in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa & worldwide

Buy tickets in person...

You're generally better off booking by phone or online, as in the UK, the Eurostar ticket office at London St Pancras can only sell tickets as far as Paris or Brussels, and most other British rail stations do not sell international tickets at all, except for train & ferry tickets to the Republic of Ireland.  But there are two exceptions worth mentioning:

• Rail Europe (www.raileurope.co.uk) has a travel centre at 1 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4XT, open 10:00-18:00 Mondays to Fridays, 10:00-16:00 Saturdays, nearest Underground Piccadilly Circus.  It gets very busy in the Summer, so allow plenty of time.  Rail Europe are a subsidiary of French Railways, so are good for journeys to France and via France to Italy, Spain, Switzerland, but they don't always have the best prices for travel via Brussels to Germany, Austria, eastern Europe & Scandinavia, for which you're often better off calling Deutsche Bahn's (German railways) UK office.

• Trainseurope (www.trainseurope.co.uk) has a desk at St Pancras station in London, inside the domestic travel centre marked 'National Rail Tickets' underneath platforms 1-4.  It's open 09:30-17:30 Monday-Friday and most Saturdays 10:30-16:30.  Unlike the Eurostar ticket office, it can sell tickets for journeys all over Europe, and make European seat, couchette or sleeper reservations.  Trainseurope also have offices at Cambridge railway station, open 11:00-17:00 Tuesday-Friday, and their main office at March railway station, Cambridgeshire, open 09:00-17:30 Monday to Friday, closed Saturdays & Sundays.

Buy tickets at the station...

UK rail stations don't sell international tickets, and the Eurostar ticket office at St Pancras can only sell tickets as far as Paris or Brussels.  But once you're in mainland Europe, most main railway stations can sell international tickets, at least for trains originating in that country and often for other countries as well.  Here's a rough guide as to whether buying tickets at the station is a good idea or not:

• Buying at the station on the day is a good idea for many shorter journeys, where you don't need a reservation, you just buy a ticket at a fixed price and hop on the next train.  Journeys like this include (1) local, suburban & regional trains in almost all countries, and (2) internal trains wholly within each of the following countries:  Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria.  Journeys falling into this category include Pisa to Florence, Florence to Siena, Brussels to Bruges, Paris to Versailles, Geneva to Bern, and (although in fact international, just bear with me on this) Brussels to Luxembourg and the hourly (non-high-speed) InterCity trains between Brussels & Amsterdam.  The price for these journeys is the same whether you buy in advance or on the day, and tickets can never 'sell out', so there is no advantage whatsoever in pre-booking other than saving time at the ticket office.  There's in fact a third case where buying at the station can be a good idea.  Long-distance international & internal tickets in eastern Europe are often as cheap or cheaper bought at the station than bought through a western European rail operator or agency, because special reduced fares are often available at the ticket office which are not available outside that country, and also because the tariffs provided by that country for sale by other European rail operators are usually higher than the fares they themselves charge at their ticket offices.  Examples include Krakow to Prague, Budapest to Bucharest, Zagreb to Vienna, Warsaw to Krakow, Istanbul to Bucharest, all easy and cheaply bought at the station.  But as reservation is compulsory for most of these journeys, you should weigh up the desire for cheapness with the peace of mind in having your travel plans safely sorted in advance.  If the journey is mission-critical you may want to pre-book, if not, buy at the station.  In practice there are almost always places available even on the day of travel.

• Buying on the day at the station is not the cheapest option for other journeys & a bad idea for Eurostar journeys:  For most long distance international journeys in western Europe, and for inter-city journeys within countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway and even the UK, there are cheaper fares if you book in advance, more expensive fares if you buy on the day of travel.  And reservation is compulsory on most western European international trains and on all long-distance trains within France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal & Sweden, so tickets can indeed 'sell out' at busy times, even though there are usually places available even on the day.  It therefore pays to pre-book these journeys if you can.  Eurostar is an extreme example, as London to Paris starts at just £39 if you book in advance, but you'll pay a whopping £179 if you try to buy on the day of travel.  So don't turn up at the station without a ticket unless you have to.  In Italy, full-price fares aren't too expensive so buying at the station is still a reasonable option, but even there, you can get a 15% or 30% discount by pre-booking at the Trenitalia website.

Just click on the country or city where your journey begins,

and I'll tell you the best website to buy train tickets to neighbouring countries...

Important tips for booking online...

Bookings open 90 days in advance, or in some cases 60 days.  You can't book before reservations open, but no-one else can either, so don't worry, the train cannot 'sell out'!  London-Paris & London-Brussels Eurostar reservations open 120 days ahead, but if you're travelling beyond Paris or Brussels I strongly advise waiting until 90 days before departure so you can book all your tickets together and make sure that all the trains connect.  More information about when bookings open.

Always check the ticket delivery options carefully to avoid being caught out.  For example, the Italian railways website trenitalia.com can sell you a ticket from Paris to Florence or from Zurich to Milan, but tickets can only be collected at Italian stations or sent to Italian addresses, so it's no good for journeys in the southbound 'to Italy' direction unless you live in Italy.  Whereas the German website bahn.de offers 'self-print' tickets between Amsterdam & Berlin so can be used to book this journey in whichever direction you like.  I take all this into account in recommending the right website to use for any particular journey.

Use www.bahn.de as your all-purpose online European timetable!  It's often best to start planning a complex journey using the excellent, fast & capable all-Europe timetable at the German Railways site www.bahn.de.  OK, so it won't give fares, at least not outside Germany, but it'll give train times almost anywhere in Europe, even for complex international journeys.   Try using www.bahn.de to plan your whole journey, then break the journey into manageable chunks and book each section using the relevant countries' own websites.  For example, neither trenitalia.com nor voyages-sncf.com will book a journey (or even come up with train times) from Rome to Marseille.  But bahn.de will come up with train times for you very easily, and you can then go to trenitalia.com to book the Italian trains and to voyages-sncf.com to book the French bit.

You'll sometimes need to split longer journeys into stages:  The most important tip for complex journeys is to split the journey into easy sections.  For example, there isn't a website capable of booking a journey from Amsterdam to Marbella near Malaga in Spain all in one go.  But www.thalys.com will book Amsterdam-Paris and if you treat Paris-Madrid & Madrid-Malaga as two separate stages, the Spanish Railways website www.renfe.com will book both of these for you.  And a local ticket from Malaga to Marbella can easily be bought on the day at the station, so no need to worry about that bit.  As you can see, a bit of creative thinking is sometimes required! 

There are a few situations where it's better to book by phone: First, if there's a persistent technical problem with the online systems, cut your losses and pick up the phone!  People forget you can still do this!  Second, if you have some specific requirements, such as wanting a specific seat or a seat in a specific carriage, you may need to book by phone.  Third, there are journeys that simply can't be booked online at all, for example many eastern European journeys such as Warsaw-Kiev, Budapest-Bucharest or Bucharest-Istanbul to name just a few.  In fact, there's a few trains which can't be booked at all outside the country in question, for example trains within Bulgaria or Greece.  Finally, if you're booking a more complex journey, you may prefer to book all your tickets together by phone, even though you pay a booking fee, rather than have to make multiple bookings on several websites making sure that each of these connects.

Journeys starting in London / UK

Each seat61 country page gives specific step-by-step instructions for booking a journey from the UK to that particular European country, so just select your destination country from the menu on the left.  But just for the record, here's a general summary of the best way to buy train tickets from the UK to Europe:

...train journeys wholly within the UK:  See the UK page or Northern Ireland page

UK to Ireland:  See the Ireland page

You can buy combined train+ferry tickets from London or any station in Great Britain to Dublin online on the Ireland page from just £30.50 one-way, or you can buy them by phone from the SailRail telesales line on 08450 755 755.  You can also buy London-Dublin tickets at www.stenaline.co.uk (UK residents only).

UK to Paris & Belgium:  www.eurostar.com

If all you want is a Eurostar ticket from London to Paris or Brussels, the best way to book is online direct from Eurostar at www.eurostar.com.  You simply print out your own ticket, or if you prefer tickets can be sent to any UK, French or Belgian address or you can choose to collect them at the station in London, Paris or Brussels using the e-ticket machines.  Eurostar bookings open 120 days before departure, longer than most other European trains.  Although www.eurostar.com is capable of booking through tickets from London to many cities in France, it won't book overnight trains or tickets to every destination, so I'd recommend using either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents) or www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country) for destinations beyond Paris or Belgium, as they offer more destinations, give you more control over each booking, will also book overnight trains, and often offer cheaper options.  Remember that Eurostar tickets to Brussels are valid to any station in Belgium, not just Brussels, see the Belgium page.

UK to France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain:  www.raileurope.co.uk or www.voyages-sncf.com

The best way to book train journeys from London to anywhere in France and to major cities in Italy, Spain or Switzerland is online at either www.raileurope.co.uk (French Railways' UK subsidiary for UK residents, now with a new easier-to-use system, backed by UK call centre) or French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, tickets sent from France or can be collected from French stations, can be quirky, so see this advice on using it).  Reservations open 90 days before departure.   www.raileurope.co.uk will post tickets (£1.95 charge) to any UK address or allow ticket collection on departure from St Pancras or French stations (free).  www.voyages-sncf.com will post  tickets to any address in Europe and some countries worldwide free of charge, or if you leave 'France' selected as the country in which you want to receive tickets, tickets can be picked up at stations in France or in the case of the cheapest 'prems' fares you can print them out in .pdf format on your own PC printer.  Rail Europe now charges a 2% credit card fee, so use a debit card if you can.  Voyages-sncf.com charges no credit card or postage fee.

Onward tickets within Italy:  The new www.raileurope.co.uk online system can now book major internal routes within Italy, and this is the most painless way to add an onward connection to your London-Italy journey.  It's best to add the internal journey separately, in other words, don't try booking Paris-Naples all in one go, first book Paris-Rome and add to your basket, then click 'continue shopping' and book Rome-Naples as a second journey, allowing plenty of time for the connection.  The Rail Europe system won't sell all trains on every Italian route, and it charges a pound or two more than booking direct with Italian Railways, so you might prefer to book onward connections within Italy separately at the Italian Railways site, www.trenitalia.com.  The Trenitalia website has its quirks, so see this advice on using it.  Voyages-sncf.com probably won't succeed in booking many trains within Italy, so you'll probably have to use the Trenitalia website to book these.

Onward tickets within Spain:  The new www.raileurope.co.uk online system can now book major internal routes within Spain, and this is the most painless way to add an onward connection to your London-Madrid/Barcelona journey.  It's best to add the internal journey separately, in other words, don't try booking Paris-Malaga all in one go, first book Paris-Madrid and add to your basket, then click 'continue shopping' and book Madrid-Malaga as a second journey.  The Rail Europe system won't sell all trains on every Spanish route, and importantly, it will only sell full-fare fully-flexible tickets, it can't sell the cheap 'web' and 'estrella' fares available direct from the Spanish Railways themselves, so you might find it cheaper to book onward connections within Spain separately at the Spanish Railways website www.renfe.com - See this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es.  Voyages-sncf.com can't book anything in Spain beyond Madrid or Barcelona, so if you use it you'll have to book onward trains at www.renfe.com.

UK to Germany, Austria, Scandinavia & eastern Europe...

You can book the direct sleeper trains from Cologne to Prague, Warsaw, Vienna & Copenhagen, and from Paris to Munich & Berlin online at the German Railways website, www.bahn.de, 'English' button at upper right.  Look for the cheap 'Savings' fares.  You pay by credit card and print out your own tickets in .PDF format, making it easy for anyone booking from any country.

You can also book the Cologne to Vienna sleeper train online at the Austrian Railways website, www.oebb.at.  First click 'Englisch' top right, then 'Online-Ticket' top left, then click the EURO-Night square.  Look for cheap fares 'valid on specific train' for train EN421.  You pay by credit card and print out your own tickets in .PDF format, making it easy for anyone booking from any country.

You can then book a connecting London-Cologne Eurostar+Thalys ticket using either www.eurostar.com (residents of any country, tickets sent to UK addresses or collected at the station) or www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or www.voyages-sncf.com (tickets sent to any European address).  You can book a connecting London-Paris or London-Brussels Eurostar ticket at www.eurostar.com.

Onward journeys from Munich to Salzburg & Innsbruck or Berlin to Krakow or Warsaw can then be booked at www.bahn.de.  Onward tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm & Oslo can be booked online at www.sj.se (no booking fee) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee) or if you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). You print your own ticket or collect them from the silver-grey SJ ticket machines at Copenhagen main station, on the left as you walk into the main entrance.

For daytime travel from London to Germany, book London-Cologne using either www.eurostar.com (residents of any country, tickets sent to UK addresses or collected at the station) or www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or www.voyages-sncf.com (tickets sent to any European address), then book connecting trains from Cologne to your German destination using www.bahn.de.

UK to the Netherlands:  See the Netherlands page. 

London to Amsterdam by Eurostar:  Simply buy a ticket to Brussels at www.eurostar.com, which is automatically valid to any station in Belgium, selecting the option to print your own ticket at home.  Then buy an Essen-Amsterdam ticket in Brussels when you get there for just 22 euros one-way, 44 euros return (this is the little Essen in Belgium just before the Dutch border, not the bigger Essen in Germany).  No advance reservation is necessary for the hourly intercity trains from Brussels to Amsterdam and the price doesn't change, you just buy a ticket at a fixed price at the ticket office and hop on.  You're now covered for the whole Brussels-Amsterdam InterCity journey, there's no need to get off at Essen.  www.eurostar.com accepts all credit cards, not just UK ones. 

London to Amsterdam or any Dutch station by train+ferry:  London-Amsterdam (or any Dutch stations) by train+ferry via Harwich-Hook of Holland can be booked online at www.dutchflyer.co.uk, see the Netherlands page for full details.

Journeys starting in Paris & France

Train journeys wholly within France

UK residents can book French train tickets through www.raileurope.co.uk, which will book any train in France, including overnight trains, with prices in pounds and tickets sent to any UK address. Non-UK residents can use the French Railways website, www.voyages-sncf.com, though it's quirky so see this advice on how to use it.   Seat reservation is compulsory for almost all French long-distance trains, and cheap advance-purchase fares called 'prems' are available if you book in advance, so it's well worth pre-booking if you can.  www.voyages-sncf.com will send tickets to most European countries.

Paris to London

There's a more-or-less hourly Eurostar train from Paris to London via the Channel Tunnel, taking just 2 hours 15 minutes, centre to centre, much faster and more comfortable than flying.  Fares from £69/89 euros return.  The best way to book Eurostar tickets is direct with Eurostar at www.eurostar.com.  If you're making a one-way journey, see this advice about one-way Eurostar fares.  See the Eurostar page for more information about Eurostar and the Eurostar journey.  You can choose to pick up tickets at the station if travelling at short notice or if booking from overseas.

From other French towns & cities to London, it's best to buy tickets using either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe), see this advice on how to use these websites.  The London to France page will help with UK-France routes and train times, in either direction, and show you what French daytime TGV and overnight trains are like.

Paris to other UK towns & cities

You can buy through tickets from Paris to 130 UK towns & cities including York, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol at www.eurostar.com, one-way or return in either direction.  However, even if you live in France, you must select 'United Kingdom' as your country of residence on the www.eurostar.com country selection page so that you make the booking in pounds sterling on the UK version of Eurostar's website.  These 130 UK regional destinations will not show up if you select 'France' or 'België' or 'Belgique' as your country of residence (If you don't get offered this country selection when you go to www.eurostar.com, simply select 'tools', 'delete browsing history' on your browser and delete your cookies).  This is allegedly because UK train companies won't accept payment in euros, so only the pound-based UK version of the Eurostar site can sell tickets to these UK destinations beyond London.  Or perhaps we just don't want any French people visiting York or Bath or anywhere beyond London!  There are no problems in selecting 'United Kingdom' as your country of residence even if you really live in France.

Paris to Brussels & Amsterdam

Thalys high-speed trains link Paris with Brussels (1 hour 20 minutes), Antwerp, Rotterdam & Amsterdam (3 hours 20 minutes) regularly throughout the day.  From city centre to city centre, it's faster than flying, and certainly more relaxing.  You can book Thalys trains online at the Thalys website www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address).  Booking tip:  When using www.thalys.com, if you book to 'Brussels ABS' (or 'Bruxelles TGB' in French) instead of just 'Brussels' you get a Thalys ticket to Brussels plus an onward journey by any suitable connecting train (except Thalys or German ICE) to any Belgian station the same or the following day.  Much cheaper than buying a separate onward ticket to Bruges, for example!

Paris to Luxembourg

Direct high-speed trains link Paris with Luxembourg in 2h15.  You can book these trains online at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe or can be picked up at the station if you select 'France').  The voyages-sncf.com system has quite a few quirks, so see this advice on how to use it.

Paris to Switzerland:  Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Basel, Zurich

TGV Lyria high-speed trains link Paris with a range of Swiss cities including Geneva (3h20), Basel (3h30), Bern (4h30) & Zurich (4h45).  From city centre to city centre, it's quicker than flying, and much more relaxing.  You can book these trains online at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe or can be picked up at the station if you select 'France').  The voyages-sncf.com system has quite a few quirks, so see this advice on how to use it.  You can find out more about Lyria TGV trains & facilities on board at the Lyria website, www.tgv-lyria.com.

Paris to Italy:  Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, Verona, Venice

There are direct overnight sleeper trains from Paris to Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Verona, Venice.  Leave central Paris just before 7pm and arrive next morning in Florence at 7.15am or Rome at 10am.  Or leave Paris after 8pm and arrive in central Venice 9.35am, a short walk from the Rialto Bridge and St  Mark's Square.  Effectively faster than flying, and it'll save a hotel bill too.  There are also three daily daytime TGV trains from Paris to Turin & Milan (7 hours).  See the London to Italy page for more information about all these Paris-Italy trains, including times, fares and on board accommodation.  The best way to book any of these trains is online at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, new easier-to-use system, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe or can be picked up at the station if you leave 'France' selected).  The voyages-sncf.com system has quite a few quirks, so before booking, see this advice on how to use it.  Residents of the USA & Canada can easily book this train online in their own countries at www.raileurope.com, and Australians at www.raileurope.com.au, but be warned that prices charged by the US & Australian Rail Europes for these particular train are often a lot higher than those charged at www.voyages-sncf.com (or the UK Rail Europe for that matter), making it worth the effort to book in French using this advice.  I've seen Raileurope.com charge $184 for a train on which a $45 ticket was available on both voyages-sncf.com and raileurope.co.uk.

Onward tickets within Italy:  The raileurope.co.uk or voyages-sncf.com booking system will book the direct trains Paris-Rome or Paris-Florence, but may struggle with Paris-Naples or Paris-Pisa, both of which require a change of train.  So use raileurope or voyages-sncf to book (in this example) the Paris-Rome or Paris-Florence train, then book onward connections in Italy separately at the Italian Railways site, www.trenitalia.com, but first see this advice on using the Trenitalia website, as it struggles with many non-Italian credit cards.

Paris to Spain:  Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Alicante

There are excellent overnight sleeper trains called 'trainhotels' from Paris to Barcelona & Madrid, with cosy sleepers, an elegant restaurant and a bar.  Leave Paris Gare d'Austerlitz 8.30pm, arrive Barcelona 8.30 next morning.  Or leave Paris Austerlitz at 7.45pm, and arrive Madrid 9.10 next morning.  In effect it's faster than flying and it'll save a hotel bill too.  For more information about these trainhotels, including photos inside & out, see the London to Spain page or the trainhotel website, www.elipsos.com.  The best way to book these trains is online at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, or if you leave 'France' selected you can pick up tickets at the station).  The booking system at voyages-sncf.com has quite a few quirks, so before booking, see this advice on how to use these websites.  These websites will also book the direct daytime trains Barcelona-Montpellier.  Residents of the USA & Canada can also book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians at www.raileurope.com.au, although prices will be slightly higher.

Onward tickets within Spain:  The new raileurope.co.uk system can book onward trains within Spain, but only at full fare, not the cheap advance-booking fares.  The voyages-sncf.com booking system will book the direct trainhotels Paris-Madrid or Paris-Barcelona, but can't book onwards trains to Malaga or Alicante.  So use raileurope or voyages-sncf to book the Paris-Madrid train (for Seville or Malaga) or the Paris-Barcelona trainhotel (for Valencia or Alicante), then book onward connections in Spain separately at the Spanish Railways website www.renfe.com - see this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es.  Similarly, it may struggle with (say) Nice-Barcelona, so break the journey into logical stages, and try first booking Montpellier-Barcelona, then click 'add another ticket' and book a connecting Nice-Montpellier journey.  Frequent trains link Madrid with Seville, Malaga & Cordoba, also Granada & Cadiz.  Frequent trains link Barcelona with Valencia & Alicante.  The Spain page will help with connecting trains, just look for the relevant destination section and ignore the London-Paris part.

Paris to Portugal:  Lisbon, Faro, Porto

You take an afternoon (15:45) TGV from Paris Gare Montparnasse to the Spanish frontier at Irun, then the overnight 'Sud Express' trainhotel sleeper train to Lisbon.  Book the Paris-Irun TGV at either either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, or if you leave 'France' selected you can pick up tickets at the station).  The booking system at voyages-sncf.com has quite a few quirks, so before booking, see this advice on how to use these websites.  Then use the Spanish railways website www.renfe.com to book the trenhotel from Irun to Lisbon.  You print out your own tickets - see this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es.  For the Algarve, change at Lisbon Oriente for an InterCity train to Faro.  For Porto, alight from the Sud Express at Coimbra B and take a train north to Porto.

Paris to Germany:  Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Berlin

You can travel to Germany either by overnight City Night Line sleeper train from Paris to Berlin or Paris to Munich leaving at 20:20 and arriving next morning, or by a range of direct daytime high-speed trains from Paris to Frankfurt (in 3h45), Stuttgart (3h40), Munich (6 hours) or Cologne (3h30).  The Paris-Berlin & Paris-Munich sleeper trains run daily from late March to early November, and on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays in winter.  All of these trains (sleeper or daytime) are most easily booked online using the German railways website www.bahn.de.  In many cases you just print out your own ticket, ideal for anyone resident in any country, in other cases tickets will be sent to any address worldwide.  There are cheap fares from just 29 euros if you pre-book, booking opens 90 days ahead.  Alternatively, Paris-Cologne Thalys trains can be booked online at www.thalys.com with either self-print tickets or tickets collected at the station in Paris.  Tickets for all these Paris-Germany trains can also be booked at ww.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe or can be picked up at the station if you select 'France', but it has quite a few quirks, so see this advice on how to use it).  In theory all these websites charge the same fares, but it's worth trying several as in practice they can differ.  However, I recommend that you always book any onward trains within Germany, such as Cologne-Berlin or Frankfurt-Berlin, at www.bahn.de, because being German railways own website it has all the cheap fares within Germany, whereas the other websites won't show these cheap German domestic fares.  For technical reasons, Rail Europe & voyages-sncf.com cannot book 4-berth couchettes on the Paris-Munich or Paris-Berlin sleeper trains, but bahn.de can.

Paris to Austria:  Innsbruck, Salzburg, Linz, Vienna

The easiest way to travel from Paris to Austria is to take the overnight City Night Line sleeper train from Paris to Munich leaving at 20:20 and arriving 07:16 next morning, then a connecting morning RailJet train from Munich to Salzburg, Linz & Vienna (arriving Vienna 13:40), or a morning EuroCity train from Munich to Innsbruck.  The sleeper trains runs daily from late March to early November, and on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays in winter.  The easiest way to book the Paris-Munich sleeper train is online at www.bahn.de and you simply print out your own ticket.  Then use www.bahn.de again as a separate transaction to book the train from Munich to Innsbruck, Salzburg,, Linz or Vienna, again printing out you own ticket.  Do not book try to book from Paris to Austria all in one go, as the cheap fares for Paris-Germany and Germany-Austria will not show up if you ask it for a Paris-Austria journey.  You can also book the Paris-Munich sleeper at ww.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe or can be picked up at the station if you select 'France', but it has quite a few quirks, so see this advice on how to use it).  The prices are in theory the same as bahn.de, but can differ so try both methods.  For technical reasons, Rail Europe & voyages-sncf.com cannot book 4-berth couchettes on the sleeper train, but bahn.de can.

You can also get from Paris to Austria in one day using daytime trains.  Book a Paris-Munich TGV at www.bahn.de.  Tickets can also be booked at ww.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe or can be picked up at the station if you select 'France', but it has quite a few quirks, so see this advice on how to use it).  Then as a second separate ticket use www.bahn.de to book a connecting train from Munich to Innsbruck, Salzburg or Vienna, allowing at least 45 minutes to change trains in Munich.

Paris to Prague (Czech Republic), Warsaw & Krakow (Poland)

For Paris to Prague, Warsaw or Krakow, first book the overnight Paris-Berlin sleeper leaving Paris Est at 20:20 using either www.bahn.de (the German Railways sleeper website, for residents of any country, you simply print your own ticket) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address, a subsidiary of French Railways) or French Railways' own website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, but see this advice on how to use it).  Check both the German and French sites, as for some reason if the cheapest tickets are sold out on the German site the fare on the French sites can sometimes be cheaper.  Then book a connecting ticket from Berlin to Prague, Warsaw or Krakow using www.bahn.de.  The London to Poland and London to the Czech Republic pages may help with train times, the Brussels to Berlin sleeper referred to on those pages in fact starts in Paris.  Allow at least 30 minutes to change trains in Berlin.

Paris to Budapest (Hungary), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Zagreb (Croatia)

For Paris to Budapest, Ljubljana or Zagreb, first book the overnight Paris-Munich sleeper train leaving Paris Est at 20:20 using either www.bahn.de (for residents of any country, you simply print your own ticket) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, but see this advice on how to use it).  Then book a connecting daytime train from Munich to Budapest, Ljubljana or Zagreb using www.bahn.de.  Allow at least 45 minutes to change trains in Munich.  You can also take an afternoon TGV from Paris to Munich (booked at either www.bahn.de (for residents of any country, you simply print your own ticket) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, but see this advice on how to use it) then the sleeper train from Munich to Budapest or Zagreb, booked at www.bahn.de.  Allow at least an hour to change trains in Munich.

Paris to Copenhagen (Denmark), Stockholm (Sweden), Oslo (Norway)

You can book the direct Cologne-Copenhagen sleeper using www.bahn.de, and print out your own tickets.  Then book a connecting Paris-Cologne Thalys high-speed train using either www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address).  Allow at least 30 minutes to change trains in Cologne.  Onward tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm & Oslo can be booked online at www.sj.se (no booking fee) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee) or if you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). Tickets are collected from the SJ ticket machines at Copenhagen main station.

Paris to Athens (Greece)

Paris to Athens takes less than 48 hours via the ferry from Italy, and it's a great journey.  It can be booked online in 3 stages, see the London to Greece page for times, fares and how to buy tickets, just ignore the London-Paris part.  The overland journey from Paris to Athens via Belgrade or Bucharest cannot be booked online it has to be booked by phone.

Paris to Moscow (Russia), Kiev (Ukraine), Bucharest (Romania) & Istanbul (Turkey)

Journeys from Paris to Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey cannot be booked online, they need to be booked by phone.  For Paris to Istanbul, see the Turkey page and ignore the London to Paris part.  Paris to Moscow can be done using the twice-weekly direct Paris-Moscow sleeping-car (2 nights) or a Paris-Cologne Thalys train then the daily Cologne-Moscow sleeper, see the Russia page.

Journeys starting in Brussels & Belgium

Train journeys wholly within Belgium

You can check Belgian train times & fares at www.b-rail.be, and buy tickets online.  But  Belgian internal trains don't require seat reservations, you just buy a ticket at the station and hop on, so no need to book in advance.  The price is a kilometric tariff, so the price is the same even if you buy tickets at the station on the day of travel.  However, buying a print-your-own .pdf format ticket online can save time at the ticket office.

Brussels to London

Book at www.eurostar.com.  There are regular Eurostar trains from Brussels to London, taking just 1 hour 55 minutes or so.  You can print out your own ticket or choose to collect tickets at the station.

Brussels to other UK towns & cities

You can buy through tickets from Brussels to 130 UK towns & cities including York, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol at  www.eurostar.com, one-way or return in either direction.  However, even if you live in Belgium, you must select 'United Kingdom' as your country of residence on the www.eurostar.com country selection page so that you make the booking in pounds sterling on the UK version of Eurostar's website.  These 130 UK regional destinations will not show up if you select 'France' or 'België' or 'Belgique' as your country of residence (If you don't get offered this country selection when you go to www.eurostar.com, simply select 'tools', 'delete browsing history' on your browser and delete your cookies).  This is apparently because UK train companies won't accept payment in euros, so only the pound-based UK version of the Eurostar site can sell tickets to these UK destinations beyond London.  Or perhaps we just don't want any Belgians visiting York or Bath or anywhere beyond London!  There are no problems in selecting 'United Kingdom' as your country of residence even if you really live in Belgium.

Brussels to Paris & France

High-speed Thalys trains trains link Brussels with Paris in just 1h20.  You can book these trains online at www.thalys.com and print out your own ticket or collect tickets at the station in Brussels.  Direct French TGVs also link Brussels with French cities such as Lyon & Marseille, book at the Belgian railways website www.b-rail.be, remembering to select 'international'.

Brussels to Rotterdam & Amsterdam

There's a choice of two train services on this route.  1. High-speed Thalys trains link Brussels with Amsterdam in just 1h55.  Reservation is compulsory, fares vary like air fares so you'll find cheap fares if you book in advance and more expensive fares on the day.  You can buy Thalys tickets online at www.thalys.com and print out your own ticket or collect tickets at the station in Brussels.  2. Alternatively, there's an hourly 'normal' InterCity train, no seat reservation necessary, the fare is fixed so it costs the same even on the day of travel, you just buy a ticket and hop on, easy.  However, these trains are not high-speed so take 3 hours.  You can buy a ticket for these InterCity trains at www.b-rail.be or simply buy your ticket at the station on the day.

Brussels to Luxembourg

An hourly InterCity train links Brussels Midi with Luxembourg.  No reservation is needed, just buy a ticket at the station and hop on.  You can check times and prices at the Belgian website, www.b-rail.be.

Brussels to Germany:  Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich

There are two types of train between Brussels & Cologne. The majority of departures are high-speed Thalys trains taking 1h55, and you can book these at www.thalys.com and print out your own ticket or collect tickets in Brussels.  Alternatively, there are three trains a day operated by German Railways with their superb high-speed ICE train.  These run beyond Cologne to Frankfurt.  You can book the ICE departures at www.bahn.de.  If you're booking from Brussels to other destinations in Germany, you can book the whole journey at www.bahn.de if you use an ICE train between Brussels & Cologne, but if you want to use a Thalys train you'll need to book in two stages, Brussels-Cologne at www.thalys.com, then Cologne onwards at www.bahn.de.  Allow at least 20 minutes to change trains in Cologne.

Brussels to Austria & Hungary:  Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Budapest

Hop on the 16:28 high-speed Thalys train from Brussels Midi to Cologne and take the excellent Austrian railways EuroNight sleeper train overnight from Cologne to Linz & Vienna, arriving at 9am  next morning.  .First, book the sleeper train from Cologne to Vienna online at either www.bahn.de or www.oebb.at.  Then book a connecting Brussels-Cologne Thalys train using either www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) or (if you want the ICE train between Brussels & Cologne) www.bahn.de.  Allow at least 45 minutes in Cologne to make a safe connection.  For Budapest, hop on a morning RailJet train, taking just 3 hours. You can buy this online at www.oebb.at or at the station in Vienna.

You can also travel by daytime trains from Brussels to Salzburg, Innsbruck or Vienna, but follow this advice:  First find your train times for the whole journey by asking the journey planner at www.bahn.de for Brussels to Austria.  Make a note of the trains you want.  Then book the journey in two stages by splitting it at Cologne, for example first book Brussels-Cologne at www.thalys.com, then book a separate journey from Cologne to Austria at www.bahn.de.  This way, you'll benefit from any cheap Belgium-Germany fares on one section and cheap Germany-Austria fares on the other.

Brussels to Switzerland:  Basel, Zurich & beyond

The two daily direct daytime trains from Brussels to Basel & Zurich can be booked online at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) or the Belgian Railways website www.b-rail.be (tickets collected in Brussels).  There is now no direct sleeper, but it's possible to use the Cologne-Switzerland sleeper booked at www.bahn.de with a connecting Brussels-Cologne ticket booked at www.raileurope.co.uk or www.thalys.com.  Allow at least 30 minutes in Cologne for connections, and remember that for a one-way trip on Thalys, return fares can be cheaper than one-way fares.

Brussels to Italy:  Milan, Florence, Rome, Verona, Venice

Hop on an afternoon Thalys from Brussels Midi to Paris, change stations in Paris by metro or taxi, then take a direct sleeper train from Paris to Florence, Rome, Milan, Verona or Venice.  You'll find details of these sleeper trains on the London to Italy page, simply substitute any suitable Brussels-Paris connection for the London-Paris Eurostar connections shown on that page.  You can book in two stages.  First book the Paris-Italy sleeper train at www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any European address).  Then book a connecting Thalys train from Brussels to Paris at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets).  Allow at least 90 minutes in Paris to change trains and stations.

Brussels to Spain:  Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Alicante

Take an afternoon high-speed Thalys train from Brussels Midi to Paris (Gare du Nord), change stations in Paris by metro or taxi, then take the 'trainhotel' overnight sleeper train from Paris Gare d'Austerlitz to Madrid or Barcelona with sleepers, restaurant & bar.  You'll need to leave Brussels at around 16:00-16:30 to connect with the Madrid train which leaves Paris at 19:47, or around 17:15 to connect with the Paris-Barcelona train which leaves Paris at 20:32.  Journeys from Brussels to Spain can be booked online in two separate stages: First book the sleeper from Paris to Madrid or Barcelona using either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) or www.renfe.com (for residents of any country, you print out your own ticket) or www.voyages-sncf.com (also for residents of any country, tickets collected in Paris, but read this advice on using it).  Then book Brussels to Paris at www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets) or www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents only).  Onwards tickets from Madrid to Seville, Granada or Malaga or from Barcelona to Valencia or Alicante can be booked online at www.renfe.com, which lets you print your own tickets.  For more information about these trainhotels, including photos inside & out, see the London to Spain page or the trainhotel website www.elipsos.com.  Onward tickets from Madrid to Seville, Cordoba, Malaga, Granada or from Barcelona to Valencia & Alicante can be booked at www.renfe.com.  The London to Spain page will explain how to transfer from Madrid Chamartin to Madrid Atocha, and what the best onward connections are after you arrive in Madrid or Barcelona by trainhotel, just ignore the London to Paris part of the journey!

Brussels to Portugal:  Lisbon, Porto, Faro

You take a mid-morning Thalys train from Brussels to Paris, change stations in Paris by metro or taxi, then take an afternoon (15:45) TGV from Paris Gare Montparnasse to the Spanish frontier at Irun to connect with the overnight 'Sud Express' trainhotel sleeper train to Lisbon.  Book the Amsterdam-Paris train at www.thalys.com.  Book the Paris-Irun TGV at either either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, or if you leave 'France' selected you can pick up tickets at the station).  The booking system at voyages-sncf.com has quite a few quirks, so before booking, see this advice on how to use these websites.  Then use the Spanish railways website www.renfe.com to book the trenhotel from Irun to Lisbon.  You print out your own tickets, see this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es.  For the Algarve, change at Lisbon Oriente for an InterCity train to Faro.  For Porto, alight from the Sud Express at Coimbra B and take a train north to Porto.

Brussels to Prague (Czech Republic), Krakow, Warsaw (Poland)

Hop on the 18:25 high-speed ICE train from Brussels to Cologne, then the direct sleeper train from Cologne to Prague or Warsaw, leaving at 22:28 and arriving Prague around 09:30or Warsaw around 10:30 next morning.  Some sleepers on these sleeper trains even have a private shower & toilet.  To buy tickets, first, book the direct overnight sleeper train from Cologne to Prague or Warsaw online at www.bahn.de.  The Cologne to Prague sleeper train is a City Night Line train, the Cologne to Warsaw sleeper train is the Polish 'Jan Kiepura', see the Poland page for photos.  Then book a connecting afternoon Brussels-Cologne Thalys train using either www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) or (if you want the ICE train between Brussels & Cologne) www.bahn.de.  Allow at least 45 minutes in Cologne to make a safe connection.  Onward tickets from Warsaw to Krakow can easily be bought on arrival in Warsaw.

Brussels to Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden)

Hop on the 18:25 high-speed ICE train from Brussels to Cologne, then the direct City Night Line sleeper train from Cologne to Copenhagen, leaving Cologne around 22:28 and arriving in Copenhagen around 10:00 next morning.  Then take a Swedish X2000 onwards to Stockholm, leaving Copenhagen around 12:21 and arriving around 17:39.  Some sleepers on the sleeper train even have a private shower & toilet.  To buy tickets, first book the City Night Line sleeper train from Cologne to Copenhagen online at www.bahn.de.  You print out your own ticket.  Then book a connecting Brussels-Cologne Thalys train using either www.thalys.com (for residents of any country, you print your own tickets) or www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) or (if you want the ICE train between Brussels & Cologne) www.bahn.de.  Allow at least 45 minutes in Cologne to make a safe connection.  Onward tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm or Oslo can then be booked online at www.sj.se (no booking fee) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee) or if you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). Tickets are collected from the SJ ticket machines at Copenhagen main station.

Brussels to Moscow (Russia)

Take a late afternoon Thalys to Cologne.  There is a direct Russian sleeping-car from Cologne to Moscow, leaving at 22:28 and taking 2 nights.  It cannot be booked online, only by phone.  See the London to Russia page for details.

Brussels to Istanbul (Turkey)

See the advice above on travelling from Brussels to Vienna.  In Vienna you can pick up the London-Istanbul route suggested on the London to Turkey page.

Journeys starting in Amsterdam & the Netherlands

Train journeys wholly within the Netherlands

You can check Dutch train times and fares at www.ns.nl.  Dutch trains don't require seat reservations, you just buy a ticket at the station and hop on, so there's no need to book in advance.  The price is a kilometric tariff, so the price is the same even if you buy tickets at the station on the day of travel.  Incidentally, Dutch ticket machines are easily the most useless in Europe, accepting neither credit cards nor bank notes, just coins and Dutch bank cards, so you will probably need to buy tickets at the ticket office, where they charge 0.50 euros extra.

Amsterdam to London

You can travel from Amsterdam to London either by Eurostar via Brussels (5½ hours) or by train+ferry via Hoek van Holland-Harwich (either daytime or overnight with cabin).

Amsterdam-London by train+ferry:  This is the low-cost but high-comfort option, by train from Amsterdam or anywhere in the Netherlands to Hoek van Holland, then across the North Sea on the world's largest superferry to Harwich, then by train on to central London.  There's an overnight service with a private cabin which can save both time and expensive hotel bills, leaving Amsterdam Centraal at 18:59, arriving London Liverpool Street station at 08:48 next morning.  See the London to the Netherlands page for full details.  For one-way or return journeys starting in the Netherlands, you'll need to follow the advice for booking online at Stena Line's Dutch site, www.stenaline.nl.

Amsterdam-London by Eurostar:  This is the high-speed train option, with a range of departures daily taking 4-5 hours from Amsterdam Centraal to London with one easy same-station change of train in Brussels.  You can book a ticket from any Dutch station to London via Eurostar using www.nshispeed.nl, and you print out your own ticket.  Alternatively, buy a Eurostar ticket from Brussels to London online at www.eurostar.com, selecting the option to print out your own ticket at home.  This is automatically valid from any station in Belgium to London.  Then all you need to do is buy an open ticket from Amsterdam to Essen for around 26 euros one-way, 52 euros return (the little Essen in Belgium, not the better-known bigger Essen in Germany).  You can buy this at the station on the day of travel, as no advance reservation is necessary for the hourly intercity trains from Amsterdam to Brussels and the price doesn't change, you just buy a ticket at a fixed price and hop on, and you're now covered for the whole Amsterdam-Brussels InterCity journey, no need to get off at Essen.  This is usually the easiest and cheapest way to book an Amsterdam-London train journey.

Amsterdam to Paris & France

High-speed Thalys trains run every few hours  from Amsterdam & Rotterdam to Paris in just 3h20, city centre to city centre, faster than flying.  Anyone from any country can book these trains online at www.thalys.com and print out your own ticket.  Onward trains within France can then be booked using the French railways website www.voyages-sncf.com, with ticket collection in Paris.  Alternatively, UK residents can also use www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address) for booking both Amsterdam-Paris and onward trains within France.

Amsterdam to Brussels & Belgium

There's a choice of two train services on this route.  High-speed Thalys trains link Amsterdam with Brussels in just 1h55.  Reservation is compulsory, fares vary like air fares so you'll find cheap fares if you book in advance and more expensive fares on the day.  You can buy Thalys tickets online at www.thalys.com and print out your own ticket.  Alternatively, there's an hourly 'normal' InterCity train, no seat reservation necessary, the fare is fixed so it costs the same even on the day of travel, you just buy a ticket and hop on, easy.  However, these trains are not high-speed so take 3 hours.  You can buy a ticket for these InterCity trains at the station on the day.

Amsterdam to Luxembourg

There are regular trains from the Netherlands to Luxembourg. No advance reservation is necessary, just buy a ticket at the station and hop on the next train. or use www.nshispeed.nl to check times and prices.

Amsterdam to Basel, Zurich & Switzerland

There is an excellent City Night Line sleeper train direct from Amsterdam Centraal to Basel & Zurich in Switzerland, leaving around 20:30 and arriving in Zurich around 08:20 next morning.  The train has couchettes (4 & 6-bunk) and sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed rooms, some with private shower & toilet, breakfast included).  You can easily book this train at the German Railways website www.bahn.de.  You pay by credit card and simply print out your own ticket.  Onward tickets from Basel or Zurich to any station in Switzerland can be bought on board the sleeper train, for about 29 euros each way (ask your sleeper attendant for a Swiss connection ticket).

Alternatively, you can travel from Amsterdam to Switzerland by daytime train.  You can buy tickets from Amsterdam to major Swiss cities at the German railways website www.bahn.de, but follow this advice:  First find your train times for the whole journey by asking the journey planner for Amsterdam to Switzerland, and make a note of the trains you want.  Then book the journey in two stages by splitting it at a key interchange point within Germany, for example first book Amsterdam-Cologne, then book a separate journey from Cologne to Zurich.  This way, you'll benefit from any cheap Netherlands-Germany fares on one section and cheap Germany-Switzerland fares on the other, whereas if you book all in one go only expensive full fares will be shown as this is not a journey starting or ending in Germany (remember, it's the German Railways website that you're using!).

Amsterdam to Italy:  Milan, Florence, Rome, Venice

There are no direct trains from Amsterdam to Italy.  However, there is an excellent overnight City Night Line sleeper train from Amsterdam Centraal to Basel & Zurich in Switzerland, leaving around 20:30 and arriving in Zurich around 08:20 next morning.  It runs daily from late March to early November, and on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays in winter.  It has couchettes (basic sleeping berths in 4 & 6-bunk compartments) and sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed rooms, some with private shower & toilet, breakfast included), with fares starting at just 49 euros including a couchette if you pre-book.  You can then take an onward train through the scenic Swiss Alps to Milan, changing at Milan's amazing Centrale station for high-speed trains to Rome, Florence or Venice.  First, book the sleeper train from Amsterdam to either Basel or Zurich (either works, it's your call) at the German Railways website www.bahn.de.  You pay by credit card and print out your own ticket.  Then go to www.sbb.ch and book an onward ticket from Basel or Zurich to Milan, with fares from just CHF30-45 (about 20-30 euros) if you pre-book.  You collect tickets at the station in Basel or Zurich.  Allow at least 45 minutes to change trains in Basel or Zurich.  Onward tickets from Milan to anywhere in Italy can be bought online at the Italian railways website, www.trenitalia.com, but see this advice on using it as it can struggle with non-Italian credit cards.

Amsterdam to Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Seville, Alicante

Take a mid-afternoon Thalys high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris Gare du Nord in just 3 hours 20 minutes, cross Paris by metro or taxi, then take one of the excellent overnight 'trainhotel' sleeper trains from Paris Gare d'Austerlitz to Madrid or Barcelona, leaving in the evening and arriving next morning.  For more information about the trainhotels with photos inside & out, see the London to Spain page.  Journeys from the Netherlands to Spain can be booked online in two stages - I suggest doing a dry run first on both sites to check prices & availability:  First book the overnight trainhotel from Paris to Barcelona or Madrid using either the Spanish railways website www.renfe.com (for anyone from any country, you simply print out your own ticket) or the French railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for anyone from any country, tickets collected at the station in Paris, but see this advice on using it as it's quirky) or www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents only, tickets sent to UK addresses or collected at the station in Paris).  Then book a connecting Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris at www.thalys.com (for anyone from any country, you simply print your own ticket) or www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents only, tickets sent to any UK address), allowing at least 90 minutes to change trains and stations in Paris.  Onwards tickets from Madrid to destinations such as Seville, Malaga or Granada, or from Barcelona to Valencia or Alicante can be booked separately at www.renfe.com.  You may find this advice on using renfe.es helpful.

Amsterdam to Portugal:  Lisbon, Porto, Faro

You take a morning Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, change stations in Paris, then take an afternoon (15:45) TGV from Paris Gare Montparnasse to the Spanish frontier at Irun to connect with the overnight 'Sud Express' trainhotel sleeper train to Lisbon.  Book the Amsterdam-Paris train at www.thalys.com.  Book the Paris-Irun TGV at either either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe, or if you leave 'France' selected you can pick up tickets at the station).  The booking system at voyages-sncf.com has quite a few quirks, so before booking, see this advice on how to use these websites.  Then use the Spanish railways website www.renfe.com to book the trenhotel from Irun to Lisbon.  You print out your own tickets, see this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es.  For the Algarve, change at Lisbon Oriente for an InterCity train to Faro.  For Porto, alight from the Sud Express at Coimbra B and take a train north to Porto.

Amsterdam to Germany:  Berlin, Hanover, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich

There are regular high-speed ICE trains from Amsterdam to Düsseldorf (2h12), Cologne (2h38) and Frankfurt (3h56), and InterCity trains from Amsterdam to Hanover & Berlin (6h22).  There's also a City Night Line sleeper train from Amsterdam to Munich leaving Amsterdam Centraal around 20:30 daily (only on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays November-March) arriving Munich at 07:16 next morning.  The easiest way to book all these trains is online at the German Railways website, www.bahn.de, and in most cases you simply print out your own ticket.  You can also book at www.nshispeed.nl.  Fares from Amsterdam to anywhere in Germany start at just 29 euros.

Amsterdam to Austria:  Vienna, Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck

Daytime travel (via Cologne, with several changes) can be booked at www.bahn.de, but follow this advice:  First find your train times for the whole journey by asking the journey planner for Amsterdam to Vienna, and make a note of the trains you want.  Then book the journey in two stages by splitting it at a key interchange point within Germany, for example first book Amsterdam-Frankfurt, then book a separate journey from Frankfurt to Vienna.  This way, you'll benefit from any cheap Netherlands-Germany fares on one section and cheap Germany-Austria fares on the other, whereas if you book all in one go only expensive full fares will be shown as this is not a journey starting or ending in Germany (remember, it's the German Railways website that you're using!).

Alternatively, save time with an overnight sleeper!  For Vienna, first book the Cologne-Vienna sleeper train leaving Cologne around 20:05 using either the German railways website www.bahn.de or the Austrian railways website www.oebb.at.  You print out your own ticket.  Then book a connecting Amsterdam-Cologne ICE train using www.bahn.de, allowing at least 45 minutes in Cologne between trains.  For Innsbruck or Salzburg, first book the Amsterdam-Munich City Night Line sleeper train using www.bahn.de and print out your own ticket.  Then use www.bahn.de again to book a connecting train from Munich to Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck or Vienna, allowing at least 45 minutes to change trains in Munich.

Amsterdam to Prague (Czech Republic)

There is an excellent City Night Line sleeper train direct from Amsterdam to Prague every night.  Leave central Amsterdam around 7pm, arrive in Prague city centre at 9.30am next morning!  The train has couchettes (simple sleeping berths in 4 & 6-bunk compartments) and sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed rooms, some with private shower & toilet, breakfast included).  Fares start at just 49 euros including a couchette if you pre-book.  You can easily buy tickets for this sleeper train online at the German Railways sleeper train website, www.bahn.de.  You pay by credit card and simply print out your own ticket. Easy, and it saves a hotel bill too!

Amsterdam to Warsaw, Krakow (Poland)

There is a direct sleeper train from Amsterdam to Warsaw called the 'Jan Kiepura', leaving Amsterdam Centraal after 7pm and arriving in Warsaw around 10:30 next morning.  It has reclining seats, economical couchettes (4 & 6 berth compartments) and quite luxurious sleeping-cars (1, 2 & 3 berth compartments, some with private shower & toilet).  You can book it online at www.bahn.de and print out your own ticket.  Onward tickets from Warsaw to Krakow can be bought on arrival in Warsaw.

Amsterdam to Budapest (Hungary)

Option 1 is to leave Amsterdam around 12:30, change in Frankfurt to arrive Munich in the evening.  Then take the sleeper 'Kalman Imre' overnight from Munich to Budapest arriving next morning.  First book the sleeper from Munich to Budapest using www.bahn.de.  Then book a connecting Amsterdam-Munich journey also using www.bahn.de.  Allow at least an hour to change trains in Munich.  Option 2 is to take the overnight Amsterdam-Munich City Night Line sleeper train, leaving Amsterdam around 20:30 and arriving around 07:16, easily booked at www.bahn.de with fares from 49 euros including a couchette.  Then use www.bahn.de again to book the excellent Railjet train from Munich around 09:27 to Budapest arriving around 16:49, with fares from 39 euros. You print out your own tickets.

Amsterdam to Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden)

There are excellent City Night Line sleeper trains direct from Amsterdam to Prague & Copenhagen.  Leave central Amsterdam at 7pm, arrive in Prague city centre at 9.30am next morning!  Or leave Amsterdam at 8.30pm, arrive Copenhagen just after 10am next morning.  All these trains have couchettes (4 & 6-bunk) and sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed rooms, some with private shower & toilet, breakfast included, with fares from just 49 euros including a couchette if you pre-book.  You can easily book both these sleeper trains at the German Railways sleeper train website, www.bahn.de.  You pay by credit card and simply print out your own ticket.  Connecting tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm & Oslo can be booked online at www.sj.se (no booking fee) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee) or if you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). Tickets are collected from the SJ ticket machines at Copenhagen main station.  Allow at least 1 hour to change trains in Copenhagen.

Amsterdam to Moscow (Russia)

There is a direct Russian sleeping-car from Amsterdam to Moscow every day, leaving Amsterdam Centraal around 7pm and taking 2 nights.  It cannot be booked online, only by phone.

Amsterdam to Istanbul (Turkey)

See the advice above on travelling from Amsterdam to either Vienna or Budapest.  In Vienna or Budapest you pick up the London-Istanbul route suggested on the London to Turkey page.

Journeys starting in Switzerland

Train journeys wholly within Switzerland

You can check fares and train times at www.sbb.ch, and buy tickets online.  However, apart from a few tourist trains such as the Glacier Express, Swiss trains don't require seat reservations, you just buy a ticket at the station and hop on, so no need to book in advance.  The price is a kilometric tariff, so the price is the same even if you buy tickets at the station on the day of travel.

Switzerland to Paris & London

There are direct high-speed TGV trains from Switzerland to Paris, for example Geneva to Paris 3½ hours, Zurich to Paris 4½ hours.  You can book Switzerland to Paris journeys at either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe).  If you click 'add another ticket' after booking the Switzerland-Paris train you can book a connecting Eurostar from Paris to London at the same site.  See this advice on how to use these websites.  See the London to Switzerland page for more information, including Switzerland-London train times.

Switzerland to Italy

There are daytime trains from key Swiss cities to Milan, although sleeper trains from Basel, Geneva, Bern & Zurich to Rome ceased running in December 2009.  Switzerland-Italy journeys can be booked at www.sbb.ch (residents of any country, ticket collection at Swiss stations), www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents), www.raileurope.com (US/Canadian residents), and www.raileurope.com.au (Australian/NZ residents), www.raileurope.co.za (South Africa).  You may need to book onward connections within Italy separately at www.trenitalia.com, but see this advice on using it.

Switzerland to Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Copenhagen

There are excellent City Night Line sleeper trains from Zurich or Basel direct to Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne & Copenhagen, with couchettes (6 & 4 bunk) and sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed, some with private shower & toilet, breakfast included).  You can easily book these using www.bahn.de, you simply print out your own ticket.  Onward tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm & Oslo can be booked online at www.sj.se (no booking fee) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee) or if you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). Tickets are collected from the SJ ticket machines at Copenhagen main station.

Switzerland to Germany

The German Railways website www.bahn.de can book many journeys from Switzerland to Germany, for example St Moritz to Munich or Zurich to Frankfurt or Berlin.

Switzerland to Austria

There is a direct sleeper train from Zurich to Vienna, with both couchettes and sleeping-cars, some sleepers with private shower and toilet.  It appears to be bookable in either direction using the Austrian Railways website, www.oebb.at, as you simply print out your own ticket in .PDF format.  Simply click 'Englisch' top right, then click 'International tickets', then make your booking.  If you manage to book this train this way, let me know!  Daytime EuroCity trains from Zurich to Innsbruck, Salzburg & Vienna via the amazingly scenic Arlberg Pass cannot easily be booked online, but must be booked by phone, although residents of the USA & Canada may be able to book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians at www.raileurope.com.au.

Switzerland to Spain

There's an excellent 'trainhotel' from Zurich, Bern & Geneva to Barcelona in Spain, with cosy sleepers, restaurant car & bar.  It now runs 3 times a week all year round (though it used to run daily in summer).  Change in Barcelona for Madrid, Valencia, Alicante.  Anyone from any country can book this train at www.renfe.com, and you simply print out your own ticket.  UK residents can book this train at www.raileurope.co.uk.  Residents of the USA & Canada can book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians can book at www.raileurope.com.au.

Switzerland to eastern Europe

There's a direct sleeper train from Basel to Prague which you can book online at www.bahn.de, you pay online and print out your own ticket.  Other trains to eastern Europe are not generally bookable online, but must be booked by phone.

Journeys starting in Italy

Train journeys wholly within Italy

You can book Italian train tickets online at www.trenitalia.com, but first see this advice on using it.  Seat reservation is now required on most long-distance trains (and included in tickets bought online), although outside busy holiday periods it's easy to buy tickets at the station on the day of travel if you want.  There's little if any price advantage in buying in advance as there are few if any advance purchase deals, just normal fares.  However, booking online offers a hassle-free 'ticketless' option on most fast trains, where you book and pay online and simply quote your booking reference to the conductor on board the train.  It's painless and works a treat, with no need to queue at the ticket office.  See this advice on using the trenitalia website, and if you have any problems, buy your Italian train tickets from either www.raileurope.co.uk (if you're in the UK, best prices but not all Italian trains featured), www.raileurope.com (if you're in the USA), www.raileurope.ca (if you're in Canada) or www.raileurope.com.au (if you're in Australia), www.raileurope.co.nz (NZ), www.raileurope.co.in (India), www.raileurope.com.sg (Singapore), www.raileurope.hk (Hong Kong), www.raileurope-japan.com (Japan) or www.raileurope.co.za (South Africa).

Italy to Paris, London, Nice, Monte Carlo, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne

There are direct sleeper trains with couchettes (6 & 4 bunk) and sleepers (1, 2 & 3 bed) from Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice & Verona to Paris, also 3 daytime TGV trains from Milan to Paris (7 hours).  Leave Rome 6.40pm, arrive Paris 9.10am next morning!  See the London to Italy page for more information about times, fares and on board accommodation.  The Italian railways website, www.trenitalia.com, can book these trains.  It can also book some other Italy-France trains.  First, see this advice on using the Trenitalia website.  Look for 'smart price' fares as these are the advance-purchase cheap deals.  Tickets can be picked up at any main station in Italy (ideal for people living outside Italy), or posted to any Italian address.

However, Trenitalia.com is notoriously poor at accepting non-Italian credit cards, and you may find it easier to use www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any address in Europe).  After booking the Italy-Paris train, click 'add another ticket' and use the same website to book a connecting Eurostar from Paris to London (advice on one-way Eurostar fares) or Thalys train from Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam or Cologne.  Before booking, see this advice on using the raileurope/sncf booking system.

Italy to Spain

There's an excellent 'trainhotel' from Milan & Turin to Barcelona in Spain, with cosy sleepers, restaurant & bar.  Change in Barcelona for Madrid, Valencia, Alicante.  It now runs 3 times a week all year round (though it used to run daily in summer).  Anyone from any country can book this train at www.renfe.com, and you print out your own ticket.  UK residents can also book this train at www.raileurope.co.uk.  Residents of the USA & Canada can book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians can book at www.raileurope.com.au.

Italy to Germany, Innsbruck

The German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right) can book the sleeper trains from Rome to Innsbruck & Munich, and from Venice to Innsbruck & Munich.  It can also book the daytime trains Verona-Innsbruck-Munich, one of which starts in Milan.  You print out your own ticket in .pdf format.

www.trenitalia.com cannot now book the Verona-Innsbruck-Munich trains (or journeys from other Italian cities to Germany via these trains) as these trains are now operated by the Germans and Austrians in open competition with Trenitalia, and Trenitalia no longer recognises their existence (congratulations to the EU, by the way, whose 'competition' policy has brought this disintegration about!).  So a daytime journey from Venice, Milan, Rome or Florence to Munich now needs to be booked using www.trenitalia.com to book the Venice, Florence, Rome or Milan to Verona train, allowing at least 40 minutes to change in Verona, then use www.bahn.de to book Verona-Munich.

Journeys from Italy via Switzerland to Frankfurt & Cologne can be booked using www.trenitalia.com for Milan-Basel, then www.bahn.de for Basel SBB to Frankfurt or Cologne.

Italy to Vienna, Prague, Switzerland, Zagreb, Budapest

www.trenitalia.com, can book international trains from major cities in Italy to Switzerland, also the sleeper trains from Rome & Florence to Vienna and from Venice to Austria, Zagreb, Budapest, Prague.  But first, see this advice on using the Trenitalia website.  Look for 'smart price' fares as these are the advance-purchase cheap deals.  Tickets can be picked up at any main station in Italy (ideal for people living outside Italy), or posted to any Italian address.

Trenitalia.com often struggles with overseas credit cards, so if it does try calling your bank to un-block the trenitalia website, or buy Italian international tickets from www.raileurope.co.uk (if you're in the UK, best prices but not all Italian trains featured), www.raileurope.com (if you're in the USA), www.raileurope.ca (if you're in Canada) or www.raileurope.com.au (if you're in Australia), www.raileurope.co.nz (NZ), www.raileurope.co.in (India), www.raileurope.com.sg (Singapore), www.raileurope.hk (Hong Kong), www.raileurope-japan.com (Japan) or www.raileurope.co.za (South Africa).  Note that the Austrian railways website www.oebb.at cannot be used to book the sleeper trains from Italy to Austria, because although it can book them in either direction with print-your-own ticketing, because of annoying regulations imposed by the Italians, inward tickets to Austria are only valid if they have been stamped by the conductor on an outward journey from Austria.

Italy to Ljubljana in Slovenia

There's now only one train a day across the frontier from Venice to Ljubljana, a sleeper train passing through Ljubljana at 2am.  However, there's a clever way to travel between Venice or Trieste and Ljubljana that's cheap, relatively frequent (every hour or two), interesting & scenic.  See here for details.

Journeys starting in Spain

Train journeys wholly within Spain

You can book almost any long distance train in Spain online at www.renfe.com, with cheap 'Web' and 'Estrella' fares shown and no booking or postage fees, you simply print out your own ticket.  However, see this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es first.  It can't handle journeys involving a change of train, so for example Bilbao to Seville changing in Madrid will need to be booked as Bilbao-Madrid then Madrid-Seville.

Spain to Paris, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne

The easiest way for UK residents to buy tickets from Madrid or Barcelona to Paris on the overnight trainhotel sleeper trains is using www.raileurope.co.uk, and after booking this you can add it to your basket, click 'continue shopping' and add a Eurostar ticket from Paris to London as part of the same transaction (or for that matter, a Thalys ticket from Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam or Cologne if you like).  Allow at least 90 minutes to change trains & stations in Paris.

Alternatively, residents of any country can now use the Spanish Railways website www.renfe.com to buy tickets for the Madrid or Barcelona to Paris trainhotels, and you simply print out your own ticket, with no postage or booking fee, and all the cheap fares shown if available.  However, see this step-by-step guide to using renfe.es first.  It's often worth checking the fares on renfe.es as well as www.raileurope.co.uk as they can sometimes be cheaper.  Onward tickets from Paris to London can be booked at www.eurostar.com.  Onward tickets from Paris to Amsterdam, Brussels or Cologne can be booked using www.voyages-sncf.com, with ticket collection in Paris (see advice on using voyages-sncf.com).  Allow at least 90 minutes to change trains & stations in Paris.

You can book any connecting trains within Spain (for example, Malaga to Madrid, or Alicante to Barcelona) at www.renfe.com. 

On www.raileurope.co.uk or www.voyages-sncf.com, if it struggles with (for example) Barcelona-Nice, try booking Barcelona-Montpellier on one of the direct trains first, then click 'add another ticket' and book a connecting Montpellier-Nice train.  Creative thinking may be required!

Spain to Switzerland & Italy

There's an excellent 'trainhotel' from Barcelona to Bern & Zurich in Switzerland (change in Zurich for Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna) and from Barcelona to Turin & Milan (change for Rome, Florence, Venice).  It now runs 3 times a week all year round.  It has reclining seats, sleepers (including some 'gran clase' with private shower), restaurant and bar.  Several websites will book these trains:  Anyone from any country can book this train at www.renfe.com, with cheap fares usually available, and you print out your own ticket.  UK residents can also book this train at www.raileurope.co.uk.  Residents of the USA & Canada can book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians can book at www.raileurope.com.au.

Spain to Portugal

There's an excellent 'trainhotel' sleeper train from Madrid to Lisbon, with sleepers, reclining seats, restaurant & bar.  Residents of any country can book this train at www.renfe.com (see advice on using renfe.es), and this is now the cheapest way to buy tickets for this train, as cheap fares are often available which are not shown on other websites, and there are no booking fees or postage fees, you simply print out your own ticket.  Alternatively, UK residents can book this train online at www.raileurope.co.uk, which can be easier to use, just select Madrid to Lisbon with an evening departure.  Residents of the USA & Canada can book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians can book at www.raileurope.com.au. 

There's no rail link from southern Spain into the Algarve, but there are Seville-Faro buses several times daily, see www.alsa.es.

Journeys starting in Portugal

www.cp.pt allows online booking of Lisbon-Porto and Lisbon-Algarve trains, and UK residents can also book tickets between Lisbon, Porto & Faro using www.raileurope.co.uk.

There's an excellent 'trainhotel' sleeper train Lisbon to Madrid, with sleepers (some 'gran clase' with private shower & toilet), reclining seats, restaurant & bar.  Residents of any country can book this train at www.renfe.com (but first see this advice on using renfe.es), and this is now the cheapest way to buy tickets for this train, as cheap 'Web' & 'Estrella' advance-purchase fares are often available which are not shown on other websites, and there are no booking fees or postage fees, you simply print out your own ticket.  Alternatively, UK residents can book this train online at www.raileurope.co.uk, which can be easier to use, just select Lisbon to Madrid with an evening departure.  Residents of the USA & Canada can book this train online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians can book at www.raileurope.com.au.  Unfortunately, the Sud Express from Lisbon to the French frontier cannot be booked online anywhere.

Journeys starting in Germany

Train journeys wholly within Germany

www.bahn.de will book all German long-distance daytime trains and City Night Line overnight sleeper trains.  Seat reservation is optional on most German long-distance trains, compulsory on overnight sleepers, but there are some great advance-purchase fares if you book in advance, so pre-booking is recommended.  Tickets sent to any address or in some cases you can print your own tickets.

Germany to London

www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any European address) can book Cologne-London tickets.  The Berlin-Paris & Munich-Paris sleeper trains can be booked online at either www.raileurope.co.uk or the German railways website www.bahn.de (English button at the top, you print out your own tickets), then you can book a connecting Eurostar ticket from Paris or Brussels to London using www.eurostar.com.  See the London to Germany page for train times and more information.  Also see this advice about one-way Eurostar fares.

Germany to Paris

www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any European address) can book the direct international daytime trains from Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart & Munich to Paris, also the sleeper trains from Munich, Berlin & Hamburg to Paris.  The German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right) can also book sleeper trains between Germany and Paris.  You just print out your own ticket.

Germany to Amsterdam, Brussels, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Prague, Ljubljana, Zagreb (by daytime trains)

The German railways website, www.bahn.de can book tickets for many direct international daytime trains starting in Germany.  Top tip for Germany-Prague:  If booking from (say) Cologne or Frankfurt to Prague, www.bahn.de has an annoying habit of only suggesting journeys via the awful railway-run bus from Nuremberg to Prague, which of course you don't want.  Put 'Dresden' in the 'via' box to force it to find options by train.

Germany to Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Prague (by sleeper train)

The German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right) can book sleeper trains between Germany and Italy, France, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland.  You just print out your own ticket.  Onward tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm & Oslo can be booked online at www.sj.se (no booking fee) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee) or if you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English). Tickets are collected from the SJ ticket machines at Copenhagen main station.

Germany to Vienna & Linz (by sleeper train)

The Austrian Railways website www.oebb.at can book the direct EuroNight sleeper train between Cologne, Frankfurt & Linz, Vienna.  First click 'Englisch' top right, then 'Online-Ticket' top left, then click the EURO-Night square.  You book online and print out your own ticket, with cheap fares available if you pre-book.

Germany to Spain

www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any European address) can book the Paris-Madrid & Paris-Barcelona overnight 'trainhotels'.  As a separate transaction, it can then book a connecting Thalys train from Cologne to Paris.  You can also travel Munich-Zurich by daytime train then by trainhotel overnight to Barcelona, but this isn't yet bookable online.

Journeys starting in Austria

Train journeys wholly within Austria

www.oebb.at.  Seat reservation is optional on most Austrian internal trains, so there's little advantage in pre-booking, you can just turn up buy a ticket and hop on.

Austria to London, Brussels

Starting in Vienna, first book Vienna-Cologne using the German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right, you print out your own tickets).  Then book a connecting Cologne-Brussels or Cologne-London ticket by Thalys or Thalys+Eurostar using either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any European address).  Allow at least 30 minutes to change trains in Cologne.  On Thalys and Eurostar, return tickets are often cheaper than one-way fares, so check both if you're making a one-way trip.  Starting in Innsbruck or Salzburg, first book the Munich-Paris sleeper train at German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right, you print out your own tickets).  Then book a connecting Eurostar from Paris to London using www.eurostar.com.  Finally, use www.bahn.de again to book a connecting Innsbruck or Salzburg to Munich train.  See the London to Austria page for more information on Austria to London journeys.

Austria to Germany, Amsterdam

The Austrian Railways website www.oebb.at can book sleeper trains from Vienna to Frankfurt or Cologne.  First click 'Englisch' top right, then 'Online-Ticket' top left, then click the EURO-Night square.  For Amsterdam you'll need an onward daytime connection from Cologne to Amsterdam, this can be booked separately at www.bahn.de, allow at least 45 minutes to connect in Cologne.  www.bahn.de can book the sleeper trains from Innsbruck to Venice or Rome in Italy, also the sleeper from Vienna to Berlin.  You simply pay online and print out your own ticket in .PDF format.  Easy!  Daytime trains can be also booked at www.bahn.de.

Austria to Italy or Switzerland

The Austrian railways website, www.oebb.at, can book many international journeys starting in Austria, with many cheap deals available online if you book in advance, for example Vienna to Rome or Zurich or Venice with a couchette from 49 euros.  Change 'language' to 'English' top right, then click 'Online-tickets' top left, then 'International tickets', then make your booking.  You print out your own ticket in .PDF format.  Easy!

Austria to Spain

The best route is Vienna/Salzburg/Innsbruck to Vienna by scenic daytime train, then overnight aboard the excellent Zurich-Barcelona 'trainhotel'.  You can find trainhotel fares and train times at www.elipsos.com.  UK residents can book the Zurich-Barcelona train at www.raileurope.co.uk, US & Canadian residents can book online using www.raileurope.com, and Australians can book at www.raileurope.com.au.  Onward trains within Spain are best booked using www.renfe.com.

Austria to Budapest

You can easily buy Vienna-Budapest tickets at the station, as no reservation is required, or you can book online at www.oebb.at with special advance-purchase offers from 19 euros (£17) one-way. Change 'language' to 'English' top right, then click 'Online-tickets' top left, then 'International tickets', then make your booking.  You print out your own ticket in .PDF format.  UK residents can also book online at  www.raileurope.co.uk, but without any offers.

Austria to Prague

Book Vienna-Prague trains using www.oebb.at, with special offers from 29 euros one-way. Change 'language' to 'English' top right, then click 'Online-tickets' top left, then 'International tickets', then make your booking.  You print out your own ticket in .PDF format.   If you're a UK resident, you can book Vienna-Prague online at www.raileurope.co.uk, but no special offers.

Austria to Bratislava

Try www.oebb.at.  If you're a UK resident, you can book Vienna-Bratislava online at www.raileurope.co.uk, though it will cost a pound or two more than buying locally.

Austria to Warsaw, Krakow

If you're a UK resident, you can book Vienna-Prague online at www.raileurope.co.uk.  Or buy at the station, which will be cheapest.

Journeys starting in Denmark

...wholly within Denmark

www.dsb.dk will book Danish internal long-distance trains, though you may have to use it in Danish (no real problem!).  Seat reservation is optional on most Danish internal trains.

Copenhagen to London, Paris, Brussels

First book the Copenhagen-Cologne sleeper online at www.bahn.de.  You simply print out your own ticket.  Then book a connecting ticket from Cologne to Brussels, Paris or London using either www.raileurope.co.uk (for UK residents, tickets sent to any UK address) or the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com (for residents of any country, English button at the bottom, tickets sent to any European address).  Allow at least 30 minutes to change trains in Cologne.  On Thalys and Eurostar, return tickets are often cheaper than one-way fares, so check both if you're making a one-way trip.  See the London to Denmark page for more information, including the direct Denmark-UK ferry option with DFDS Seaways.

Copenhagen to Germany, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Austria

The German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right) can book sleeper trains between Copenhagen and Germany (Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt), Copenhagen to Amsterdam, and from Copenhagen to Basel in Switzerland.  You just print out your own ticket.  Daytime trains between Copenhagen and Germany can also be booked at www.bahn.de.

Copenhagen to Sweden, Norway, Finland

There are two ways to book trains from Copenhagen to Stockholm, Gothenburg or Oslo.  The easy but expensive way is to use www.raileurope.co.uk, with tickets sent to any UK address.  Rail Europe charges a standard fixed price for Copenhagen-Stockholm trains for all dates and departures, this is the international tariff made available to other European railway operators by the Swedish Railways.  The second, far cheaper way is to book using either www.sj.se (no booking fee, see my advice on using it here) or www.bokatag.se (English button bottom right, small booking fee).  On both www.sj.se & www.bokatag.se you'll see the actual Swedish Railways prices, which vary like budget airline fares.  If you book several months in advance you can find really cheap fares available, much cheaper than with Rail Europe, rising to pretty much the same level as Rail Europe closer to departure.  You pay online and collect your ticket from the Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machines which have been installed at Copenhagen main station.  If you can't get your credit card to work on either of these sites, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English).  For overnight ferries Stockholm to Helsinki, see www.silja.com or www.vikingline.com.

Journeys starting in Sweden

Train journeys wholly within Sweden

You can book Swedish trains at www.sj.se (no booking fee, see my advice on using it here) or www.bokatag.se (small booking fee).  Tickets are collected from the self-service machines at all main stations, or you can print your own ticket.  If you can't get your credit card to work on either of these sites, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English).  Seat reservation is compulsory on most long-distance trains, and there are cheap deals if you book in advance, much more expensive fares if you pay on the day of travel.

Stockholm to Copenhagen, Oslo & the rest of Europe

You can book trains from Stockholm to Copenhagen or Oslo at either www.sj.se (no booking fee, see my advice on using it here) or www.bokatag.se (English button bottom right, small booking fee), with ticket collection from the SJ ticket machines at all Swedish stations and also installed at Oslo & Copenhagen, or print your own ticket.   If you can't get your credit card to work on either of these sites, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English).  There are some great cheap deals available if you book in advance.  Onward travel from Copenhagen can then be booked as suggested in the Journeys starting in Denmark section above.  UK residents can book trains from Stockholm to Copenhagen online at www.raileurope.co.uk, though the price is usually higher than using sj.se or bokatag.se.

Stockholm to Finland

Overnight cruise ferries from Stockholm to Helsinki can be booked online at www.silja.com or www.vikingline.com.

Journeys starting in Norway

Train journeys wholly within Norway

www.nsb.no will book Norwegian internal long distance trains.  The 'English' button is top right.  Seat reservation is compulsory on most long-distance trains, and there are cheap deals if you book in advance so it's well worth pre-booking.  When you reach the fares page, use the drop-down list of fare types to see if you can change 'ordinaer' (full fare) to 'minipris' (cheap advance purchase fare, which only appears if there is a minipris available, either 199Kr, 299Kr or 399Kr depending on availability).  'Okonomi' means standard class, any fare including the word 'Komfort' means first class with larger seats, more space, laptop power points and complimentary tea and coffee. 

Oslo to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gothenburg

www.sj.se (no booking fee, see my advice on using it here) or www.bokatag.se (English button bottom right, small booking fee, accepts all cards) will book international trains from Oslo to Stockholm, Gothenburg & Copenhagen.  You pay online and pick up your tickets from a Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machine installed outside the NSB travel centre at Oslo Central station.   If you can't get your credit card to work on either of these sites, simply call SJ telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English).  UK residents can also book trains from Oslo to Copenhagen online at www.raileurope.co.uk, though only the full-fare international tariff is offered.  Onward journeys from Copenhagen to Paris, London, Germany etc should be booked as per the Journeys starting in Denmark section.

Journeys starting in Finland

Journeys wholly within Finland

www.vr.fi will book any Finnish long-distance train.

Helsinki to St Petersburg & Moscow

The two daily Helsinki-St Petersburg trains and the overnight Helsinki-Moscow train cannot be booked online, but can be booked by email with Finnish Railways, see the Finland page.

Helsinki to Stockholm

The overnight cruise ferries from Helsinki to Stockholm can be booked with www.silja.com or www.vikingline.com.

Helsinki to Germany

The cruise ferry from Helsinki to Rostock in Germany can be booked with www.superfast.com.  You can book onward trains Rostock-Berlin at http://bahn.hafas.de then travel on to Paris, Switzerland etc. as shown in the 'Journeys starting in Germany' section above.

Journeys starting in Prague & the Czech Republic

Prague to London, Brussels

See the London to Prague page for train times, fares and how to buy tickets.

Prague to Germany, Amsterdam

The German Railways website www.bahn.de can book sleeper trains between Copenhagen and Germany (Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt), and from Copenhagen to Amsterdam.  The Czech railways online shop, www.eshop.cd.cz, can book tickets from Prague to Berlin, Munich or Hamburg by daytime trains, an you print out your own ticket.  Top tip for booking Prague-Germany on www.bahn.de:  If booking from Prague to (say) Cologne or Frankfurt, www.bahn.de has an annoying habit of only suggesting journeys via the awful railway-run bus from Prague to Nuremberg, which of course you don't want.  Simply put 'Dresden' in the 'via' box to force it to find options by train.

Prague to Krakow, Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Vienna, Italy

There are direct daytime and sleeper trains from Prague to Krakow, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna & Venice, but these journeys can't generally be booked online using European systems.  UK residents may be able to book the trains from Prague to Krakow online at www.raileurope.co.uk.

The Czech Railways ticketing website www.eshop.cd.cz can book daytime trains (but not overnight sleeper trains) from Prague to major cities in neighbouring countries, including Krakow & Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Dresden & Berlin, at cheap Czech prices (Feedback from anyone who uses this system would be welcome).  However, don't try and use the e-shop for journeys in the other direction (from countries outside the Czech Republic to Prague), as these tickets aren't valid unless stamped by the conductor on an outward journey from Prague.

Journeys starting in Poland

You can book Polish domestic intercity trains such as Warsaw-Krakow at www.intercity.com.pl.  This also gives some international fares from Poland but international trains generally have to be booked at the station or via an agency.

Alternatively, contact highly-recommended Polish train ticketing agency www.polrail.com, who can arrange train tickets for travel within Poland, or for international trains starting in Poland, for example Warsaw to Moscow, or Krakow to Prague. 

UK residents can easily book Warsaw-Berlin or Krakow-Berlin trains online at www.raileurope.co.uk, though you may pay a pound or two more than ordering by hone through Deutsche Bahn.

Journeys starting in other eastern European countries

Journeys starting in other eastern European countries generally can't be booked online, but need to be booked by phone.  You might also consider simply buying them at the station.  Fares for international journeys in eastern Europe are difficult to find online, so here are some approximate fares as a rough guide.  These are all one-way adult 2nd class fares.  1st class fares are 50% more than the 2nd class fare.  Returns are normally twice the one-way, but in many cases there are reductions for return tickets.  Children under 12 travel at half fare.

Prague-Krakow 35 euros* Prague-Budapest 57 euros* Prague-Vienna 48 euros Prague-Bratislava 44 euros Prague-Bucharest 153 euros Prague-Belgrade 82 euros Prague-Warsaw 65 euros Budapest-Krakow 64 euros Budapest-Prague 69 euros Budapest-Bratislava 28 euros Budapest-Bucharest 80 euros Budapest-Vienna 37 euros Budapest-Warsaw 83 euros

Budapest-Moscow 97 euros Budapest-Istanbul 124 euros Budapest-Belgrade 39 euros Budapest-Sofia 84 euros Budapest-Thessaloniki 118 euros Budapest-Kiev 69 euros Budapest-Zagreb 36 euros Warsaw-Budapest  73 euros Warsaw-Prague 54 euros Warsaw-Vienna 63 euros Warsaw-Budapest 83 euros Ljubljana - Venice see here

Vienna-Prague about 50 euros** Vienna-Budapest 37 euros** Vienna-Warsaw 63 euros Bucharest-Istanbul 40 euros Bucharest-Belgrade 142 euros Belgrade-Istanbul 43 euros Belgrade-Sofia 45 euros Belgrade-Zagreb 44 euros Belgrade-Budapest 39 euros Belgrade-Venice 80 euros Sofia-Istanbul 18 euros

* Cheap fares from just 496Kr (18 euros) available on daytime trains if you pre-book using www.eshop.cd.cz & print out your own ticket!

** Cheap fare from 19 euros if booked online at www.oebb.at.

See the useful links page for a complete list of national railway websites for each country.

  Buying tickets by phone or in person in the UK...

It's easy to buy European train tickets in the UK once you know who to call!  Several UK agencies sell European train tickets, but some are better for some journeys than others because of the particular reservation system they use.  For journeys between the UK and any given European country, select your destination country from the menu on the left and the relevant country page will tell you the agencies to call for that specific journey.  But for more general information on UK agencies which sell European train tickets, read on...

Which agency should you call?  Here's the rule of thumb:  As with so much else in Europe over the centuries, European rail booking broadly divides into the 'French' and the 'Germans'.  For journeys from the UK to France and via France to Spain (Barcelona & Madrid), Italy or Switzerland, I'd call Rail Europe as they are a subsidiary of French Railways, they use the French Railways computer reservation system and have all the cheap fares for France.  But for journeys to or via Germany, for example UK to Germany, Austria, eastern & central Europe and Scandinavia, I'd call Deutsche Bahn's (Germany Railways) UK office, as they have access to all the cheap German fares.  Then again, for a more exotic journey such as London to Bulgaria, Russia or Istanbul, it can be better to call a smaller private agency such as Erail as they too use the German computer reservation system, and arguably have more experience making complex long-distance bookings even though they charge a booking fee.  Finally, for Spain (beyond Madrid & Barcelona) & Portugal it can be better to call spanish-rail.co.uk as they have the Spanish system to can book cheaper fares within Spain & Portugal than Rail Europe can.

Remember that European train reservations open 90 days or for some trains 60 days before departure, you can't buy tickets before reservations open!  More info about this.

  Other UK ticket agencies...

Other good agencies include www.simplyrail.com (Ropley, Hampshire, call 08700 84 14 14), www.ffestiniogtravel.co.uk (Unit 6, Snowdonia Business Park, Minffordd, North Wales, call 01766 772050 email info@ffestiniogtravel.co.uk), www.rail-canterbury.co.uk (39 Palace Street Canterbury, call 01227 450088, e-mail rail@rail-canterbury.co.uk), www.railchoice.co.uk (call 0870 165 7300, email enquiries@railchoice.co.uk), www.railbookers.com (e-mail info@railbookers.com or call 020 3327 0761),  www.thetravelbureau.co.uk (office in Wombourne, West Midlands, 08448 156 212).

   If you live in the Republic of Ireland...

You can book European train travel through Irish Rail by telephone on (01) 703 1885, or by e-mail at europeanrail@irishrail.ie.  The UK Deutsche Bahn office (see above) will also send tickets to addresses in Ireland.

Travel from Ireland to mainland Europe:  Although this website is UK-based, Irish travellers can use the London-Ireland page to find train+ferry times and fares from Ireland to London, then use the relevant country page to find onward train times and fares from London to any other European destination.  Alternatively, www.irishferries.ie sail direct from southern Ireland to northern France, then use www.voyages-sncf.com to find onward train times and fares to Paris, picking up the seat61 recommended route there to your final destination.

There are several ways for overseas visitors to buy European train tickets.  In a nutshell, you can book using European rail ticketing agencies in your home country, or you can book online directly with the European train operators.  Remember that bookings for European trains generally open 90 days or in some cases 60 days before departure, you can't book before reservations open!

If you live in the USA or Canada...

• You can buy European train tickets at www.raileurope.com (USA) or www.raileurope.ca (Canada).  Tickets can be mailed to your home address and you pay in dollars. 

• However, be aware that these agencies don't always feature the cheap deals available direct from the European train operators, and there's usually a shipping cost and booking fee to add.  So compare prices before buying.  Also, US & Canadian agencies often push railpasses rather than normal tickets as they get more commission from these.  However, point-to-point tickets can often be cheaper, especially if you use the cheap book-ahead deals which (if you're prepared to accept the 'no refunds, no changes to travel plans' ticket conditions) tend to blow railpasses out of the water price-wise.  For help with the age-old 'railpass or point-to-point tickets?' question, see the Railpass page.

• The cheapest option is usually to book online direct with the European train operators, picking up the tickets at the station or in many cases printing out your own ticket.  No booking fee, no shipping cost, and all the cheap deals available.  See the How to buy tickets online section above to learn which website to use for which journeys. 

• Top tip:  The French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com is a key resource for buying train tickets within France and from Paris to Spain, Italy and Switzerland.  It will in fact allow anyone from any country to legitimately book tickets at cheap European prices, and collect them at any main station in France, or have them sent to any address (for example, your hotel) in any European country, but you must keep your wits about you as it tries its best to divert US/Canadian visitors to its more expensive US Rail Europe subsidiary.  See the step-by-step instructions for using www.voyages-sncf.com and avoiding this pitfall.

• A final option, useful for more complex or exotic European journeys if overseas agencies say they can't make the reservation and it can't be made online, is to email or call a capable UK agency such as www.europeanrail.com or www.trainseurope.co.uk, both of whom are prepared to send tickets overseas if you pay the courier or postage cost and their booking fee.

• To buy train tickets for journeys wholly within the UK, see the UK travel page.

If you live in Australia or New Zealand...

• You can buy European train tickets at www.raileurope.com.au (Australia) or www.raileurope.co.nz (New Zealand).  Tickets can be posted to your home address and you pay in your own currency. 

• However, be aware that these agencies don't always feature the cheap deals available direct from the European train operators, and there's usually a shipping cost and booking fee to add.  So compare prices before buying.  Also, Australian and NZ agencies often push railpasses rather than normal tickets as they get more commission from these.  However, point-to-point tickets can often be cheaper, especially if you use the cheap book-ahead deals which (if you're prepared to accept the 'no refunds, no changes to travel plans' ticket conditions) tend to blow railpasses out of the water cost-wise.  For help with the age-old 'railpass or point-to-point tickets?' question, see the Railpass page.

• The cheapest option is usually to book online direct with the European train operators, picking up the tickets at the station or in many cases printing out your own ticket.  No booking fee, no postage, and all the cheap deals available.  See the How to buy tickets online section above to learn which website to use for which journeys.

• Top tip:  The French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com is a key resource for buying train tickets within France and from Paris to Spain, Italy & Switzerland.  It will in fact allow anyone from any country to legitimately book tickets at cheap European prices, and collect them at any main station in France, or have them sent to any address (for example, your hotel) in any European country, but you must keep your wits about you as it tries its best to divert Australian/NZ visitors to its more expensive Rail Europe Australia subsidiary.  See the step-by-step instructions for using www.voyages-sncf.com and avoiding this pitfall.

• A final option, useful for more complex or exotic European journeys if overseas agencies say they can't make the reservation and it can't be made online, is to email or call a capable UK agency such as www.europeanrail.com or www.trainseurope.co.uk, both of whom are prepared to send tickets overseas if you pay the courier or postage cost and their booking fee.

• To book trains wholly within the UK, see the UK travel page.

        If you live in any other country - India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil, Israel or South Africa...

• You can buy European train tickets online for many journeys from these worldwide Rail Europe agencies:

Buy in India at www.raileurope.co.in

Buy in Singapore at www.raileurope.com.sg

Buy in Hong Kong at www.raileurope.hk

Buy in Japan at www.raileurope-japan.com

Buy in South Africa at www.raileurope.co.za

Buy in Brazil at www.raileurope.com.br

Buy in Israel at www.raileurope.co.il

Or in any other country www.raileurope-world.com

• However, in many cases the cheapest option is to book online direct with the European train operators, picking up the tickets at the station or in some cases printing out your own ticket.  No booking fee, no postage, and all the cheap deals available.  See the How to buy tickets online section above to learn which website to use for which journeys.

• Top tip:  The French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com is a key resource for buying train tickets within France and from Paris to Spain, Italy & Switzerland.  It will in fact allow anyone from any country to legitimately book tickets at cheap European prices, and collect them at any main station in France, or have them sent to any address (for example, your hotel) in any European country, but you must keep your wits about you as it tries its best to divert Australian/NZ visitors to its more expensive Rail Europe Australia subsidiary.  See the step-by-step instructions for using www.voyages-sncf.com and avoiding this pitfall.

• A final option, useful for more complex or exotic European journeys if overseas agencies say they can't make the reservation and it can't be made online, is to email or call a capable UK agency such as www.europeanrail.com or www.trainseurope.co.uk, both of whom are prepared to send tickets overseas if you pay the courier or postage cost and their booking fee.

• To book trains wholly within the UK, see the UK travel page.

A real example...

If you live overseas, it's often better to buy your tickets online directly with the European railways.  For example, as I write this, a 35 euros ($45) advance-purchase fare is available on the sleeper train from Paris to Venice on a random date I picked, and this fare is shown on both the official French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com and (converted into pounds) on the UK Rail Europe site www.raileurope.co.uk.  However, the US Rail Europe site (www.raileurope.com) seems to ignore these cheap fares and offers a $184 full fare for the same journey on the same date on exactly the same train in the same accommodation, four times the true price.  Rail Europe is a subsidiary of French Railways, so it's perhaps not surprising that the French Railways website will send this $45 ticket to addresses in most countries of the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Outer Mongolia and North Korea, but deliberately not the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, as they'd prefer Americans to pay $184..!  However, visitors from overseas can easily buy the $45 fare and other cheap fares at either www.voyages-sncf.com and simply ask for tickets to be sent to their hotel in Paris or London.  Or in many cases you can buy tickets at www.voyages-sncf.com leaving 'France' selected which allows you to pick up tickets in Paris or at any main station in France.  To be fair, this is the worst example I've come across and www.raileurope.com can be a good way to buy other tickets.  For example, there is a 67 euros special 'prems' fare for a sleeper on the Paris-Madrid and Paris-Barcelona 'trainhotels', and in this case www.raileurope.com does indeed show the same 'prems' fare when it's available, converted to dollars as a reasonable $90.  In this case, you can still make a few dollars saving by buying direct in euros, but it's probably not worth the effort.  But the message, is, shop around and book direct if you can!

Reservations open 60 or 90 days in advance.  You can't buy tickets before bookings open!

Reservations for most western European trains now open 90 days (3 months) before departure and can usually be made until shortly before departure.  Reservations for many services in eastern Europe only open 60 days (2 months) before departure, and trains within Russia & Ukraine only open 45 days before departure.  You cannot buy tickets or make reservations until reservations open.  But don't worry, you're unlikely to have any problems getting a place on the train you want if you book when reservations open, because (obviously!) no-one else can buy tickets before bookings open either!  Incidentally, the 90 (or 60) days is only approximate, it can vary slightly and often gets squeezed to less than 90 for travel immediately after a timetable change.

Eurostar reservations open 120 days ahead, but...

Bookings for Eurostar from London to Paris or Brussels now open 120 days (4 months) in advance, but if you're travelling beyond Paris or Brussels I strongly recommend waiting until bookings open for the onwards part of your journey, so you can confirm all train times and buy tickets together.  This is to avoid buying a non-refundable, non-changeable Eurostar ticket 120 days before you leave, only to find 90 days out that your onward trains have been re-timed due to engineering work, requiring different Eurostar connections.  There will still be plenty of cheap Eurostar tickets available 90 days out.

Get a 'reminder' email from www.raileurope.co.uk...

If you try to use www.raileurope.co.uk to book a train for a date which is not yet open for booking, it will offer to send you a reminder email on the day that reservations open for that route.  A very useful facility, especially as the 90 days can in fact vary slightly depending on when data is loaded.

Timetable changes in June & December...

European rail operators change their timetables twice a year, on the second Sunday in June and in December.  Online enquiry systems usually hold timetable & reservation data for dates up to the end of the current timetable.  So do not be alarmed if an enquiry for 7 June (or 7 December) brings up lots of trains, but an enquiry for 20 June (or 20 December) shows either no trains running at all (or even more confusingly, only a few trains at strange times of day because odd bits of data for the new timetable have been loaded).  Just wait, and the timetable for dates after the timetable change will appear in due course.  Online booking systems will not sell tickets for any date after the timetable change until the new data has been loaded into the database.  That means the normal 60 or 90 day booking period can get squeezed around June and December.  It's a particular problem for Christmas travel.  For example, in one typical year, bookings for travel in France between 10 December and 10 January didn't actually open until 16 October.  Just be patient, remember that no-one else can book until reservations open, either!  If you just want to know train times or prices for a date after the June or December timetable change, just pick a date before the timetable change and assume that very little will change.

• Senior & Youth fares:  On many European routes there are Senior fares for anyone over 60 and Youth fares for anyone under 26.  So it's worth telling your booking agency that you are over 60 or under 26, and making sure you select the correct age range when booking online.  Online systems will then offer you whatever the cheapest ticket for your journey happens to be, taking into account your age.  No special railcard is needed for these 'general' Senior or Youth fares, just carry proof of age with you when you travel.  Your passport is sufficient.

• Don't get hung up on getting a 'Senior' or 'Youth' discount.  Here's why.  A typical international train might have a fare structure something like this: 80 euros full fare, 65 euros Senior or Youth fare, 50/40/30 euros cheap advance-purchase fare for anyone of any age.  If you booked a few weeks in advance, you'd probably find one of the cheap advance-purchase fares available, making the Senior/Youth fare irrelevant, unless you really wanted to pay more just for the warm cuddly feeling of having the word 'Senior' printed on your ticket (though to be fair, Senior/Youth fares are often flexible & refundable, whereas cheap deals are usually non-refundable with no changes to travel plans allowed).  Only if you have to travel at short notice or at very busy times when all the cheap deals are sold out would the Senior fare actually save you money compared to the full fare.  In other words (for example), if you find a cheap £22 ticket available from Paris to Geneva, don't waste time trying to get any further 'senior' discount on this bargain fare, snap it up before it disappears.  The Senior fare on this route is £44 and the Youth fare £39!

• British senior/12-25 railcards are 'national' railcards, not 'international':  British Senior Railcards & 12-25 Railcards don't entitle you to any discount on Eurostar or any other European railway, they only apply to British domestic trains.  However, some countries have their own senior or youth railcard schemes.  You buy the railcard for a fixed fee and it is then valid for a year, giving discounts on normal tickets for internal journeys within that country (but not usually international journeys).  In Italy, the senior fares shown on the 'Trenitalia' Italian Railways website are for people with a Trenitalia 'Carravaggio' card, not for anyone over 60.  French Railways have a 'Carte Senior', which gives a 25%-50% discount for around 55 euros a year.  Don't select these fares or railcard discounts  when booking online unless you have bought that specific country's senior or youth railcard.  Generally-speaking, these railcards aren't worth worrying about if you're simply making one or two journeys to or from that country.  However, they might be worth researching and considering if you were planning to make frequent journeys during the course of a year wholly within that country.  To research them, start with the relevant rail operator website, there's a list on the links page.

• Rail+Senior card:  There used to be an international railcard called a Rail+Plus Senior card which gave a 25% reduction on full fares for international journeys between a range of western & eastern European countries.  However, it has now been withdrawn, no great loss as it wasn't valid on any of the 'globally priced' international trains in western Europe, which now means almost all of them!

On board Eurostar:  This train travel thing is child's play...  Photo courtesy of Nathaniel

• In the UK, children under 5 go free, children from 5 to 15 (inclusive) travel at half the adult fare.

• On Eurostar, children under 4 go free, and a special child fare (currently £25 single, £50 return to Paris or Brussels in standard class) applies to children from 4 to 11 inclusive.  Children 12 & over travel at the adult fare.  All children under 12 must travel accompanied by an adult, and unaccompanied children from 12 to 16 require a consent form signed by their parent or guardian.  See www.eurostar.com for details.

• On other European trains, age limits for children vary from country to country, so here's a summary.  Just make sure you tell your booking agency how old your children are, and they will do the rest.  Online booking systems will ask you the ages and will work out the fares for you.  The child fare is normally 50% of the adult fare, although on international trains where special 'global fares' are charged, a special child fare applies.

Eurostar, Byelorussia, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Yugoslavia:	Children under 4 go free, children 4-11 inclusive pay the child fare.
Norway	Children under 4 free, 4-15 inclusive child fare.
UK, Ireland	Children under 5 free, 5-15 inclusive child fare.
Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia	Children under 6 free, 6-11 inclusive child fare.
Hungary	Children under 6 free, 6-13 inclusive child fare.
Germany	Children under 6 free, 6-14 inclusive also go free if travelling with a fare paying adult, half fare if travelling alone.
Austria	Children under 6 free, 6-14 inclusive child fare.
Denmark	Children under 6 free, 6-15 inclusive child fare. However, two children up to 11 years old travel free if accompanied by a fare paying adult.
Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland	Children under 6 free, 6-15 inclusive child fare.
Finland	Children under 6 free, 6-16 inclusive child fare.

• Adult cheaper than child?  On one or two routes in western Europe, for example Paris-Switzerland & Paris-Italy, the child rate is more expensive than the very cheapest price level of adult advance-purchase fare, if that cheapest adult price happens to be available.  For example, Paris-Geneva is a variable 'from £22' adult, but always a fixed £32 for a child.  Normally, online booking systems recognise this and offer the adult rate for all travellers if that's the cheapest option, but occasionally they persist in offering the child rate so (for example) 2 adults and 2 children are shown as costing more than if you enter 4 adults.  So it can be worth playing around to check what all-adults would be, and booking as adults if that's cheaper.

It's crazy that anyone should have to write instructions for using professional online booking websites which should be self-explanatory, but when you read what follows you'll see that somebody has to!  Here are step-by-step instructions for using several important online train ticket websites.

How to use:   Raileurope.co.uk    The French railways site    The Italian railways site    The Spanish railways site

Rail Europe (www.raileurope.co.uk) originally featured exactly the same booking system as voyages-sncf.com, but they introduced their own more reliable, more capable and easier-to-use internet booking system on 21 April 2008.

• What trains can it book?  It can book any train within France and most international trains to or from France (for example, Eurostar to/from London, the popular Paris-Spain & Paris-Italy sleeper trains, and Paris-Switzerland TGVs), some international journeys outside France, major domestic trains with Spain, Italy, an so on.  That makes it extremely useful for those of us in the UK, as it can book train journeys all the way from London to key destinations throughout France, Switzerland, Spain & Italy.

• Limitations:  It only sends tickets to UK addresses and only accepts UK credit cards.  It's linked to the French Railways fares & ticketing database, as is voyages-sncf.com, so may not have the best fares for booking trains via Brussels & Germany to Scandinavia, central & eastern Europe.  It can only sell full-fare fully-flexible tickets within Spain, whereas if you book your internal Spanish tickets direct with Spanish Railways at renfe.es (in Spanish, but with help from the instructions below) you'll also see the cheap advance purchase fares.  Fares for internal Italian trains will be a pound or two more than those booked direct with Italian Railways at trenitalia.com, though in this case not much more and the saving in time and hassle may be worth it!

• Booking tips:  The new system is far easier to use, with relatively few quirks.  The top tip is not to try booking (for example) London to Malaga all in one go.  Even if it succeeds in doing so, you may not see the cheapest fares for each leg, and as the whole journey has to be either first class or second class, you won't be able to mix and match (for example) 2nd class Eurostar with 2-berth sleeper (which is technically 1st class) on the Paris-Madrid trainhotel.  Always book a journey like this as separate stages, in this case London to Paris and back, Paris to Madrid and back, Madrid to Malaga and back.

The online booking system at the French Railways website www.voyages-sncf.com is very useful, in fact it's a key resource for any European train traveller.  It sells tickets for any train within France and for most international trains to or from France (for example, the popular Paris-Spain & Paris-Italy sleeper trains, and Paris-Switzerland TGVs), plus some international journeys outside France.  However, it has more than its fair share of quirks, so read the advice on the how to use voyages-sncf.com page carefully before using it.

See the How to use voyages-sncf.com section

The Italian Railways website, www.trenitalia.com, will sell (a) train tickets for any long distance journey wholly within Italy, including couchettes & sleepers, at ticket office prices with no booking fee, and (b) tickets for the majority of direct international trains starting in Italy, bound for Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Slovenia, including couchettes & sleepers on overnight trains.  As Italy is such a popular destination, it's well worth getting to know this site!  Advice on using the Trenitalia website is now on the Train travel in Italy page.

Advice on using trenitalia.com

The Spanish Railways website (www.renfe.com) sells tickets for almost any long-distance train wholly within Spain (including sleepers), and you simply print out your own ticket.  It sells some amazingly cheap online 'web' fares that you can't buy from agencies or even at the ticket office, making it well worth getting to know.  It will now also book the international trainhotels in either direction between Paris & Madrid, Paris & Barcelona, Madrid & Lisbon, Barcelona & Zurich, Barcelona & Milan, with self-print tickets.

	How to use renfe.com...
	Above:  The renfe.es home page.  ..

• Go to www.renfe.com.  Use Internet Explorer if possible, as it doesn't work as well with Firefox or Safari.

• Spanish train bookings open 60 days in advance, you can't book before reservations open.

• Click 'welcome' at top left to switch it into English.

• Do not rush in and start using the journey planner marked 'Passengers - Timetables' as this only shows train times & full-price fares.  To buy tickets or check actual prices & availability, click 'Purchase' at top right.  A new window opens, with a journey planner that can be used to check prices & buy tickets.

• It's a good idea to register, rather than use their site as a guest, even if you're only going to buy one ticket, as you can then log in and retrieve your booking if for any reason a connection fails or the ticket pop-up fails to appear.  And if you're registered, you can also log in to change or cancel bookings.  To register, click 'Register me' link at top right, in the 'Identification' box.  Fill in your details and choose a user name and password.  Tip:  In the drop down list of countries, United Kingdom = Reino Unido!

• Now carry on with the journey planner.  Enter your enquiry details and click 'search'.

  Bear in mind that the Renfe booking system cannot handle changes of train, it will only show direct trains.  So if you ask it for Barcelona to Seville it will only show the one or two daily direct trains, but there are plenty of other options involving a change of train in Madrid.  The German railways journey planner at www.bahn.de can be useful in identifying journey options involving a change of train, which can then be booked at www.renfe.com in two stages.

• On the search results page you'll see a list of trains, each with a price in all classes.

  Turista = 2nd class. Preferente = 1st class.  Club = premium 1st class (available only on AVE trains).

  If booking a sleeper, make sure it says 'cama' ('bed').  Cama Turista =  bed in 4-berth sleeper.  Cama Preferente = 1 or 2 bed, breakfast included.  Cama G. Clase = gran clase 1 or 2 bed with private shower & toilet, dinner & breakfast included.  Indiv = single-bed, doble = 2-berth.

  A 'W' symbol against the price means it's a cheap 'Web' fare, 60% off full price.  'Web' fares are online-only advance purchase fares, non-refundable, non-changeable.  A 'star' symbol means it's an 'Estrella' fare, 40% off full price.   Estrella fares are also an advance-purchase fare, semi-refundable.  Both Web & Estrella fares are available to anyone of any age, and are the best deal for Spanish rail travel.  If booking at very short notice you may also see some cheap 'Ultima Hora' ('last minute') fares.  'Tarifa General' or 'General price' means full price.

  Select the train & class you want and click 'Continue' right at the bottom.

• On the next page, if you are booking a one-way journey, ignore the confusing warning telling you you're booking an open return.  Check the journey details & price and click 'Continue' again.

• On the next page, enter your details.  Change 'Type of document' drop down box to 'Passport' and enter your passport number in the 'Document number' box.  The UK is listed as 'Great  Britain' in the countries list.  Under 'Province' enter your county.  Enter your phone number without the first 0 of your area code, and without the '+44' for calling the UK.

• Payment page:  Now enter your card details and complete the purchase.

• Make sure your browser will allow pop-ups as you might otherwise lose the order confirmation.

• If you get error message GU001 when paying, it could be your bank blocking an unusual foreign transaction, rather than any problem with renfe.es itself.  Try another credit card, or call your bank and tell them you're making a legitimate payment!

• When you've booked and paid, click 'Print tickets' ('imprimar' in Spanish) to print them out on your own PC printer.  It's also a good idea to 'save' the ticket .pdf file to your PC as well as printing spare copies.  The .pdf ticket file should be opened using Adobe reader, not other obscure programs.

• This printout is your ticket, valid for travel without further formality.  It has your reserved seat and coach numbers printed on it, along with your travel date, train time and journey.

• Feedback (positive or negative) is very welcome if you use renfe.es to buy tickets, especially as things change from time to time and I won't always spot it.

• If your print-your-own tickets fail to appear for any reason, try calling renfe for help on 00 34 902 10 94 20.  The operators usually speak English and even if you didn't register they can provide you with your booking's ‘Locator' number which allows you to reprint your ticket (look for the 'My account' and then 'My journey' links).  In fact, if you quote this Locator number at the ticket office in Spain they can print you out a ticket at the station.

• If you have any difficulty buying tickets online at renfe.es, you can buy Spanish train tickets by phone in the UK with Spanish Railway's agents, www.spanish-rail.co.uk, call 020 7725 7063 (lines open 09:30-17:30 Monday-Friday).  They can even sell Web & Estrella fares, though a £10 booking fee applies and they add a 5 euro surcharge to Web fares.

A good European rail agency can sell you a basic ticket (without reservation) for almost any national or international journey in Europe.  However, you will need a reservation for a couchette or sleeper, or for a train shown as 'reservation obligatory' or 'special fares apply' in the timetable.  It can help to know which trains can and can't be easily reserved from the UK.

The European computer reservation system, in fact a linked network of different railways' reservation systems, covers most of Western Europe and much of Eastern Europe, from Portugal in the west to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and (as of 2005) Serbia and Romania in the east, and from Sicily in the south to Sweden and Finland in the north, inclusive.  The computer systems used by European rail agents in the UK and by reservation offices at stations in most of Western Europe can (in principle) reserve seats, couchettes or sleepers anywhere in this area.  For example, both Madrid to Lisbon and Lisbon to Madrid can be reserved from the UK.  The computer system can also book trains starting in this area heading outwards, for example Bucharest to Istanbul or Cologne to Moscow.  However, it cannot reserve places on trains in countries outside that area, such as Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Russia, or Ukraine, or on trains starting outside that area heading back in, for example, Moscow back to Cologne, or Istanbul back to Bucharest.  Reservations for such journeys will usually need to be made at the local reservation office when you get there, although if you like you can buy the basic travel ticket (without any reservation) in the UK before you go.

There is one other thing worth knowing.  Different agencies (and different national railways) use different computer reservation systems to access the various national railways' fares, timetable and reservation information.  Some systems will be better than others for a given journey.  For example, Rail Europe uses the French Railways system which is great for trains in France, but not as good for trains within or starting in Germany.  I've been told by Rail Europe staff that the Cologne-Moscow sleeper 'doesn't exist' because it wasn't loaded onto their system.  Whereas Deutsche Bahn's UK office and europeanrail.com both use the German Railways reservation system, which most certainly does have the Cologne-Moscow sleeper loaded into it.  This is also the reason you may be quoted different fares by different agencies.  For example, ask Rail Europe for a fare from Berlin to Cologne, and they will quote you the international tariff rate made available to all other railways by the German Railways.  Ask Deutsche Bahn's UK office for a ticket on the same train, and they may well quote a much cheaper special offer fare from the German Railways' own domestic price range, available only through German Railways' own reservation system.  And similarly, Deutsche Bahn may quote an expensive international tariff for (say) Paris to Bordeaux, when Rail Europe would quote a far cheaper fare only available via the French railways' own reservation system.  This is why I recommend different agencies for different journeys.  If you have any problems, shop around, as if one agency can't book a particular train, another probably can.

Paying for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's probably just a tiny fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip.  You will see so much more, and know so much more about what you're looking at, if you have a decent guidebook.  For the independent traveller, I think the best ones out there are either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide.  Both guidebooks are excellent, and you won't regret buying one..!  Alternatively, the 'Europe by Rail' guide combines country information with basic train information.

Click the images to buy at Amazon.co.uk...

Or buy direct from the Lonely Planet website, with shipping worldwide.

Find hotels all across Europe...

It's easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets.  Start by trying www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search box below.  This is not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you (AsiaRooms, Opodo, Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms and many others) to find the cheapest hotel rates on the net.  Set up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place to start for booking any hotel online in any country, worldwide.

Other hotel sites worth a look...

• www.venere.com has a more personal approach than Laterooms, and has an especially good range for hotels and guesthouses in Italy, as they are an Italian-based company.  On this site, the price you see is the price you pay, no hidden extras, and you simply pay the hotel when you get there.  After you've booked, you can change or cancel your reservation in line with the hotel's own change and cancellation policy.

• www.laterooms.com negotiates discounts for hotel rooms booked within 3 months of travel, making it ideal for anyone booking train travel within the normal 90 days booking period.  The discounted prices will be shown in orange.  Click on the dates to sort results by price.

• www.tripadvisor.com is a huge resource, a good place to browse independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.

Budget backpacker hostels...

• www.hostelbookers.com:  If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about the backpacker hostels.  Hostelbookers offers online booking of dorm beds or ultra-cheap private rooms in backpacker hostels in most European cities at rock-bottom prices.

Get travel insurance..

Never travel without insurance from a reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover.  It should also cover loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip policies even for just 2 or 3 trips a year (I have an annual policy myself).  Here are some suggested insurers.  Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these links.

If you live in the UK, get quotes from Columbus Direct or Go Travel Insurance, or go to Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing their policy's features at a glance.

Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, but European international rail conditions of carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and non-changeable.  Feedback from using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome.

        If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, see Columbus Direct Australia.

   If you live in the USA or Canada, see Travel Guard USA.

Get an EU health card...

If you're a UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with the NHS.  This replaced the old E111 forms as from January 2006.  The EHIC card is available from www.ehic.org.uk.  It doesn't remove the need for travel insurance, though.

Get a pre-paid euro currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...

You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a Caxton FX euro currency MasterCard, or indeed the multi-currency 'Global Traveller' MasterCard.   Find out about these cards & sign up here.

Get an international SIM card...

Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're not careful you can return home to find some huge bills waiting for you.  I've known people run up over £1,000 in data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a simple trip to Europe.  However, if you buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company such as www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid.  Go-Sim cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide, and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries.  It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills when you get home.  It also allows cheap data access for laptops & PDAs.  A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone number' for life.