Website with information on train travel in Europe

[homebuilt]

If anyone is look for information on travelling by train have a look at the following site.

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

Information includes how to get to your destination, how to get the cheapest tickets, which web sites to buy tickets from and how to avoid problems.

 

[dougfitz]

A very odd 'best' site. It looks great if you are from the UK, but it links out to sites I know to be some of the more expensive ways of buying Spanish rail tickets in Australia - through local re-sellers. In addition, some of the links that I tried are broken. My view is that it is a nice site with a good range of advice etc, and if you are unfamiliar with purchasing tickets directly from an operator's web-site, probably worth checking out to get a feel for what is available.

@homebuilt, may I ask what other sites you compared it to to come to the view that it was the best?

 

[whariwharangi]

Best websites are Service Provider sites.

 

[jirit]

One site I use all the time for planning (routing, times, etc) is the German rail site.
https://www.bahn.com

Each year all major train operators from each EU country, must submit their schedules, etc and the German site is the only one I know of that has all this information

It basically covers all of Western Europe with a few exceptions.
You can check to see how and where each train connects, select different times, dates into the future, type of train, stops along the way.
Obviously you can also book trains and buy tickets for train that depart or arrive in Germany

 

[kmrice]

I found Seat 61 to be very informative. Never purchased through that site, so cannot comment on price, but there is an enormous about of helpful information there.

I've purchased through Captain Train (https://www.captaintrain.com/en) and found it to be very easy. Don't know if it is the cheapest, but it is very convenient.

I found https://www.bahn.com to be great for checking train schedules.

 

[homebuilt]

The website is not for purchasing tickets but for providing information.

Did anyone else know that you can get free local train travel in Spain if you have purchased a long distance ticket.

When you book tickets from https://www.bahn.com/ you can add an overnight stop into your journey without any additional cost.

Having used the information provided on the site to travel from Liverpool, England to Shanghai, China, I could not find another website that proved all of the required information in one place.

 

[Deleted member 36903]

For English-speakers looking for train travel in Spain the best website is definitely RENFE. It is easy to use if you click on the 'welcome' button then all information is in English, plus if you book early there are some great reductions. Some forum members have experienced difficulties making payment, but I used Paypal and it was trouble free. I used the website named in the original post for general info such as crossing Paris etcetera, but information about night trains was very much out of date with descriptions of service no longer offered.

 

[witsendwv]

If anyone is look for information on travelling by train have a look at the following site.

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

Information includes how to get to your destination, how to get the cheapest tickets, which web sites to buy tickets from and how to avoid problems.

Last year I used Petrabax in the US for train travel, but RENFE now allows payment through paypal that has been exceptionally easy and the tickets cost less. I have booked several trains for our upcoming trip to Spain sometimes even finding lower preferente fares since I was booking so early.

 

[dougfitz]

Best websites are Service Provider sites.

I agree. I have travelled by train in Spain, France and Britain over many years, and the operator web sites have made massive improvements. The Spanish and French sites have made much of the site available in English, and many have opened up payment methods like Paypal. If you already know what your requirements are, it makes sense to me to go directly to them.

As I said before, seat61 seems to provide a range of good advice, but it is clearly focussed on travel from the UK, and if one is only interested in travel within a country, there seems little point in using this site just to have to go out to another booking site anyhow.

 

[Felipe]

I always has been wondering which could be the advantages of using another, third parties webpages, instead of those of the national companies, that is, RENFE for Spain, SNCF for France, and DB Bahn in Germany. Could I really find better prices, for example? It is not a rethorical question, I 'd really want to know.

 

[whariwharangi]

I always has been wondering which could be the advantages of using another, third parties webpages, instead of those of the national companies, that is, RENFE for Spain, SNCF for France, and DB Bahn in Germany. Could I really find better prices, for example? It is not a rethorical question, I 'd really want to know.

Renfe has foreign sales points such as Petrabax. You end up paying a bit more but the company is in your country so there are less issues with payment options and ticket cancellations if needs be.

 

[Bradypus]

I find seat61.com an excellent resource and have used it while planning simple international journeys and also two very complicated Interrail tours. Lots of useful practical information and links to service providers and ticket sellers. Helpful to give an overview of routes and services which I then follow up on the national operators' own websites. I would not normally buy my tickets through a third-party agency but some people may find that a useful option. As others have said the indispensable European rail resource is Deutsche Bahn's international timetable website

 

[homebuilt]

Having used third parties website for purchasing tickets they will have a markup on the price of the tickets. The advantages are English language websites and taking credit card not normally excepted by the service provider. An example would be buying train tickets for travel in china the website is in Chinese and they only except payment on a card issue from a Chinese bank. If you are travelling through more than one country in Europe by train different national carries offer different ticket price. Travelling by eurostar to Brussels the cheapest ticket is from DB Bahn.

 

[jirit]

I have found if you are traveling between countries, it pays to check both country's rail sites.

I secured a better prices via the Swiss rail site to train from Zurich to France that buying it from France.

Likewise when I travelled from Munich to Vienna, the tickets I purchased were cheaper on the Austrian site.

 

[JRO]

For English-speakers looking for train travel in Spain the best website is definitely RENFE. It is easy to use if you click on the 'welcome' button then all information is in English, plus if you book early there are some great reductions. Some forum members have experienced difficulties making payment, but I used Paypal and it was trouble free. I used the website named in the original post for general info such as crossing Paris etcetera, but information about night trains was very much out of date with descriptions of service no longer offered.

I had trouble with the Renfe site, even after I asked for English. When the page changed, the language would revert! I ended up pretty frustrated and we just went to the local station in Santiago for tickets back to Madrid.