Train travel in Europe can seem incredibly complicated and expensive and slow but the truth is with a few simple tips you can book surprisingly good value tickets easily.
So I have for you here 12 of the best tips for enjoying cheap train travel all over Europe.
I do hope they help with your holiday plans. Bon voyage!
Table of Contents
Timetables
This is perhaps the most useful tip I have for you : bookmark the Deutsche Bahn timetable in your laptop browser. This a timetable to almost every single train in Europe.
There are quite a few European train booking apps and sites around now but they will show you trains you can book on with them at that moment. So when you're planning ahead you won't see all the trains. On the Deutsche Bahn timetable, you see everything.
Booking Windows
European train companies like airlines have booking windows. They can be anything from 3 months to a year. On most Eurostar trains it is 6-8 months with ski train bookings opening in August.
Train ticket prices are almost always cheaper when the booking window first opens. So if your journey includes for example, a Eurostar train and a French SNCF train you should book the Eurostar train as soon as it becomes available to get the best price and then separately book SNCF when their window opens later.
Ticket Booking Apps
There are increasing numbers of ticket booking apps and sites that let you book tickets on connecting trains across Europe in a single booking :
- Trainline : a very user friendly British based app.
- RailEurope : (was Loco2) now owned by SNCF.
- Omio : lets you book trains, buses & flights in one place.
- Eurostar : primarily for Eurostar trains but you can book connections from London to major French cities e.g. Toulouse in one go.
- ACPRail : sells BritRail & Eurail passes and some tickets for non Europeans.
The booking apps are convenient but sometimes are more expensive than individual tickets bought direct from a national train company.
Cheap Fares
There are a number of simple ways to make European train travel cheaper :
- Book Early
- Fixed Tickets
- InterRail Pass
- OuiGo
- Alerts
- Eurostar Snap
- Train Points
- Be Ready To Go
Book Early
Tickets are typically cheapest when the booking window first opens.
Fixed Tickets
booking a fixed ticket on a specific international train is always cheaper but will tie you to that train.
InterRail Pass
On longer journeys or multi destination holidays an InterRail pass (available for all ages) may be cheapest. You will have to pay supplements on Eurostar and sleeper trains but the pass will give you much more flexibility than fixed tickets.
OuiGo
You can buy very cheap - e.g. E10 - tickets on French and some international trains on OuiGo. The website and app let you clearly see the days and times when trains are cheapest. If you're travelling from London look out for good deals from Calais, Lille & Lyon as well as Paris.
Alerts
You can sign up for price alerts on specific routes on a number of sites e.g. OuiGo
Eurostar Snap
if you've got flexibility over the time and day you travel you can get cheap return tickets via Eurostar Snap to Paris, Lille & Brussels from London St Pancras. You just have to travel on the train they give you.
Train Points
Eurostar have a points system like Air Miles that earns you points towards discounts and free tickets.
Be Ready To Go
If you sign up with Eurostar & the various apps you'll hear about last minute deals but it's hard to find good places to stay last minute in popular destinations like Amsterdam and Paris. But you usually can find space in lovely small towns close by.
For inspiration check out these 10 weekend breaks & 50 cool independent hotels you can reach from Rotterdam by train in less time than it takes to Edinburgh.
Major Hubs
The European train network has some really useful hubs just like the air network. Knowing your way around a few of these stations - plus local hotels and restaurants - makes connections and longer European train journeys much easier, quicker and cheaper.
And you can actually make these hubs part of the holiday. Rather than hurtling to your end destination stop and enjoy these cities for a day or so on the way.
Paris is the obvious European train hub from the UK as travelling from St Pancras it's the main gateway to the rest of France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy. But it does involve changing stations which can be a hassle with a load of luggage or small kids.
So these other key hubs are worth knowing :
- Brussels
- Lille
- Rotterdam
- Turin
- Milan
- Berlin
- Vienna
Brussels
Brussels isn't everyone's favourite city but is a brilliant hub for mini-breaks to beautiful Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp plus German cities and it is the starting point for sleeper trains with same station Eurostar connections to :
- Berlin & Prague
- Munich, Salzburg & Vienna
- Bern, Lake Maggiore & Milan (Jun 26)
- Barcelona (2027 hopefully)
Lille
Lille is only 80 minutes from London by Eurostar and is a good hub for mini breaks exploring northern France including WW1 sites and small towns in western Belgium such as Tournai, Mons, Namur and Charleroi. But also for direct trains to Avignon and Marseille and the Eurostar snow train to Bourg St Maurice bypassing Paris.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is a quicker hub from London than Amsterdam for exploring Holland's beautiful small towns & cool cities such as Delft and Leiden.
Turin
Turin is the first stop in Italy from Paris and a handy hub for picking up sleeper trains to Rome, Naples, Salerno for Amalfi, Lecce and more. It's also a great city in its own right for a quick break.
Milan
Milan is the major hub for Italian train travel - you can basically get everywhere in Italy from Milan including Sicily by sleeper train and it has direct trains to Paris and Zurich.
Berlin
Berlin has sleeper trains to Brussels, Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Zurich and more. It's also the gateway for Poland and from Warsaw the Baltic.
Vienna
Vienna is the key hub for most of Eastern Europe including Budapest, the Croatian coast, the Carpathian mountains and Istanbul. It's now much easier to get to from London on the Brussels sleeper. You can get to Vienna on sleeper trains from Brussels, Berlin, Zurich, Amsterdam, Rome and Bucharest.
Sleeper Trains
European sleeper trains make much more efficient use of your time than planes. You hop on at bedtime and wake up at your destination. And boy are they more romantic!!
The good news is that Europe's night trains are expanding again and I've got a guide for you here to 15 Great European Sleeper Trains. These are cool for everything from simple family holidays and ski breaks to grand adventures right across Europe.
Low Carbon Mini Breaks
Trains can slash our carbon emissions on mini breaks from London by over 90%. That's a real immediate difference we can make to reduce global warming this year.
And mini breaks by train aren't just about Paris and Amsterdam, there are loads of wonderful places to be reached easily via Eurostar trains from royal palaces, Loire chateaus, Champagne vineyards and dutch canals through secret beaches and national park waterways in Holland to the battlefields of the Somme.
This is the real Europe you don't get to see by plane. For simple ideas try these : 10 Dutch Weekend Breaks By Train.
Ski Trains
There are more and more options for skiing by train from London including:
- Eurostar Ski Train : the direct day train takes you to Moûtiers, Aime-la-Plagne and Bourg-St-Maurice putting you in easy reach of range of popular French ski resorts.
- Briancon Sleeper : leaving St Pancras at 4.30pm you can be in Briancon for Claviere, Montgenevere and Serre Chevalier by 8.30 the next morning.
Ferry Connections
You don't have to be a landlubber when you travel Europe by train. Lots of ferries to Europe's islands connect directly with train services :
- Corsica & Sardinia
- Balearic Islands
- Orkney
- Hebrides
- Scilly Isles
Corsica & Sardinia
You can sail to Corsica and Sardinia by Corsica Ferries from Toulon which is a stop on the Paris-Nice sleeper train.
Balearic Islands
Take a train to Barcelona via either Paris or if you are coming from the east, Lyon to catch ferries to Menorca, Mallorca & Ibiza.
Orkney
Take the Highlander sleeper to Inverness and then the stunning and remote Far North line up to Thurso for the Stromness ferry to Orkney to see the 5,000 year old ruins of Skara Brae and more.
Hebrides
Take the train to either Oban via Glasgow or Mallaig via Fort William for the CalMac ferries. There is a Highlander sleeper to Fort William.
Scilly Isles
The Night Rivieria sleeper from London Paddington to Penzance connects to the Scillonian Ferry to the beautifully peaceful Scilly Isles off the Cornish coast.
The Encyclopedia
Once you have worked out where you want to travel in Europe and checked out the master timetable, you can find out everything else you need to know about the stations you will be stopping from the rail travel encyclopedia that is : The Man In Seat Sixty-One.
Train Travel Companies
There are an increasing number of travel companies offering package holidays in Europe by train. If you would rather someone else did all the booking for you check out these :
Share Your Trips
My final tip for travelling by train in Europe is simple : share your trips.
The more we all share pictures and stories of our train trips across Europe, the more it becomes the new normal. And normal makes stuff easy.
Before we know it we'll all be hopping on and off trains in Brussels, Rotterdam, Lyon & Milan, dropping off on the Vienna sleeper and discovering all sorts of wonderful small towns across the length and breadth of Europe that we'd never see by plane.
So what are you waiting for? Book a train trip today and share your journey with the world.
Original image source: Kecko
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