4 Train Travel Pre-Trip Essentials In Europe
(Last Updated On: 12/11/2021)
One of the things most exciting about traveling in Europe is that you can get there by train everywhere. It is the most widespread mean of transport and many people’s favorite to travel the continent. People do ask some questions before they decide to take a train, pre-trip essentials such as where do I buy the tickets? How do I check the schedules? Can I cross from one country to another? What are night trains like?
- This article was written to educate about Train Travel and was made by Save A Train, The Cheapest Train Tickets Website In The World.
Here are the pre-trip essentials you have to know:
Schedules and Prices of European Trains
Although all of Europe is linked by a very extensive train network each country has its railway company and, therefore, its website with schedules and rates. If you want to travel by train within the same country, without crossing any border, it is still recommended you go directly to Save A Train as you would do with flights to Skyscanner. If you do not know what it is, Google will give you the answer. Almost all the websites have an English version, so it’s easy to navigate and check the schedules. If you want to travel by train from one country to another one (always within Europe) you should also search for the route in an app like Save A Train.
How and When to Buy Tickets?
One of the pre-trip essentials is definitely tickets. Some train passages (especially those of high speed and those that connect capitals or large cities) tend to rise in price when the departure date approaches; there are others (local trains and those that link nearby cities) that always keep the same price. If you are traveling from capital to capital, it is best to buy the ticket a few weeks in advance to get the best price. If you buy tickets through the apps (many European train companies have their own app too), you will receive an electronic ticket with a QR code you can show the driver from the screen of your phone, so you don’t have to print them.
How to Get to the Station is key to Pre-Trip Essentials
The good thing about traveling by train is that the stations are usually in the center of the cities and are easily accessible by metro, bus or on foot. You do not have to travel an hour to go to an airport (unless you’re on the outskirts of the city, although in general it never takes so long). If you travel with little luggage, you can go by public transport. If you are very loaded, maybe a taxi is the best option. It does not hurt to say it: some cities have several train stations (for example, Paris) so always be sure of what your train departs from. Sometimes it may happen that you have to transfer from one station to another.
Punctuality of Trains in Europe
European trains depart at the exact minute (unless there is a delay for some climatic reason). Getting to the station about 15-20 minutes before is always one of the pre-trip essentials. Keep in mind that there are trains that are very long and sometimes you will have to walk a lot to get to the end of the platform. The stops between one city and another do not usually last more than a few minutes.
This was a small but helpful guide on pre-trip essentials for a train trip in Europe and things you have to know before deciding to take one. We hope that the experience you gain will be invaluable.
Enter Save-A-Train to book your train ticket to any destination in 3 minutes, at the cheapest train tickets rates and relieved of obnoxious booking fees!
Do you want to embed our blog post onto your site, then click here: https://iframely.com/embed/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.saveatrain.com%2Fblog%2F4-train-pre-trip-essentials-europe%2F%3Flang%3Den– (Scroll down to see the Embed Code)
- If you want to be kind to your users, you can guide them directly into our search pages. In this link, you will find our most popular train routes – https://www.saveatrain.com/routes_sitemap.xml. Inside you have our links for English landing pages, but we also have https://www.saveatrain.com/pl_routes_sitemap.xml and you can change the /pl to /de or /it and more languages.
