How to plan inter-country train travel in Europe?

I find that when I use the raileurope itinerary planner it gives me only travel options that are not eurail friendly (i.e. have the most expensive supplementary costs). Do I get more options if research on each train companies individual websites?How to plan inter-country train travel in Europe?I use the German rail planner which allows you to chose 'without ICE' and thereby avoiding most of the supplements.

You can also see which train has compulsory reservations, showing as a big R next to your trains.



But do check what the cost of the reservation or surcharge will be, often it is worth it, specially where the costs are little.



http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.e鈥?/a>



Other country rail planners do not always allow 'no fast trains' or 'reservations only' I think the Italian one does, as well as the German, so you can see what you will have to pay for the reservation. But only within those countries.

A good site with a lot of explanations and links to rail planner sites is http://www.seat61.com/

If you select the 'rail passes' in the header of the page you will get a long page but in the top of that is a link to several parts of it, select 'Will I need to make reservations or pay supplements?'



It also has good links to most or all rail planners in Europe, click on one of the country names on the list on the left and read the top of the new page, there he explains the planner and often how to buy tickets or reservations.How to plan inter-country train travel in Europe?Willeke has given you excellent information and she is right that you can buy reservations only on the Italian website as well as the German one. However, you should read the section Common railpass mistakes: Italy... on the seat61 website she gave you. A railpass is usually not worth the money here in Italy because fares are relatively low and you can get discounted individual tickets (for early purchase) on the trains that require a supplement with a railpass. If you do use a railpass here, you can purchase the reservation only by selecting Global Pass from the pull down menu on the JOURNEY - FARE CHOICE section after you've selected a specific train. The supplement on the fast trains is 10 euro here. http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.js鈥?/a>How to plan inter-country train travel in Europe?I've recently done the same! It was amazing!



Thomas Cook publish a timetable book for around 拢15 - that's pretty good. There's an iphone app called iRail European Train Times - gives you fares as well. Try The DBahn Website, they're good too.



Rail Europe just want to make as much money as possible - don't use them.



Trains to steer away from:

TGV, Thayls, EC, ECN, ICN, Eurostar, Eurostar Italia (high speed trains and night trains really)



Good trains:

Local trains, German ICE (reservations only about 2EUR), Ferries.



I hope you have a great time!

grimaldis