Tips on figuring out European trains

[Valley Girl of VA]

We knew our cruise would end in Lyon but that we wanted to go on toward Paris. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the trains and which site would be the best for us to order tickets from. Here is our story on getting from Lyon to Paris on the TGV:

 

https://airlandandsea.wordpress.com/2016/12/11/getting-to-paris-to-tgv-and-our-hotel-le-metropolitan-a-tribute-hotel-from-spg/

[jpalbny]

Love taking the trains...have done them in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain... Sometimes the TGV staff isn't on strike, and it's a lovely trip! We'll be on the train from Paris to Geneva next week, if all goes according to plan. Nice to read about your trip.

 

I was away without internet access when the current batch of tickets went on sale, so I missed the super cheap bargains for our journey next week. But still, it's cheaper than flying, much less hassle, and a very nice trip when all goes smoothly.

 

I use the TGV's website (in French) and book directly; if you do that, you can download an electronic ticket to your smartphone. So no worries about validating!

 

Edited to add: I meant to ask you, which train station did you depart from in Lyon? The Perrache station is not as big, but it's within walking distance of the boat docks. Part-Dieu is the big well-known one, but further away. Though that may not be relevant to your trip, as you stayed in Lyon a few days post-trip, correct?

 

I had originally bought tickets from Paris to Lyon Part-Dieu, figuring that we'd take the tram to the boat. But I realized partway through the train ride that our train was continuing on to Perrache after Part-Dieu. I looked at my map and figured that we could walk from there. So we just stayed on until the next stop and had an easy walk to the boat.

Edited December 12, 2016 by jpalbny

[gnome12]

There is a website called Loco2.com which allows you to book most European trains. It is run by a group in the UK, and I used it for my train in Spain because the Spanish website was useless. At the time you had to pay in UK pounds, but they have introduced payment in Euros now. They charge exactly what the local system charges (with a supplement if you pay by credit card -use PayPal and they don't charge it). I found their system very easy to navigate.

[Host Jazzbeau]

There is a website called Loco2.com which allows you to book most European trains. It is run by a group in the UK, and I used it for my train in Spain because the Spanish website was useless. At the time you had to pay in UK pounds, but they have introduced payment in Euros now. They charge exactly what the local system charges (with a supplement if you pay by credit card -use PayPal and they don't charge it). I found their system very easy to navigate.

 

Thanks. This looks like a very valuable resource!

[Valley Girl of VA]

We departed in Lyon from Part-Dieu We had an 8:30 AM train so getting there was no problem for our cab driver.

 

As we learned (and I added to my post) track information is not available till 20 minutes from the time the train is scheduled to arrive.

 

Using the website that I did, I could switch the language to English - one of the easiest websites for trains that I have ever used and I would highly recommend it.

[Daisi]

Gnome, thanks for the site. I have been looking directly at ICE for ideas on the train from Basel to Amsterdam, now I can check out that one as well. Unfortunately Valley Girl, your site says tickets are not available, maybe they don't do that route?

[gnome12]

What I particularly liked is that the site consolidates high speed and local trains, which can't always be done locally. This allowed me to plan a seamless journey from Madrid to Granada. It also explained all of the information to be found on the train ticket, translating the Spanish to English. It was so helpful that I passed it on to a couple that I met on the train who didn't know that all seats were reserved because they didn't understand the ticket.

 

I have used the German rail site in the past, but this was much easier to use.

[Valley Girl of VA]

I am seeing trains when you look at bahn.de. I don't know when you are traveling so I picked random dates. Go to http://www.seat61.com and on the first page you can click on travel in Europe - Switzerland to Amsterdam

[gnome12]

I am seeing trains when you look at bahn.de. I don't know when you are traveling so I picked random dates. Go to http://www.seat61.com and on the first page you can click on travel in Europe - Switzerland to Amsterdam

 

http://www.seat61.com is how I found http://www.loco2.com in the first place, but I much prefer the interface of the latter site. You don't have to choose from a myriad of options; just tell it your start and end points and you are done.

 

If you want to see alternatives before booking opens for your dates, try putting in earlier dates and you will see the different alternatives. Then you can have it let you know when booking opens for your dates. It was really helpful, because Spanish rail information is not updated consistently, so you never know exactly when booking will open for your date(s).

[Daisi]

Thanks Valley Girl, there was a suggestion of taking the "rural" train on your site, which is really what we are looking for. Looks like I have a bit more research to do.

[Valley Girl of VA]

I think that you'll find most trains go through a majority of rural areas - unlike the US where we are a big metropolus, like we are in the Washington DC - Boston are. Europe doesn't seem to have the urban sprawl that we have, at least in my opinion so I think you'll see a lot of rural scenery.

[Daisi]

Ok, we are just looking to see more of the countryside. Our trains here do "rural", but that's mostly through trees, so you don't always see much. I'll have to see if I can find out any more info, as the "rural" trip is only a bit longer, but it does seem as if you sit in stations waiting for passengers to board.

[Floridiana]

'rural' probably just means that the train stops in small towns. Fast trains rush through and are better for long distances. They all run on the same tracks except for high speed trains for which special tracks were built. Those new tracks are sometimes within high berms to protect neighborhoods from the noise and to protect the fast trains as well.

[Daisi]

Floridiana, that's what we are looking for. Not that we want to stop in all the small towns (well, we will, but there is such a thing as time...), but at least we will see a bit more than just a fast trip through the country and stopping only at a major city.

 

Going to have to pull up some on-line maps and see what we can do.

[Capt_BJ]

we recently used ICE to go from Nuremburg to Hamburg .... 'first class'

 

travel agent was able to book it and we had tickets in hand. No hassle there .... Station procedures must vary by country but in Nuremburg the train schedule was 'fixed' and we knew exactly what track the train would board from when we checked the station out the day b4.

 

It arrived exactly on time at both ends. We had an 'express' most of the way. Interesting observation of ICE tracks .... they are built such that there are few if any "crossings" ... usually the tracks were above road level and cars/trucks passed beneath. A HUGE difference from my AMTRAK experiences where the whistle blows every 13.9 seconds as required due to a crossing .... kind of a PITA when you booked a sleeper for an overnight trip and the car is right behind the engines ..... (AutoTrain .... ugh)