Originally Posted by
mad_rich
Captain Train and Loco 2 are both very good independents, who have worked hard to make booking trains in Europe simple, but they don't always come up trumps. There are some journeys, operators, ticket types they don't cover.
Echo the advice to look on Seat61 and check the advice for the specific countries and train journeys you will be taking. Also, decide whether you want flexible or (cheaper) inflexible tickets, and be aware that booking the cheapest tickets doesn't open until a set time before departure (anywhere between 30 and 120 days, but typically 60)
The booking horizon really does vary between different operators/countries and routes. The standard for DB is 91 days, for SNCF 92 days, for Eurostar 120 days etc, though sometimes operators open ticket sales earlier, and sometimes later! Seat61 is indeed the place to go for such advice.
One thing worth pointing out in particular is that there is a European wide timetable change date in mid December - ticket sales for dates after this timetable change always open later,
Mr Seat61's news page is again the best place to go to find the latest information on this.