Attention!!! Sparpreis 50 tickets are valid for ONE TRAIN ONLY - the one you booked. No changes possible. If your plane is late, the ticket is lost!

You'll be entitled to use a later train only if the delay is caused by the TRAINS, i. e. missing a connection because your train arrives too late and the other one is already gone.

Kathrin, that certainly make the decission a little more interesting. What to do, maybe I will take the chance and if things dont dont out as planned I will be forced to purchase same day 2nd class ticket. The discount is pretty good for 1st class as it is only 240 euro for me and my wife in 1st on return ticket so perhaps I will take the chance and just schedule some extra time between my flight and the train.

Some of the older regional trains still have compartments, though they are being phased out. Newest trains are seats facing forward. But if you're lucky enough to get a compartment, and to get it for yourself/and group, this is a very comfortable way to travel. No way to predict train configuration, but I think the issue is worth getting first class travel. Compartments are in both first and second (for an older train that still has them), but it's more likely you can find a vacant compartment in first. Very, very comfortable way to travel. Beats driving, and is more informal than plane travel. It's also nice to take on board sandwiches bought at the train station beforehand, and just talk and enjoy lunch while traveling. Of course, some trains have restaurants on board, but many do not.

One very important point, though it probably seems too trivial to mention: Always, always take a bottle of water with you. Sometimes it's impossible to buy water on the train, and other times it is a mineral water that may not satisfy thirst. I hope this reminder won't strike people as too obvious or too silly. That bottle of water can seem important after a few hours of travel.

Thanks to all for their advice - it came in very handy on my trip. I've detailed my train experience in the following post:

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....6&postcount=19

Bumping up this old thread, first for a general rant, followed by a question.

Rant mode on: it seems like the hardest thing I do when I travel is to figure out European rail issues. Flights and hotels are easy, but rail is a nightmare. No coordination between systems, very odd regulations that seem to tangle me up, no ability in many cases to book online and print your own ticket, most sites (German Rail seems to be an exception) won't send tickets to the US, I could go on. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to get from Brussels to Strasbourg. Well, Belgian rail shows me a schedule, but won't let me price the trip since apparently you can only price destinations that are one country away and Luxembourg is between Belgium and France (that's the best explanation I've seen). French rail won't issue the ticket since the origin isn't in France. Germany rail has a spectatular site (only the Germans will offer you "seven ways to buy your ticket") but that also only works for travel beginning in Germany. For another trip I can book and pick up my ticket at the train station in Paris, but they are very clear that the machine will want a french credit card. I know you can do some of this through rail europe, but they are very pricey. I'm very surprised that there isn't some central online booking agency other than Rail Europe, but I haven't found one.

Now the question. I'm going from Brussels to Strasbourg and then from Strasbourg to Paris and then from Paris to Brussels in late August/early September. I know this is high travel season. Do I really need to worry about booking in advance or would I be OK just showing up in Brussels - probably the night before - and buying the tickets then? (As a side question - is there a full ticket station at the airport, or do I need to go to the station in Brussels itself?) I figure I can buy the tix for Paris when I arrive in Strasbourg three days before the trip to Paris and again can buy the ticket for Paris to Brussels when I arrive in Paris. In any of these cases will I run into problems with fully booked trains or the inability to reserve a seat?

I know where you're coming from, milepig - in North America you don't just hop on a train and go, you have to book your seat in advance.

In Europe, as a general rule, you don't need to book your train travel in advance - you just buy a ticket from A to B and get on the next train that goes from A to B. There are some exceptions (such as the Thalys) but as a general rule seat reservations are optional. Most train companies will, as a matter of policy, only reserve a certain percentage of seats on any given train, which means that there will always be a certain number of seats for those without reservations. You just get on and find an empty seat - if you don't find one you stand until the train starts to slow down for the next station and then you look out for people who look like they're getting ready to get off and then grab their seats the moment they get up.

Chances are that if you buy your ticket the day before travel you'll be able to reserve a seat (late August/early September is the tail end of the summer travel season). If not then the worst that can happen is that you have to stand for part of the journey.

BTW it looks like you can print your own tickets on the SNCF web site - so Paris to Brussels should be no problem (this is a Thalys route so you need to reserve a seat).

Yes, there is a rail ticket office at Brussels National Airport where you would be able to buy Belgian and international rail tickets. Or you can try this, which is the official site for Belgian Rail.

For Paris-Brussels I recommend you book online and print your ticket - you may be able to take advantage of Last Minute tickets - these are only available online and offer a saving of 50% over the normal one-way fare.

Last Minute tickets are only available to purchase a maximum of 6 days in advance of departure so I would book as soon as tickets open for sale (every Tuesday for travel the following Monday thru Sunday). Only valid off-peak on selected trains and days and are non-changeable.

Seat reservations are compulsory on Thalys and included when you purchase your ticket.

http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/odm_vsc

Okay, since we seem to have covered Germany and Austria a few years ago, and we've begun now on France and Belgium, are there any experts out there on optimal purchasing strategies for trains in Switzerland and Italy?

My specific needs:

1) a 2nd class 6-person couchette compartment on the no-change night train from Geneva to Venice.

2) 6 2nd class daytime tix from Venice to Rome, with a 2-3 hour stopover in Florence.

Traveling party is 4 adults (2 of whom are seniors) and 2 kids (ages 4 and 19 months). Willing to buy a seat for the 19-month old, though in the couchette I'm assuming he'll either sleep in his car seat or in the bunk with me or his mom.

We're still more than 60 days out on our schedule, so as I understand it we can't buy tix yet, but at 60 days, my current plan is to try to buy the Geneva-Venice tix via the Swiss Rail site (though it may have to involve an email exchange) and also at the earliest possible date get tix from Venice-Florence and separate tix Florence-Rome online at trenitalia.com. Best I can tell, on the Venice-Rome trips, I can qualify for a "family" discount since we'll have 2 adults for each child. I haven't seen any available discounts for the Geneva-Venice overnight trip.

Anyone see a better way to approach this?

I haven't worked with this company, but I did see on a separate thread that there's supposedly a company in Florida that for a fixed fee of $45, will buy your entire itinerary's worth of European train tickets for up to either 4 or 6 passengers, at European ticket-office prices. They presumably know all the fare rules and discount options, and speak English and can do the whole thing in a single transaction, so if it conforms to what I recall above, it may be a good option for many people.

The company is Euraide. However that link takes you to their home page, from which it may not be immediately obvious that they offer what I describe above. this page takes you more directly to the pertinant information on their site. I'd be interested in hearing about experiences anyone might have with this option.