Tips for booking cheap train tickets when travelling in Europe.

Is it possible to find cheap train tickets when travelling through Europe? The answer is “Yes”. Cheap European train tickets can be found, but it takes a little patience and perseverance to find them. The trick is to know where to look and when to book. Nelmitravel will be sharing tips with you today, to find the best European train bargains.

The question however remains: Why look for cheap train tickets if you can fly for cheaper? I guess the battle between train versus plain will continue as long as prices remain competitive. Loco2.com has recently released data from more than 400,000 searches and came up with tips for travellers. Let’s look at the advice that they are giving.

Important tips to keep in mind when looking for cheap train tickets.

1. Planning is important.

It pays to plan or should we say, it saves to plan. Planning is very important especially if you book in advance. If you arrive at a ticket office, you could pay 3 times more. That is not taking into account if you travel during peak hours! Britain is very competitive when it comes to train fares but you have to book in advance. You could save up to 43%. Savings in Europe is less but you could still save up to 32%. On the other hand. Sometimes you are lucky to find a discounted seat if the train is not full. Savings can be found online but nothing beats the savings that train operators themselves offer.

2. Travel midweek and save.

There is a sharp rise in ticket sales over weekends because many like to take a short break. If you travel in the middle of the week, you could save up to 16%.

3. How to search on the Internet for cheap train tickets?

This could be tricky because European operators use different terms to name advance tickets. Thankfully, there are certain words that can help all travelers. Search for words like: “Advanced”, “Promo” and “Super”. You are bound to find something.

4. When is the best time to book?

The problem that we face, is that European Rail operators release their tickets at different times. For example, German Rail Operator Deutsche Bahn  and Eurostar make their tickets available six months before the time. Renfre in Spain and Trenitalia in Italy are bookable only three months before the travel date. In the UK, you can book a maximum of 84 days before the time. My suggestion is to put an alert on your calendar for the countries where you will be travelling to and buy tickets on the date when they are bookable.

Loco2.com suggest that the best time to book tickets on Eurostar, is on Wednesdays.

5. Try booking split train tickets.

If it is impossible to find a cheap train ticket to your destination, then I suggest you look into split ticketing. How does it work? It basically means that you break the journey into smaller bits. How do you chew an elephant? One bite at a time. With split ticketing you can break the journey into two or more smaller portions. Each portion will require a separate train ticket. In many cases you will not even leave the train but will save a lot of money.

Thinking ahead could save a lot of money.