When is the best time to buy European train tickets?

Each European country has its own variations but bookings typically open anything from two to six months in advance of travel.

Why would you want to book months ahead when you can buy a ticket a week in advance, or even on the day of travel? Fair point, but just like flight tickets, train tickets are subject to dynamic pricing.

As the day of travel approaches the ticket becomes more expensive, and the reward for booking ahead is a cheaper fare. A ticket on a fast train from Rome to Milan in a week’s time starts from €75 ($122), but that same ticket booked now for travel two months later costs just €50 ($81.40). For travel in three months time, the starting price is €38 ($61.85).

Most French, German and Italian trains open for bookings 180 days in advance but that shrinks over the Christmas period. For train travel from about mid-December to early January, bookings do not open until mid-October. The same applies to train travel in the UK, France, Italy and Austria.

Train tickets in the UK go on sale 12 weeks before travel and you can sign up for a ticket alert with Trainline that tells you when tickets for your selected route become available.

Eurostar tickets become available up to 120 days in advance of travel, and these are pricey items, so the earlier the better. Cancellation fees are high, and tickets are non-refundable within six days of departure.

If you try and book several months in advance you might find that the ticket prices are listed but the booking fails. This often happens with cross-border trains, and it usually means that one of the rail partners has not uploaded their seat reservations. Try again in a few days.

Booking online is fast, painless and cost-effective. Rail Europe has a presence here in Australia as well as a user-friendly website, and that makes booking railway tickets super easy. You can pay in Aussie dollars and help is at hand if you run into any snags.

The German Rail website is a great resource for finding timetables, ticket prices and making bookings for travel just about anywhere in Europe. Omio is another general ticketing agency, especially useful if your plans involve buses and ferries as well as trains.