10 Tips for Travelling by Train in Italy – Switzerland – Germany ON A BUDGET!
- Afnan Khan
- Jun 17, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 2, 2023
Who does not want to travel by train in these three beautiful countries? YEAH any day for me!
However, when you are on a budget, these train journeys can suck all of the money from your pockets and you can end up seeing fewer places and enjoying your holiday less. Here are 10 tips to travel to the maximum at the minimum budget on trains in Italy – Switzerland – Germany.
PS: This is a general tip blog, info about customized and unlimited train passes in EU will be published in a separate blog to compare Euro Rail passes.
If you are sure about your exact dates of travel with specific time slots, it is better to book in advance as much as you can. A one-month time slot is generally good enough.
It is preferable to start travelling on a Tuesday or Wednesday by train. The most affordable tickets are available mostly on these days - if you have the option to travel on these days it can save you tonnes of cash!
The time of travel should be between 10 am to 12 pm (midday). In this window, it is possible to get the cheapest tickets most of the time as less people travel (therefore there are less crowds).
You should install the official mobile application of the train company via WIFI (SAVE DATA 😜 ) before you leave your home country. This helps to get the best prices most of the time and allows you to keep your ticket info for your own records/scanning purposes.
(PS: links to official websites and applications can be found at the end of the article).
BE ON TIME! In these three countries, trains mostly leave on time, especially in Germany and Switzerland, based on my experience. So, if you can get an affordable ticket do not be lazy and get to the station late.
For first-time travellers in these countries, it is better to keep a margin of 30 minutes when arriving at the train station. The reason is because train stations can be huge and it can take some time to find the exact platform from which your train will leave.
Even if you are 110% sure about the train/platform, still try to confirm it with train staff; they are there to help you and can be identified by their uniforms. They have the most trusted information. This is important because if you miss your train then you going to pay a lot for new tickets.
For a day trip from one city to another, try to book a return ticket in advance. It would be cheaper and you can plan your tour well in the destination city. Tickets are affordable before the sunset while they get expensive after it. If you can sacrifice sunset pics at the destination city or you are not interested in that stuff, just leave before sunset - tickets mostly are cheaper.
With your mobile maps or paper maps, make sure you are aware of where the station is so you don’t get lost. If you get lost and miss your train you will have to spend more money on new tickets.
Never risk travelling without tickets to try your luck. Most likely you are going to get caught and have to pay a huge fine, which will spoil your whole trip. Always buy tickets and keep them until you arrive back to your home country 😁
Links to official websites and apps
Italy 1- https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
Switzerland https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html
Trainline https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us/trains/europe (Explore & Book)
About Author
Afnan is a travel enthusiast geek and has travelled to over 30 countries around the world as a solo traveller. By profession, he is a product innovation researcher and is based in Finland.
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