Are you willing to pay the expensive reservation for the international high speed trains from/to France or do you prefer the slower route with some regional trains which is less expensive?

For the travels you plan in Switzerland you don't need any reservations. You just check for a suitable train and show the ticket in your mobile pass.  sbb.ch is a good place to check for Swiss trains.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/timetable.html

I would prefer a slower route to save money. What would be the suggestion for that? Thanks.

Paris to Nice would have to be a direct TGV to get there at that time. There are 2 suitable trains leaving between 9 and 10 am. Journey time about 6 hours. Res fees 10 to 20 euro per ticket.

Nice to Rome - local train to Ventimiglia, Intercity to Milan, Frecciarossa to Rome - Fees 3 and 10 euro.

Rome to Venice - plenty of trains - High speed direct takes 4 - 5 hours, regional trains can be taken

but takes 8 - 9 hours. Cost about 50 euros pp if pre bought.

One night in Venice is not enough.

Venice - Zurich would be via Milan but not sure what you mean by arrive at night.

Geneva to Zurich plenty of trains. (2 hrs)

Zurich to Paris - take one of the options via Basel and Strasburg without res fees then TGV to Paris. Do not take the direct service - res fees are exorbitant.

This is an ambitious trip in 8 days - you will see very little of your destinations. We usually travel one day stay 2 nights, travel 1 stay 2

From Ventimiglia to Rome there are direct Intercity trains (they need some more time than running via Milan, but are cheeper (only 3€ reservation) and you run via scenic railway at Cinque Terre.

Rome to Venice the reservation for Freccia trains is 10€/person. There are also some Intercity trains (need some time longer, but only 3€/seat) that stop only at Mainland Venice "Venezia Mestre" and you have to change to the first local train to Venezia S. Lucia. Check wich trip will cost less if you don't use the pass for this trip. Keep in mind that in Italy there is not only Trenitalia but also Italo treno italotreno.it , so check both companies wich will cost less. Eurail is only accepted by Trenitalia.

There is an direct Eurocity service Venice-Geneva that arrives late in the evening. I would suggest to use this service so you pay only 1 time the reservation cost of 11€. Check if you can get to your accomodation so late. Also possible is to take the direct Eurocity service to Zürich that starts arround midday-afternoon to get to destination not to late. If you go first Zürich and than Geneva, there are direct trains Geneva-Paris or to pay less you take local TER trains to France and change there to the TGV to Paris, so you pay less.

If you have time, you could put on your plan to get from Venice to Zürich via scenic Bernina Railway - Unesco herritage (Tirano-Chur), included in your Eurail Pass. Direct services need a reservation (or you seat on the first car, where you don't need a reservation), but you can use also the local trains with changes instead. (They need same time). 

Or also possible to take the Glacier Express route from (Zürich-) Chur to Brig (-Geneve) or the other way round via scenic Swiss alps. You need for this direct service a reservation, or using local trains where you have to change. 

Reservations for Italy and Eurocity trains to Switzerland you can get without booking fees via Austrian Railways ÖBB. Check how it works:

I have a Eurail pass. I was booking a reservation from Nice to Rome. As per Eurail website, I am choosing the option

1. Nice to Rome connection is at 12:36pm from Nice Ville

2. Then at 13:57 the train is from Ventimiglia to Genova

100. Next change is at 5:17pm at Genova for Rome

I can see that only Genova  to Rome requires reservation which I am about to buy.

My question is can I take an earlier train from Nice, say at 10am instead of 12:36 and spend some more time in Ventimiglia. The Eurail website is not allowing that. 

During my train ride from Nice to Ventimiglia, how do I show my ticket to the checker if I just hope on on any train? How do I show to the checker that it is Day 2 of my pass?

Please help.

You have to add every train to the app, so the app creates a QR-Code wich is your Ticket. Reservations are only to have a seat assigned. Local trains have the hop on and take a seat system. Other trains like in Switzerland (except some scenic trains), you can reserve a seat but nobody except tourist does it.

Keep in mind that you have not to reserve via eurail.com, but tjere are often more possibilities. Read my answer before, that you can reserve trains in Italy also via Austrian Railways, they do not ask a booking fee like eurail.com. 

Abou starting before, search for trains to Ventimiglia. Eurail.com or the Railplanner app are not up-to-date often, so check also the website of the train company. France: SNCF-connect.com Italy: trenitalia.com Switzerland sbb.ch. For just planning you could use for all trains the swiss one sbb.ch or german bahn.com

Thanks a lot.

Therefore, even for a local trip between, say Nice to Cann, using Eurail pass, I need to add this trip in the planner app to generate a ticket? (I am taking an early train from Paris to Nice on Day 1 of my Eurail pass, and on the same day evening I will travel Nice to Cann and back to Nice in the night, so to take these local trains, I need to add these trains in the app, right? Can I do this addition of local train in the plannar app on the day of the travel? I would like to have some flexibility for taking these trains. What should I do? Thanks again.)

Yes, for all trains that don’t require a reservation you can add them at any time up to immediately before boarding. You can also add and delete as you wish so changing plans isn’t a problem.

Just to be clear:

The trip part of your app is merely a diary of your intentions and a history of past activity. Until you add a train to your pass it is simply that and has no validity for travel. You can add, change or remove from your trip at will.

Every train you travel on using your pass must be added to your trip and, before boarding, transferred to your pass by moving the slider. That validates your travel on that train. Until you actually board the train there is no problem deactivating individual trains and adding new ones, but you can’t cancel the travel day after midnight the day before. This is why you are advised not to add to your pass until you are sure you are travelling that day.

The first train of the day will then create a travel day and by selecting the show ticket button a QR code will be created for the day, and this with the listing text will be your ticket. This is what you show when required and all the inspector will check is that it is for the current day and the specific train is listed. On some trains also requiring a reservation he will look at this separately. 

The inspector is not interested in what day of your travel you are on, only that it is valid for his train.

As you travel on further trains you follow the same process - add train to your trip and move it to your pass before boarding.

So you can travel to VM on any train that day simply by deleting the train the planner has added and replacing it with your choice. There is a half hourly service from Nice To VM from early hours.

To find the choice to make your selection you can simply open the planner and search Nice to VM at the appropriate time, choose your train and add to your trip then to your pass.

I assure you that the planner is up to date for these trains, despite what others say, but if you see a train in another planner or at the station it is simple to add it manually.

This is a question reg. reservation. I have a Eurail pass.

My reservation is from Paris to Nice on Oct 17. Can I discontinue my journey at Cannes and take some other local train to Nice from Cannes at a later point of the day? Do I have to notify this discontinuation of journey at Cannes station?

Thanks very much.

You can leave the train whenever you please and no you don’t have to inform anyone, even if you are fluent in French you’d probably confuse station staff by trying to do so.

I have a Eurail pass. On the day when I will be using my Eurail pass, can I also use the pass in Paris metro or Rome metro network? Thanks.

No you can't. The pass is not valid in metro, tram or bus (with few exceptions). Only in trains run by one of the participating companies. In Rome, that does include the suburban train services, but not the metro. In Paris, that does not even include the RER train services because the responsible authority decided not to take part in Interrail/Eurail.

I will be using Eurail pass. My travel requires changes between trains. What happens if I miss a train (for which I have a reservation) due to late arrival of previous train (so that I miss the change)? In that case, can I take this reservation for the next train? Thanks a lot.

Talk with the staff in such a case. First in the late train. Sometimes, they can let the connecting train wait for a bit. If not, they should be able to advise what you should do. In general, your reservation should be rebooked free of charge. If there's no time to do that before the next train, then talk with the staff of the next train before you board.

If the next train does not require a reservation, then you can get a full refund from the place where you booked it.

I am planning to spend 3 full days in Switzerland. I would certainly like to visit Mount Titlis and Jungfrau. I will be coming to Switzerland from Milan.I will be using a Eurail pass. Could anyone please suggest an itinerary? Thanks very much.

Sorry for putting up three questions:

1. The Eurail app downloaded in my phone is asking me to activate my Eurail pass. Can I not add trains to pass without activation? The first day I activate the pass and then add the train in the pass, is that day will be counted as one day of travel? I am not travelling until Oct 17 (Paris to Nice) though and I have already purchased reservation for the travel by 10:20am train to Nice from Paris Gare du Lyon.
2. Am I allowed to purchase reservation after arriving in Europe? I have already purchased Eurail pass from my home country.
3. Zurich to Geneve train in Eurail pass shows no reservation needed. Does that mean I can get into any specific train even if all the unreserved seats are filled in that train? That is, am I allowed to travel standing?

Thanks a lot.

1. You are advised not to activate your pass until the first day of your travels. Then it will automatically create a travel day and you can then transfer trains from your trip to your pass and create a QR code for that day. Until you board any train you can remove it from your pass, and if you wish add an alternative.
2. You can purchase reservations at any time to suit your plans, often even up to the day of departure. In many countries you can purchase from any station and many main stations have an international ticket office. 
3. If a train is showing as reservations not necessary then you can indeed get onto the train and stand, unless the operator deems it unsafe to leave so full, then they will remove as many as needed, but that is a rare event.

Reservations in Switzerland are generally a waste of money (in my opinion) and almost nobody makes them. Except for the few special panoramic express trains.

I have an international flight to catch on 27th Oct from Paris. I will travel to Paris either from Geneva or from Zurich (not decided yet) using Eurail pass. My question is a bit odd:

Should I travel back to Paris on 25th or on 26th as I could not guess the reliability of the train service from Geneva or Zurich to Paris? Certainly I would not like to miss the international flight at any cost.

Whether 24hrs gap between arrival to and departure from Paris should be enough?

Thanks a lot.

We will be going from Interlaken to Lucerne on 23rd Oct and then Lucerne to Zurich on 24th Oct.

We are a group of three.

Would it be cheaper if I buy the ticket now online in comparison to buying on the day of the travel?

Should we buy Half fare travel card? We also plan to visit Jungfrauch and Mt. Titlis. 

Can we get any discount if we have Eurail pass for Swiss train ticket. We may not be using Eurail passes on that day though.

Thanks very much.

As a personal view, if I was in your position I would certainly be happier travelling the day before to Paris for such a vital flight. Although trains are reliable, there is always the risk of an external issue causing a delay of such magnitude that you miss the flight. 

I would probably also look for accommodation near the airport with easy transport at the appropriate time - I hate Paris hotels, but they can be a necessary evil.

As an example I recently travelled back from Brussels to London on Eurostar. We travelled on The Tuesday afternoon from Cologne to Brussels along with many booked on the late Tuesday Eurostar. They had about 2 hours connection time. An incident required a diversion and the train finally arrived 1.5 hours late -,A lot of stressed people. We simply strolled  to the local hotel, had a drink or 2 and a meal. a good nights sleep and then a mid morning stroll before checking in about an hour before a lunchtime departure.

I will be using a Eurail pass day for travel from Paris to Interlaken (Ost).

Can anyone pls suggest an economical route? I am sure that would be scenic too.

I plan to start from Paris around 9am.

Thanks a lot.

When will you be travelling? A nice route is to go via Lausanne - Montreux - Gstaad to Interlaken. 

I am trying to buy Geneve to Paris (TGV) reservation for 26th Oct.

I am always getting following error:

Please try to find an alternate connection. The unavailable leg will be removed from your cart.

Can anyone please help.

Thanks.