Is there a good website to plan a trip via trains in Europe?

For route planning, the German Railway's website - http://www.bahn.de - is unbeatable for working out how to get from Helsinki to Madrid by train. It doesn't cover the ticket purchasing for journeys outside Germany though.

I'm surprised no answer so far has mentioned Raildude. This is a very useful, community-driven website for international trains in Europe. It is particularly focussed on budget travel, and indeed originates from a Interrail-related website.

Hafas is not always accurate

I'd like to issue a word of warning about Hafas-based search engines. Bahn.de, B-Rail, ÖBB, and NS Hispeed are all based on the same international train database known as Hafas. It relies on participating train companies submitting their timetables, and is not always complete. In my experience:

• It is not complete. It's all-to-easy to think it is complete because it has so many trains, but it is not. In my experience, the further from Germany, the more trains are missing. I've taken decent trains in Spain that were not registered in Hafas.

• It contains invalid connections. For example, in Sweden, each railway station has a minimum transfer time. HAFAS is not aware, so it might recommend a connection with a 10 minute change whereas the minimum transfer time is 15 minutes. Minimum transfer time in this case means that connections are guaranteed, so that tickets are replaced if a connection is missed. With a connection less than the minimum connection time, this guarantee will not work.

• It is even less complete around timetable shifts. Each year in the beginning of December, timetables change. Around the shift of timetables, Hafas is very incomplete, even in Germany. In practice, planning a Christmas holiday is not possible with a Hafas-based search engine, because so many trains are missing or only registered extremely late.

The different Hafas-based search engines have slightly different features. For example, B-Rail permits to specify the maximum number of connections, whereas Bahn.de allows to specify the minimum change time. Most allow to have one or more via stations. By combining those features, one can often get a much better connection than to simply write Stockholm to Madrid in an arbitrary search engine. For example, you may want to avoid changing trains in the middle of the night, or increase the transfer time after a train that is often late.

Complementary sources

• If possible, use the various national railway websites to double-check the timetable obtained with Hafas. For example, inside Spain, Renfe have a much more complete and reliable timetable than any international website (although they cannot list connections with more than one transfer). Most, if not all, countries have national railway company websites. This list on Wikipedia might get you started.

• The German forum Drehscheibe Online has a list of PDF timetables for the various national railway companies, where available. Personally, I love to browse paper railway timetables. However, for most countries it can be quite hard to find the correct timetable.

• For long-distance trains, browse earlier-mentioned websites such as Seat 61 and Raildude. The latter specifically mentions connections between major cities, whereas the former is mostly written from a UK perspective.

I suggest to use InterRail pass instead of buying tickets. This is cheaper if you plan to travel more than few thousand kilometers.

For schedules, search HAFAS on Google. This is the common database shared by most rail companies in Europe (e.g.: Germany, Switzerland, Belgium)

Finally, for dreaming, check Orient-Express.

The site that stands out by a mile is seat61.com. Really well written, very comprehensive, and has all the information you'll need on how to book when you've decided. I use it all the time!

EURail should be a good place to plan the trip.

They do go as far east as Poland and Bulgaria, but no further than that.

EuroStar is another network that may be useful, but it stops short of EURail on the eastern side.

If you travel through the Baltic countries, prefer the bus to the train. Buses are faster, more frequent and more comfortable than trains. Once you are in Poland, you can switch to trains. So here are the sites:

• DB TravelService has schedules that will cover the whole trip, apart from the buses in the Baltic countries. It only has fares for trains within Germany. And for some trains to and from Germany.
• Go Rail for the trains from Moscow or Saint Petersburg to Tallinn.
• Lux Express is operating buses between the Baltic countries, but also between Tallinn and Saint Petersburg and Vilnius and Warsaw.
• For train travel within Poland, use the PKP route planner.
• For train travel to and within Germany, use DB TravelService.
• For train travel to France, use DB TravelService or Voyages SNCF.
• For train travel in France, use Voyages SNCF and possibly TER SNCF for local trains.
• If you travel through Belgium, SNCB Europe can be helpful for the long distance trains and SNCB/NMBS for the local trains.

Here is the Interrail map:

On the site, it is also available as a 14Mb PDF that you can zoom for details.

As speed/duration depends on many factors, the map only distinguishes between high speed lines, main lines and other lines.

As mentioned by others Seat 61 is really the bible for European train travel and I would have been lost without it when planning and booking our train travel. It's focused on travelling from London but it's still really useful even if you're not starting your journey in London. It will point you in the right directions in terms of finding online timetables and tickets from the various operators and retailers.

I also stumbled across Loco2 but haven't used it other than some quick searches. I'd be interested if there's anyone here that's used it and has some feedback.

To go from Russia and Baltic Countries to Germany and France you have to go through the Poland. Although in other answers you have good international links, I think it's good to double-check connections on country-specific site. Polish railways has schedules and approximate prices on site: http://rozklad.pkp.pl/

This website is awesome to find route around europe by official.

btw, If you planned to travel in Europe by train, You should use an Eurail or InterRail(if you are EU/CH resident) It's more saving and can change itinerary any time without worries

The best website to plan a trip in europe like an InterRail is http://www.eurorailplanner.com/