Trainline is convenient and the app is good. It also charges a booking fee of up to 1.5% on most transactions. Whether that fee is worth paying depends entirely on what you are booking and where.

When to Book Direct

Italy (Trenitalia and Italo): Book direct. Trenitalia.com and italotreno.it both have functional English-language sites and sell the cheapest fares directly. The high-speed fares between Rome, Florence, Milan, and Naples on these sites are often the cheapest available, and Trainline charges on top. Italo in particular has aggressive promotional fares that do not surface well on third-party platforms.

France (SNCF/TGV): Book direct at sncf-connect.com. TGV fares are revenue-managed like flights: the cheapest fares sell out fast and are available first at source. Trainline does list SNCF trains but you may miss the earliest promotional releases.

Spain (Renfe): Renfe.com is usable and direct booking avoids the fee. The Renfe website is clunkier than it should be, but it works.

Germany (Deutsche Bahn): Bahn.de sells direct with a solid English-language site. DB fares are not as yield-managed as French or Italian ones, but direct booking is still cheaper.

When Trainline Is Worth It

UK domestic and cross-border: For journeys involving multiple UK operators (London to Edinburgh via LNER, or connections across different train companies), Trainline genuinely earns its fee through convenience. It handles split ticketing, through journeys, and railcard discounts cleanly in one place.

When you need everything in one app: If you are doing a multi-country trip and want a single app with all your tickets, Trainline is useful for the overview and offline access. The fee on a £50 ticket is 75p. If that saves you managing four different operator websites, it is reasonable.

The Eurail and Interrail Question

If you are doing a multi-country European rail trip across several weeks, an Interrail pass (for EU residents) or Eurail pass (for non-EU) is worth calculating. For a 2-3 city trip in a week, point-to-point tickets almost always work out cheaper.

Practical Tips

Book European rail tickets early. High-speed fares (TGV, Frecciarossa, ICE) are cheapest 3-4 months ahead and rise sharply close to travel. Unlike budget flights, rail prices do not crash at the last minute.

Check the operator's site directly before defaulting to Trainline, especially for Italian and French high-speed trains. The fee is small but the direct booking is genuinely the same or better in those markets.