I will be traveling in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Austria, and back to Germany and I purchased the European East rail pass (which covers Czechia, Austria, Poland, and Hungary) and the Germany-Poland pass. When traveling in between Poland and Hungary and Austria and Germany, do I need to purchase additional tickets between these places or no because I have the rail passes?
Also, how do I know which trains require seat reservations and which trains I can just hop onto?
1) I answered this question yesterday on your original thread.
2) The best indicator is the Deutsche Bahn link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. Eurail documentation also states that pass holders need a seat reservation from Budapest to Vienna on the RailJet (no deadline to get that), although that train doesn't otherwise require them, and you don't need them from Vienna to Salzburg.
So I tried to book a reservation through ricksteves.com from Berlin to Warsaw for Sunday, but there is only mail delivery available and I am flying into Berlin tomorrow. Will I be able to book a reservation at the train station or some other way?
Yes, book it in any staffed train station. There's no deadline, as long as the train doesn't fill up, and you have to have the pass activated at a station, any way. It's technically the Polish portion (from the border crossing point at Frankfurt Oder) which needs reservation, and those should be free to get in Poland, but the station agent will have to advise whether or not you can get that on the train. If not, German Rail might charge you up to €4.50.
At Berlin Hauptbahnhof:
Train Information and Tickets: The Deutsche Bahn Reisezentrum information center is up one level (OG1), between tracks 12 and 13, (open long hours daily). For those staying in western Berlin, the info center at the Zoologischer Garten station is just as good--and much less crowded.
EurAide is an English-speaking information desk with answers to your questions about train travel around Europe. It’s located at counter 12 inside the Reisezentrum on the first upper level (OG1). It’s American-run, so communication is simple. This is an especially good place to make fast-train and couchette reservations (generally open Mon-Fri 11:10-18:50, until 20:00 May-July and Sept, check website for specific hours, closed Jan-Feb and Sat-Sun year-round; www.euraide.com).
It makes no difference which German train station (Cologne, Bonn, Frankfurt, Duisburg, etc) it is where you book Berlin to Warsaw as long as it done with a staff member of DB. Pay the 4,50 Euro for the seat reservation since it is a six hour ride and you don't want to be bumped from an empty seat when you sat down.
In Poland all trains operated by PKP Intercity (EIP, EIC, IC, TLK trains) require seat reservations.
Regio/PolRegio trains (Przewozy Regionalne) and commuter trains run by local train operators do not.
The Rail Europe folks are incredibly helpful and the most authoritative source regarding which trains need or encourage reservations, et al. Via email through the Rail Europe web site or by phone, I got lots of help for a very complicated 23 day trip that included 18 trains and a steamboat, all on our Eurail passes! Have a great time!
