Deutsche Bahn Luggage Service

Sam,

I've never used the service (I travel light, with only a carryon), but I've seen people use it. I've spent time at a little pension in the Oberallgäu where at lot of people live in the Ruhrgebiet and come for three weeks at a time. They bring a lot of luggage for three weeks and ship it with the Bahn. I've seen big bags in the lobby with Bahn tikcets on them. From home, they have to give their bags to the Bahn in advance (3 days I think) of when they will arrive, and the bags are at the pension when they arrive. When they leave, the Bahn picks the bags up after they depart and delivers them to their homes several days after the get home.

I'm sure the main reason most visitors don't use it is because of the timing. Luggage doesn't travel on the same train with you. But if you don't need to see those bags for a few days, I would be confident to use the DB service.

My father uses this door-to-door service regularly for trips across Germany. He is mobility impaired and can't handle the luggage on train trips anymore. It has always worked well for him, no issues with reliability. For him it's definitely well worth the extra expense.

As was pointed out: you have to have your luggage ready to go on a trip separately from you, usually a couple of days earlier.

Thanks everybody. I will probably forgo this, simply because Sunday, when there is no service, is in the middle of my 3-day window. Better safe than sorry. But good to hear about the service.