Eurail Select Pass for Germany and Switzerland - reservations required?

You can't find proof because there is no proof. You do not need reservations on German ICE trains, with the possible exception of supplements on ICE Sprinter trains, but I don't know the details and there are only a handful of trains anyway. Switzerland only requires reservations on a few "tourist" trains like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express.

That blanket statement refers to France, Italy, Thalys trains between Paris and Amsterdam and Cologne. And overnight trains where you have to pay for your hotel room or hostel bunk on wheels.

Thank you!! That's pretty confusing on the website, but I'll take your word for it. Really didn't want to deal with the hassle of reservations.

That's pretty confusing on the website

Not reallly. You just use the Bahn Query website and put in Frankfurt Hbf to Berlin (for example). You'll see a whole list of ICEs. The Sprinter is identified by a letter S in what is supposed to look like the nose of an ICE. Notice the "flexiprice" (the price you would pay without advance purchase) is the same on ICEs and ICE Sprinters. Check the "details"; no reservations are required. And if you go a little farther into the booking process, you'll see that the price of a reservation is 4,50€, same as a regular ICE.

That is a change from what it was just a few years ago, when the reservations on a Sprinter were were required and more expensive.

That being said, if it is the beginning or the end of a 3 day weekend on a popular route, you may wish you would have stopped by the Reisezentrum and sprung for a couple of 4.50 EUR seat reservations. I've had to ask people to vacate our reserved seats on the Amsterdam-Cologne ICE, and I have stood from Lyon to Avignon when I didn't make them.

I meant the part I quoted from the Rick Steves/Eurail website - it makes it sound like it's required for this particular pass.

We are planning to travel from Frankfurt to Nuremberg, Nuremberg to Freiburg, Freiburg to Interlaken, and back again (skipping Nuremberg on the return) with a few side trips thrown in. From prior experience, I don't think those routes should be particularly crowded, but I'll look into that a bit more as well.

Thanks again!

Since tickets on the routes you list are so easy to get - you can even use apps on your phone - and on journeys within German states the prices can be very low for Laender tickets, and the Swiss tickets are very easy to get when you need them - app for that too - do you really need to pay for the flexibility of the pass?

If you will be staying in villages and towns, Freiburg im Breisgau specifically excluded but all the surrounding villages included, you will be given a KONUS card which gives you free travel on all buses and all trains below IC and ICE within the entire Black Forest area. If that is interesting, say, and we can tell you more.

I think it still makes sense since we want to travel on ICE trains and are willing to pay a little extra for convenience (i.e., we don't want to waste precious vacation time shopping for a Sparpreise).

I would definitely be interested in hearing more about that KONUS card, but we're making Freiburg our home base for a few days so we can see the town, visit Staufen, and go to Colmar. Would all of those be excluded since they'd be out of Freiburg? Even if we get the Select Pass, we are meeting friends there who might be interested.

Hi,

The reservations are mandatory on overnight trains. You aren't taking a night train anyway.

Daytime they are not mandatory but taking the ICE and paying 4,50Euro for a reservation at the ticket office (Reisezentrum) isn't a bad idea since it ensures that you have a seat instead of having to scramble for a seat when you board at random a 2nd class coach.

What if the coach you " happened" to board w/o a reservations happens to jammed packed, ie seats already reserved or occupied? Not an enviable position to be in.

Getting that 4.50 Euro seat reservation at the Reisezentrum precludes that. I'll be back in Germany in May traveling with a 10 day Pass. On some ICE rides, especially those on trunk lines, rush hour, etc, I'll get that 4.50 Euro reservation even though it is not mandatory.

ecrane, the line that you quote from Rail Europe's shopping cart is a blanket, boilerplate statement. They like to "err on the side of caution" and to sell reservations. In these two countries, you can be very flexible and jump on most trains without any further paperwork.

Our more specific advice for your destinations is on our Germany and Switzerland info pages, among others. The reservation requirement on ICE Sprinter trains (not frequent to begin with) was discontinued a couple of years ago. The only reason to reserve on the day you cross the border is if you have a leg by bus; DB does operate a few with attractive schedules. The only Swiss trains that require reservations for all cars are the named departures of the Glacier Express and Gotthard Panorama Express (but not other regional trains on the same lines) and the panorama cars of some other marketed scenic trains. If you're going to the Berner Oberland (beyond Interlaken) or to the top of a mountain, you will normally stop to buy a discounted ticket - see the link above and the map that comes with your pass.

If you are staying in Freiburg 3 days, you can get a 3-day Welcome Card for 26 EUR per adult. It would include unlimited travel on public transport in the Regio-Verkehrsverbund-Freiburg which includes Staufen and Breisach, where you can get a bus to Colmar, and a lot more.
https://www.rvf.de/fileadmin/user_upload/techdocs/prospekte_rvf/rvf_17_welcomekarte_e_flyer_web.pdf

I would bet my cat on the fact that you would save a lot of money buying point to point tickets over a rail pass. Please do your research on a neutral site, such as the Man in Seat 61, rather than on a site that sells the pass as they will manipulate fare prices to make passes look like bargains (they are not).

Sam, that card looks like a good bet for my friends who will be joining us in Freiburg, but shouldn't the Select Pass cover the train to Staufen (if not the bus to Colmar) as well as the S-Bahn? The Select Pass site says that it covers the S-Bahn in cities except Berlin, but I'm not sure if Freiburg is an exception.

I did price out a few of the routes on the Deutsche Bahn website to see if the Rick Steves fare maps were accurate and they were pretty close or right on the money. For two people doing multiple day trips on ICE trains, point-to-point adds up fast. We've purchased the pass now since there's the special promotion to get a second-class Select Pass through end of February.

Well, I see you went ahead and clicked that button. For future reference, here is how I would think about it.
8-day 2nd cl Twin pass for Germany and Switzerland is $786
6-day 2nd cl Twin pass for Germany and Switzerland is $676
5-day 2nd cl Twin pass for Germany and Switzerland is $614

Now you said your itinerary was Frankfurt to Nuremberg to Freiburg to Interlaken to Freiburg to Frankfurt. That is 5 major travel days. You bought 3 extra days for day trips, so you paid an extra $172 for 3 extra days, which comes to, a bit more than $28 per person per day. As an example of doing a day trip from Freiburg to Staufen, if you just bought local tickets, it is 8 EUR per person round trip, or about $10. So you paid $56 for $20 worth of tickets.

That is the kind of analysis you need to do when buying these passes. In Interlaken, if you are planning on going into the mountains, the Eurail pass only gives a 25% discount on tickets and you have to use a pass day for that. There is a big sign on the platform at Interlaken Ost station "Eurail and Interail passes not valid".

Sam, we have 8 travel days and the only day I know we have overpaid for is the ticket to Staufen from Freiburg. The pass already became more than worth it before we even get to the Freiburg leg of our trip (some of our day trips from Nuremberg are an hour-plus on the train), so it's technically not overpaying at that point anyway. We are also aware that we can only get as far as Interlaken, but we're not taking too many trains past that point anyway.

Hi,

I know this is not part of your trip agenda this time. Take a night train ride or two without the sleeper and couchette options your Pass most definitely helps in being cost effective if that is a concern for you.

Hi,

The rail pass does cover the S-Bahn in Berlin, which is one reason I use it when I arrive in Berlin Hbf on the night train, then transfer to the S-Bahn to reach my Pension, plus if I go on any train later in the day from Berlin, that r/t is already covered by the night ride date indicated on the pass.