Help with trains Slovenia to Germany

What dates are you looking at? Iirc trains far in the future do display fully booked when there is simply no booking available yet.

What date are you travelling?

My guess is that your trip is a non trivial amount of days in the future. It is quite common that you cannot reserve seats for trains that are far in the future because the seat inventory has not been loaded in the system. In this part of Europe seat inventory and tickets live in completely unrelated universes.

Trains as a rule do not book out months in advance. They would be useless if they did. You would be able to buy a ticket for this trip even on the morning of your departure at the train station. Booking in advance does give you a discount though.

My suggestion:
- Buy a ticket now. Reserve seats separately closer to your departure. (You could do that even in Blef).
- Do not worry about the 6 minute connection. That is just the railways trying not to wate your time. (If they made it longer it would be a discrace...). And if you were to miss the connection due to a delay you just take the next train. From Villach to Salzburg and on the Munich the trains run every hour.

Remember that trains are mass transit. You are doing a very trivial thing, akin to taking a subway in a major metropolis. Just with nicer scenery and better trains.

This train does not go into service until June 14. I looked at OEBB, and the block to reserve seats is blurred out, meaning they are not taking seat reservations yet.

June 14 is the general timetable revision date for European trains. It is obviously planned, as DB and OEBB are able to access the schedule and sell tickets, but since the train originates in Croatia, that could be the hold up. Although the train is scheduled, they may not have the train carriage makeup finalized, thus unable to sell seat reservations.

I'd go along with most already written. Two notes:

make sure you understand where Lesce Bled station, it is a taxi ride from the closest hotels on the lake.

trains from Croatia do not have reputation for reliablity, it's why the direct cars to germany were suspended a few years ago. But the 10:30 departure from Lesce Bled with the 6 minute connection at Villach only comes fom Ljubljana which makes it worthy of closer inspection because the second train goes beyond Munich and gives an easier journey to Füssen with just one more change at Augsburg.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I will be traveling on June 20, so based on the replies, it sounds like this is too far in the future to be taking seat reservations. This is my first time booking a train from one country to another, and I suppose I was thinking of it more like a flight that needs to be booked in advance. Thus, it's so helpful to know that's not the case and that I could buy tickets the day of departure if needed.

WengenK: Thanks for your suggestion. Very good to know that a 6 minute connection is ok, and that I could easily take a later train if I miss the connection.

Sam: It's very helpful to know the date of June 14, and since I'm traveling on June 20, that explains a lot.

me.crewe: Thanks for pointing out that the 10:30 departure comes from Ljubljana and may be an easier journey since I wouldn't have to change trains in Munich. If I miss the train from Villach to Augsburg (with the 6 minute transfer in Villach), do you know if there are other trains going to Augsburg? WengenK noted that there are frequent trains from Villach to Salzburg then Munich; are there later trains to Augsburg?

WengenK noted that there are frequent trains from Villach to Salzburg then Munich; are there later trains to Augsburg?

Augsburg is located along the Munich–Stuttgart (–Strasbourg–Paris) corridor. There are many trains running there all day long. Just find one that suits you at https://int.bahn.de/

If you missed the connection in Villach, the next train would be an hour later with a connection in Salzburg, then from Munich Hbf to Fuessen with a connection in Kaufbeuren. You can dig into all the options at https://int.bahn.de/en

Katarina: the only other direct train from Villach to Augsburg is 2 hours EARLIER, so would need the 08:32 from Lesce-Bled, which begins in Zagreb - oh dear!

This route is possibly the most frustrating I've ever dealt with and it's been going on for years. Trains only run from Slovenia to Villach every two hours. They are scheduled to connect with the trains from Villach to Germany which also run every two hours. But according to Austrian punctuality records they almost always arrive at Villach late. The trains to Germany seem to be mostly on time departures. If you miss the connection the next train north only goes as far as Salzburg.

From Bled you have more trains and a lot of buses to the border at Jesenice but none in the morning have local connections into austria! There is one bus per day from Bled to Villach, but it's a Flixbus from further south so not likely to be any better for punctuality!

Thank you everyone for the additional information!