Questions on DB Regional Trains

Regional trains would have luggage racks that I could store my luggage
in? The overhead area would be too small for my luggage

From my experience, many do, but not all. I think it depends on the train, the operator and the route.

Do I need to get my D-ticket validated or scanned somewhere, like in
Czechia? Or do I just get on the train and wait for someone to check
my ticket?

You produce it along with your passport when asked.

Not sure about your other questions. I suggest you look for this info on the DB website.

It will be very awkward to wrestle a suitcase that size onto and off of trains if there are steps involved. I don't know the current configuration of German regional trains; in many countries it varies.

Unless you are boarding at the starting point for the train and are one of the first on board, I don't think you can count on finding space for your bag on the racks. My bag is more like 24", and I often have to find some other place for it. That's a lot easier with a bag of my size, which often can go in the A-shaped space between back-to-back seats; your bag is going to be much more of a problem. I have occasionally had to hang out in the vestibule even with my bag, moving it from side to side depending on which door opened. I wouldn't want to be doing that in the winter, getting a blast of cold air at every station.

The solution for packing relatively light in the winter is layers, taking only one of each warm layer (sweater, fleece jacket, ski jacket, waterproof rain jacket, etc.). Pack more of the inner layers that touch your skin, but not too many; they'll be thinner and can be washed along the way.

On regional trains you cannot reserve seats. This is mass transit. Like taking the subway. So you just get on and find a seat. And of course public transit runs on Christmas Day. How would people get around?

Hi Wolf, welcome! Very good questions. I'll toss out some thoughts. My wife and I are in Germany for 3 weeks, Munich - Rothenburg - Mittenwald - Munich. We are using the D-tickets. We each have a smaller backpack, and each have a little backpack.

1. Some trains will have smaller overhead racks, many don't. Some have a few racks near each end of a car which might fit yours. Not often, but occasionally, I've seen a couple take up 4 seats facing each other, with the whole area full of luggage. Seems wrong, but they had no choice. Many cars will have an open area near the doors, that is meant for bicycles. Maybe you could co-exist with them. This time of year (Oct.), I've seen trains very full, with hardly any empty seats, sometimes mostly empty. Others here will know more about that.

2. Reserved seats- Pretty sure no such thing, sit anywhere (except in a First Class car if there is one).

3. As mentioned, show your D-ticket if asked. It will be shown on the App you used to buy it (MVV, etc, ). I took screenshots of mine, and one checker guy didn't like that, so have the App handy.

4. Christmas... don't know.

Lastly, buying the D-ticket can be tricky. You can't buy it when you arrive, you buy a monthly subscription online with an app, then you cancel the suscription. If you search this forum, you'll see a lot of good posts about it.

Have a great trip!

Thank you, travelerguy, WengenK, acraven and jkh for the helpful advice!
On the Christmas thing - I assumed public transit would be running as usual but then I got blasted by a bunch of people on Facebook who apparently live in Germany and they said the trains would not be running and I would not be able to make it to Zugspitze. So I thought of double checking here.

I will try to redo my packing simulation and see if I can reduce the size of my bag!

Thanks again!

Of course the trains are running on Christmas Day, cf. https://int.bahn.de/en. And the Zugspitzbahn is also back in operation from 22nd November (in November it normally has a break for for revision), cf. https://zugspitze.de/en/Service-information/Opening-hours-timetables.

As for your luggage, just leave it where there is space, either in the racks, if the train has any (depends on the type of carriage used), or in the the bicycle space or simply somewhere else; nobody will take offense.

You probably have your best answers but I did regional a week ago. Re space: you never know; re:reserved seat: NO WAY, as trains get switched out, canceled--(and when that happens try and find a way to get you $6 back...IMPOSSIBLE)--or window seats never available. Lastly, I was on maybe 7 trains,long and short haul, ticket was checked twice and not on short hauls.

My wife and I were in Germany last month, Sept 8-29, and took only public transportation. Regional trains only. We both bought the D Ticket through Tanzer. We had two large pieces of luggage, two smaller pieces and several purse sizes cases. We simply hauled everything on the train, looked around and found space enough to store the luggage. Sometimes the smaller luggage was placed over head, but the two large ones were always on the floor. One time we had to stand about 40 minutes with our luggage at our feet as train was pretty full. Most of the times I used a six foot bike lock connected to all the luggage cases for security/stealing when they sat on the floor and we were several feet away from the luggage, but we never seen any evidence of that on our trip. The six foot bike lock proved useful in another sense, it kept our luggage together-as the luggage would sometimes move around or fall when the train hit a curve. The luggage fell over once, but that was it, other than that we had no problems.
Another time, we by accident said in the reserved section of the train. When the conductor came by to check our tickets, he told us the area was reserved, and we needed to move-which we did. We never did reserve seats during the three week stay.
We just got on the trains and waited for someone to come by and check our tickets. And surprising to me, on three of those train trips, no one came by to check!

All in all, with our large amount of luggage it was no problem, maybe, except for my back!!! Sorry RS- we didn't travel lite on this trip.

As others said, regional trains vary wildly, and while your D-Ticket is good on all regional trains and buses, not all are operated by DB, but a myriad of regional, local, and municipal organizations. There usually is overhead storage, sometimes too small for a carry-on size bag, but typically you can fit a carry-on size bags, or there are racks at the end of the car. But usually the trains are not so crowded that you can keep them near you on the floor, just watch the aisle as others need to move around. Many regionals also have areas for bicycles, if you have really large luggage, you might carry some bungee cords to strap bags to the wall in that area, there are also fold down seats in that area, not as comfortable, but works for shorter trips. But as others noted, no reservations possible.

No need to validate your D-Ticket, it is good for the designated dates (usually the first until the end of the month), you do need to be able to show it in the original form. I bought through Tranzer (very handy) and they sent a valid QR code to my Google Wallet, including my wife's ticket as well, so I had both on my phone, and no data service was needed. On only about half the trips over a month did anyone ever ask to show the ticket, and only once in a while asked for a passport in addition to the ticket.

Since regional trains are mass transit, don't be surprised they are packed and depending on your luck, you could end up standing along with a lot of others dong likewise with luggage in tow. I've done it in summer travel.

OK, I think we've covered the regional train questions.

will try to redo my packing simulation and see if I can reduce the
size of my bag!

Do you use compressable packing cubes and do you do laundry while traveling? Personally, I prefer to spend a little down time doing laundry and therby reducing the amount of clothing I have to carry. Like many on this forum I can easily do 3-4 weeks with a carry-on sized backpack.

Also, I never pack my heaviest coat as I wear it from home. I also take an empty cloth shopping bag. After TSA put my coat, hat, scarf, etc. into the bag and carry it through the aiport(s). If the airline gives me grief that it is a third bag, everything goes back on for boarding and off once I am at my seat. Bag is also convenient for laundry, shopping, etc.

Lastly, only your traveling companions knew what you wore yesterday. If you are laying your clothing, then your middle-to-outer layers will stay clean enough to only take one or two.

Regional trains only. We both bought the D Ticket through Tanzer. We had two large pieces of luggage, two smaller pieces and several purse sizes cases. We simply hauled everything on the train, looked around and found space enough to store the luggage

^Thanks for sharing your experience. I guess, if all else fails and I have to carry my suitcase, I will resort to the bicycle area. At least for short distance trips like Rothenburg to Steinach.

Do you use compressable packing cubes and do you do laundry while traveling? Personally, I prefer to spend a little down time doing laundry and therby reducing the amount of clothing I have to carry. Like many on this forum I can easily do 3-4 weeks with a carry-on sized backpack.

^I have not used compression cubes yet. This will be my first time ever traveling to a foreign country for such a long duration, so I am honestly an amateur when it comes to international travel. I will be traveling from Dec 8- 28. I know laundry would be ideal, but I feel like going to a laundromat would just consume so much time. I am not sure how equipped the hotel might be to dry them in the winter if I hand wash them - if they don't dry overnight, it will be a problem as I am usually spending 2-3 nights per town/city. I am also a little worried about how I might bring back souvenirs... I really like the mugs they give Gluhwein in and want to get a couple of them back home. Even if I carry a much smaller suitcase and stuff everything worth 20 days in there, I feel like I wouldn't be able to bring these back or they will come back crushed. I did buy a whole roll of bubble wrap recently though.

In terms of souvenirs, what many folks do is include a packable tote bag or gym bag in their suitcase. At the end of the trip, that becomes a carry-on holding well-padded breakables.

It's true that clothes will probably not dry super-fast in the winter, but if you make sure the layers closest to your body are thin and quick-drying and avoid doing laundry the last night you're in a city, you should have no problem. I always do my own clothes-washing by hand in Europe, and I've spent a total of about 5 years on the continent (I'm 73). I've never yet had to deal with laundry that was still wet. The trick is to use one or both of these techniques:

• Roll wet clothes in a towel or bathmat and twist.
• Roll wet clothes in a towel or bathmat and walk on it.

Those approaches aren't suitable for fragile fabrics or those that tend to wrinkle badly, like silk or linen, but I avoid those.

I recommend reading through a bunch of threads in the Packing forum here, because you will surely get some good ideas.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/packing

I know laundry would be ideal, but I feel like going to a laundromat
would just consume so much time.

You can search on this forum and/or post with requests for wash and fold laundry servies in specific cities on your trip. Just drop off and pick up the next day.

I use Google Maps to look for laundry services and then check their websites to see what is on offer. I don't know how you fill you days while traveling. I find that before 10:00 AM there isn't much to do. So, I grab a coffe and head to the laundry I have investigated and do a quick wash and dry before I start the rest of my day.

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. Like I mentioned earlier, I am a complete newbie when it comes to international travel. So I took some time to re-evaluate my packing decisions. Have been able to put all my stuff into a 24" suitcase now. I went through American Airlines' baggage policy and I wasn't aware that they allow a personal carry on item in addition to a backpack. So I am doing exactly this now:

In terms of souvenirs, what many folks do is include a packable tote bag or gym bag in their suitcase. At the end of the trip, that becomes a carry-on holding well-padded breakables.

I will take a small gym bag in the suitcase that meets the personal carry on size requirements, with bubble wrap. At the end of the trip I will put my souvenirs in that bag and get it back with me. That way I don't have to worry about trying to stuff it all into one suitcase.

Thanks everyone, this has been very helpful! I think I should be able to manage the trip now.

I assume you'll be staying in 3 or 4 star hotel in Germany. If so, I suggest asking the front desk regarding the location of laundry services. In Vienna and in Germany I consult first the Rezeption staff on such matters, ie, restaurant recommendations, post office location, coin laundry facilities, etc.