Leaving for Germany Thursday. Purchased a second class rail flexipass which gives us 4 days within a months time. My concern is whether I should make reservations for the long rides,and if so should I make them now online or wait until the day we are traveling. I also think I goofed and really only needed a three day based on the length I see on the DB Navigator. Also if you have to make connections to other trains to get to your destination, does the reservation follow you on all trains?
My schedule: Frankfort Airport to Bacharach, Bacharach to Nuremberg, Nurnberg to Fussen, Fussen to Munich, Munich to Salzburg back to Munich, Munich to Cologne, Cologne to airport.
Thanks for any help you can give nervous travel leader of three.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23291 posts
Reservations are option on Germany trains but if you want a guaranteed seat, you need a reservation. No it doesn't follow from train to train. You need a reservation for each leg.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19099 posts
Per the Bahn website (select "Prices"),
The reservations are valid for single journeys including all connecting trains.
I haven't done this for 10 years, but I think then, when I booked a ticket including two long distance (reservable trains), I selected seats on both trains, but I only had to pay for one "reservation".
Posted by
Green Bay
20162 posts
You will only be able to get reservations for the Bacharach-Nuremberg IC and ICE trains, The Nuremberg-Munich portion of the trip to Fuessen if you use the ICE for that section, and the Munich Cologne ICE train. I suppose you could do it for the Munich-Salzburg-Munich if you used the RJ train. They are 4.50 EUR per person per trip. Munich-Salzburg-Munich would be 2 separate trips.
Posted by
Germany
268 posts
I haven't done this for 10 years, but I think then, when I booked a ticket including two long distance (reservable trains), I selected seats on both trains, but I only had to pay for one "reservation".
That is still correct. It has even been improved - one reservation fee used to include up to two trains on the way to your destination, but that limit has been lifted.
Under normal circumstances, it is sufficient to reserve a day in advance; however, if travelling during rush hour, right before Christmas, or if there is a trade fair somewhere along the route, there may be no seats left by then.
If there are seats left on the day of the train departure, some of them are kept for last-minute reservations. This means you can reserve seats even a few minutes before the scheduled departure of the train. The display next to the seat will show "ggf. freigeben", which means that someone might have a last-minute reservation for that seat. For reservations made earlier, it will show the stops between which the seat is reserved.
Posted by
San Francisco
14538 posts
I would suggest reserving the Munich to Cologne journey, presumably ICE. That route would most likely be packed. Do that when you get to a Reisezentrum. I've done Düsseldorf to Munich, day and night, and the day train can be very crowded.
The last few trips, including this one, I saw the ICE trains in 2nd class packed, eg, Hamburg to Berlin, Munich to Frankfurt, Hamburg to Frankfurt, etc. I reserved a seat especially if I had luggage.