Hi again,
We have made major changes to our trip since I asked questions here last time. In short, we decided to do the trip in December instead of November so we can visit Christmas markets, taking advice from this forum. Thank you all for your suggestions.
Now I have a few more questions:
1. I booked ICE tickets for our trip from Nurnberg to Salzburg even though we are also going to get the D-tickets. It will shorten the journey by about 1.5 hour, hopefully. But I forgot to reserve seats when booking the tickets. Google says that in order to reserve seats after having purchased the tickets, I have to log in my account. But I didn’t log in my account when purchasing the tickets because I kept getting error messages when trying. I just went to DB’s website, and it did allow me to reserve seats without having to log in my account. My question is: Is there any risk of reserving seats without logging in my account? (I finally logged in my DB account. Is there a way to add our tickets to my trips in my account?)
2. We will be visiting the following places: Frankfurt, Marksburg and a couple of Rhine River small towns, Rothenburg, Nurnberg, Bamberg, Regensburg, Salzburg (SOM tour, concerts: Fortress, Mirabell Palace, St. Peter’s, they all look great, hard to decide which one to choose), Berchtesgaden (salt mine and documentation center if time permits) and Munich (day trips to Fuessen (tour booked) and Augsburg). What tickets should we book in advance or ASAP? Are the SOM tour and Salzburg concert tickets sold out soon? I’d rather not make commitment in advance if I don’t have to. Is the small bus or big bus SOM tour better? Is the dress code for all the three concerts “smart casual”? Anyone who has been to these places/events, can you please share your experience?
As always, thank you for your help!
Posted by
Berlin
3008 posts
(1) No - as long as you have tickets and seat reservations for the same train connection you will be OK.
(2) Long-distance trains are recommended to be booked early as possible if you want to have a good price. If you decide for Flex tariff it nearly plays no role - except train is so well booked that you do not get seat reservations.
Posted by
OP
87 posts
@MarkK-Thank you for your reply.
I booked the "super saver" tickets. I figure the worst scenario is that we have to take reginal trains which are covered by the D-Tickets.
I won't know if a train is in high demand or not until it's close to the date of departure, correct?
Posted by
44 posts
Normally you can always see this on the website or app when you call up your booked train connection.
Does your booked train have an on-board restaurant or bistro? I never reserve a seat for train journeys lasting up to 2 hours. I always prefer to go to the restaurant as soon as I’m boarding the train and sit down for a drink or wherever I feel like it or am hungry and stay there until I reach my destination.
Posted by
OP
87 posts
@Fjord-That sounds a good idea, but only my first train ICE501 (duration-a little over an hour) has an on-board bistro and the second RJX 63 (duration- 1.5 hours) doesn't. Thanks!
Posted by
OP
87 posts
What seats are better since I am earlier and have lots of options. Thank you!
Posted by
Green Bay
21160 posts
I don't believe DB allows you to pick specific seats. The computer assigns you a seat. If other seats are open and unreserved, you are free to switch seats.
Posted by
OP
87 posts
@It does for the first leg of my trip, but not for the second leg. Thanks.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
20246 posts
If other seats are open and unreserved, you are free to switch seats.
So the seats not reserved are marked? Wait, that would change after each stop wouldnt it?
About half the time I ride a train in Hungary or to Austria I end up having to run someone out of my seat, because the reserved seats arent market on the Hungarian trains. How could they be? the riders change at each stop? Even the fast train from Budaest to Vienna makes a half dozen stops. So, I guess your recommendation is leave your reserved seat and pick and empty one until someone comes along and tells you to move? Then go back to your reserved seat and run the person who took the empty seat out?
However, on my trip to Hallstatt a few weeks ago i could only book a seat on the first train to Linz. The second tran that went on into Hallstatt turned out to be a commutter train and didnt have any reserved seats. You just sat where you could. Beautiful train though.
Oh, and on that train i missed my stop. Had to get off at the next and wait for the return train (just a few minutes). The conductor was kind enough to let me on without a ticket after I told him what i did. Nice guy.
Posted by
Berlin
3008 posts
Seat reservation on long-distance trains of Deutsche Bahn is really not a complicated thing.
So the seats not reserved are marked? Wait, that would change after each stop wouldnt it?
No, just a linear booking time line per seat in the system backend.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
20246 posts
Okay, so on the train from Budapest to Vienna, I book a seat. There is a seat across the asile that is empty, so I move there cause I like it better . No chance the guy getting on in Gyor and traveling to Vienna didn't book it? Good to know.
Posted by
Bavaria
2480 posts
I don't believe DB allows you to pick specific seats.
It does. Simply click on “select seat” and a schematic overview of the carriages will appear. There is, however, one disadvantage: you cannot see in which direction the train is traveling (e.g. if you want to travel forwards). To do this, you have to go to one of the private railroad websites, e.g. Bahnexperte.de or Fernbahn.de (both not exactly models of transparency) and select the train number and the overview of the train's composition. Then switch back to the DB booking site and select your seat.
Posted by
OP
87 posts
@sla019-Yes it is tricky. I searched a few sites to figure out the direction my first train is going (not sure if I got it right though). I didn't bother with the second train since it doesn't allow me to select the seats The message says "seats assigned automatically". But how and when will I know where to sit on this train?
I was checking how crowd our trains will be by looking at the train for the same day (e.g., Tue) in October and i found our trains are not offered (or may be cancelled?) in October. I hope ours will not be cancelled.
Posted by
44 posts
New rail timetable from 15 December 2024
Posted by
Lake District, England
7914 posts
Train RJX63, like all Railjet trains does convey an on board restaurant car- in this Case Car 25 which is 3rd from the front- see https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=%C3%96BB&kategorie=RJX&cislo=63&nazev=&rok=2024
It has 14 seats. First and business class passengers are served meals at their seats, rather than in the restaurant car on RJ and RJX trains.
On ICE501 the restaurant/bistro car is Car 10- 4th from front when the train departs Berlin, but the train reverses direction in Leipzig- https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=DB&kategorie=ICE&cislo=501&nazev=&rok=2024, so 4th from back between Leipzig and Munich.
Thus a seat booked facing was (or should be) facing between Berlin and Leipzig, but will be backwards facing between Leipzig and Munich.
But the train set could have been reversed out of schedule for many reasons on a previous journey or even days earlier, so you can never be totally sure which direction a booked seat will be facing.
On some trains there may be multiple reversals at dead end stations during the journey.
Posted by
OP
87 posts
For an ICE or RJX which says "seats assigned automatically". Does it mean I can sit on any empty seat?
Posted by
40 posts
I reserved seats on ICE trains and it was a waste of money because the trains were changed and so the seat reservations didn't matter. My husband and I ended up sitting/standing in between cars. Be sure to download the DB app, makes things so easy and you can keep track up changes. We found out about our train changes the morning of travel. We only took the ICE trains twice because the difference in time vs the regional train wasn't that big a difference and regional trains were covered with the D-ticket. The D-ticket was wonderful and made travel so easy so great move getting that!
Posted by
Bavaria
2480 posts
I reserved seats on ICE trains and it was a waste of money because the trains were changed and so the seat reservations didn't matter.
Demand a refund of the reservation fee. You can do this via your account on the DB website.
Posted by
OP
87 posts
@FLStateUGrl-That's exactly what I am concerned about. I am prepared not to be able to take our purchased ICE trains due to train delays/cancellations.