German train reservations

Very few trains in Germany require seat reservations.

Frankfurt to Würzburg and Nürnberg to Munich could be via ICE or IC/EC, although there are slower regional train on those route, as well. From Frankfurt to Würzburg, I don't see any ICEs for which seat reservation are required; I see at least one ICE from Nürnberg to Munich on which seat reservations ARE required (circle R on the Bahn website) and others where they are not. Seat reservations for the ICEs are €4 per person (2nd cl) or €8 for a family. On trains where seat reservations are not required, they probably won't be necessary, but you can purchase them at the ticket counter if you want them.

Würzburg to Rothenburg are a couple of regional trains with a change in Steinach. No reservations needed or possible.

It is possible to go from Rothenburg to Nürnberg on only regional trains, but there are some connections using express trains (IC), but I don't see any where reservations are required.

Thank you so much, Lee! That is very helpful information. We don't plan on getting reservations unless they are required. Is there a way to tell which Nurnberg to Munich trains require reservations? Thanks again for your help!

Everything is on the German Rail website. The trains that require a reservation are indicated by a circle 'R'. I imagine they are only at peak travel times, maybe rush hour.

Thank again Lee! Very helpful.

You probably have railpass coverage for all your days of travel, but if you only have some, the trips from Würzburg to Rothenburg and from Rothenburg to Nürnberg can be done far less expensively than with a railpass day. Those are days that you should buy P2P tickets and save your railpass days for longer travel days.

There is an ICE connection between Nürnberg and Munich about every half hour during the morning. Only the connection at 9:02 requires reservations (I guess because it's popular).

Thanks for the tip. I think we will have coverage for all travel days but if something changes, I'll keep that in mind. The main reason we bought rail passes was the fact that we're taking an overnight train from Munich to Florence. The saver prices on the DB were sold out so it would've been close to 220 euro for that trip alone. Again, thanks for all your help!

Keep in mind that in the Bahn schedules there are 2 different reservation marks: white R on grey means reservations are required while grey R on white means they recommended. (It's likely the train will be busy. You can always get on the train, but you might not get a seat.) (PS, this used to be red for required and grey for recommended, which makes a lot more sense to me.)

don't bother with reservations for day trains (if needed) until you get there.

Paul, good observation. That Nuernberg to Munich ICE is only "reservation recommended", not "reservation required". I think, considering that they are only €4, that I would make a reservation when recommended.

Kate, I agree. On the only ICE I was ever on that was SRO, less than half the seats were actually reserved. I could have made a reservation when I bought the ticket and had a seat. (The first time the train stopped, I got one anyway.)

I used the German Rail website that Lee provided to attempt to research a trip from St. Goar to Koblenz. I know it's not far, but I am curious. I was able to see that trains leave almost hourly between the two and the trip is about a half an hour. I couldn't find the price? Anyone know how to navigate that site and find a price for that trip?

To Rob: The reason the Bahn site doesn't show the price is that the trip is entirely on the regional transport system (VRM in this case). If you go to http://www.vrminfo.de/vrm/english/index.html, you can see the search boxes on the right. (You'll have to choose the specific stops, I just picked Koblenz-Mittle-Koblez Hbf & St. Goar-St. Goar Bf -- Hbf = Hauptbahnhof/Main Train Station and Bf = Bahnhof/Train Station.) The price is EUR 6.55 for a one-way, adult ticket (Einzelfahrschein) and EUR 13.10 for a day ticket (Tageskarte, allows unlimited travel between the two for a day).

Regional trains, including S-Bahn, within each German state (Land) are run by a quasi-private organizations known as an ÖPNV. There are districts (called Verkehrsverbünde, lit. Transit Co-operatives) within the states that run the U-Bahn, Trams, and buses. Often they are associated with a metro area, such as MVV in Munich, VGN in Nürnberg, or RMV in Frankfurt. In the case of VBB (Verkehrsverbund Berlin Brandenburg), it's the entire state of Brandenburg. The VRM (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel) comprises an area from Oberwesel, just below Bacharach, down almost to Bonn, and up the Mosel to Bullay.

You can see a map of the Verkehrsverbünde in Germany here.

Tickets for all of the transport of the Verkehrsverbund, including regional trains and S-Bahn, which are run by the ÖPNV, are sold by the Verkehrsverbünde. The Bahn doesn't sell them online; that's why they don't show prices.

So, to find the price of a ticket from Bacharach, which is outside the VRM, to Koblenz, you go to the Bahn website, but to find the price of a ticket from St. Goar to Koblenz, you must go to the VRM website.

It gets more complicated.

Bacharach is in the Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund. Frankfurt airport is in the RMV - two separate Verkehrsverbünde. However, you won't find tickets by regional trains from FRA to Bacharach on the Bahn website. Although actually in the RNN, Bacharach is also in a "transition area" of the RMV, so the RMV sells tickets from FRA to Bacharach (but not FRA to St. Goar). You have to go to the RMV for ticket prices.

Usually I don't get reservations if they require an extra charge. However, if the trip is on a Friday I strongly recommend a reservation for IC/EC/ICE. Trains are extremely busy and even standing room can get tight on certain trains. Sunday afternoon/evening and Monday morning can be quite busy as well.