KD Train and Rhine River Cruise reservations for July

I've never bothered with reservations on German trains except when I got them for half price (€2) with a Dauer-Spezial fare, but if you want them for piece of mind, get them from the German Rail website. They'll cost the same (€4) as in Europe, half the price from RailEurope. It looks like you can self-print the tickets at home so no worry about mailing time. You can also get them when you arrive in Munich. With 2 days advance purchase you should have no troubles with available reservations. The only ICE I've ever been on that was packed had plenty of unreserved seats.

Hi Lisa,

I presume you are looking to take the K-D line for the river cruise as they accept the German Rail Pass. On their reservation form, it says: "We accept EURAIL, EURAIL SELECT, GERMAN RAIL PASSES on board of our ships without pre-booking." All you have to do is show up at the dock and let them see the pass as you are getting on. They will just ask you where you are getting off the boat. In other words, don't bother reserving.

As for making a reservation for the train, reservations are not required for most of the options to get from Munich to Bacharach, but there is the odd one that involves a high-occupancy ICE train for the first portion of the trip, but this all depends on the time that you will be travelling at. Use the Deutsche Bahn website to take a look and see which route you will likely be taking. When you search, it will come up with options for how to get there. Click on the arrow at the left-hand side for more details for any option, including a statement as to whether or not reservations are mandatory or recommended.

K-D doesn't do reservations. You probably don't need reservations on the train to get a seat somewhere.