Four of us are traveling from Prague to Berlin by train in June. Which website is best for reservations? I know it is a 5 hour trip -- should we travel by first class? Is it a lot different than second class? We are not particular people, will probably take our own food on board. Last summer we took the eurostar from Paris to London and then the train to Edinburgh -- all second class -- and we thought they were very comfortable. We are staying near the Zoo in Berlin, if it matters.
Thanks.
German Rail runs five EuroCity (EC) trains per day (every 2 hours from 8:31) from Prague to Berlin. These are nice modern trains, 2nd class should be perfectly ok. If you book online, in advance (3 up to 92 days), you can get a Europa-Spezial-Tschechien ticket for €116 total for all four of you (€29 per adult). You buy the ticket using your credit card, which you must have with you at the time of travel for ID. They will email you a pdf file to print at home as your ticket. These tickets are date/train specific and non-refundable after the day before the travel date. I believe you can only purchase these discounted tickets online from the German Rail website.
If you put in "Berlin Zoo" as your destination the ticket will include the S-Bahn from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to the Zoologischer Garten Bhf.