We will be leaving Salzburg on Dec 26 to get to Munich for our afternoon flight home. We were planning on buying the Bayern ticket, but I'm now wondering how busy train travel is on that day and whether we should be buying tickets for a specific train? There are 7 of us and our flight leaves at 3pm with a layover in Frankfurt so we planned on taking a 10am train and then eating lunch at the airport.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
We were traveling from Munich on the 26th four years ago and it was absolutely packed. It was standing room only on several trains. We were also encountering some weather problems which was causing delay and a lot of shifting from one train to another. So I would encourage reservations for that day.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
When I was on an ICE on Dec 26, every seat was occupied but less than half of the seats were reserved (as indicated by the lights over the seat).
Note: you have asked this question on two different boards (Transportation and To the West). Now you must go two places to get all of your answers.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Seriously, rule of thumb by all frequent German Rail travelers: Always have seat reservations on Fridays, Sundays and holidays if the next day is a working day!
Because of the chances of wheather-caused delays I would not book tickets that are only valid on one specific train. Keep flexible.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
But if you have tickets for a specific train and weather causes a delay or reroute, they will rebook you on the next convenient train. The big issue is that the line for rebooking in the ticket office could be very long. This is a time when a first class ticket has some advantages especially the first class window for rebooking tickets.
Posted by
OP
Toronto, ON, Canada
201 posts
Thank you for advising so I will now proceed with reservations for that day. I was planning on heading to Salzburg on Monday the 23rd on the Bayern ticket for all of us. We were going to take the first train after 9. Should I now be worried about that ticket as well. Since it is the Christmas week, I imagine there are a lot of people taking holidays that week and travelling to visit family.
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5510 posts
The worst that could happen is that you might need to stand for a bit until you find a seat and/or you might not get to sit next to your travel companion. I doubt a Monday morning train post-9am will be that crowded as most people will travel over the weekend this year.