Rail Travel in Europe

If I remember correctly, most German trains, even the high speed ones, do not require reservations. To check if a trip needs reservations, find the journey on Die Bahn. You'll see a little "R" next to journeys requiring reservations. You can make reservations a day or two before each departure at the local European train station.

(By the way, have you compared the price of rail passes with Point to Point tickets? Often, p2p tickets will save you money if you purchase them early.)

First or Second Class? Most find second class to be more than sufficient. It is not like coach on an airplane - there's leg room, friendly conversation, and a ground-level window view! Some choose first class because of the relatively small price gap (compared to first class airline tickets) between the classes. Others believe their extra money should be spent elsewhere.

Since none of your journeys will be more than 3 hours, I'm not sure first class would be worth it...unless you want to spoil yourself :)

We will be traveling by train, Amsterdam to Bruges, Bruges to Brussels, Brussels to Koln, and Koln back to Amsterdam. I priced it out, it does make more sense for us to get the pass. Are these popular routes that we would need to make a reservation? I read that they charge a fee to make reservations. Also is the rail pass protection fee worth the cost?

1st class is certainly not necessary. It doesn't get you there any sooner. I have spent close to a hundred days traveling in Germany this century, all in 2nd class, and I have never felt it was inadequate. "Worth" the extra money? That is certainly a matter of choice. If you have more money than you know what to do with, why not? Or if you are very obese, and need the extra seat width, maybe then. Other than that - no.

As for reservations, I usually travel to small towns where there are only regional trains, which don't have reservations anyway, but on my latest_trip, I did use some Dauer-Speial tickets which I purchased online, and for which reservations were only €2 for each day's travel. I bought them, but I found I didn't need them.

I would wait until I was in Europe to get reservations; they're much less expensive there. Even on the one train I was on, in 2001, that was full, most of the seats were unreserved. I could have bought reservations just before train time and had a seat.

However, one word of warning: In high travel months (summer) Thalys trains to/from Brussels are often sold out for passholder reservation. (Thalys requires reservations for all travelers and limits them for railpass holders.) It might be wise to reserve Thalys trains when you arrive in Europe. However, Thalys trains are expensive, even with a railpass, and there are non-Thalys trains available.

michelle,

If you used raileurope.com to compare the cost of a railpass to point-to-point tickets, then you need to know that RE only shows full fare tickets. If you book well in advance on a country's national rail site, you often can get discount fares. For example, a Europa-Spezial Belgien fare of €19 for Bruxelles-Koeln and a Europa-Spezial Niederlande fare of €19 for Koeln-Amsterdam, both booked at www.bahn.de (up to 90 days allowed). Note, however, that those fares are only good on the specific train(s) for which they are booked and are non-exchangeable and non-refundable.

If you don't need flexibility and can commit in advance for Bruxelles-Koeln and Koeln-Amsterdam, p2p tickets will certainly be cheaper than a railpass. Take IC trains from Amsterdam to Brugge and Brugge to Bruxelles. Cheaper than Thalys trains and no reservations are possible so you can jump on any train you wish.

Not to pick on RailEurope (well maybe), but not only do they sell only full fare tickets, and those only for the most expensive trains, but they are a reseller, so they sell for more than the full fare price from the national rail sites and counters.

Example: My two legs of travel, Cochem to Bad Harzburg and Walkenried to Karlsruhe, purchased at a ticket counter in Germany or online from the Bahn website, full fare, would have cost €175, about $227. RE would sell tickets for the same trains for $389, $162 more. Plus with RailEurope, only the section from Göttingen to Karlsrule, not Walkenried to Göttingen, another €10, would be covered. Lastly on RE, the only connections offered from Göttingen to Karlsruhe, are with three changes of trains in Fulda, Frankfurt, and Mannheim. But there is a direct ICE from Göttingen to Karlsruhe, and on to Switzerland. I know, I was on it, but RE doesn't offer it.

Thanks for the info, I was pricing it on RailEurope. I will go to direct and see if I can get a better deal.

If you are traveling on the Thalys system (Amsterdam - Bruges), you will need a seat reservation in advance.
There seemed to be more of a difference in 1st & 2nd class on the German trains than on Thalys or TGV. In Germany I'd vote for 1st class.

To add to the other cost examples given, Amsterdam-Brugge (direct, 3 1/2 hr journey, not going thru Brussels) can be had for 42.20 Euro (can be purchased just before departure in Amsterdam), while Brugge-Belgium, more like a commuter rail journey, is 12.30 Euro (again, purchased at Brugge station).

FYI German first class is very nice and worth it to me on a four day pass but probably not on p2p ticket. On my christmas trip I will pay 3 dollars an hour per hour Good value ??for me it will be . One point the people in first class are often very intersting . Member of the world bank, a cancer resercher Both French people that spoke great english . The idea that 2nd class travelerss are such fun loveing friendly folks has not been my experience and the english is higher level in first . If you speak spanish or french it is no problem . The dutch speak better English then you or I.

When I am traveling, I would rather spend my money on something other than a first class train ticket. Perhaps if I was on a business trip and needed it to be real quiet so I could work, then maybe.

I will be honest, to think that interesting people ride in first class, while the rest of us boring drudges ride in second class is ludicrous. That one made me laugh, especially after noting all the spelling mistakes made by a first class rider. Happy Thanksgiving from a second class rider.