We're travelling (2 of us) from Amsterdam to Bacharach and surrounding area. Bacharach will be our base for the first week in the Rhine Valley and then we're travelling to Salzburg and Hallstatt. We have a 5 day within 2 month Eurail pass. We're travelling the end of June beginning of July. We've travelled by train in Europe before but during a quieter time and wondered if it's necessary to make reservations for this time of year? Any other tips you can provide - travel or otherwise for that area would be appreciated.
Posted by
Green Bay
20143 posts
I did have to kick a couple of kids out of our reserved seats on an Amsterdam to Cologne train a few years ago, so yes, if you want to sit together in the same car, it might be recommended to have seat reservations on ICE trains.
Posted by
OP
Toronto
5 posts
Good response. Thank you.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32795 posts
Most of the trains in and out of Bacharach are nonreservable regional 2nd class only trains. Of course, as cheap as those trains are you won't be using your railpass days on them so the second class only shouldn't bother you. It might be worth it to reserve on the Amsterdam - Basel ICE if that is the train you are using from Amsterdam although I wouldn't and its not required. Other than international trains you can't reserve in the Netherlands. Is it an ICE from Koblenz that you will use to Salzburg (via Munich)? Its not required and I wouldn't but you certainly can. Why reserve when you have a pass and you are on trains which don't require it? If you want to reserve then you could have had cheaper point to point discounted tickets. I thought the only reason to have the pass was so you could just rock up and pile on (except France and Italy).
Posted by
OP
Toronto
5 posts
Thanks, I know when we travelled in Europe with a Eurail pass we got reserved tickets when we arrived in each city - but the majority didn't cost anything. It was a quieter time of year and the only time there was a problem was for 2nd class passengers without reservations having to sit in the doorways.
I just didn't want to run into that problem at a busier time of year.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
If a Deutsche Bahn train takes reservations, I always buy one. Not because I won't be able to find a seat, but knowing exactly where to find my seat makes bording the train much easier. No need to stumble around with my bag(s) looking for a vacancy, I just head directly to my waiting seat.