I've been on the DB website trying to book tickets for the 3rd part of our trip from Dresden to Munich in March and I'm having some issues. We are 3 adults and 1 child that we want a seat for and on the Dresden to Nuremberg leg it says "cannot be reserved" when I am trying to make seat reservations. We can make seat reservations for Nuremberg to Munich no problem. I have looked at several different train times, both 2nd and 1st class and even 1 day later with no luck. Does this mean seats are not available or its 1st come 1st serve? Can seats possibly be reserved at a later date? If we can't reserve the seats, is there a time of day when we would have better luck getting seats. Is the front or back of the train less crowded that we would have better luck?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
My guess is that reservations are not permitted on that leg. Not all trains have reservations.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The connections between Dresden and Nürnburg are on Regional and Interegional Express trains. No reservations are sold for these services. You won't have any trouble finding a seat, but if you want 4 adjacent seats, plan to travel outside of commuting hours. Trains rarely, if ever, sell out in Germany. However, if available, buying reservations is always a good idea, particularly for a party of 4. It will guarantee that everyone in your party can sit near each other. Also, when you board the train, you will know exactly where to sit, and you can procede directly to your waiting seat, rather than fumbling around from carriage to carriage looking for empty seats. You can always buy tickets first, then purchase a reservation at a later time (or vice-versa), but as noted previously, reservations are not sold for your desired connection.
Posted by
OP
Atlanta, GA
380 posts
Thanks! I didn't even think about that. The only other time we've traveled by train we were able to reserve seats. Do you think there might be more seats on a 9:54am or 11:00am train?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
Use the "stopover" function on the Bahn website to specify a stopover (train change) in Leipzig. This route will take an hour longer, but will be entirely by ICEs, and you will be able to reserve seats. With sufficient advance purchase, you will also be able to get a Sparpreis fare as low as 29€/person.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33846 posts
Do you think there might be more seats on a 9:54am or 11:00am train? You don't need "more" seats, you just need 4 together. I'd be surprised if you had trouble on either train as long as it not at the time of a festival or the day schools break up for the term or the day they return from holiday.