Is seat reservation neccessary?

I would buy the seat reservations, it's a long trip and you don't want to risk having to stand or move to a different seats after every stop. It only costs a few euros and you can specify which types of seats you want: window/aisle or compartment/coach seating.

I would say that normally, it isn't necessary, but because you are traveling over the holiday, better safe than sorry.

Well, I have never ridden in first class before, but I have ridden the trains a lot without a reservation. Sometimes it is a good idea and other times, not so neccessary. For a vacation, I would think that those extra couple of euros is money well spent. If you decide not to though, it is easy to find a seat. Go to the car that is farthest away, get on, all the seats have little electronic signs over them. Find one that is for where ever you are and going to your destination.(berlin - prague) If no one sits in it, you can have it. It won' be double booked for another city. The other option is to find a seat where the sign is blank. The trains usually have all the reservations up for all the seats. If there is nothing there, there probably won't be anyone coming later to sit there. Then again, everyone might show up that day and there you are, standing in the aisle for the next 3 hours. So, do you want to walk around with your luggage doing this, or just go find your reserved seat and sit in it? My thoughts are, that if you can afford first class, you can afford to pay for the reservation. Is there a reason why you are riding first class? Second class seats here are not like in the 3rd world, they are comfy and clean.

If you purchase you tickets well ahead of time from the German Rail website, you can get a 1st class Europa-Spezial Tschechien fare as low as €29 pP one way to Prague, and you can print out the ticket on your home computer printer. If you do that, reservations are only €3 pP each way.

When I first went to Europe in the 1980s, my company made all the travel arrangements and paid for the tickets - all in 1st class. Then I went to Europe on my own and had a 2nd class rail pass. I didn't think the difference was worth the price difference. Then I went back on the company and bought my own tickets (with their money) and still used 2nd class. Since then, I have always ridden in 2nd class and never regretted it.

As for reservations, much of my travel is on lines only serviced by regional trains, which rarely have reservations. Only about 14 of my about 200 rail connections have been on express train. On the first 11 of these I never had reservations and only had to stand once, on a holiday, for ½ hour. When we got to the next station, some people got up and I was able to take their seats before the new people got on. I noticed that, although all seats were occupied, less than half were reserved.

On my last trip, I had three express legs, and, since reservations were only €2 when I bought the ticket online, I reserved. The reservations were never needed.

But, 1st class reservations are only €3 each when purchased with a ticket. At that price, why not get them and be sure?

Except for certain speciality lines, such as the Glacier Express, I fail to undersand why anyone would buy tickets in advance. It is easier, cheaper and much less troublesome to buy them in Europe a day or so ahead of need. I have been traveling to Europe almost yearly since 1953

I would definitely reserve seats. We booked ours from the Deutsche Bahn site, paid the extra 4 Euros per person to reserve seats, and printed out our tickets. We took the ICE and our car was completely filled, with young people (teens/college kids) standing or sitting in the space between the cars (which surprised me that they'd sell tickets for 'standing room' only on a two-hour train ride).

I fail to undersand why anyone would buy tickets in advance.

Perhaps because they are knowledgeable! (Things have changed since 1953)

Last month I went by train from Cochem to Hannover with a stop-over in Köln, then five days later from Walkenried to Karlsruhe. The cost of buying those tickets, plus reservations, in Germany at travel time, at an exchange rate of $1.29/€, would have been $244. I booked the tickets in advance from German Rail at a Dauer-Spezial fare and paid only $90.60 w/ reservations, a savings of over $150!

You can get similar savings online with PREM fares in France, and about 20% with Amica fares in Italy. But, you have to go directly to the European national rail companys' websites. You cannot save by going to stateside sellers like RailEurope.

Lee is right, you can get great discounts booking in advance but that requires a set itinerary.

I've done both. When traveling on business, I go first class with reservations (someone else is paying and that is the acceptable standard for business travel). My itinerary is set, so reservations are nice.

When on vacation, I go second class without reservations. IMO first class isn't enough of a difference to justify paying extra. I haven't had a situation yet where I couldn't catch a train because I didn't have reservations (although I might have a different opinion if that ever happened). My itinerary is always flexible so I don't want to commit to a given train ahead of time.

On vacation, I try to keep the daily travel distances down and use the regional or beautiful weekend passes on local trains to ride cheap (even cheaper than booking ahead).